[tiger]

How well does the 7300 GT perform for a casual game?

I play Age of Empires 3 once in a while and was wondering what the performance difference is between the ATI X1600 and the GeForce 7300 GT if any at all.

Thanks.

[P]

Assuming you mean the X1600 in the 17 and 20" iMacs:

Very minor. The 7300GT is slightly faster in games from ID (Doom and Quake), otherwise they're pretty much the same.

[tiger]

Great, Thanks.

The X1600 in the iMacs is very sluggish... even more so in the MacBook Pros.

I assumed that being a Mac Pro, the graphics card performance would be better. The only other alternative to the 7300 GT in the Mac Pros is the X1900XT which is a very unstable card, screen tears, overheating.... etc.

Hopefully the next Gen. Mac Pro's will have a better card.

[P]

The X1600 in iMacs seems to be downclocked to avoid excessive fan noise - it's a very hot CPU usually.

I haven't heard of the X1900 in the Mac Pro being that unstable, though. I know that it's the hottest thing this side of a Prescott, but the Mac Pro has good cooling.