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To upgrade or not?
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Athens, Greece
Status:
Offline
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Hello to all!
I'm at a point right now where I'm trying to figure out if I should upgrade my graphics card on my 2006 MacPro.
Currently I have the ATI 1900XT and I'm thinking of buying the ATI 4870.
In all the gaming tests it seems that 4870 beats the hell out of 1900 which is expected.
But just yesterday I ran a cinebench test on a friends machine that has the 4870. His machine is the 8 core 2.88GHz Macpro. And the open GL results weren't impressive at all. He's getting 5257 with the ATI 4870 and I'm getting 5196 with the 1900XT which is extremely close especially considering what a capable card 4870 is. This a speed difference that probably won't be noticeable. And if I factor in my old machine with the slower bus I might not even get the unnoticeable speed difference!!!
Since I don't play any games and I only use my machine for graphics work and on the 3d side only for Cinema4d and the occasional Zbrush I'm wondering if I should invest in the 4870 or leave my machine as is at least on the graphics side.
Can you guys with older machines post some cinebench results with the 4870?
Have you experienced a noticeable speed difference when going from a lesser card (preferebly 1900XT!!) to the 4870 when modelling?
Your answers could save me quite a few bucks so keep the posts coming!!!
Thanks in advance!
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Moderator  Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Status:
Offline
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Depends on when you plan to upgrade your entire computer next. If you want to keep it for a few more years, it might be worth considering, but that model is 3.5 years old already. I'd save the money and start planning for a replacement instead.
In any case, I'd wait for the next MP update, as that tends to bring new graphics cards as well. A 5870 would be a much nicer card.
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: in front of my Mac
Status:
Offline
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Considering how old your MP is it's probably not a good idea to invest too much into upgrading it. But have you considered getting an inexpensive PC version 4890 and flashing it? If you look around a bit you should be able to get that kind of card for about $150. That's potentially a significant upgrade for your MP (depending on what apps you use) without requiring you to invest a lot of money. Better yet, it's very likely you'd be able to migrate that card to a new MP too.
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Athens, Greece
Status:
Offline
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I'm planning on keeping that macpro for at least one more year.
On top of that I would be willing to spend money on my current setup since I could use it as a second machine well after that 1 year. If I'm not seeing though at least a 20% speed bump there's no reason to spend any money for any card.
The previous results I posted showed not even a 10 percent speed bump.
So have you guys seen any improvements after upgrading to a new card?
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