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Skip Breakfast · Jan 11, 2005, 06:09 PM

Your right it isn't being debated but i still think they make the drivers now that we got the cards settled.

Macaddict, your lack of punctuation and run-on sentences in every single post is driving me crazy.

Skip Breakfast · Jan 11, 2005, 06:24 PM

double post

dabigdawg · Jan 11, 2005, 07:12 PM

Apple license the chipsets

nVidia only makes reference boards and reference drivers

most OEM companies to my understaanding modify drivers (within specs regulated by nVidia ) to suit their needs or just use the reference drivers

So - Apple manf boards or contracts someone to do so and the drivers are done by both nVidia and Apple, to my recollection from when I tested video drivers for PC.

macaddict0001 · Jan 11, 2005, 08:50 PM

Originally posted by Skip Breakfast:
Macaddict, your lack of punctuation and run-on sentences in every single post is driving me crazy.

Sorry I have really bad grammar, as of this post I will try to improve.

Turnpike · Jan 12, 2005, 02:39 AM

Originally posted by awcopus:
Dual G5 2.5 with 6GB RAM and the X800 on the way.

Lucky bastard

....

I can't think of anything else. But... wow.

a2daj · 06:16 AM

Apple does the bulk of the work for the NVIDIA drivers. NVIDIA did the OS 9 drivers. Apple started the OS X drivers and now NVIDIA is a little more involved in the OS X process. My source? Various posts from developers and even job listings over the years.

awcopus · Jan 12, 2005, 11:25 AM

Originally posted by Turnpike:
Lucky bastard
....

I can't think of anything else. But... wow.

I work for myself. Right now business is good and I'm a lucky bastard who can afford a great editing kit from Apple. I've been an unlucky bastard stretching an older Apple kit to its limits. Knowing both sides and the way things in business can change on a dime, I decided that while things are good, I should give myself a kit and build it up so that I extend its usability a bit further into the future, in case I need to get by with it in 2006 or 2007 even. The whole thing is a write-off, of course, so that helps, too.

mfessenden · Jan 12, 2005, 01:58 PM

Where can I buy the X800 now? Are they shipping?

gizzard · Jan 12, 2005, 02:39 PM

Pre-order @ ATI

larry k. · Jan 17, 2005, 10:41 AM

Did anyone hear anything on a shipping date yet? My order confirmation E-mail said 3-4 weeks, ordered 1/13, but I noticed the page now says its In Stock and not Pre-Order.

awcopus · Jan 17, 2005, 01:44 PM

Originally posted by larry k.:
Did anyone hear anything on a shipping date yet? My order confirmation E-mail said 3-4 weeks, ordered 1/13, but I noticed the page now says its In Stock and not Pre-Order.

Still backordered. The web page is mistaken. I called about my 1/11 preorder and was informed of this by a fellow who said that I was his fourth call on it today.

I need this card yesterday, so I'm pretty on top of it.

KS-Jayhawk · 05:52 PM

Just ordered one today..I hope it doesn't stay on back order too long, and awcopus, thanks for the 10% discount

awcopus · Jan 17, 2005, 08:16 PM

Originally posted by KS-Jayhawk:
Just ordered one today..I hope it doesn't stay on back order too long, and awcopus, thanks for the 10% discount

Excellent! Glad to hear others are doing this. MacMall and MacConnection were charging $500plus last week, which would amount to unrepentant and unscrupulous price-gouging in my book.

BTW, also keep your eyes peeled for trade-in rebates. Looks like they might be taking back 9600XTs for a $50 credit. Not sure that's worth it for me (I like having a backup graphics card, just in case), but others might find this helpful in financing the X800 or 9800 offerings.

KS-Jayhawk · Jan 19, 2005, 12:40 PM

I just received an email from ATI saying that it shipped out yesterday, I tracked it on the FedEx site, it is shipping from Texas, and it is on truck to be delivered today (I live in Kansas) so it looks like I will be playing with it tonight!!

KS-Jayhawk · Jan 19, 2005, 05:59 PM

Woo hoo..I just checked FedEx, it's been delivered!! I can't wait to get home!

