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Sapphire is launching Radeon 7950 Mac on Tuesday

C

Cecco

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 11, 2008
110
9
Just read Sapphire starts shipping Radeon 7950 Mac next Tuesday (http://www.macgadget.de/News/2013/03/15/Radeon-HD-7950-Mac-Version-kurz-vor-Auslieferung)

Hmm, next Tuesday ..., but still no official word about the price ???

Isn't that the day Apple is usually introducing new Hardware?

Could it be, we'll see something new on the Mac Pro front that day and Sapphire holds back on naming a price for that reason?

Of cause pure speculation ...
 
Cecco said:
Just read Sapphire starts shipping Radeon 7950 Mac next Tuesday (http://www.macgadget.de/News/2013/03/15/Radeon-HD-7950-Mac-Version-kurz-vor-Auslieferung)

Hmm, next Tuesday ..., but still no official word about the price ???

Isn't that the day Apple is usually introducing new Hardware?

Could it be, we'll see something new on the Mac Pro front that day and Sapphire holds back on naming a price for that reason?

Of cause pure speculation ...
Click to expand...

Good find. If I was a betting man, I'd say there's something to this. I guess we'll know in a few days. :)
 
Cecco said:
Just read Sapphire starts shipping Radeon 7950 Mac next Tuesday (http://www.macgadget.de/News/2013/03/15/Radeon-HD-7950-Mac-Version-kurz-vor-Auslieferung)

Hmm, next Tuesday ..., but still no official word about the price ???

Isn't that the day Apple is usually introducing new Hardware?

Could it be, we'll see something new on the Mac Pro front that day and Sapphire holds back on naming a price for that reason?

Of cause pure speculation ...
Click to expand...

Sorry for my poor English first :D
I am from HK, confirmed that this card will arrive this week, around HKD 3500-3700, can pre-order right now!
 
Cool! But they missed the boat again! When will I see a MacPro card in brushed aluminum with cheese grater holes and flowing rounded handles atop? :D

radeon_hd_7950.jpg

​
 
I love articles like this, they let me live in the lie that I can actually read German :D

No long words not to technical or complicated.
 
Lichqueen said:
Sorry for my poor English first :D
I am from HK, confirmed that this card will arrive this week, around HKD 3500-3700, can pre-order right now!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.

Might translate to $499 or 399 €. Quite a heavy "Mac tax" given the PC version currently starts at 220 €. :(

Do you have any information, whether the card shown a CEBIT was indeed a production sample as mentioned? That would mean it won't fit into slot 1 of the current Mac Pros due to the long screws at the bottom. I'm pretty sure about this, because I recently had to modify a GTX 570 with similar screws to fit into slot 1.

That would be a real bummer.

And if that is the case, I really wonder, why Sapphire would develop a card, that won't fit into the only 2-slots-high PCIe slot 1 (aka the one especially made to take those bigger graphics cards without blocking additional slots) of the Mac Pro, unless they made the card for a new Mac Pro with a different layout of the PCie slots.
 
One size fits all???

Cecco said:
Thanks for the info.

Might translate to $499 or 399 €. Quite a heavy "Mac tax" given the PC version currently starts at 220 €. :(

Do you have any information, whether the card shown a CEBIT was indeed a production sample as mentioned? That would mean it won't fit into slot 1 of the current Mac Pros due to the long screws at the bottom. I'm pretty sure about this, because I recently had to modify a GTX 570 with similar screws to fit into slot 1.

That would be a real bummer.

And if that is the case, I really wonder, why Sapphire would develop a card, that won't fit into the only 2-slots-high PCIe slot 1 (aka the one especially made to take those bigger graphics cards without blocking additional slots) of the Mac Pro, unless they made the card for a new Mac Pro with a different layout of the PCie slots.
Click to expand...


Good Point! I am wondering in which Version of the MP the card will work. Remember, every time when Apple releases one of the very rare gpu refresh, they restrict its use to certain models.

What do you think, will it work in a MP 1,1 ? If not, will it work in a 3,1 ??

Will Apple really allow us a "Free-out-of-the-prison-gpu-card" that fits all this time??
 
AlexMaximus said:
Good Point! I am wondering in which Version of the MP the card will work. Remember, every time when Apple releases one of the very rare gpu refresh, they restrict its use to certain models.

