[danengel]

Hi,

I just wonder if the graphics card in the new 1 GHz PowerMac, the GeForce 4MX with 64 MB DDR SRAM is fine for gaming. FPS, I mean.

Upgrading to ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 64 MB is cheap, would that be worth the money?

BTW I think that the 1 GHz PowerMac has just the specs I expected for a new iMac.

[Commodus]

I would definitely spring for as fast a video card as you can get, and while the GF4 MX isn't horrible it also isn't going to last too long. The Radeon 9000 Pro is a bit faster and has pixel shaders (necessary if you want all the visual effects in games like Doom 3), so it may be the best option if you want your system to last awhile but without putting a larger dent in your budget.

If you can manage it, though, by all means get a Radeon 9700 Pro. It'll be expensive, but it's dramatically faster in 3D games and should make you pretty happy.

[derekn]

If you can get a Radeon 9000 or higher go for it. I got a dual 867 with the stock 4MX with 32 megs of RAM and it's.... BARELY satisfactory. LOL MOH needs to be cut back big time to run well, same with Ghost Recon and SOF2. Jedi Knight is okay, Quake III, UT etc are okay too. With 64 megs of RAM it should be better, but if you can get better, go for it.

[pity]

I have a 933 Mhz G4 that came with the Nvidia 4mx card. It was very nice playing all games, MOH, jedi soldier of fortune BUT the ATI 8500 Radeon was actually a little faster and ran soldier of fortune much better than the 4mx card.
I got it at mac mall for 179.00. It is a better card than the 9000 radeon also.
If you can wait for the 9700 ATI

[Simon]

All I can tell you is that my GF4MX does 80-85fps on UT just fine. This is on a dual 867MHz DDR PowerMac, i.e. my 4MX only has 32MB RAM whereas the 4MX used now has 64MB.

If you have the cash and you're a heavy gamer I'd get a superior card with longer life.

[D'Espice]

There's really only one question: How much is it worth to you to have a bit more fps? The GeForce 4MX is clearly enough for todays games and 3D applications, as long as you don't expect mind-blowing performance and are fine with decreasing the level of detail or resolution from time to time.

If you're a heavy gamer, the Radeon 9000 would be better, the Radeon 8500 would be a bit better than the 9000 and the best gaming card would be the nVidia GeForce4 Ti4600 MAC Edition.
If you can, wait for the Radeon 9700 though because that card seriously kicks a$$!

[danengel]

If I get the 1 GHz now, is it possible to upgrade the video card in, say, two years? Or would it be better to get the Dual 1.25 GHz now? I'm thinking long-term (is that English?), so it should last three years.

[D'Espice]

Originally posted by danengel:
If I get the 1 GHz now, is it possible to upgrade the video card in, say, two years? Or would it be better to get the Dual 1.25 GHz now with? I'm thinking long-term (is that English?), so it should last three years.

I see that your English ain't perfect so let's do it this way:

Ja, du kannst auch im Nachhinein die Grafikkarte austauschen. Alles was du machen musst, ist einfach eine entsprechende Grafikkarte die für Macintosh ist kaufen, alte ausbauen und neue einbauen. Ist eine Sache von weniger als fünf Minuten.
Vermutlich wäre das Warten auch die beste Lösung, bis in einem oder zwei Jahren wird die Radeon 9700 bereits billiger sein und lohnt sich dann gewiß. Für's Erste reicht eine GeForce4 MX locker aus.

[CheesePuff]

Since the Dual 1.25 GHz is only $500 more (I know thats a lot, but you get a lot in return), I would go for the Dual.

[danengel]

Originally posted by CheesePuff:
Since the Dual 1.25 GHz is only $500 more (I know thats a lot, but you get a lot in return), I would go for the Dual.

I wonder if for everyday tasks (some calculations, iTunes in the background, some gaming) a dual makes a difference. I also heard they're quite noisy.

[Commodus]

danengel:

That's the "old" 1.25 GHz systems, not the new ones. Any of the new systems should be relatively quiet.

[D'Espice]

Should be, Could be, Would be, NONE! I would wait until you can tell for sure whether they are quiet or not. Nobody has got a new 1.25 GHz PowerMac yet, they're supposed to ship during the first days of Feb, probably around the 4th or 5th.
Until somebody has one of these and can directly compare it to the old 1.25 GHz MDD I would not believe anything Apple (or whoever because it wasn't Apple saying that the new one is quiet, was it?) says.