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RooneyX · Apr 14, 2004, 10:34 AM

Apparently almost twice as fast as the Radeon 9800XT!!! Finally Nvidia is back!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04...ia_6800_ultra/

The Placid Casual · Apr 14, 2004, 10:42 AM

Just read the review on Anandtech, impressive indeed.

It was shown to be 1/3 - double faster than the 9800XT in most tests... 8xAGP as well, so should fit into current G5's should it become available.

SouthPaW1227 · Apr 14, 2004, 10:47 AM

Is that Dual-DVI I see??

I broswed the Anandtech review and didn't see a MENTION of that!!! Gamers have been dying for a graphics card not made for workstations w/ dual DVI!

RooneyX · Apr 14, 2004, 12:11 PM

Hopefully Apple will see the sense to install proper graphic cards with decent VRAM and not that nooted 64MBs rubbish. Then Macs will have serious gaming power. Hope a nice mobile version of the 6800 comes out too as I've been mostly a laptop man for a while.

freakboy2 · Apr 14, 2004, 12:14 PM

a mobile version of this card is not very likely. the power requirements are a 480 watt powersupply.

toms hardware did some power drain tests and this card used a few more watts than the radeon 9800xt.

a lower power version for a laptop is probably not gonna happen.

fb

Leonard · 12:58 PM

Originally posted by RooneyX:
Hopefully Apple will see the sense to install proper graphic cards with decent VRAM and not that nooted 64MBs rubbish. Then Macs will have serious gaming power.

Not everyone needs more than 64MB of VRAM. 64MB is more than fine for the average person. Only us serious gamers need 128MB, and Apple provides that in their BTO options.

On the topic of the new Nvidia card, it does look impressive. A lot better performance and supposedly quieter. It does take up the PCI slot next to the AGP and has 2 molex power connectors, but I guess that's what you pay for performance.

The Placid Casual · Apr 14, 2004, 01:05 PM

Originally posted by RooneyX:
Hopefully Apple will see the sense to install proper graphic cards with decent VRAM and not that nooted 64MBs rubbish. Then Macs will have serious gaming power. Hope a nice mobile version of the 6800 comes out too as I've been mostly a laptop man for a while.

The card needs *2* molex connectors to supply enough power, and a 480W PSU... most people will have to change their PSUs to use it!

It takes 2 PCI cards space to make sure there is enough room for the big ass heatsink and fan.

It won't be in a mobile computer any time soon...

djohnson · Apr 14, 2004, 01:36 PM

120W for a GPU is insane... I hope that Apple does not go with this but rather the ATi cards. Anyone see the size of the cooling system on this card??? Forget about putting in a PCI card close to it!!!

RooneyX · Apr 14, 2004, 01:48 PM

Originally posted by Leonard:
Not everyone needs more than 64MB of VRAM. 64MB is more than fine for the average person.

I don't think it is. On dual monitor setups there's a slow down in responsiveness due to QE needing more texture memory. The higher the resolutions the more the slow down with the way GUI APIs are going. And when you're running graphic apps and games on top of that it gets even slower. 128MBs VRAM should really be the minimum for the Powerbook and Power Mac range.

RooneyX · Apr 14, 2004, 01:51 PM

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:

It won't be in a mobile computer any time soon...

Doh. A mobile version shares architectural improvements but doesn't have the same power consumption, number of transistors or the same clock speed. A 6800 Go will come out sooner or later. They just need to make one.

The Placid Casual · Apr 14, 2004, 02:51 PM

Originally posted by RooneyX:
Doh. A mobile version shares architectural improvements but doesn't have the same power consumption, number of transistors or the same clock speed. A 6800 Go will come out sooner or later. They just need to make one.

Judge_Fire · Apr 14, 2004, 02:55 PM

So will this be the last nVidia AGP card before PCI-Express, or was some sort of "dual-release" strategy of both flavors planned for the future?

J

Judge_Fire · Apr 14, 2004, 02:58 PM

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
It takes 2 PCI cards space to make sure there is enough room for the big ass heatsink and fan.

Does this mean I have to re-adjust my SFF Mac dreams

I'm thinking flexible, stretchable materials for the case now... Spandex Cube!?

J

The Placid Casual · Apr 14, 2004, 04:05 PM

Originally posted by Judge_Fire:
So will this be the last nVidia AGP card before PCI-Express, or was some sort of "dual-release" strategy of both flavors planned for the future?

J

There is a 'bridge' section that makes it compatible with PCI-Express... apparantly all nVidia stuff will have this for the next generation or two until PCI-Express becomes fully adopted.

The Placid Casual · Apr 14, 2004, 04:06 PM

Originally posted by Judge_Fire:
Does this mean I have to re-adjust my SFF Mac dreams

I'm thinking flexible, stretchable materials for the case now... Spandex Cube!?

J

I think you could be on to something!!

Spandex cube!? Put me down for 2!!

Eug Wanker · Apr 14, 2004, 04:12 PM

Of course, the Radeon X800 is released in 2 weeks, and the X800 XT in May.

Jansar · Apr 14, 2004, 05:31 PM

Does not having an 8x slot still make it okay to own one of these cards (I have a MDD G4 with a 4x slot)? I currently have a GeForce 4 Ti 4600 with 128MB video RAM, and normally when I enable some options such as anti-aliasing, games definitely slow down quite a bit for me.

The Placid Casual · Apr 15, 2004, 12:15 AM

Originally posted by Jansar:
Does not having an 8x slot still make it okay to own one of these cards (I have a MDD G4 with a 4x slot)? I currently have a GeForce 4 Ti 4600 with 128MB video RAM, and normally when I enable some options such as anti-aliasing, games definitely slow down quite a bit for me.

I suspect you would see little difference with the 6800, maybe a little more headroom but nothing else.