NVIDIA rolls out Quadro FX 4800 graphics card for Mac Pro users
By Donald Melanson 
posted Apr 20th 2009 6:05PM
posted Apr 20th 2009 6:05PM
Been itching to add an $1,800 graphics card to your shiny new Mac Pro? Then you're in luck, as NVIDIA has now finally made its high-end Quadro FX 4800 graphics card available to Mac users, just a few short months after PC folk first got their hands on it. Of course the core specs of the card remain unchanged, and include a 1.5GB frame buffer with memory bandwidth up to 76.8 GB/sec, a pair of dual-link DVI connectors with some added support for 3D stereo glasses, 192 stream processors, a maximum power consumption of 150W, and some Boot Camp support right out of the gate. You'll still have to wait a tiny bit longer to check out all that for yourself, however, as the first cards apparently won't be available until some time next month.
awesome
Awesome? You're kidding me? You Appies are really going to be satisfied with anything "for Apple", even seriously crippled, right?
What about the "PC version" with a 30bit data output?! WTF?! Man, why would you need an FX4800 if you didn't need the 30bit display output?! It's just an overpriced game-card (yes, I own both, GeForce 285 and a FX4800), if it wasn't for the 30bit display output I wouldn't even bother looking at the specs!
I totally don't understand you, Appies, really...
Another rip off by NVIDIA.
On any platform.
Just different video drivers. That's all you apparently get.
@ loocas
Calm down.
@ DirtyVegas
I'm perfectly calm, I just can't cease to be amazed by the whole "holy Apple" thing. This is a clear rip-off (not by Apple in this case) and the Apple fanboys are actually HAPPY about it?! WTF?!
I don't get it, please, explain...
Haha I could care less either way. I'm an equal oppertunist. I refuse to deem either Apple or Microsoft as the better Software provider. And PC stuffs fine as far as I'm concerned ^_^ with competition brings progress.
some pc users just get so defensive.. use whatever you want, if someone thinks this is awesome, let them think this is awesome, whatever dude.
@nick
You mean "couldn't care less".
loocas,
Did it ever cross your mind that maybe he was just saying "awesome, that's a seriously pimp video card?" Nice mental gymnastics in turning a simple 1-word comment into some kind of holy war.
"Did it ever cross your mind that maybe he was just saying "awesome, that's a seriously pimp video card?" Nice mental gymnastics in turning a simple 1-word comment into some kind of holy war."
No, it didn't, here's why:
1) FX4800 has been around for a few weeks (months?) on PC
2) The PC version is seriously "pimped-up" in comparison to this "crippled" version
3) This is strictly a Mac only peripheral
Sounds like someone didnt get laid last night.
@ zfurie
How did you know?! o_O
STOP STALKING ME!
@loco ...exactly how is this card crippled? Your accusatory statements about Mac users settling for anything Apple even if crippled is inflammatory. Sometimes the smaller player in the market has fewer options, fact of life you deal with. What do you care besides taking a shot?
Everyone knows the card selection for the one box that apple sells that has slots for removable cards is severly limited because of the way they constructed the architecture, one the other hand there is no 'driver hell' under OS X, etc. ...and now there is one more video card choice. That is the news for a few folks who actually use this machine.
Right now - are you even doing anything creative with your setup (whatever it is) ... define crippled - what exactly are you doing with a 1.5 Gb / 76 Gb throughput graf/x card ...besides gaming? Unless you are running SolidWorks or Pro/e or something really pushing some triangles around ...what in the hell are doing with a equivalent $1800 PC card?
Lolz just ignore him if its bothering u guyz. He's just a trolling. Let him have his opinion. It's no biggie. =)
@Loocas
What are you talking about with this "30 bit output"? Like 10 bits per color channel? what is that even used for?
You ask why someone would need this without it.... Obviously anyone that uses pro 3d work and needs the OpenGL enhanced and more importantly the certified Quadro drivers for software support.