SlimHades · 06:33 PM

Originally posted by KS-Jayhawk:
Woo hoo..I just checked FedEx, it's been delivered!! I can't wait to get home!

Congratulations, be sure to tell us all about it.

I just checked with ATI and they're telling me a 2-4 week wait, even though I ordered on 1/11! I'd complain, but I think it might be because I swung a 20% discount:

I ordered when the card first became available on the site, on the morning of 1/11 while everyone else was busy taking down the Apple store.

Then they emailed me my confirmation with the code for 10% off my next purchase. The heck with that: I reordered with the code and cancelled the original as a duplicate.

Then I get an email from them apologizing for my trouble and offering a 20% discount. So I reordered again, this time for $400.

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I imagine they've decided to honor the price, but only after they've filled the initial rush of orders at full price. Fair enough, I suppose, but they should be up-front about that instead of pretending that the thing's still backordered when it's listed as in-stock and the cards are starting to drop to people who ordered a week later.

KS-Jayhawk · Jan 19, 2005, 06:28 PM

Originally posted by SlimHades:
Congratulations, be sure to tell us all about it.

I'm going to have to email them; I placed my order on 1/11 and still not a peep. I hope this isn't a side-effect of cancelling and reordering to get the 20% discount.

How did you get 20% off?

SlimHades · Jan 19, 2005, 06:30 PM

Originally posted by KS-Jayhawk:
How did you get 20% off?

Oops, just got done editing to elaborate. See above.

KS-Jayhawk · Jan 19, 2005, 09:43 PM

Well it is installed, and I have played UT2K4 with all the settings max, there really isn't much difference, except the noise, it is basically as loud as the superdrive when the computer wakes up. I guess I'll have to go for the arctic fan that everyone talks about. Are the artic fans hard to install? I feel sorta let down after speding nearly $500 - hopefully it will be better realized once the Tiger comes out to play!

MORT A POTTY · Jan 19, 2005, 09:58 PM

yeah, the ATI Silencer is very easy to install. just make sure you tighten it up nice as you don't want to fry the card... it will void the warranty.

it will take up a PCI slot though. and if you install the ROM Xtender, it will fix the fan noise problem anyway.

KS-Jayhawk · Jan 19, 2005, 10:21 PM

I don't care about it taking up a slot - there is nothing there, but where is a good place to purchase the fan/ram (heat sink?)

MORT A POTTY · Jan 19, 2005, 10:30 PM

www.newegg.com is fine.

it's not a cooler for the RAM, just the processor. you can buy mini RAM sinks though.

gizzard · Jan 19, 2005, 10:51 PM

Originally posted by KS-Jayhawk:
Well it is installed, and I have played UT2K4 with all the settings max, there really isn't much difference, except the noise, it is basically as loud as the superdrive when the computer wakes up. I guess I'll have to go for the arctic fan that everyone talks about. Are the artic fans hard to install? I feel sorta let down after speding nearly $500 - hopefully it will be better realized once the Tiger comes out to play!

What is your system setup? And what resolution did you play at? Did you use any of the OpenGL Overrides? What about performance in other games?

awcopus · Jan 19, 2005, 11:40 PM

Originally posted by KS-Jayhawk:
Well it is installed, and I have played UT2K4 with all the settings max, there really isn't much difference, except the noise, it is basically as loud as the superdrive when the computer wakes up. I guess I'll have to go for the arctic fan that everyone talks about. Are the artic fans hard to install? I feel sorta let down after speding nearly $500 - hopefully it will be better realized once the Tiger comes out to play!

Do you do work in MOTION? If so, it would be interesting to hear about any improvements that you've experienced in that app. Does it actually feel snappier?

That pretty much is the entire reason that I'm buying this card. Lesser but still important reasons are: 1. It's likely to be the last and best card released that supports ADC; 2. It supports the 30" monitor without taking up two slots.

But mostly I make money on my mac and need Motion to move faster.

KS-Jayhawk · 10:12 AM

Originally posted by gizzard:
What is your system setup? And what resolution did you play at? Did you use any of the OpenGL Overrides? What about performance in other games?