What do you think, will it work in a MP 1,1 ? If not, will it work in a 3,1 ??

Will Apple really allow us a "Free-out-of-the-prison-gpu-card" that fits all this time??
Click to expand...

But this card doesn't come from Apple, it comes from Sapphire. Apple has nothing to do with this card.
 
Interesting timing for sure...

Probably unrelated, but I was invited to a local/regional Apple Business Network event to be held this week. Event is being advertised as an invitation only networking opportunity with ability to meet the Business (Sales) Team associated with the local retail stores and learn about the benefits of working directly with them. Trying to free my schedule to attend, if possible.
 
Cecco said:
Do you have any information, whether the card shown a CEBIT was indeed a production sample as mentioned? That would mean it won't fit into slot 1 of the current Mac Pros due to the long screws at the bottom. I'm pretty sure about this, because I recently had to modify a GTX 570 with similar screws to fit into slot 1.
Click to expand...

Maybe German screws are different.
 
I hope you are right...

GermanyChris said:
But this card doesn't come from Apple, it comes from Sapphire. Apple has nothing to do with this card.
Click to expand...

I absolutely hope you are right Chris, but I dont think so. By making a card that Works in an Apple machine, they have to follow certain rules & regulations. Its like a TierOne supplier or third party agreement. They would not want to cross Apple on that one, I can assure you that.

I hope the card will work at least in an Octo MP of 2009. Thats the one I plan on to get in three weeks from now, just to be part of the gang...
 
Cecco said:
Do you have any information, whether the card shown a CEBIT was indeed a production sample as mentioned? That would mean it won't fit into slot 1 of the current Mac Pros due to the long screws at the bottom. I'm pretty sure about this, because I recently had to modify a GTX 570 with similar screws to fit into slot 1.
Click to expand...

That hypothesis got shot down in the same thread it was proposed in before.

Post number 54 in this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1552286/
 
AlexMaximus said:
Good Point! I am wondering in which Version of the MP the card will work. Remember, every time when Apple releases one of the very rare gpu refresh, they restrict its use to certain models.

What do you think, will it work in a MP 1,1 ? If not, will it work in a 3,1 ??

Will Apple really allow us a "Free-out-of-the-prison-gpu-card" that fits all this time??
Click to expand...

The machine has to be running 10.8.3 because that is where the driver first appears other than the beta releases for it. So that leaves out under the 3,1 I think anything that cannot boot efi64 bit. Hopefully the ROM contained on the card gets posted shortly after release I got my eye on a open box 7950 going for just over $200 I would like to flash to have the boot screen on startup.
 
Wait... Does this mean saphire trixx for mac?
Time to overclock some mac pros? and macbook pros. and iMacs. Assuming it has laptop gpu support.
 
AlexMaximus said:
I absolutely hope you are right Chris, but I dont think so. By making a card that Works in an Apple machine, they have to follow certain rules & regulations. Its like a TierOne supplier or third party agreement. They would not want to cross Apple on that one, I can assure you that.
Click to expand...

Nope, they don't.

AMD handles the drivers, Sapphire makes the card. Apple has nothing to do with it.

(The reason this card is going out through Sapphire is likely because Apple wanted nothing to do with it.)

Anyone can make a card that works in a Mac. There is no licensing program or agreement to go through. In the case of GPUs it's easier because Apple will include whatever drivers AMD tells them to.
 
AlexMaximus said:
Good Point! I am wondering in which Version of the MP the card will work. Remember, every time when Apple releases one of the very rare gpu refresh, they restrict its use to certain models.

What do you think, will it work in a MP 1,1 ? If not, will it work in a 3,1 ??

Will Apple really allow us a "Free-out-of-the-prison-gpu-card" that fits all this time??
Click to expand...

Last I checked, the Apple 5770 and 5870 both work in all Mac Pros.
 
rabidz7 said:
I wish amd would just give downloadable drivers, and not a hard time with osx updates.
Click to expand...

AMD used to have drivers downloadable, not sure why they don't any more.

