To custom order your Mac Pro with the Radeon X1900 XT, go to the Apple Store and click on the Mac Pro graphic. According to Alias/Autodesk, the X1900 XT is the only graphics card without limitations when using Maya 8.5. It's much faster than the GeForce 7300 GT and just as fast as the expensive Quadro FX 4500. We recommend the Radeon X1900 XT (16X, 512MB, two dual-link DVI ports) as a CTO option. The GeForce 7300 GT (16X, 256MB, dual-link DVI + single-link DVI port) is the default.
Here's what we learned:įor your Mac Pro, you have the following 16X PCI Express (PCIe) options: Out of curiosity, we used ATIccelerator II to check the actual core and memory clock speed of the ATI Radeon cards. The Radeon 9650 does support the 30" Cinema display with its one Dual-Link DVI port and has 256MB of DDR memory, but it is actually clocked slower (and runs slower) than the Radeon 9600 XT with 128MB of DDR and a normal DVI port. It's almost $300 less than the Radeon X800 XT or GeForce 6800 Ultra. If you can't afford the X800 XT or 6800 Ultra and don't need a 30" Cinema display, then you might consider a Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Special Edition in place of the Radeon 9650. Notice we added results for the Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Special Edition. Unless you have two 30" Cinema displays and don't mind giving up one of your PCI-X slots, you should consider the Radeon X800 XT instead. It was faster running some 3D games but slower running the Motion 2 and iMaginator.
The GeForce 6800 Ultra is a full length, double wide monster. It's much faster than the Radeon 9650, supports the 30" Cinema on its DVI port, and takes up only one slot. If you must have dual-link, I recommend the ATI Radeon X800 XT as the best alternative, even though it's not offered direct from Apple. If you expect the Radeon 9650 (standard equipment on the G5/2.7GHz Power Mac and $50 option on the other G5s) to perform OpenGL and Core Image "miracles" just because it has 256MB of DDR and dual-link circuitry, you will be very disappointed. The Radeon 9650 has as much as the Radeon X800 XT and GeForce 6800 Ultra, but they are four times faster. As you can see, Core Image "aware" apps "like" fast core and memory clock speeds and mucho pipelines. He combines various effects and then times how long it takes to playback 200 frames of the resulting morph. The iMaginator "Test One" referred to above was created by Daniel Kottmair for, a German Mac site.