AMD Scores Key Design Win on Apple Products, New iMac & Mac Pro Powered by ATI Radeon

[btarunr]

AMD announced that Apple has selected the world renowned ATI Radeon graphics solutions for the new line of Apple iMac and Mac Pro tower. Now featured in Apple Stores as well as online retail, ATI Radeon graphics offer outstanding power and performance as the standard configuration for the new iMac and Mac Pro tower which will hit store shelves soon.

"Apple buyers demand the best, and AMD's award-winning ATI Radeon graphics enable exceptional visual experiences for iMac users," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice- president and general manager, GPU division, AMD. "AMD has conducted extensive testing and research to create superior graphics products for the iMac. This research is designed to dramatically enhance the Mac-user experience so that Apple users can enjoy responsive performance and play the newest games."



The high-performance ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card features 1GB of GDDR5 memory from AMD and enables blistering fast Mac Pro graphics technology. Ideal for motion graphics, 3D modeling, rendering, or animation, the card comes standard; for more demanding tasks purchasers can upgrade to ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics.

iMac Games on ATI Radeon HD graphics

• ATI Radeon graphics solutions offer feature rich graphics performance enabling an immersive, life-like gaming experience while playing HD content with incredible visual fidelity.
• ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics are available in the new 27" iMac.
• ATI Radeon HD 5650 graphics are available in the new 22" and 27" iMac.
• ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics are available in the new 22" iMac

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Easo]

Any chance they will be cheaper cause of ATI cards? Guess no...

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Would ya look at that. Apple is finally offering decent graphic performance in their systems. Previously, the best they could do was quad 8500 GTs--what a joke.


I bet the reason why they are going AMD instead of NVIDIA is because of heat. Mac computers have very, very limited cooling capacity. The 5870 is a $400 card by itself so no, probably won't be any cheaper than Apple's typical rip off prices.

 

[wiak]

i bet the MAC versions will cost upto 25% or more why? the apple tax lulz
other than that another AMD win, AMD is on a roll!

 

[de.das.dude]

holy effing balls shit!!! Ati cards are gonna cost a fortune now!!!

 

[filip007]

MAC do just OGL so don't really matters, just the best stable counts.

 

[wiak]

holy effing balls shit!!! Ati cards are gonna cost a fortune now!!!

dude AMD will make one version for PC and one version for MAC just like before, the MAC version will just cost MORE due to apple tax, the PC version wont change and wont even change name
like 3870 for MAC
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...3870-mac-pc/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-3800-mac.aspx

 

[the_wolf88]

Great News for AMD !

I think Apple in the near future will shift to AMD platform entirely ! Because after Apple change to Intel processors a lot of users were able to hack mac and install it on non Apple machines !

Shifting to AMD will enables them to lock their grip on their machines because AMD have a fully platform consists of CPU+Chipset+GPU = Full control by Apple !

 

[TheMailMan78]

Great News for AMD !

I think Apple in the near future will shift to AMD platform entirely ! Because after Apple change to Intel processors a lot of users were able to hack mac and install it on non Apple machines !

Shifting to AMD will enables them to lock their grip on their machines because AMD have a fully platform consists of CPU+Chipset+GPU = Full control by Apple !

Doubt it.

Anyway I cringe when I think of the price of the 5870 at Apple prices.

 

[newtekie1]

“Apple buyers demand the best..."

iMac Games on ATI Radeon HD graphics

• ATI Radeon graphics solutions offer feature rich graphics performance enabling an immersive, life-like gaming experience while playing HD content with incredible visual fidelity.
• ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics are available in the new 27” iMac.
• ATI Radeon HD 5650 graphics are available in the new 22” and 27” iMac.
• ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics are available in the new 22” iMac

I just found that funny. They "demand" the best, yet have to settle for mid-range, and not even the best of the mid-range...

I think it is more like "Apple buyers will use whatever the hell we tell them to, and they will argue to the death with anyone that says it isn't the best."

 

[Anarchy0110]

AMD FTW !!! That's all. I'm delighted with that news

 

[CH@NO]

I just found that funny. They "demand" the best, yet have to settle for mid-range, and not even the best of the mid-range...

I think it is more like "Apple buyers will use whatever the hell we tell them to, and they will argue to the death with anyone that says it isn't the best."

LOL yeah, +1 to that.

I couple of mates fits in that description.

 

[kirtar]

I just found that funny. They "demand" the best, yet have to settle for mid-range, and not even the best of the mid-range...

I think it is more like "Apple buyers will use whatever the hell we tell them to, and they will argue to the death with anyone that says it isn't the best."

I don't know how much you can really put into an all-in-one without running into heat issues.

 

[newtekie1]

I don't know how much you can really put into an all-in-one without running into heat issues.