I'm avoiding nvidia at all costs. I'm sick of the crap they pull.
loosely_coupled, anyone who works in 3D is very much fine with a GeForce card (believe me, I run on it...), but FX4800 has the only advantage of outputting 30bit color information (yes, 10bits/channler), which is an amazing advantage (and the only one to be honest) over GeForce cards.
So, releasing an overpriced GeForce 280 with more ram to Apple users without this feature is, in my opinion, a rip off...
awesome indeed, will get one. its not a rip-off
APPLE TA...
oh, what's the use
A good number of graphic designers use Macs and have always used Macs because to be quite honest, Macs have always had the upper hand for people in graphic design. The card is geared towards those people (and to those with two grand burning a hole in their pocket and don't know what else to do, I can be contacted through my website).
If I was in the graphic design business and played some video games on the side, I'd be all over this card. It's got some Boot Camp compatibility built in so hopefully it'll make life a bit easier. (Most folks I know who use Macs use the Windows side of things primarily for video games that aren't released on the Mac). Otherwise, the Leopard OS (or Ocelot, or whatever animal they're using now) is always included in the release of any major graphical design program.
I'm a PC, and I support Macs.
It never occurred to the bozo loocas that maybe OS X apps that require this card don't need that extra bit of stuff from NVIDIA because OS X can do it natively?
they should use these for the graphics in The Hobbit movie, unless they got sumthing better
wat?
Guillermo del Toro should be totally up for making it Machinima.
$1800? Why not just buy two Macs? Then you could be a REAL douche...
That's only about enough for 3/4 of a Mac Pro.
Because two Macs do the same thing as a Quadro card? Is that the logic you're using with that question?
No, what I find really funny is that when these Mac Pros were released without a Quadro option, there were 20 pages of Apple haters commenting about how Macs suck because there was no Quadro card option. Now there is a Quadro card option (just like there has been for every Mac tower for the last few years at least, anybody who isn't a moron knew this card was coming), and Apple haters are bitching again.
You bitch when there's no Quadro card, you bitch when there is a Quadro card. There's just no pleasing you guys, is there? What does Apple have to do, make it so that there is both a Quadro card and no Quadro card at the same time? Will that stop the bitching?
It was a joke homie... I didn't know Engadget was being monitored by the Apple Hater Watchdog Committee. My bad.
Whoa dude, chill.
@ZAK
The problem is when any of the GPU manufacturer releases the "the next best" GPU, it is automatically available on the pc. Whereas Apple requires to ok (and pick their nose) on a very few selected GPU. It's the reason Macs will always be behind in hardware performance. Sure, Apple forces hardware companies to have exclusive intro rights to new hardware, but its just marketing "bullshit" to cover Apple lack of keeping up PC hardware. Apple adapts PC hardware (intel cpu, gaming gpu, etc), and realized it can't keep up with the Jones.
roach: Actually, the answer is none of the above. The reason Macs need a different card is this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Firmware_Interface
PCs use a vastly inferior legacy BIOS. As soon as PCs in general and MS more fully supports EFI, card makers will start making EFI-based cards by default, which of course will be fully Mac compatible.
@Zak
Yes, and blue ray is vastly superior and yet nobody seems to care. But the end result is PC hardware, using old bios, has more vastly superior hardware than Mac. Who knows, maybe there's something better than EFI that PC world will adapt and which in turn will quietly be adapted by Apple.
And in regards to you not believing Apple 3D user not using Windows, under bootcamp, to run 3D on a Mac? You should check out CGtalk forum and check out the number of people requesting information on running Windows using bootcamp. I know, it's something Mac user don't like to admit.
It may be old but BIOS>EFI. Unnecessary complications.
But it's all good, as it gets in the way of Mac adoption.
roach: And the fact remains that none of your previous "reasons" such as Apple picking its nose are even slightly correct. I mean not even a tiny little bit. Regardless of what you seem to believe regarding EFI, it is superior to legacy BIOS. Period. That's what's called a "fact", you should look that up in a dictionary. It's not really Apple's fault that card manufacturers aren't making EFI-based cards in larger volumes, is it?
