[macgeek2005]

At the US Apple Store, adding AirPort Extreme to a Mac Pro, makes it say "3 to 5 Business days"!.

Anyone who ordered Mac Pro's with the standard video card, and AirPort Extreme, your computers should be shipping very soon!

Report here when they do.

[Oversoul]

Just checked the order status on my CTO with the X1900 XT card -- still no update. :-(

[macgeek2005]

Yeah same here.. I've got the X1900XT, Airport and Bluetooth, and my ship date is September 20th, with delivery on the 27th...

I called apple, and asked them what the holdup is, and the lady knew about as much as a drunken boar. (Why boar? I don't know, so don't ask).

She said "Due to high demand, and because your order is a CTO, it will ship on September 20th or sooner". Then she even called the "Mac Pro" a "MacBook". wtf?

Then she said "We will notify you when it ships". And i'm like "Yeah, I know. I want to know why it's taking so long damn it!".

Anyway yeah, the people working at apple don't know ****.

[mac128k-1984]

The front folks that answer the phones have no clue as to the cause of the hold up.

I got tired of waiting so I cancelled my order and bought a stock model. I figured I could order the X1900xt later. I'm glad I did and I have no regrets the MacPro is an awesome computer.

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by mac128k-1984

The front folks that answer the phones have no clue as to the cause of the hold up.

I got tired of waiting so I cancelled my order and bought a stock model. I figured I could order the X1900xt later. I'm glad I did and I have no regrets the MacPro is an awesome computer.

Man, that makes me wish I had just ordered the stock model. I mean, not stock, but no X1900XT, cause that's what causes the big delay.

*sigh*, oh well. Hopefully the X1900XT will ship by august 30th like some people have said it might...

[mac128k-1984]

The thing that kept bugging me was, my order was stock exccept for the video card and my need was fairly immediate. I've been trying to use aperture in a mini and it was down right painful for some tasks. I finally convinced myself to cancel the order and just pick it up at my local apple store knowing I can order the X1900xt afterwards.

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by mac128k-1984

The thing that kept bugging me was, my order was stock exccept for the video card and my need was fairly immediate. I've been trying to use aperture in a mini and it was down right painful for some tasks. I finally convinced myself to cancel the order and just pick it up at my local apple store knowing I can order the X1900xt afterwards.

I really need to have the X1900XT in my computer from the beginning, because I want to start gaming immedietaly, and I don't want to either A. have to wait, or B. play some games with the 7300GT... blah, it's just too messy.

[MovieCutter]

You have some f***ed up priorities. That being said, I'm gaming quite happily on my MP right now with the 7300 while I wait for my 1900 to ship. Solid performance in COD 2 and Oblivion, MUCH better than my 20" Intel iMac with 256MB GPU. Good enough to hold me over anyway. And Final Cut Studio is SO F***IN FAST!!!

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by MovieCutter

You have some f***ed up priorities. That being said, I'm gaming quite happily on my MP right now with the 7300 while I wait for my 1900 to ship. Solid performance in COD 2 and Oblivion, MUCH better than my 20" Intel iMac with 256MB GPU. Good enough to hold me over anyway. And Final Cut Studio is SO F***IN FAST!!!

How can that be? The 7300GT has 8 Pixel Pipelines. The Radeon X1600 has 12.......

And, at what resolution are you playing? I'll be playing at 1920x1200......

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by MovieCutter

You have some f***ed up priorities. That being said, I'm gaming quite happily on my MP right now with the 7300 while I wait for my 1900 to ship. Solid performance in COD 2 and Oblivion, MUCH better than my 20" Intel iMac with 256MB GPU. Good enough to hold me over anyway. And Final Cut Studio is SO F***IN FAST!!!

And you're only paying an extra $500. What a steal…on their end.

[MovieCutter]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

And you're only paying an extra $500. What a steal…on their end.