I understand that, but don't go on about how your users demand the best as the reasoning behind using ATi Radeons, and then not offer the best card available.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Ive heard...that you can take the PC version of a graphics card & flash it with the bios from the Mac version and it would work on the MAC as the hardware is exactly identical.

who knows anyway...I havent tired it before

 

[KainXS]

you can I flashed my 4890 so I could fix my friends mac, you need the EFI rom for the card, then flashed it back when I was done to put back in my pc.

 

[pantherx12]

I understand that, but don't go on about how your users demand the best as the reasoning behind using ATi Radeons, and then not offer the best card available.

Only in Imacs, it be like getting a proper 5870 in a laptop. ( the 5870m is a 5770)

They offer 5870s in their Macpro line.

By the way, I hate apple

 

[newtekie1]

Only in Imacs, it be like getting a proper 5870 in a laptop. ( the 5870m is a 5770)

They offer 5870s in their Macpro line.

By the way, I hate apple

Yes, and if their design decision means they have to use laptop cards, again don't go on about users demanding the best, because those aren't the best.

And why no HD5970 in the MacPro? Where is the best?(Granted, there probably isn't crossfire drivers for Macs.)

 

[pantherx12]

Fairly sure that IS the best you can get for that form factor.

As for 5970, reckon you've hit the nail on the head, no crossfire drivers for Mac yet.

I only ever see multiple nvidia cards as an option not ATI cards ( I sometimes check out the Mac website to see just how little I can spend e-building a system that pwns the shit out of their systems te he)

 

[NC37]

Actually some of the hottest running iMacs ever had ATI boards. Ones with higher failure rates too. But this was mostly due to Apple cramming hotter running chips into machines already burdened with other high end parts. This gen we are only seeing up to 5750. Why 5770 was excluded is likely because Apple learned from the past high failure rates of how much the design could really take. Likely Apple went all ATI this round because NV doesn't have all their 4 series parts in order yet.

Apple jumps from maker to maker often so this really isn't like an exclusivity agreement. If NV would have had its act together, you'd prolly have seen some NV parts used.

Apple users really aren't the only stupid ones when it comes to using low end hardware. If the general PC user had half a brain, Intel wouldn't be in the GPU business. Apple used to use Intel only graphics early on in the switch. I warned people not to buy them but in a frenzy they did anyways. Short time later, everyone comes crying that they can't run their apps on GMA crap chips. Think 2 gens later, Apple dumps GMA out of their low ends then makes a fuss about low end users finally getting the basic performance they wanted. Pretty obvious ppl were not wanting Intel and Apple heeded that.

Sadly Apple is well known for not using the best graphics tech possible when available, which is odd when they use such higher end CPUs. For being a company that was so heavy in graphics and artists, they really don't give them the best tools to work with.

 

[pantherx12]

For being a company that was so heavy in graphics and artists, they really don't give them the best tools to work with.

Aye I've always found that as well, I always suggest to people who are doing art/media to not just grab a mac because its industry standard and looking at a PC of the same price ( normally shit tons more horse power)

But people just insist XD

Never mind eh!

 

[damric]

Noobs that buy apples don't know the difference anyway.

 

[runevirage]

ATI radeon graphics solutions offer feature rich graphics performance enabling an immersive, life-like gaming experience while playing hd content with incredible visual fidelity.

ATI radeon hd 5750 graphics are available in the new 27” imac.

 

[timta2]

dude AMD will make one version for PC and one version for MAC just like before, the MAC version will just cost MORE due to apple tax, the PC version wont change and wont even change name

Just wanted to point out that technically this isn't an "Apple Tax" as much as it is an "AMD Tax". AMD (ATI) and Nvidia have stated their justification for charging more for the Apple versions is that they have to pay programmers to code the drivers and Mac bios versions.

From what I understand the term "Apple Tax" applies to Apple products. Since these video cards are made by AMD and Nvidia, the term doesn't apply.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

Well they wouldn't need to create new "special" drivers for Apple if they would be so up tight about controlling everything about everything. I get why they do it and in shows in the quality work they do with design, implementation, and UI (which is honestly a little too simple at times).

Setting that all aside, the reason this is an "Apple tax" and why the term applies to non-Apple hardware is because they are going to write the drivers with AMD/ATI's help, because they don't want a 3rd party writing drivers for their stuff. I think that senario is backwards. Why can't they just test and certify the drivers like Windows does. Why does it have to be re-engineered from the ground up using Apple based code and software? They did it to Nvidia and is the primary reason why the cards run at 25% power when Valve ported over Steam. I hope they have worked out that kink by now, cause that was just plain bad all around. Valve, Apple, and Nvidia dropped the ball on that one.

Well I hope that Valve, ATI, and Apple will remember to test the system before releasing it to the public or people will be back in the same $^it creek again.