Originally
posted 10/18/02 by rob-ART
morgan,
mad scientist The only
currently shipping PCI graphics card is the Radeon
7000. I wanted to know how it compared to the old
Radeon Mac Edition as well as the newest AGP
graphics cards. Here's the answer: PERFORMANCE
ANALYSIS If you are a 3D
gamer looking to speed up your favorite graphics
intensive game (like Quake3 Arena), don't expect
any help from the Radeon 7000. I suppose it might
perform better in a 66MHz slotted Blue'n'White but
only if the CPU was cranking. If you must depend on
a PCI slotted card, the older Radeon Mac Edition is
a better choice. As for 2D
performance, the Radeon 7000 lags behind the others
but not as dramatically as it did in the 3D
tests. WHERE TO
BUY ATI has their own
online
store
where you can purchase the Radeon 7000, 8500 and
9000. Check also with
Other
World Computing,
MacResQ,
and Buy.Com.
FLASH:
MacResQ
will have the GeForce4 Titanium in
stock
starting October 22nd. Preorder putting "BAREFEATS"
in the Q-Pon code and you get it for $350 with free
ground shipping. (Compare that to the price on the
Apple
Online Store
of $399 plus shipping.) RELATED
LINKS See the Bare
Feats tests with some
of these graphics cards installed in the new DDR
Macs.
Here's MORE. Anandtech
compares the Radeon
9000 to
the 8500, GeForce4 MX, and GeForce4 Titanium AGP
cards for Windows PC's. The Radeon 9000 is
aimed at the GeForce4 MX line. The test results on
SharkyExtreme
show they hit their target. Here's an
interesting comparison: Geforce4
Go versus the Radeon 9000
Mobility
(both are NEW chips for laptops). It will be
interesting to see which chip Apple uses in the
next generation Titanium G4 PowerBook. Read about the
new Radeon
9700 (Mac
Edition coming in a few months), which, according
to Anandtech.com's
tests, is
30 to 50% faster than the GeForce4 Titanium (Ti
4600) running Unreal Tournament 2003 on a Windows
PC. And, according to SharkyExtreme,
at high quality and 1600x1200 setting, the 9700
beats the GeForce4 Ti 4600 by a significant
amount. TEST
NOTES The test "mule"
was my trusty G4/1000 MP "SDR" Power Mac with 1.5
1GB of PC133 CL2 SDRAM and 120GB IBM 120GXP boot
drive running OS X (10.2.1). Graphics cards
tested included... HOME
PAGE SPEED
TEST RESULTS by
Category LINKS
to SPEED tests on other sites HOT DEALS
on speed upgrades rob-ART
morgan, Has Bare Feats helped
you? Say "thanks"... with a donation. (Bare Feats is hosted on a
G4 Power Mac server by MacDock.com)
SmallDog.com
has refurbished
towers, laptops, displays, etc., with 12 month
warranty.
(rob-art@barefeats.com)
... ATI Radeon
Mac Edition
PCI (32MB DDR; VGA and DVI)
... ATI Radeon
7000 Mac Edition
PCI (32MB DDR; VGA and DVI)
... nVIDIA based GeForce4
MX AGP
(64MB DDR; VGA and ADC)
... ATI Radeon
8500 Mac Edition
AGP (64MB DDR; VGA and DVI)
... ATI Radeon
9000 Mac Edition
AGP (64MB DDR; DVI and ADC)
... nVIDIA based GeForce3
AGP (64MB DDR; ADC)
... nVIDIA based GeForce4
Titanium
AGP (128MB DDR; DVI and ADC)
mad scientist and webmaster
"BARE facts on Macintosh speed FEATS"
Email webmaster at rob-art@barefeats.com