Actually, more like $350...for me that is. And I'm playing at about 1600x1200 or 1920x1200�on my 30", depending on the game. I don't need 300 fps. But it's at least enjoyable until I get the big dog into the system. Can't explain why the iMac is slower. In COD2 especially. I ran the same res with the same settings and it was no contest. Really good gaming vs. incredibly aswesome gaming is better than no gaming at all. I just needed to get my machine sooner than 5 weeks so I can pay it off with a project I'm just finished with it.

[Chuckit]

Even with an edu discount, the x1900 XT upgrade kit is $450. Are you Steve's kid or something?

[MovieCutter]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

Even with an edu discount, the x1900 XT upgrade kit is $450. Are you Steve's kid or something?

No, but employees get a 25% discount on hardware, sometimes a bit more...

[macgeek2005]

Well, tommorow marks 3 weeks from the Mac Pro's release date. The X1900XT said 3 to 5 weeks, from the beginning.

Can anyone who has ordered a X1900XT in their machine, check something for me?

Go into your order status, click "View order details", and then click "Cancel items".

Do any of you have a Mac Pro with the X1900XT that can no longer be canceled?

[derekn]

Nothing here, so my MacPros not being built or anything. Same dates too, estimated September 19th ship date, 21st arrival. Guess we'll just have to wait for the 30th (with a couple of days thrown on maybe), then see if any ship out.

[macgeek2005]

Mine is still cancelable as well.... Hopefully they'll start building mine tommorow!

[derekn]

Well if they do, let us know. Any idea which game you'll try first? I'm going to throw Quake IV on just to throw the settings to Extreme and see how well it does. I'm cautiously optimistic I won't get any dropped frames. LOL

[macgeek2005]

Doom 3 is harder to handel than quake 4, believe it or not.

I think I'll do Doom 3 first. I'll set it to Ultra Quality at 1920x1200, everything else maxed out, and run the timedemo..... I don't wanna be too optomistic, so i'm guessing i'll get an average of about 35 or 40fps. Which is perfectly fine for gameplay.....

Then i'll do Quake 4, although I haven't gotten the timedemo to work with that one, but I can check the framerates in gameplay.

Call of Duty 2 will be a piece of cake for it. I can't wait to see that game played on my 23" Cinema Display, looking so brilliant at max settings!!! It'll look like an Xbox 360!!! Oh man, I can't wait!!!

Okay, must calm down. I'm flipping out, lol.

I'm hoping that when I wake up tommorow morning, I can't cancel my order anymore....

[derekn]

Yeah saw that on the MacPro Graphics paget at Apple, I just like the gameplay in Quake IV better. LOL Might try Doom 3 too but I'm not sure.

Oh yeah me too, I've tried COD 2 on my dual 1.8 G5 (Radeon 9800 SE), my Dads 2.1Ghz MacBook Pro and the 1.66 Mini I'm using now. Needless to say, the MBP kicked everythings ass, so I can't wait until I put it on the MacPro. if I put any of the settings over the default on the G5, it stuttered pretty bad on the Pointe Du Hoc mission once I climbed the rope, it was unplayable.

Calm down. LOL Yeah ditto, I just want to see these things shipping so we know some progress is being made.

You going to take the Windows plunge to play some games? I'd prefer to use Crossover if possible, but I think I'd be willing to try Windows.

[macgeek2005]

Well since i'm flat broke right now (due to the purchase of the Mac Pro), and I don't own any PC games, I won't be installing windows right away. I also would like to wait until apple fixes all the problems with it....

Where on apple's website can you see gameplay of Quake 4?

[derekn]

Yeah that's my only worry, the slow serial ATA performance.

Well not gameplay but the tests they ran on a 3Ghz MacPro with an X1900, 7300 and 4500:
Apple - Mac Pro - Graphics

They have framerates from Doom III and Quake IV at 1280x1024 on High settings. That's what really sold me on the X1900, QIV or Doom III, the 7300 just gets buried. Be interesting if Aspyr ends up using the multi-threaded OpenGL on the MacPros (got 4 cores, might as well use 'em!).

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by derekn

Yeah that's my only worry, the slow serial ATA performance.