I have last years DP 1.8, and have added 1 GB crucial RAM. I have a viewsonic 17" widescreen monitor that runs up to 1024 X 768 resolution (I think that's as high as it can go).

I did the Open GL override for UT2K4, and set the settings to max - it ran fine (not 100% smooth, 100% of the time). I haven't played any other games with it yet - KU played basketball so that took up my time last night!

I opened iPhoto and scrolled through all the pictures (we only have about 3800 photos in it) it seemed to move through them smoother

Does the file size make a difference on this in iPhoto? ie a 3.3 megapixel camera vs. a 6.3 megapixel camera.

And no I don't use motion - what is that? I don't use my Mac for work - it is a toy, I like to make slidewhows and edit our home video to burn DVD's for family gifts (this is the most work I impose on the machine). We just bought an Epson R800 printer, my wife likes to scrapbook - and the pictures look great. She also likes it when I use printshop to make calendars with pics from iPhoto.

Plus I use it for airtunes to pipe music into the living room, deck, or family room speakers. Other than that I use it to surf the web and play games.

The reason I need the quiet fan is because my wife doesn't know I bought the X800 - she would kill me if she knew! I think she will notice the extra noise, so I need to get this done pretty quick!

I swithced over to mac last year and love it, I'll NEVER own another windows machine!

Sorry to be so off topic - but if you guys have any other questions let me know.
Steve

a2daj · Jan 20, 2005, 10:34 AM

The fan shouldn't be so loud that one needs to replace it, IMO. well, at least compared to some of the other fans ATI used on older cards. It does make some noise but it's not bad at all.

KS-Jayhawk · Jan 20, 2005, 11:13 AM

Originally posted by a2daj:
The fan shouldn't be so loud that one needs to replace it, IMO. well, at least compared to some of the other fans ATI used on older cards. It does make some noise but it's not bad at all.

I'm coming from a fanless card - so the difference is HUGE!

a2daj · Jan 20, 2005, 12:44 PM

I went from a Quicksilver with several fans and harddrives to a G5. I guess my noise tolerance is a bit different than yours

KS-Jayhawk · Jan 22, 2005, 10:29 AM

Just a note, I had to do a hard restart on the computer? (holding the power button down to turn it off) I thought it locked up but it didn't....anway doing this fixed the fan noise...the fan on the card used to run constantly...now it spools up and down as needed.....it is very quiet now....yeah!!

a2daj · Jan 22, 2005, 01:37 PM

Just curious, did you install the drivers before? I know Mike over at AYM was initially going to complain about fan noise but he didn't install the software that came with the card (received a card without the CD) so the appropriate ATI ROM Xtender (retail only file) file didn't get installed.

KS-Jayhawk · Jan 22, 2005, 09:17 PM

Originally posted by a2daj:
Just curious, did you install the drivers before? I know Mike over at AYM was initially going to complain about fan noise but he didn't install the software that came with the card (received a card without the CD) so the appropriate ATI ROM Xtender (retail only file) file didn't get installed.

I installed the drivers, but not the update from the web (it said that it was 10.3.6 specific and I have 10.3.7)

awcopus · Jan 25, 2005, 03:46 PM

Wow. I just received the card. Very excited. About to install it. Will post findings shortly.

awcopus · Jan 25, 2005, 04:55 PM

DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT IN MOTION! FINALLY! WOOO HOOOO!!!

First time ever that a 5 layer composite in Motion actually moved smoothly on the first playback. I am blown away and thrilled and going right back to work.

As of 20 minutes of use, I am PSYCHED that I waited. Motion is responding as it should, and this performance will only improve with Tiger, which takes full advantage of the GPU. Motion was a dick tease up to this point. Getting some, finally.

Game-wise, I don't have many so only a word on UT 2004. Using the overrides accessible from the Control Panel, I can say that it looks much prettier with 4x FSAA, and if anything the performance feels faster than it was with tamed down settings and the 9600XT.

