nvidia geforce 8800 gt vs ati radeon hd 2600 xt

Nvidia geforce 8800 gt vs ati radeon hd 2600 xt mac os x#
Nvidia geforce 8800 gt vs ati radeon hd 2600 xt update#
Nvidia geforce 8800 gt vs ati radeon hd 2600 xt driver#
Nvidia geforce 8800 gt vs ati radeon hd 2600 xt pro#
Nvidia geforce 8800 gt vs ati radeon hd 2600 xt code#

It’s a more suitable number for this chip, with about half the bandwidth, though. We always thought that 16 texture units and 16 render back-ends was a bit on the low side for the 2900 XT, and prevented it from really making the most out of all that bandwidth. Still, it retains all 320 scalar stream processors, 16 render back-ends, and 16 texture units. The clock speed is 10% lower, and it’s got a 256-bit memory interface instead of a 512-bit one. It’s equivalent to a “Pro” model in the old scheme, while the 3870 is equivalent to the former “XT.” Nvidia, please steal this idea.īefore we get into the specific differences between this RV670 and the R600, let’s look at some relevant speeds and feeds:Īt first glance, it looks like this new $180 card might come within spitting distance of the $400 Radeon HD 2900 XT. So the Radeon HD 3850 is the third GPU generation, 8-series, 50-variant. The first denotes the GPU generation, the second the card family, and the last two the particular variant. From now until the foreseeable future, the plan is to have all cards branded with a just a four-digit number. First, a note on naming conventions.ĪMD is thankfully getting rid of all this “XT” and “Pro” and “GT” business in their naming conventions. RV670 brings with it several enhancements to the R600 core, which we’ll detail in a moment. Suffice it to say you should read that article if you need a refresher on AMD/ATI’s 6xx series DX10 graphics architecture. The base architecture is the same, and we won’t dive into all that right now because we wrote exhaustively about it earlier this year. The RV670 chip powering the Radeon HD 38 cards is not identical to the R600 found in the Radeon HD 2900 XT, only at 55nm. This is especially true for redraw of multiple views of the same complex 3D model.This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. And, according to one Maya guru, the extra memory (and superior memory management code) of the Quadro workstation cards becomes useful for frame buffering in apps like Maya. However, the Quadro FX 5600 does feature more video memory than the GeForce 8800 GT (1.5GB vs 512MB). It is a pricey ($2850) CTO option that is not significantly faster than the GeForce 8800 GT for 90% of graphics intensive applications. We are not ignoring the Quadro FX 5600 (which is not available in kit form - and we could not afford if it was). We are forced to use the Radeon HD 2600 XT (or GeForce 8800 GT) for that purpose. NOTE: We can NOT get the Radeon X1900 XT to boot Vista 64 from our Boot Camp partition.

Nvidia geforce 8800 gt vs ati radeon hd 2600 xt update#

They suggest performing the firmware update on the Radeon X1900 XT while it is installed in a 2006 or 2007 Mac Pro.

Nvidia geforce 8800 gt vs ati radeon hd 2600 xt pro#

We have had no problems running it in our 2008 Mac Pro 3.2GHz. Some reports have come in that the Radeon X1900 XT does not work on their '2008' Mac Pro. We are urging ATI/AMD to release such a card and will alert you if and when that happens.

Nvidia geforce 8800 gt vs ati radeon hd 2600 xt mac os x#

We believe a Mac OS X compatible Radeon HD 3870 would perform better for Pro Apps. When you visit the Apple Store USA, click on 'Displays' in the left column and look for the Geforce 8800 GT labeled '1st Generation.' Let me remind you that our testing has shown this to be a strong 3D OpenGL gaming card but a weak Pro App card (Motion, Aperture, FCP). As of April 15th, 2008, Apple started shipping the 'legacy' version of the GeForce 8800 GT in a kit form for 2006/2007 Mac Pro owners.

Nvidia geforce 8800 gt vs ati radeon hd 2600 xt driver#

Hopefully this and the Core Image performance will be addressed with a future driver or firmware update.Īs you probably know by now, a collective groan was uttered by many of the 2006/2007 Mac Pro owners when they learned that the GeForce 8800 GT kit for the 2008 Mac Pro was NOT compatible with the older Mac Pros. Two of my 'remote mad scientists' reported either slowness or errors when they used the DVI-2 port on the GeForce 8800 GT. For that info, we refer you to our expanded page with Motion 3 and iMaginator test results. However, it's a different story with 'pro apps' that use Core Image effects.

Nvidia geforce 8800 gt vs ati radeon hd 2600 xt code#

The advantage should also apply to pro 3D apps that use 3D OpenGL code for animation. It's significantly faster than the two Radeon options and at $200 CTO, it's a no-brainer. As a 3D accelerated GPU, the GeForce 8800 GT looks like a great addition to the 'early 2008' Mac Pro.