Well not gameplay but the tests they ran on a 3Ghz MacPro with an X1900, 7300 and 4500:
Apple - Mac Pro - Graphics

They have framerates from Doom III and Quake IV at 1280x1024 on High settings. That's what really sold me on the X1900, QIV or Doom III, the 7300 just gets buried. Be interesting if Aspyr ends up using the multi-threaded OpenGL on the MacPros (got 4 cores, might as well use 'em!).

106fps at High Quality/1280x1024????? That's terrible!!

Much worse than I expected!

What about Ultra Quality/1920x1200? What am I gonna get? 10, maybe 20fps?

[derekn]

I think tha 35-40 you mentioned is a good ballpark estimate. Won't really know until the systems start shipping though, the 106fps doesn't seem too bad though.

Just for comparions sake, barefeats ran some tests with the stock 7300 in 2.6 and 3Ghz MacPros:
3D Games on the Mac Pro

27 and 28 frames at 1920x1200 at high settings. I'm sure you'll be fine with the X1900, if not, we'll just have to be a bit patient and wait for the full optimizations (both from Aspyr and Apple).

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by derekn

I think tha 35-40 you mentioned is a good ballpark estimate. Won't really know until the systems start shipping though, the 106fps doesn't seem too bad though.

Just for comparions sake, barefeats ran some tests with the stock 7300 in 2.6 and 3Ghz MacPros:
3D Games on the Mac Pro

27 and 28 frames at 1920x1200 at high settings. I'm sure you'll be fine with the X1900, if not, we'll just have to be a bit patient and wait for the full optimizations (both from Aspyr and Apple).

oh wow! I'll be getting at LEAST 40fps with the x1900..... Thanks!

[derekn]

No Problem. Yeah, not sure what will happen if you throw on 4x FSAA or something, but since these cards are geared for these kinds of games, they should run fine.

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by derekn

No Problem. Yeah, not sure what will happen if you throw on 4x FSAA or something, but since these cards are geared for these kinds of games, they should run fine.

What's FSAA? I know what AA is.... Anti-Ailiasing. What's FSAA?

Does it actually make a difference in what the game looks like? When I played Quake 4 on my G4 tower with a Radeon 9800 Pro, I could've turned on AA if I wanted too, but I couldn't see a difference, so I figured, why should I do it?

[derekn]

FSAA is Full Scene Anti-Aliasing.

Yeah it can be hard to see, I guess if you want the explosions to look better or something it could help. LOL The Macintouch review has a couple of Doom III screenshots and unless you're going to be checking every frame, you probably won't notice.

Here's the link if you want to read it though, pretty extensive:
http://www.macintouch.com/reviews/macpro/

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by derekn

FSAA is Full Scene Anti-Aliasing.

Yeah it can be hard to see, I guess if you want the explosions to look better or something it could help. LOL The Macintouch review has a couple of Doom III screenshots and unless you're going to be checking every frame, you probably won't notice.

Here's the link if you want to read it though, pretty extensive:
http://www.macintouch.com/reviews/macpro/

They say that theres awful "Tearing" in gameplay.

edit: Nevermind, that's just with the 7300GT....

[derekn]

Yup, granted the ATI drivers might have the same issue, but hopefully not. LOL And I hope those Halo tearing issues are fixed in the UB release.

[macgeek2005]

Damn it to hell. What can be taking them so long with these stupid ATI cards?

Hey, I have news for everyone.

Mine is shipping tommorow!

[derekn]

Mine is shipping when Apple decides I've waited long enough and grabs one out of the warehouse which is loaded to brim with OEM MacPro X1900s. LOL

There's really nothing we can do, checking the status every half hour isn't going to speed it up. Get out, take a walk, do something and just be patient or just do what I'm doing which is transition readiness stuff. Getting install CDs and DVDs ready, writing down what will need updating, getting the extra hard drives I have removed and into anti-static bags. Apple will ship them (hopefully around the 30th like that posting at the macrumors forum says) soon.

