[ginop1]

As reported recently on TUAW, and MacRumor, they believe that the upcoming MacBooks will indeed be powered by NVIDIA chipsets. As stated, the move would also prepare Apple’s laptops for the release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard which will allow applications to utilize the more powerful graphics processing units.

I will be purchasing a MacPro in the near future. Would I be better off opting for a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB graphics card (which is $150.00 extra), instead of the standard ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB graphics card?

[angelmb]

Well, I guess this topic may dispel your doubts but I would go for the 8800, I guess twice the GPU RAM would pay off sooner than later.

[Simon]

Definitely check that thread.

In short (as tooki correctly put it): gamers should go for the 8800, OpenGL app users should take the 3870, and everybody else should be fine with the 2600.

[danviento]

As they said in the thread, a person like me using Aperture and 3D modelers would definitely opt for higher VRAM, as I've been planning to do for quite some time in my own upcoming Mac Pro Purchase.

However, see my thread here for further consideration:

http://forums.macnn.com/65/mac-pro-a...d/#post3737374

[CharlesS]

I'd go with ATI. I don't know whether it's the GPU itself or the OS X drivers, but NVidia GPUs are incredibly buggy on Macs. I can't even use Front Row's music playing feature on my MBP with NVidia graphics without the GUI locking up, reproducibly, every time. It's also prone to happening when doing other tasks that involve the GPU, such as running a screensaver, invoking Exposé, etc. You know, real high-end cutting edge stuff.