ATI Radeon X2800XT with CrossFire rumored for Apple's next Mac Pro
The centerpiece of ATI's next-generation graphics card line may make its first appearance as part of an upgrade to Apple Inc.'s Mac Pro line of professional desktop computers, according to an online report.
The mammoth red beast, measuring some 12.4-inch in length, is about 3-inches larger than the industry-leading GeForce 8800 card from NVIDIA. It's said to include a four-pronged heat pipe with vapour chamber technology to provide amble but quiet cooling.
When it makes its debut as part of the ATI X2800XT series later this March, it's rumored that the card will feature 1GB of 512Mbit GDDR4 memory running at 2.0GHz. The graphics core itself will reportedly be an 80nm chip clocked at 800MHz — significantly faster than the GeForce 8800's 1.8GHz memory and 575MHz core.
While there appear to be several versions of the ATI card that will slowly make their way to market — including a 9-inch retail variant and slightly down-clocked dual-chip offering — the model destine for Apple is expected to debut first and introduce CrossFire support to the Mac.
CrossFire technology, which requires a compliant motherboard with a pair of PCI Express (PCIe) graphics cards, essentially allows users or system manufacturers to pair graphics cards within a single system to improve graphics performance.
ATI X2800XT (codenamed: "Dragons Head", R600XTX ) Source: The Inquirer
Precise release date and pricing specifications are currently unknown. However, the card is likely to cost Apple significantly less than the dual-chip X2800XT2 solution, which The Inquirer has pinned at around $600.
Apple, which has held a brawny update to its Mac Pro workstations within its labs since last fall, has reportedly deferred on a release until a time closer to a roll-out of Adobe's Intel-native Creative Suite 3.0 software bundle.
The 8-core Xeon-based powerhouse would be the only system within the Mac maker's arsenal capable of adopting the new ATI card.
167 Comments
That sounds like one sweet Machine.
Leopard coming in March as well?
Now MacPro is so powerful, time to upgrade Mac Mini and iMac as well
Now MacPro is so powerful, time to upgrade Mac Mini and iMac as well
Mac mini and iMac are probably waiting for the Santa Rosa platform.
let the whining about crossfire on a xeon box commence...
Vinea
Apple, which has held a brawny update to its Mac Pro workstations within its labs since last fall, has reportedly deferred on a release until a time closer to a roll-out of Adobe's Intel-native Creative Suite 3.0 software bundle.
The 8-core Xeon-based powerhouse would be the only system within the Mac maker's arsenal capable of adopting the new ATI card.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Hmmm, is this necessary for a video editor?
As someone who works in print all that horsepower is useless for PhotoShop and Illustrator.
So if the Insider is right about timing it to coincide with Adode's March launch of CS3, then what product is this aimed at? Because the last I read was that the Universal version of Production Studio wasn't going to be ready until mid-2007, which I would guess to mean June at the earliest.