Fan noise not detectable over the usual hum of equipment in my considerably f-ed up (fanned up) studio (where would I be without my Sennheiser HD280s and M-Audio BX5s).

I'm running a 23" ACD... and eyeing the 30" for next year if business stays decent.

Words to the wise: for the time being, this card likes 10.3.6 and only 10.3.6. Install the driver download from the ATI web site after you install the software that comes bundled with the card. And, of course, never forget to unplug the AC when you're working in your G5. Also, don't forget to write down the S/N AND the Part Number and register at ATI right away.

UnixMac · Jan 25, 2005, 05:41 PM

Originally posted by MORT A POTTY:
ATi > nVidia

don't bet on it... in OpenGL (where the Mac lives) Nvidia has always been better, and the GPU (NV40) in the 6800 is a generational leap ahead of that in the X800...

not knocking the X800, which is a damn good card, but it ain't no 6800.

awcopus · Jan 25, 2005, 05:58 PM

Originally posted by UnixMac:
don't bet on it... in OpenGL (where the Mac lives) Nvidia has always been better, and the GPU (NV40) in the 6800 is a generational leap ahead of that in the X800...

not knocking the X800, which is a damn good card, but it ain't no 6800.

Dude, if the nVidia 6800 series is a generational leap ahead of the X800, then a previous generation ATI card is outperforming it pretty impressively.

http://barefeats.com/radx800.html

That's right, it isn't a 6800. In plenty of ways, the X800 is faster. And it's less expensive. And it takes up one less slot. And it drives both ADC and DVI.

Do I covet the additional frame per second of playback in Motion? Not really, since I have 3 filled PCI slots (Sonnet 4+4 SATA, SCSI, and gigabit ethernet [eventually fiber out to an XRAID]).

UnixMac · 06:35 PM

Originally posted by awcopus:
Dude, if the nVidia 6800 series is a generational leap ahead of the X800, then a previous generation ATI card is outperforming it pretty impressively.

http://barefeats.com/radx800.html

That's right, it isn't a 6800. In plenty of ways, the X800 is faster. And it's less expensive. And it takes up one less slot. And it drives both ADC and DVI.

Do I covet the additional frame per second of playback in Motion? Not really, since I have 3 filled PCI slots (Sonnet 4+4 SATA, SCSI, and gigabit ethernet [eventually fiber out to an XRAID]).

This is indeed true... and it's a sad statement on Apple's implementation of it.. read my thread about the 6800 being castrated on the Mac, as I ran a SPECView benchmark on mine and it confirmed that the PC version of the 6800 gets some 3X the performance as the Mac version, very sad.

Anyway, the X800 is actually a better card that I had originally thought, so I retract my statement about it being a whole generation ahead I had the impression the X800 was a 12 pipeline card, and indeed it's a 16... the only advantage the 6800 has is memory 1100mhz vs 1000.... so I guess I stand corrected.

If I should ever need the slot space, I may trade in..

awcopus · Jan 25, 2005, 07:29 PM

Originally posted by UnixMac:
This is indeed true... and it's a sad statement on Apple's implementation of it.. read my thread about the 6800 being castrated on the Mac, as I ran a SPECView benchmark on mine and it confirmed that the PC version of the 6800 gets some 3X the performance as the Mac version, very sad.

Anyway, the X800 is actually a better card that I had originally thought, so I retract my statement about it being a whole generation ahead I had the impression the X800 was a 12 pipeline card, and indeed it's a 16... the only advantage the 6800 has is memory 1100mhz vs 1000.... so I guess I stand corrected.

If I should ever need the slot space, I may trade in..

No worries. Frankly, the performance difference between these cards renders them virtually identical, with only slight edges here and there to the X800 and 6800 respectively.

One thing that I'm noticing is slightly crisper DVD playback.

All in all, I'm just absolutely tickled. Not to beat a dead horse, but anybody out there doing work in Motion who is using anything less than the X800 or 6800 is wasting a lot of time. Less clear to me is whether there will be any advantages in FCP HD until that app is liberated to address more than 2GB of RAM and Tiger enables it to off-load even more real time rendering to the GPU.

echosphere · 08:12 PM

buy.com has it in stock shipping one to two days. $477.99 Free Shipping. Good Deal.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product_ju...mp&dcaid=17379

And use this coupon till 1/31 to get $15 off, total is $466.