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by derekn

Mine is shipping when Apple decides I've waited long enough and grabs one out of the warehouse which is loaded to brim with OEM MacPro X1900s. LOL

There's really nothing we can do, checking the status every half hour isn't going to speed it up. Get out, take a walk, do something and just be patient or just do what I'm doing which is transition readiness stuff. Getting install CDs and DVDs ready, writing down what will need updating, getting the extra hard drives I have removed and into anti-static bags. Apple will ship them (hopefully around the 30th like that posting at the macrumors forum says) soon.

Well it's a little different for me. I have 2 external hard drives full of stuff, waiting for the Mac Pro, so that I can dump all the stuff onto the Internal hard drives, and as soon as the Mac Pro ships, i'm ordering a Seagate Barraccuda 320GB 7200.10 hard drive from Newegg.

I'm also ordering my 23" ACD as soon as the Mac Pro begins being built.... so i'm kind of restless because of that...

With tommorow being exactly 3 weeks from the announcement day, and also being a week day, I feel a glimer of hope for some sign of life from apple tommorow....

[derekn]

Yeah I felt the same way last Monday. LOL Hopefully this will be the week.

[macgeek2005]

Do you know if I can change the hard drive size in my computer, by calling Apple?

I want to change the 250GB to a 160GB.....

[derekn]

I responded over at macrumors.com (kered22) to that. LOL I'll respond here too though. You can add an item by calling, so I'm guessing you can alter an item like a hard drive too. You'll have to wait and see when you call them tomorrow though.

[macgeek2005]

hahaha, we're the same people, talking in different forums! I love it!

[derekn]

LOL Slightly altered name here (well okay it's just backwards at macrumors LOL), but yes.

[macgeek2005]

My order is still cancelable... and it's 7:12AM, monday morning..

[notehead]

Dudes, I ordered my 3ghz Mac Pro (with X1900 and wireless options) literally within the first hour that the Apple Store was re-opened following the official announcement of their existence. My ship date has been 9/12 since then and the order can still be cancelled as of 3PM Monday. Alas.

A few days ago I had to encode a dvd disc image in iDVD for a 57-minute video project. Took about 3.5 hours with my Quicksilver G4, which has a dual 1.2ghz Sonnet card in it. I'm absolutely dying to see how long the same encoding takes with the new machine!

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by notehead

Dudes, I ordered my 3ghz Mac Pro (with X1900 and wireless options) literally within the first hour that the Apple Store was re-opened following the official announcement of their existence. My ship date has been 9/12 since then and the order can still be cancelled as of 3PM Monday. Alas.

A few days ago I had to encode a dvd disc image in iDVD for a 57-minute video project. Took about 3.5 hours with my Quicksilver G4, which has a dual 1.2ghz Sonnet card in it. I'm absolutely dying to see how long the same encoding takes with the new machine!

My order is no longer cancelable, but it went through a bit of an ordeal, so I don't know whether that's legit or not.

After a hassle with the people at apple.com, about changing my hard drive size, they rewarded me by upgrading me to overnight shipping for free, but my ship date also moved back 6 days, to september 26th. However, the order is now uncancelable......

[mac128k-1984]

Originally Posted by macgeek2005

but my ship date also moved back 6 days, to september 26th. However, the order is now uncancelable......

In the past when you called apple to change an existing order that action caused you to basically go back to the end of the line.

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by mac128k-1984

In the past when you called apple to change an existing order that action caused you to basically go back to the end of the line.

Yes exactly. However, the dumb bitch on the phone told me that my ship date would remain the same, if I changed the order.

I explained this to the Manager, and he rewarded me for the inconvenience, with overnight shipping.

However. I personally believe that as soon as apple has the X1900XT available in large quantities, they will begin shipping out all these orders, and whether i'm at the back or the front at this point will make a difference of one of two days.

That's why my order cannot be canceled now, because it's going to ship soon.

[derekn]

Originally Posted by notehead

Dudes, I ordered my 3ghz Mac Pro (with X1900 and wireless options) literally within the first hour that the Apple Store was re-opened following the official announcement of their existence. My ship date has been 9/12 since then and the order can still be cancelled as of 3PM Monday. Alas.

A few days ago I had to encode a dvd disc image in iDVD for a 57-minute video project. Took about 3.5 hours with my Quicksilver G4, which has a dual 1.2ghz Sonnet card in it. I'm absolutely dying to see how long the same encoding takes with the new machine!

