Graphic Card for Macintosh? (Maya)

[Clondike7]

All AGP8x cards are backward compatible with AGP4x, however, they wont have the same bandwith as if you had them running at AGP8x, since at 4x they have half the bandwith.
I wouldnt feel safe recommending you a card 'cause I dont know how macs work, I use AMD with a GeForce4 Ti4600 and Maya 5 and I have no problems with this config.

[mark_wilkins]

I'd seriously recommend sticking with the qualified hardware for Mac on Alias's site, if at all possible. It looks like recent ATI products are better for Maya than older ones...

also, if you're working ok for now, you may want to go for something cheap, because the persistent rumor is that there will be support for pro graphics cards (Quadro and/or FireGL) in the 10.3 timeframe.

-- Mark

[ZrO-1]

@ mark_wilkins: First off let me just say that I'm reading your book on MEL scripting, and you ROCK my man. :applause:
I run the Graphics labs at where I work (PC and Mac) so I try to stay on top of the latest news regarding both platforms...Anyway, my understanding was that the Pro/GL cards would only work on the G5 platform not on the older G4s...regardless of the OS version.

@brianemsu2: The latest Radeon 9800 for the Mac should blow the doors off of the Nvidia offerings for the Mac. The last time I looked the FX series wasn't available for the G4s, just the GeForce 4. Trust me the even the FX series can't keep up with the R-9800, so the gF-4 would totally suck in comparison. the GeForce 4 might be equivilant to what you have now.

As Mark_wilkins pointed out check out the Maya qualified hardware list. (you can go right to it by clicking this link (http://www.alias.com/eng/support/maya/qualified_hardware/QUAL/maya_50_osx.html) ).

Hope that helps.

[brianemsu2]

Yeah, I know what you mean about the R 9800... it looks really impressive... I feel tempted to get one, but at the same time ATI has neglected their customers so much in the past with non-existent driver support (Mac) that I couldn't see myself breaking down and getting ATI again...
I have been consistently dissapointed with their service in the past... I wish they would realize that customer satisfaction for the long haul is just as or more important than having a really good product for an initial 'wow' factor. At least that's the way I see it.
But you never know, I could be walking down the street and all of a sudden get the urge to get the latest/greatest:)

[Clondike7]

true the FX5800 had its a$$ kicked by the radeon 9800, but the FX5900 turned that around. but i dont know if its supported for mac... bad thing about that FX is u need to sacrifice the next PCI slot...
arent Quadros supported for macs?

[brianemsu2]

No, they aren't supported yet... hopefully what mark_wilkins was saying is true, that OS 10.3 will have support for them, and the new G5's have an 8X AGP slot also... seems like the future is brighter for the Macs now.. at least you would hope so.

[t-man152]

well on my ohh so often strole to the computer store to drool all over the quadro 2000 I saw somwhere under all the saliva that it was supported for Mac and PC. in fact at the nvidia site you can get quadro drivers for Mac.

ummmmhhhhhh Quadro

[brianemsu2]

well you are probably right, and I hope you are... I am just going on rumors I have heard (not the best to reproduce). I just wish now that I had enough money to actually be able to drive to the store to drool over all of the cool stuff!

[kiwi]

I am getting a G5 soon and this "can I get a Quadro or a FIre card" is something I have been researching{emails as well}.A Nvidia driver writer tells me that Apple write their own drivers for the Nvidia and ATI cards,so its up to Apple I believe as to when we get our drivers......damn I hope its soon :)


t-man 152 thats great news :) On Nvidias site under Mac there is no mention of Quadro or the 5900 though :shrug:


3D labs are not doing drivers for the Wildcats that I do know.


I want an FX 1000 preferably before the G5 arrives.



Can anyone find anything else on this,I heard Quadro and Fire support was just rumor at this time as well.


Thanks

Stu.

[ZrO-1]

I reciently spoke with an ATI rep at the MacWorld (creative pro) expo here in NY, and I asked specifically if there were any plans to bring the FireGL over to the Mac. The rep's words were:

"Not in the forseable future; right now were pushing Radeon on the Mac. We have a demo of that running here at our booth if you'd like to see..." (The rest was just a sales pitch so I tuned it out :twisted: )

So I think that pretty-much answers the question of the FireGL on the Mac. Maybe later they will release something for the G5 only, but to quote the rep "not in the forseeable future".

As far as nVidia goes: if you go to the macintosh page (http://www.nvidia.com/page/macintosh.html) on nVidia's site they only mention the GeForce2 MX, and GeForce4 MX/Ti. If you go to the Maya hardware compatibility page (http://www.alias.com/eng/support/maya/qualified_hardware/QUAL/maya_50_osx.html) you will see that the GeForce FX series isn't even listed untill you get down to the G5...and there is no mention anywhere on it about any version of Quadro.

I also would love to see pro GL cards on the Mac platform. Just imagine what you could do with the UI of Mac OS X using the Quarts rendering engine on there ... :drool: :drool:
Let's hope ATI and nVidia see the strength of the G5 and release pro GL cards for the G5 platform soon.