No, that would be Microsoft's fault for continuing to push that ancient BIOS instead of pushing EFI like they should be doing. Apple is already way ahead of Microsoft in this regard. Sorry, but the truth hurts.
microsoft's "Computer Hunters" aren't gonna like this.
Why? Didn't you read that this has been available to Windows users for a few months? I don't think "we get the same hardware as PCs...months later" is a very convincing rebuttal to the Computer Hunter ads.
so what's the point of this card ... ??
Adobe doesn't even support the CS4 suite optimizations
3D modeling and animation, CAD, medical imaging... lots of stuff. Adobe isn't the only company that writes software ya know.
who seriously does 3D modeling and animation, CAD, medical imaging on a MAC ??????????
Pixar does. Don't think medical software and CAD is even mac compatible, although I might be wrong... I just don't imagine dad types blasting away on a mac for their heating and ventilation systems blueprints.
Um... yes, there is medical software and CAD software for Macs.
there's a lot of CAD + 3D apps available for the Mac, think about Maya, Cinema4D, Zbrush, Houdini, TurboCAD, VectorWorks etc.
I think this is just for Apple graphic designers, who thinks they're power user. Sorry dude, but 3D on a Mac is a joke. The one who actually do 3D on a Mac machine uses PC via bootcamp.
roach: And you'd be wrong. Mostly because you're a dumbass.
Zak: and you're a dumbass. Mostly because you're a dumbass.
They are getting ready For Sn0w Le0pard as well, OpenCL will take good advantage of this card. I'd rather wait for someone to hack the drivers to make gtx260/280 to work and then use that
They are getting ready For Sn0w Le0pard as well, OpenCL will take good advantage of this card. I'd rather wait for someone to hack the drivers to make gtx260/280 to work and then use that
and yeah there's a large community of animators and film makers that use Macintosh and its splendid compared to using the same software on Windows, imo. There are some advantages to Windows too
shit double post....my bad, that was wierd, wtf? Engadget make better commenting lol...
Good news for Mac Pro users. The previous GPU offerings were, frankly, underwhelming.
So are these available when spec'ing out a new mac, or do you have to order a crap card (GeForece GT 120), throw it away and buy this one separately?
I'm still waiting for Apple to retail any SAS 15k hard drives or SSD's for the Mac Pro- they took a big step forward in the processor and RAM department, but two steps back in the other main components. Having 8 cores doesn't do much if the processors are waiting for data from the relatively slow 7,200 hard drives.
Then put one in yourself? Why would you wait for Apple to charge you twice as much for something you could buy right now and install? Same thing with any "made for Apple" hardware. Why bother?
GeekPi - why would you have to order a card that comes with it by default? Apple has always made the Quadro cards a BTO option.
And have you even bothered to look for SAS drives for the Mac Pro? The drives and SAS card are readily available. I don't know what you're complaining about. As far as SSD, why would you need that (or SAS drives for that matter) to come from Apple? Were you not aware that Mac Pros use standard SATA ports, and standard 3.5" bays?
Get it from Newegg or something. How can you not know this stuff already? Do you always bitch about stuff you haven't bothered to research first?
Zak - As of right now, the quadro is not part of the BTO option anymore. Nor are SAS drives. You have to buy their sub-par hardware, then junk them, and replace them from a 3rd party. Not exactly the most user friendly. I was going to spec one of their machines for our designers, but went with a Dell Precision T7500 instead, since they're actually covered by a decent warranty (3 year, 24/7, 4 hour on-site replacement). If you could send me a link from Apple's site for SAS drives and quadro's for the new mac pro, I'd appreciate it.
@GeekPI - this card is being announced today and is not available until next month - just like the PR and the article above states. So this card was never part of the system configuration options. Your statement - not available "anymore" makes no sense. Give it a month.
I'm just going to wait for those usual comments of "Oh wow, those are so expensive! They must be able to max out any video game!"
Oh wow, those are so expensive! They must be able to max out any video game!
Waiting now complete.
Oh wow, those are so expensive! They must be able to max out any video game!
