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"BARE facts on Mac speed FEATS"
Call of Duty 4 on Mac Pro
GeForce vs Radeon
Mac OS X vs Vista
Originally posted January 23rd, by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist
One of the 3D games that has migrated from the Windows PCs to the Mac is Aspyr's Call of Duty 4. We tested it on our Mac Pro using both the GeForce 8800 GT and Radeon HD 3870 under Mac OS X. We were curious if the Mac version ran as fast as the PC version so we also tested both cards under Vista Ultimate (via Boot Camp). And, for perspective, we included the fastest iMac and fastest 15" MacBook Pro.
ASPYR Call of Duty 4 (CoD4)
We used a timedemo called "pipeline" for our test. We ran it twice at each setting at posted the fastest result. The 1280x800 graph has Anti-Aliasing set to 4X. The 1920x1200 graph has no Anti-Aliasing. Shadows were OFF in both cases.
LEGEND of GRAPHS
RED bar indicates the fastest time.
MP = Apple Mac Pro 3.2GHz eight core 'early 2008'
G8800 = nVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (Apple CTO option for Mac Pro)
R3870 = ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition (Retail upgrade kit)
iMac 3.06 = Apple iMac Core 2 Duo 3.08GHz with GeForce 8800 GS
MBP 2.8 = Apple MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz with GeForce 9600 GT
(For 1920x1200 results, we connected a 27" Dell UltraSharp Widescreen to the MacBook Pro's external video port and ran with the lid closed so all the VRAM would be used for the external display.)
GEFORCE vs RADEON
We expected the GeForce 8800 GT to perform best under Mac OS X but the Radeon HD 3870 was the surprise winner running Call of Duty 4.
MAC OS vs VISTA
In the past, the Windows versions of 3D Games have left the Mac versions in their dust, but in this case, the Mac version made a respectable showing. Given a chance to tweak the drivers and software, I would not be surprised if the Mac version catches up completely in the near future.
WHERE TO BUY A MAC PRO
If you live in the USA, please click on THIS TEXT LINK or our display ad at the top of the page. Don't forget the SPECIAL DEALS on refurbished Macs and iPods (with full factory warranty). Also check with...
- Power Max (takes trade-ins; also has refurbs and used)
- Silverado (custom order a Mac Pro with Velociraptor or SSDs)
WHERE TO BUY GRAPHICS CARD UPGRADE KITS
The Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition ($219 MSRP) will be available "late June" direct from ATI's Online Store or from Other World Computing or from Small Dog Electronics. Unlike the GeForce 8800 GT, one card is compatible with ALL models of Mac Pro (2006 - 2008).
You can order the GeForce 8800 GT kit for whatever Mac Pro you own by going to the Apple Store USA and clicking on the "Displays" link in the left column. You'll see two versions of the GeForce 8800 GT listed: The "early 2008" and "1st Generation" models. The price for both is $279.
WHERE TO BUY MEMORY FOR YOUR MAC PRO
Apple charges and arm and a leg for CTO memory options. We suggested ordering your Mac Pro with minimal memory and getting 8GB or 16GB of matched FB-DIMMs that meet Apple's specs and use Apple approved heat sinks from ....
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© 2009 Rob Art Morgan
"BARE facts on Macintosh speed FEATS"
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