[Emberghost]

Originally posted by ZrO-1
@brianemsu2: The latest Radeon 9800 for the Mac should blow the doors off of the Nvidia offerings for the Mac. The last time I looked the FX series wasn't available for the G4s, just the GeForce 4. Trust me the even the FX series can't keep up with the R-9800, so the gF-4 would totally suck in comparison. the GeForce 4 might be equivilant to what you have now.


OK, why are you comparing the G4's to the best ati card? For around 400 for a 9800 pro it BETTER be able to outperform a G4. Even The Best G4 *ti-4600* goes for about 260$. Also the flop of a card, the 5800, was only supposed to match the 9700 pro not the 9800, but it couldn't compete with either sadly.

And the card that I own, ti-4200 goes for very cheap now, little over a hundred, and would perform alot better than a 9000 pro.
The 4200 performs a little worse than the 9500.

And if you do get a FX series card the only one that is really worth it is the 5900.

This is what I suggest for non professional cards:
low budget: 4200
mid budget: 4600
no budget: 5900, 9800 if it runs well with your program.

Hope I helped

I just got some reviews:
5900 ultra vs 9800 pro (http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDk2LDM=)
9800 pro vs 9700 pro vs 5800 (http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDM5LDM=)
4600 vs 4200 vs 9500 pro (http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Mzk2LDI=)
3 different 4200's (http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MzMxLDM=)

[ZrO-1]

Originally posted by Emberghost
OK, why are you comparing the G4's to the best ati card? ...

First off, let me make something clear: I'm not knocking nVidia at all. I have a Quadro FX 2000 in my PC and I absolutely love it and would never trade it for an ATI FireGL. :love:

This thread was asking about the best card for the Macintosh. Right now GeForce FX cards are not available for the Mac. The best nVidia card offered for the Mac platform right now is the GeForce 4 Ti. The best ATI card card for the Mac platform right now is the Radeon 9800. Given those two options (since that's the two top choices for both brands) the 9800 is better, hands-down. I've seen Maya demoed on the Mac (G4) with a R9800 and it ran really nicely.

Of course, the nVidia is less expensive. And if you absolutely want to go with nVidia (which I don't blame you), the best you can do is the GeForce 4 Ti...on the Mac.

[kiwi]

Originally posted by ZrO-1
I reciently spoke with an ATI rep at the MacWorld (creative pro) expo here in NY, and I asked specifically if there were any plans to bring the FireGL over to the Mac. The rep's words were:

"Not in the forseable future; right now were pushing Radeon on the Mac. We have a demo of that running here at our booth if you'd like to see..." (The rest was just a sales pitch so I tuned it out :twisted: )

So I think that pretty-much answers the question of the FireGL on the Mac. Maybe later they will release something for the G5 only, but to quote the rep "not in the forseeable future".

As far as nVidia goes: if you go to the macintosh page (http://www.nvidia.com/page/macintosh.html) on nVidia's site they only mention the GeForce2 MX, and GeForce4 MX/Ti. If you go to the Maya hardware compatibility page (http://www.alias.com/eng/support/maya/qualified_hardware/QUAL/maya_50_osx.html) you will see that the GeForce FX series isn't even listed untill you get down to the G5...and there is no mention anywhere on it about any version of Quadro.

I also would love to see pro GL cards on the Mac platform. Just imagine what you could do with the UI of Mac OS X using the Quarts rendering engine on there ... :drool: :drool:
Let's hope ATI and nVidia see the strength of the G5 and release pro GL cards for the G5 platform soon.



Hey thanks I appreciate it :thumbsup:



Ya the G5 has the AGP 8x Pro,so some time the Pro cards must come.Ah well I suppose I will get a 9800 Pro and get some more ram maybe


Cheers

Stu.

[Emberghost]

Originally posted by ZrO-1
First off, let me make something clear: I'm not knocking nVidia at all. I have a Quadro FX 2000 in my PC and I absolutely love it and would never trade it for an ATI FireGL. :love:

This thread was asking about the best card for the Macintosh. Right now GeForce FX cards are not available for the Mac. The best nVidia card offered for the Mac platform right now is the GeForce 4 Ti. The best ATI card card for the Mac platform right now is the Radeon 9800. Given those two options (since that's the two top choices for both brands) the 9800 is better, hands-down. I've seen Maya demoed on the Mac (G4) with a R9800 and it ran really nicely.

Of course, the nVidia is less expensive. And if you absolutely want to go with nVidia (which I don't blame you), the best you can do is the GeForce 4 Ti...on the Mac.

Sorry, I am not trying to argue with you. And I am not a mac user and don't know much about macs+vid cards, so I guess my post was kinda irrelevant. From your comment above I agree about getting the 9800 if it runs ok.

[mark_wilkins]

The GeForce FX 5200 Ultra is a BTO option on some of the G5 machines, according to their website, though when I ordered mine it was not on the pop-up list!

-- Mark

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.