+2
Oh wow, those are so expensive! They must be able to max out any video game!
+3
oh you're silly, you're so silly ..... Macs can't play games ....
Oh wow, those are so expensive! Fuck that.
+ like 50 billion
" "
+4 (with laziness)
Seeing as the Quadro series is NOT for gaming, but rather 3D animation and modeling, these will do poorly for their price.
There's your mildew. That is gonna smell.
nothing will EVER max out Crysis! EVER!
It's optimized to use up every available CPU and GPU resource without ever hitting the "magic" frames per second.
I'm not sure if I would be willing to spend $1800 dollars on a video card....ever. But I do suppose that there are people out there that coudl use this, so kudos to Nvidia.
Oh wow, those are so expensive! They must be able to max out any video game!
+4
( we have to keep going until we are- OVER 9000!!!)
dang it. -1 for the broken comment system...
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!!
$1,800?! ...[dude] Jesus! [/dude]
I don't get how it's only now available for mac pro users. It's PCIe, isn't it? Why not just slap it in?
Is this configuration options from Apple? Drivers? Special gpu firmware?
F/w
As always, the issue is that Macs use EFI, and Windows PCs don't (for the most part).
If we needed any more evidence of Engadget's pro-Apple stance, this is it.
You already posted when this card was available for hundreds of other manufacturers' machines. Why make a new one because it is now available for a single new manufacturer?
because a special one is needed for the mac?
Maybe because it wasn't availiable for the Mac at that time? Plus, this is pretty big news for those of us who are in the graphic design industry.
It's not like Engadget doesn't also post the new Microsoft Ads everytime they come out. So how about you stop being biased against Apple and Engadget's Apple news, and avoid the comment section.
Also, I see more PC and non-apple related posts on here then I do the other way around. But, basic observation skills seem to be devoid in PC users. :)
As the Human Torch would say, Flame On.
You win The Dumbest Question of The Blog Post Award™.
Actually there are more incriminating posts than this (iPhone-like Chrysler dashboard running Surface)
7egend:
"Also, I see more PC and non-apple related posts on here then I do the other way around."
Wow, really? I mean whoa! Could it be because tech industry is much more than your closed walled Apple universe? Nah, engadget must be pro PC!
Because they want to tweak anti-Apple trolls so they get lots of hits? :-D
Just kidding.
The reason why this is significant is that when the new Mac Pros came out in March, there was a big kerfuffle over the fact that the old Quadro graphics card (which cost about $1,500) had been discontinued and there was no replacement at the time. There was a massive outcry that Apple was abandoning high-end 3D graphics developers.
My guess at the time was this card would appear sooner rather than later. And sure enough, a month later, it's here. Even before the middle-level graphics card was released for those of us with 2008 Mac Pros that only costs $350 (and requires 10.5.7 which hasn't been released).
I think everyone needs to calm down right now.
This thing is a beast but it's not for gaming. Quadro drivers are optimized for OpenGL computing not DirectX as most games are running with. My Maya 2009 copy will love this one. I frowned upon apple for not delivering a Quadro option for the new Mac Pro's but it's all good. Just need to wait one extra month.
that isn't to say that you couldn't play games on this thing, it's just you won't get your money's worth. You'd be better off with a Geforce 285 or whatever.
Made for mac? Why no mini-DisplayPort then? Because graphics pros are more likely to use ACD 30"? Maybe, but it seems that Apple will change everything over to MDP eventually...
Couple of noob questions I've had about pro level graphics cards and Macs:
1) What are the advantages of a Quadro/FireGL that make it more suited to modelling and animation than a GeForce/Radeon card?
2) Ordinary graphics cards don't work in Macs, apparently due to the issue of EFI. Exactly how does EFI relate to graphics cards? I thought it was simply a new method of booting from a disk, coupled with a GPT-partitioned disk?
The advantages of a Quadro are right there in the specs. 1.5 GB frame buffer, 76GB/sec memory bandwidth, 192 stream processors, etc. In other words, it's designed for work, not gaming.
