NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 285 coming to Macs in June

Mac users -- are you tired of being taunted by your PC friends over their myriad GPU options / killer gaming rigs? Well, here's one less front they can battle you on. We've just received a pic of this nasty piece of work in our inboxes with word that it's due in June. Like the PC version, we're guessing you can expect two things here: it's killer... and it's expensive.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2009 8:09PM]

Have people thought about the consumers that would actually benefit from an intelligent discussion rather than a slagging contest about playing shite games on either platform?

This card coming to macs in the coming months will give the semi-pro/pro filmaker an opportunity to maximise their efficiency when editing, grading and rendering effects for their films. One of the now main purposes of the machine is in the media industry, and film-makers, compositors, web designers, animators and colourists will reap the benefits of this card for years to come once it is released.

Finally the GPU's are jumping through the hoops the software designers put up... lets just hope Nvidia don't give us any troublesome bugs with this one!

[crescentdavid Posted Apr 29th 2009 8:13PM]

I agree. I work in a mixed shop as well as run pc's and macs at home and this is definitely good news for the mac side of the street. I really dislike fanbois of both persuasions. This is a good thing, people.

[Mikeo Posted Apr 29th 2009 9:01PM]

Without a doubt, due to nVidia's crappy OSX drivers, this card will be slower than the Radeon 4870 option found in built to order Mac Pros in *Core Image* apps (Final Cut, Aperture, Motion, Color, Pixelmator)

It's barely faster at workstation openGL graphics due to the Radeon's immense throughput on vertex operations too. The only thing it actually is rather fast at, is games. Of which the low-clockspeed Xeons on the Mac Pro won't appreciate either way. So this card is basically fail.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2009 8:30PM]

Adam, please can you explain a bit more about exactly how this card will help those in the media industry outside of any 3D work. Will the OpenCL features in Snow Leopard add grunt to the overall processing power of OSX by offloading tasks to the GPUs? I can't really understand how anybody other than a 3D professional can justify these cards if their 2D graphical performance is the same as the lower end models provided with the lower end Macs? Can OpenGL accelerated 2D applications (like Final Cut/Photoshop/etc.) be vastly improved when driven by these cards? i.e. I'm sure the Geekbench/XBench scores would be improved but which real-world apps on OSX gain a large boost from these?

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2009 9:03PM]

Currently Motion uses the GPU for 32-bit float rendering. Motion is has seen some of the greatest overhalls in the studio so far and others are due a heavy upgrade which I expect will suprise us all. The main benefits for me with a card like this is improved ability to handle high definition footage by supporting higher resolution displays, and in greater numbers.

If I am honest (yeah I expect I am wrong) I always thought that my GPU helped with rendering using Color also, but I expect I am going to be corrected...

Either way, it is not an impossibility, and it is far from an impracticality for OSX and pro apps to utilize the power of new cards such as this.

I would like to hear more about it if anyone knows.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2009 9:39PM]

wow didnt know so many people were into gaming on the comp still...LAN parties? lol

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2009 10:01PM]

If you're buying a Mac Pro with a fast graphics card with the express intent of installing Windows on it and gaming, then you're an idiot.

If, however, you're rendering video effects in something like Motion that takes advantage of the the GPU, then this will help a lot. I remember back in the day when I was doing some fairly simple effects on my PowerBook (GeForce 5200), took significantly longer (5x?) as on my tower (Radeon 9700 pro) when I got back to my apartment. I told myself I would never run Motion on the laptop ever again.

So yes, there are people who can benefit from getting an upgraded graphics card on the Mac - that said, it almost always hurts that these days, new GPUs (be they high end or entry-mid level) are almost always at least 6 months behind their PC counterparts, and almost always sell at original MSRP, when a comparable PC version can usually be had for roughly half the price. A few years back (when there were fewer reasons for Mac owners to have fast GPUs), we actually got a few "exclusive" releases - ATI Rage 128, GeForce 2MX, GeForce 3, and GeForce 4Ti all debuted on the Mac, IIRC. I don't think we've gotten anything first or even concurrently since then.

There're plenty of good reasons to own Macs, but a good selection of GPUs at reasonable prices (and *any* selection of mid-priced towers) is definitely not one of them.

[4ndr3W Posted Apr 29th 2009 10:42PM]

CASE: ($20 off Mail-in Rebate) CM Storm Sniper Mid-Tower Gaming 420W Case
Neon Light Upgrade: NONE
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default case fans
POWER SUPPLY Upgrade: 800 Watts Power Supplies (CyberPowerPC XF800S Performance ATX 2.0 Power - Quad SLI Ready)
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-940 2.93 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
COOLING FAN : Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System (Extreme Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA)
MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) Asus P6T Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA, GbLAN, USB2.0, IEEE1394a, &7.1Audio
MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) PC1333 DDR3 PC3 10666 Triple Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
FREEBIES: None
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX295 X2 1.7GB 16X PCIe Video Card (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)
VIDEO CARD 2: NONE


2,0040$ cyberpower PC

hahahah 2X gtx295's....whawha Apple is outdate already...gtx285 isnt even out yet for apple hahahahha its outdated before it even gets updated.....ripoff!!!!!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 30th 2009 12:39AM]

have fun powering your 2xGTX295s with 450watts LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 30th 2009 1:53AM]

he said 800 watts... watt the problem?

gulp...