It's gonna be FAST... I can tell you that. LOL I've done DVDs with lengths of about 2 hours 30 minutes (saved to a DL disc image, then compressed and burned to DVD in Toast 7) and that video with the title stuff and background picture takes about an hour and 20 minutes or so to encode on my dual 1.8Ghz G5. So I'm pretty sure the Xeon will outperform that, it better.

[gkorsgard]

I got the base system. The only thing I added was Airport and Bluetooth. Also, I ordered the afternoon the Apple Store was backup. We will see tomorrow.

[phantomdragonz]

made an order yesterday with BT +AP and x1900xt ship date is LATE september, says i wont get it till early october...

I REALLY REALLY hope I dont have to wait that long... I am about to sell my current mac to help defray the costs... I really dont want to use a PC for a month... it's not a bad PC amd 64/gig ram/6600gt... but it can only run windows!!!

Zach

[macgeek2005]

Well, I was getting sick of the wait, so I called apple and took the X1900XT out of my computer, and ordered the upgrade kit seperatly.

Is there anything I should know about upgrading the video card myself? I know it needs to plug into the power supply.... is that going to be tough? Is there an available power cable in the area?

Thanks

Oh, by the way, my ship date/delivery date is now September 8th/11th. The guy said it'll probably ship sooner than that.

[derekn]

Originally Posted by macgeek2005

Is there anything I should know about upgrading the video card myself? I know it needs to plug into the power supply.... is that going to be tough? Is there an available power cable in the area?

If you go by here (this is the gallery that blakespot posted over at macrumors) :
My Mac Pro

And check the pics labelled "a look inside" and "another view", in particular the second one though. Follow the #4 slot straight back and you see that little open space with the black connector inside? According to the service manual, the power cord for the video cards (X1900 or 4500) plug into there. The cords included with the card BTW, you're supposed to plug it into the card first, slide the card in, then plug it into that power connector. Hopefully once you get the Pro itself and the card, it'll be easier to make out, I know it's a bit hard in the pics (even a bit hard in the service manual).

[phantomdragonz]

I would do that, but I am getting a AMAZING deal on the mac... I signed up to become a student developer, so I only get a one time discount... although the edu price is the same as the ADC price for the vid upgrade... but I am saving $150 by waiting on my mac... JUST for the video card... so I guess I will wait... I just dont want to!!! PLEASE GET IT TO ME BEFORE OCTOBER! that is all!

Zach

[macgeek2005]

Originally Posted by derekn

If you go by here (this is the gallery that blakespot posted over at macrumors) :
My Mac Pro

And check the pics labelled "a look inside" and "another view", in particular the second one though. Follow the #4 slot straight back and you see that little open space with the black connector inside? According to the service manual, the power cord for the video cards (X1900 or 4500) plug into there. The cords included with the card BTW, you're supposed to plug it into the card first, slide the card in, then plug it into that power connector. Hopefully once you get the Pro itself and the card, it'll be easier to make out, I know it's a bit hard in the pics (even a bit hard in the service manual).

Thanks. I don't quite see how a cable would plug into that black area, from that picture. But like you said, it'll make more sense in real life.

Weird question, but would you reccommend laying the tower down on it's side to do the upgrade, or keep it standing up, and have to insert the card on a horizontal angle?

Also, on the 7300GT, do you know which DVI port is the single link, and which is the dual link? Which one should I plug my 23" ACD into?

[derekn]

Originally Posted by macgeek2005

Weird question, but would you reccommend laying the tower down on it's side to do the upgrade, or keep it standing up, and have to insert the card on a horizontal angle?

Also, on the 7300GT, do you know which DVI port is the single link, and which is the dual link? Which one should I plug my 23" ACD into?

Yes, one user recommended that for installing RAM. He tried to take out the risers and put them back in with the tower standing and it was really hard. So best way if there is going to be a lot of pushing or pulling is on it's side.

Hmm.. hard to say, shouldn't really matter though since the display is only 23".