[kevs]

I just got a new 1.8 dual G5. It comes with nvidia ge force fx 5200 card.

I don't know too much about cards, so I want to ask. For someone who has 2 monitor set up, and uses PHotoshop, and sometimes Final Cut pro, as well as web, office etc...

would there be any great advantage to have a better card, and if so why, and what card would be recommended thanks!

[tooki]

For most purposes other than gaming, the card you have is perfectly fine.

The only program other than games that I can think of that benefits from a faster card is Apple's Motion video animation program.

The next version of Mac OS X will make much more use of the graphics card, but most programs will not make use of those functions.

So unless you're a gamer or plan to use Motion, I'd say you're fine. You can always upgrade in a year or two, by which time even faster cards will exist for the same money.

tooki

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by tooki:

The next version of Mac OS X will make much more use of the graphics card, but most programs will not make use of those functions.
tooki

Quartz 2D Extreme is on by default and doesn't require the programmer to do anything to use it (at least as I understand it). FX5200 is supported though, so I can't see much point in upgrading for a while.

[P]

Originally posted by Catfish_Man:
Quartz 2D Extreme is on by default and doesn't require the programmer to do anything to use it (at least as I understand it). FX5200 is supported though, so I can't see much point in upgrading for a while.

tooki is (I hope!) talking about CoreImage, a new set of APIs coming in Panther that will let the developer offload certain image manipulations onto the shaders of modern graphics boards. To what extent existing apps will use this is unclear - if they rely on existing APIs that are updated to take advantage of CoreImage, then they will get it for free, but this will probably be the exception.

And to be completely clear, the 5200, Ultra or not, is fully supported by both Quartz Extreme and CoreImage.

[macaddict0001]

actually it has to be ultra

[Lateralus]

It doesn't really matter since Apple has not shipped a non-Ultra variant in their desktops.

[Leonard]

Originally posted by P:
tooki is (I hope!) talking about CoreImage, a new set of APIs coming in Panther that will let the developer offload certain image manipulations onto the shaders of modern graphics boards. To what extent existing apps will use this is unclear - if they rely on existing APIs that are updated to take advantage of CoreImage, then they will get it for free, but this will probably be the exception.

And to be completely clear, the 5200, Ultra or not, is fully supported by both Quartz Extreme and CoreImage.

CoreImage is coming in Tiger not Panther. Most of us are on Panther (10.3.x) right now.

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by P:
tooki is (I hope!) talking about CoreImage, a new set of APIs coming in Panther that will let the developer offload certain image manipulations onto the shaders of modern graphics boards. To what extent existing apps will use this is unclear - if they rely on existing APIs that are updated to take advantage of CoreImage, then they will get it for free, but this will probably be the exception.

And to be completely clear, the 5200, Ultra or not, is fully supported by both Quartz Extreme and CoreImage.

I'm well aware of CoreImage. I was just stating that the graphics card will be used more extensively in Tiger whether developers take advantage of CoreImage or not. Also note that Quartz Extreme and Quartz 2D Extreme are not the same thing. I wish Apple would come up with some naming that wasn't so easily confused.

[tooki]

Originally posted by P:
tooki is (I hope!) talking about CoreImage, a new set of APIs coming in Panther that will let the developer offload certain image manipulations onto the shaders of modern graphics boards.

Indeed I was.

tooki