here's a quote in an attempt to shed some light: INSERT In the text below you will find many answers that I related before but clearer. It is proven that ATI is changing the card architecture whitout noticed of any kind and call sell them under the same named and in the samed box. You need a glass magnifier to read on the chipset itself the real number of who knows after you bought one.
Here is what in my experience is a comleted statements from Mac Daddy in Australia: The Radeon's of particular interest to Macintosh users, because it's almost the only choice in Macintosh super-performance video adapters at the moment. It bloomin' well shouldn't be, if you ask me, but it is. The story behind this provides a salutary lesson in information technology cynicism. A few old and grizzled computer users may remember when the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) standard was first released, back in the steam and gaslight days of 1993. They may also remember that one of the big selling points for the new expansion bus was that a PCI card for one system could be used in any other system with PCI slots. Take the card out of a PC, stick it in a DEC Alpha box. Or a Sun box. Or a Mac. No worries. Everybody would have PCI slots, everyone would be compatible. All you needed was the right drivers for whatever architecture and operating system on which you wanted to use your nifty multi-platform PCI device. Well, that didn't happen, did it? Because the IBM compatible's the 900 pound gorilla of the everyday-hardware market, most manufacturers didn't bother to make drivers to suit any other platform. Even if their devices actually were hardware compatible, without a driver they weren't useable on anything but the platform the vendors decided to support, which was almost always the PC. AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) has the same problem. You're supposed to be able to use any AGP graphics card in any computer with an AGP slot. All you need are drivers. But you can't get 'em. As a result, loads of Macintosh users can, if they like, buy a PC PCI or AGP graphics card with a perfectly serviceable Nvidia chipset on it, plug it into the appropriate slot on their Mac, and then just sit and look wistful, because it isnae goin' tae work, laddie. If it's not a 3dfx Voodoo 3, 4 or 5 card, you'll have no drivers and your Mac won't want to know it. You can use a Radeon with the Mac. Drivers exist. But you can't use this Radeon. The Radeons that work with the Mac don't work in PCs, and vice versa. Sheesh. The Radeon Mac Edition, as ATI call it, is a 32Mb DDR board that comes in AGP and PCI flavours. It's a factory option for various current Macs; there's even a version that fits inside the teeny Power Mac G4 Cube. You can upgrade various older Macs, too; see the Radeon Mac Edition FAQ here for more information. If you don't go for the Radeon option in a new Mac, you get the same ATI Rage 128 Pro that's been shipping in Macs for a while. It's a pumped-up version of the older Rage 128, and it gives you roughly TNT2-level performance. Rage 128s are another card type that I don't recommend, not because they're rubbish but because Nvidia boards are cheaper. Conclusion If you're looking for a top-spec graphics card for your Macintosh, a Radeon DDR is, at the moment, the best you can buy. But this Radeon is not that Radeon. This Radeon is a worthy opponent for the GeForce2 GTS; it'll be a bit slower than the faster-clocked GeForce2 Ultra (which hasn't quite made it to Australia yet), but it's still a darn fast card for super-high-resolution gaming, at a decent price. Most people, though, don't need a card this fast; the advantage at medium resolutions is small, and the price difference is big. ATI plan to phase out the Rage 128 chipset shortly and replace it with a cut-down Radeon, the "RV100". That board will probably be a much better option for most people; who knows, I may even add it to my stock list of recommendations. The Radeon DDR is a high end card for people with big monitors. If you haven't got a 21 inch - or at least 19 inch - screen, then you don't need a card like this. END INSERT I want to thank my local Mac buddy for this - I will leave the philosophizing up to better minds than mine. Cheers George ===== /'\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign \ / No HTML/RTF in email X No Word docs in email / \ Respect for open standards Love your neighbour as yourself. (from Luke 10:27) __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! News - Today's headlines http://news.yahoo.com -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Macintosh? Get free email and more at Applelinks! <http://www.applelinks.com>