Woot! That pushed me over the edge, just ordered one, I'll let you know when it arrives! (sad how just saving $15 rationalized a nearly half-grand item, oh well ce la vie...).
http://www.buy.com/retail/coupon.asp...956&dcaid=1688

UnixMac · Jan 25, 2005, 08:38 PM

Originally posted by awcopus:
Less clear to me is whether there will be any advantages in FCP HD until that app is liberated to address more than 2GB of RAM and Tiger enables it to off-load even more real time rendering to the GPU.

I've been reading up on "64 bit computing" on the IBM website and frankly the prospects are amazing, but the developers will have to take steps to take advantage of it... whether it's as simple as addressing more RAM, or as complicated as 64 bit integer computing vs 2X32 bit (in those rare cases where that kind of number is needed)...

It does seem like even IBM expects the next environment not to be just a 64 bit environment, but rather a shared 32 and 64 bit environment.... kind of like a transition.

Back to the subject at hand....

I would love to know why Nvidia needs 222 million transistors and all the power of the AGP bus to do what ATI did with 160 million and 1/2 the power. Is it the Video Codec?

a2daj · Jan 25, 2005, 08:53 PM

Originally posted by awcopus:

Words to the wise: for the time being, this card likes 10.3.6 and only 10.3.6. Install the driver download from the ATI web site after you install the software that comes bundled with the card. And, of course, never forget to unplug the AC when you're working in your G5. Also, don't forget to write down the S/N AND the Part Number and register at ATI right away.

The card works fine with 10.3.7. When you run the driver installer in 10.3.7, it should only install the ATI ROM Xtender. Once that's installed, the card should run fine (no loud fans).

awcopus · Jan 26, 2005, 01:10 AM

Originally posted by a2daj:
The card works fine with 10.3.7. When you run the driver installer in 10.3.7, it should only install the ATI ROM Xtender. Once that's installed, the card should run fine (no loud fans).

That's reassuring. I was just going by the warning in the docs that came with the card.

Having now worked out some really cool animations in Motion that would simply have been impossible before installing the X800, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

BTW, if you enter the coupon code 1000, ATI gives you $50 off the price. Not a bad deal, right?

gizzard · Jan 26, 2005, 11:58 AM

Originally posted by awcopus:
Words to the wise: for the time being, this card likes 10.3.6 and only 10.3.6. Install the driver download from the ATI web site after you install the software that comes bundled with the card. And, of course, never forget to unplug the AC when you're working in your G5. Also, don't forget to write down the S/N AND the Part Number and register at ATI right away.

Just another anecdote: I started testing the X800 XT with 10.3.6, which already had support for it. Running the ATI Installer only installed the new ATI Displays (v4.4.4) and ROM Extender. When Apple released 10.3.7, I promptly updated and had no problems. To my knowledge, every OS update after and including 10.3.6 (and certainly 10.3.7) has built-in support for the X800 XT.

joshuadwaymire · Aug 24, 2006, 11:20 PM

Originally Posted by MORT A POTTY

that is correct. it has an exhaust grille on the back of it and it will blow the heat straight out of the cooler and right out the back of the case.

I personally have an ATi Silcencer 1 on my Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition in my Quicksilver and I am quite pleased with it even though it takes the adjacent PCI slot (as you said, not because it uses it, but because it needs the space and the slot cover (for lack of a better word).

they truly are silent and keep it cooler than the stock HSF.

Hi, you said that you have a 9800 Pro MAC edition with an Artic cooling silencer 1 on it in your quicksilver. I have a quicksilver 2002 with all open PCI Slots. Did you have any problems installing it. Does it fit another words. Any Problems? I would appreciate any help. Thank you, Josh

phantomdragonz · Aug 25, 2006, 02:28 AM

NOTE TO NEWBIE!!!!

DONT DIG UP YEAR OLD THREADS!!!!

Zach