One possible explanation is that the drivers are linked to the OpenGL ABI in Mac OS X. In some cases, drivers may only be compatible with certain OS X versions anyway.
 
goMac said:
There is no licensing program or agreement to go through. In the case of GPUs it's easier because Apple will include whatever drivers AMD tells them to.
Click to expand...

Pragmatically they need to be a Mac developer. They will need access to the lower level bug submission queues. Also some software is necessary even if early access to new OS X drops to run the early access driver drops AMD/Nvidia might give them to use for development and tracking long term evolution of OS X.

But yes, no heavyweight gating function. If a 3rd party wants to take on support for old, very low volume configs stuck on previous generation OS X version levels they can if they want. It won't be inexpensive but they could.

For 3rd part GPU card vendors though, it doesn't make much sense though to try to swim upstream from what Apple and the basic GPU driver support is aligned with. There are multiple chefs in the "kitchen" here and they aren't the head chef.
 
deconstruct60 said:
Pragmatically they need to be a Mac developer. They will need access to the lower level bug submission queues. Also some software is necessary even if early access to new OS X drops to run the early access driver drops AMD/Nvidia might give them to use for development and tracking long term evolution of OS X.
Click to expand...

They probably do have access to the lower level bug submission queues (as they are sending software upstream to Apple), but that wouldn't be necessary either. I know of plenty of drivers out there from people who do not have low level bug submission queues.

They may also have access to early OS X drops, but again, that's a function of their drivers being included with OS X, not really because they're a GPU driver maker.

deconstruct60 said:
For 3rd part GPU card vendors though, it doesn't make much sense though to try to swim upstream from what Apple and the basic GPU driver support is aligned with. There are multiple chefs in the "kitchen" here and they aren't the head chef.
Click to expand...

Apple doesn't actually have very much control here. I've heard noise about it from Apple before (can royally screw up their testing cycles). AMD and NVidia can do whatever they want with the driver, whenever they want, and include whatever card support they want, and Apple's role is to slipstream the drivers into OS X.

It may not be in AMD's/NVidia's interest to spend time working on cards that Apple isn't shipping, but they sure seem to be doing it, as evidenced by the wide range of cards they're supporting these days.
 
goMac said:
....
It may not be in AMD's/NVidia's interest to spend time working on cards that Apple isn't shipping, but they sure seem to be doing it, as evidenced by the wide range of cards they're supporting these days.
Click to expand...

They'd be suicidal not to be expanding the card options right now.

First, Apple has totally screwed up the Mac Pro product management. There is a substantial opportunity created by Apple falling on their face to sell cards to those "stuck" on this basic 2009-2012 model to significantly move forward on performance based on buying PCI-e GPU card upgrades. Apple selling cards from the 2009 era only opens the door for others to fill that gap.

If Blackmagic and Nvidia can walk in and say
" ... DaVinci Resolve, colorists seek the highest performance possible from their systems, and with just one of the new Kepler GPUs our users will be able to work with 4K imagery on their Mac Pros in real time. ... " by dropping several thousand dollars on their solution to make a current Mac pro a real-time editing bay then why not. If Apple gets screwed for the next couple of years until that user has money to pay for a new base unit then that is Apple's problem. Apple snoozed and lost.

Second, they have to stay in the game to be eligible to land the job of being selected the default for the next Mac Pro. Yeah the other Macs tends to all swing the same way ( all AMD or all Nvidia) this is the one Mac those vendors can keep a foot in the door even if they loose the much larger contract. Given Intel is increasing taking a larger share of the graphics work home, being picky isn't an option. They can keep a subset (if not all) of the driver team active just with filling competitive gaps on Mac Pro if necessary. The expertise on a Mac Pro oriented driver could be used on next's mobile driver also. There is no huge long term downside in staying in the game if Apple is going to continue to buy significant numbers of discrete GPUs.

Everything Apple is doing right now, or lack of doing like shipping, on the Mac Pro is indicative that they "mothballed" the Mac Pro team and now are stumbling around trying to get it restarted. Keeping a team active, even downsized slightly, is generally more competitive than doing what Apple apparently did.

Just because Apple chose to screw up the Mac Pro as a platform for revenue growth doesn't mean their partners need to do the same thing. In fact, taking advantage of Apple screw ups is generally a good place to make money. Apple does screw up. This sub-market is one of the major instances over last 6-8 years.
 
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