Friday, June 13th 2008
AMD Intros ATI Radeon HD 3870 for Mac
AMD today announced the new ATI Radeon HD 3870 for Mac & PC Edition, delivering the power to go beyond high-definition visual computing for work and play. Optimized exclusively for Apple Mac Pro systems, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC edition can help drive productivity with built-in 256-bit 512MB GDDR4 frame buffer memory and 320 stream processors to deliver maximum performance for graphics-intensive applications such as 3D modeling, animation and games. Users also can expand visual workspace using twin dual-link DVI ports to connect two 30" Apple Cinema HD displays.
"AMD is introducing the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition to enhance the Mac experience to maximum levels of 3D gaming and HD performance," said Matt Skynner, vice president of marketing, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "Mac users demand the best when it comes to HD graphics performance, and the ATI Radeon 3870 Mac & PC Edition is designed to meet and exceed that need by delivering The Ultimate Visual Experience to our customers' displays."
Delivers More Power for Professional Applications
Superior performance and visual quality make the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition ideal for creative and professional applications on Apple Mac Pro systems, including Aperture, Motion and Final Cut Studio. Users can take advantage of the latest graphics features and drive productivity at an extraordinary price.
Advance to the Next Generation of HD Gaming
ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition takes HD gaming to a whole new level by delivering a superior immersive gaming environment while enhancing overall image quality. The Unified Shader Architecture provides the ultimate in realistic game play experience. With PCI Express 2.0 support, users are now ready for games that demand blisteringly fast throughput. Ultimately, with ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition, Mac users can enjoy a more complete next-generation gaming experience.
Experience Break-through Efficiency
ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series graphics processors have break-through efficiency, with up to twice the processing performance-per-watt compared to previous generations of high-end AMD graphics processors2. AMD also has added its patented ATI PowerPlay technology to the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series to provide increased control over the graphics processor in multiple power states. With PowerPlay technology, users benefit from dynamic adjustment of clocks and voltages depending on their usage scenario, which allows for a cool and quiet user experience.
With a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of USD $219, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition is scheduled to be available late June at leading Mac retailers world-wide.
Source:
AMD
Delivers More Power for Professional Applications
Superior performance and visual quality make the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition ideal for creative and professional applications on Apple Mac Pro systems, including Aperture, Motion and Final Cut Studio. Users can take advantage of the latest graphics features and drive productivity at an extraordinary price.
Advance to the Next Generation of HD Gaming
ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition takes HD gaming to a whole new level by delivering a superior immersive gaming environment while enhancing overall image quality. The Unified Shader Architecture provides the ultimate in realistic game play experience. With PCI Express 2.0 support, users are now ready for games that demand blisteringly fast throughput. Ultimately, with ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition, Mac users can enjoy a more complete next-generation gaming experience.
Experience Break-through Efficiency
ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series graphics processors have break-through efficiency, with up to twice the processing performance-per-watt compared to previous generations of high-end AMD graphics processors2. AMD also has added its patented ATI PowerPlay technology to the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series to provide increased control over the graphics processor in multiple power states. With PowerPlay technology, users benefit from dynamic adjustment of clocks and voltages depending on their usage scenario, which allows for a cool and quiet user experience.
With a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of USD $219, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition is scheduled to be available late June at leading Mac retailers world-wide.
42 Comments on AMD Intros ATI Radeon HD 3870 for Mac
I bought a cheapo 6200 AGP for my PowerMac G4, and flashed it with a modified 6600 BIOS, worked right away, improved performance an awful lot, in fact (that 400MHz G4 was really stressed with the UI and the code it had to run, now everything flies, but the upgrade to a dual 450MHz G4 certainly helped, heheh). I hope we can do this soon, after someone figures out how to write a compatible video BIOS, or when ATi and Nvidia start giving us EFI based video cards for our regular PCs. This should also help bring the prices of Mac cards down.
Oh, and DaedalusHelios, it's more likely to be Adobe's fault that they can't get their products working under x64 properly, but CS2 could already address greater than 2GB of RAM under OS X and Windows, so there's no excuse in the RAM department, while other operations might not stand to gain as much from running under 64-bit, compared to running multi-threaded.
I just wish apple would update the MacBook pros soon....
But AMD releasing a GPU for the mac pros shows intel doesn't have a stranglehold on apple products.
Good to see!
MacBook Pros were released back in feb. Not getting anytime soon. I want new Mac Minis!
nVidia makes GPUs for Apple to.
my guess is that its efi and the like that wont let you use a flashed card with macs..
lifehacker.com/software/hack-attack/build-a-hackintosh-mac-for-under-800-321913.php
EFI certainly does affect it, yes, and part of the increased cost comes from the need to develop a new compatible ROM for the graphics card. Hence the higher cost for the 8800GT as well, and the longer wait until we finally had, and now have, new graphics cards.
EFI will be the norm for our PCs soon, so here's hoping that ATi and Nvidia are prepared with their graphics cards too, but something tells me we'll still be using our current cards with EFI motherboards.
The Mac forums must be going nuts with this, as the 3870 has been wanted for so long for Mac Pros, especially since people have been getting them to work with custom kexts under OS X.
Well, live and learn, didn't realise this:This would make it even easier for a flash, since there's almost no way that ATi will bother changing the EEPROM just to accomodate a different type of BIOS.
The Macbook Pros can be configured similarly to Dell notebooks, but aren't much more expensive, and have a lot of other features that make them better outside of the usual specs (like build quality). As I type this, I'm on a Dell Inspiron 1520 that has a Core 2 Duo processor and an 8600M GT, like the Macbook Pro. It has a 15.4'' screen, except it is much bigger and heavier than a 15.4'' Macbook Pro. This 8600M GT has slower VRAM than the Macbook Pro, older IO ports, and a loud as Hell optical drive.Macs have had Radeons for a while now. Radeons were the only option on iMacs until recently, and are the defaults on Mac Pros. Intel has nothing against AMD graphics cards. Intel has Havok, and Havok is developing the on-GPU physics solution for AMD graphics cards. And AMD Crossfire is supported on Intel chipsets. In a recent ad-video from Intel, they were actually promoting individual Radeon cards.
i'll argue the rest a million times, just stick with the first ones and you're a winner :D
From what I understand, the 8800GT will still outperform the 3870 in 3D apps. But the 8800GT is slow with apps that use Core Animation. I thought this was mostly fixed, though, with the last update.
I'm wondering when OpenGL 3.0 will be finalized, and how that will end up on Mac systems, and how it'll affect the performance of these cards.