[Muddy Posted Apr 30th 2009 4:42PM]

@Danny Haha, woops

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2009 10:45PM]

Does it really matter? Honestly? Macs and PCs are really the same thing, they can both do what the other can do. Macs don't have games because developers choose not to, that's their problem.

This post is about a sweet graphics card becoming available for the Mac Pro, a professional grade workstation doing high end video rendering, advanced photoshop and 3D design. Many games and movies are made on Macs. Deal. All this means is that finally developers and professionals who actually will need more power in the GPU department will get a better product. The GTX285 is the FASTEST single GPU solution available right now. What's the problem?

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2009 10:52PM]

Look, computers are more than gaming rigs. If you want to play games, buy a cheap PC with suck butt Windows for $1,000. If you want a real computer, buy a Mac Pro tower. Macs are more productive - far more than PCs. I wish you kids would grow up. Computers are made for work, production and creation. In the latter areas, Macs beat PCs hands down. They always have.

[kaeljae Posted Apr 29th 2009 11:40PM]

You don't buy a Mac if you want to play games. I use my Mac for my light office & design work, and my PC for gaming. I think each system is geared very well towards their respective purposes.

[1059 WKYA Radio Mike Lightly Posted Apr 29th 2009 11:44PM]

Vegas, ahahahah. comparing to Final Cut? ahahahahahahah.

if it wasnt for Final Cut there wouldnt be a Avid Express at all buddy.

But Vegas? ahahahahahahahhah

NO one cares about that shit. especially because its running on the shat that is winbloze.

great games. great hardware. great variety. shit OS. = I'm def not a PC


lol, vegas....rofl

[1059 WKYA Radio Mike Lightly Posted Apr 29th 2009 11:46PM]

clarification: great hardware means great specs. in ugly ass cases. Neon fishtanks anyone? PASS.

[LMLYP Posted Apr 30th 2009 3:04AM]

cereal. i just wish there were a great variety in cases, much like what we can get on Macs.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=7&name=Computer-Cases
...oh

[Walt Posted Apr 30th 2009 12:14AM]

interesting...

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 30th 2009 1:57AM]

Tonight, War of the Flame Wars!!

PC vs Mac VS Canon vs Nikon!!

Dont miss it!

[CaptSaltyJack Posted Apr 30th 2009 2:08AM]

Are they gonna offer this for the 1st gen Mac Pro?

[RUGRLN Posted Apr 30th 2009 2:08AM]

Just a question, why don't normal Windows GFX cards work in the mac? Is it just becoz of DirectX? Windows ones do also ahve OpenGL...or does Mac have their own API/framework?

[liamf555 Posted Apr 30th 2009 2:42AM]

Maybe computer aren't just for games... Maybe you can actually do useful things on them as well...

[LMLYP Posted Apr 30th 2009 3:06AM]

UNPOSSIBLE.
I must pay at least $2000 to photoshop

[drakino Posted Apr 30th 2009 4:50AM]

I always love the people who say you can't game on a mac. Was even more amusing to have people come up to me at Quakecon and try to bash mac gaming with my Mac Pro on the table. First off, they couldn't even identify I was playing Quake Wars. And then they didn't believe it existed for the Mac till I switched it to windowed mode. Sad really.

A surprising amount of games do get Mac ports, though most don't come out on the same day/week/month as the PC version. I definitely applaud Blizzard for their consistent hybrid releases for over a decade now.

And no, I'm not going to build some $1000 noisy PC to replace my Mac Pro either. I like 8 processors, and put them to good use often since I do actually use the machine for more then gaming. I can crank all 8 cores to max usage with video transcoding, and the fans might go from 500rpm to 600rpm. It's a dead silent box, with gobs of RAM slots and still came in cheeper then a Dell or HP 8 way box.

As for the video card, glad to see more choice for the Mac Pros. The hardware doesn't have to be different, the only thing needed to work in a mac is software. The firmware on the video card has to support EFI (due to Intel macs not adopting ancient BIOS tech), and drivers for OS X.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 30th 2009 6:54AM]

My experience is pretty good with NVIDIA Graphic Cards. i am game lover and when i hear that NVIDIA Launch new Graphic Card, I am really happy.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 30th 2009 7:35AM]

I still have no idea why Apple enjoys delaying components on their systems. I think they enjoy getting beat by Windows...

[lee7n Posted Apr 30th 2009 10:31AM]

And almost completely useless on the mac, Quake 2 does not require that much power lol

[(Unverified) Posted May 1st 2009 12:30PM]

ASUS Z8NA-D6C Dual LGA 1366
$259

2 x Intel Xeon E5504
2 x $234 = $468

SUPER TALENT 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
$78

Case, power supply, hard drive, some CPU fans DVD drive.
$200 - $300

$1000 if you go super cheap on case, PSU & HD
$1200 for a respectable system

Overclock to 3.0 enjoy the performance of mac pro at 1/3 the cost.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 30th 2009 5:03PM]

All these comments on PC's vs macs are really quite sad.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 30th 2009 8:12PM]

Windows isn't worth using except for games.

[Guspaz Posted Apr 30th 2009 10:52PM]

So, what exactly is different about the "mac" version? Do standard PCIe cards not fit into a Mac Pro? At a glance, the "Mac Version" seems to be identical to the existing product.

[superhobo Posted May 1st 2009 9:20AM]

Firmware.

[(Unverified) Posted May 31st 2009 5:22PM]

YES. Finally I will be able to go hackintosh - I will be triple booting Vista/7/OSX within a month. Now to sell my X-Fi, which OSX isn't cool enough to support... lol