As far as EFI, read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Firmware_Interface
Since Macs don't use legacy BIOS, the cards have to use EFI.
Zak, you idiot. In computer terminology, a technology is labeled "legacy" AFTER most manufacturers and people stop using it, which is not the case with BIOS. Apple unnecessarily uses the more complicated EFI because it thinks itself superior.
Superhobo,
You're just mad because Microsoft promised EFI with Vista and couldn't pull it off. They were incapable of overcoming their legacy of millions of BIOS-based hardware legacies that would choke on the new firmware.
And of course, as so many things promised for Vista - like WinFS - it was simply more vapor from the master of vaporware - Microsoft.
Get over it. It's not because Macs are better. They'd really have to work to be that bad.
superhobo - Really? You're going to call me an idiot for quoting Wikipedia? That's fantastic. But seriously, Intel came up with EFI, not Apple, and it IS superior. That's why Apple is using it. How is it that you still don't understand how this works? Your defense of BIOS is the same thing as defending bicycles against cars, because cars are "too complicated". Seriously, that's a terribad argument. Any non-mentally impaired person will tell you that EFI is better, and even Microsoft is still trying to implement it. They did manage to implement it in a couple OSes. What does that tell you?
Oh wait I bet you think that means BIOS is still better somehow. There's absolutely nothing to support it, you just believe it because you hate Apple. It's very objective of you.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/legacy
You do know that Wikipedia is written by everyone? A lot of people are like you.
No BIOS to EFI is like Bicycle to another Bicycle, in most cases. Granted there are a few architectures for which it may not be suitable anymore, but not most desktops and laptops.
Second I didn't say it wasn't better. But the benefits aren't all that obvious.
"No, BIOS"*
Can these be ran in sli?
@r3loaded - You can kind of think of it this way: Gaming cards are for reproducing and rendering graphics that already exist. Cards like the Quadro are more for real time processing and the creation of assets using OpenGL. When you're doing 3D your main processors are getting slammed every time you do something like move a camera, and the CPU has to process the math. This means your computer has to rebuild each little movement from scratch, which is why you need the massive amount of bandwidth and memory forthe card to talk to the CPU. The architecture of the card takes the load off of your main processor, and stores the information in its memory, where a gaming card is getting rendering information from your CPU and processing it to make it look pretty at a high framerate.
thankyou +1
guys guys guys guys your missing the big picture here.
Does it play crysis?
Crysis isn't available for OS X, so you'd need to bootcamp or parallels it.
This thing looks like an ipod nano
Cool, even the graphics card looks good in the Mac Pro. GPUs are usually so ugly with CGI bitches, flames of fury and huge fans. This was clean. I likez.
Too bad the Mac pro doesn't have a clear case.
I am continually surprised by the lack of firmware written by homebrew or third parties to turn gaming cards into professional graphics cards. The hardware in many cases is almost identical. I use 3d Studio max, and have a nice 8800gt that can handle any game i throw at it. Technically, it can handle a gigapixel fillrate of 11.2, and a texture fillrate of 39.2 G Texels. Any amount of color and shading and real time rendering, and high definition video, and the frame rate is incredible. Then I start Max and get 25 fps on a relatively simple model, only view the wireframe, no textures. With DirectX enabled as the Graphics mode of course. I do understand they have to make money, so they just make one chip and gimp the firmware, kinda like how Intel makes one chip and then sells it at 3 or 4 different multipliers. But keep in mind, we are happy to change those multipliers, and to even do things like flash our dvd burner firmware, wireless router firmware, etc. I personally would be much happier to pay money for the 8800gt firmware that makes it into a pro card than to shell out 1800 for this thing. And for you programmers out there putting stuff out for free, go ahead and work on this instead of that unimportant ubuntu distro that just has to be out every 6 months. Oooh, did you hear Gnome can now handle bashes and Tarballs with 56% fewer keystrokes per crash? Only 45 more years until we can launch an .exe!
Mac Pro: Superior
It would be nice if there was a greater range of video cards available for macs, and new ones became available quicker compared to the pc versions.