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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Mac Pro: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT?

Shawn Nelson

Shawn Nelson

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I'm configuring my new Mac Pro and I can't decide between the two. I had heard that the ATI was better for RedAlert, but the NVidia seems so much better.

Thoughts?
 
I've got the 2600 in my MacPro and it's not bad at all. However, when you run speed tests between the 8800 and the 2600, the 8800 blows the 2600 out of the water. I am hoping to upgrade to the 8800 at some point because I believe my AE work will be faster.

Matthew
 
Because he tested them, he's probably not happy with the results and so he's rewriting the Redcode plugin to get better ones. Just my guess...

But from my personal experience you're safe to go with the 8800 cause it actually works ok (not great but ok) for editing R3Ds and it's a great card for other video and graphic appz in general.
 
Arno said:
Because he tested them, he's probably not happy with the results and so he's rewriting the Redcode plugin to get better ones. Just my guess...
Click to expand...

You're probably right. I'm more interested in the performance of one card compared to the other, not their actual performance. There must be a way to post the results using percentages, without showing the actual render times.
 
I just bought a Mac and was going back and forth on this. I decided to get the Radeon because it's cheaper and works as well right now. ATI may be bringing out a new card. If not, I may upgrade to the 8800GT when it is really delivering superior results... and I'll have a 2600XT lying around as a backup. If you like to live on the edge some people have flashed non-mac 8800's and gotten them to work in their Mac. And those are under $250 I think. Plus I could walk into my local Apple store and buy the 2600 version but the 8800 would have to be ordered. No big deal - but I just wanted to walk in and walk out with a computer. It's a good feeling.
 
I've got the 2600 in my new macpro (8x2.8ghx, 8 gigg ram) All running fine with redcode in fcp, redcine etc.

I went with the base because:

a) cost
b) shipping times
c) Redcode is work in progress - 6 months from now maybe it'll be optimised and that's when I'll get a new card if needed along with another 8 giggs of ram....

I would say my 2 cents but I'm UK so : my 0.0100746 pence.

Cheers

Jeff
#708
 
If you look at the barefeats tests, you see that for image-apps, the ATI currently works the best. For Games thnVidea currently works best.
I don't know if this goes for RedCine, but I suspect so (reading the render-speed tests)

the biggest improvement happened here when adding a RAID and 8 gb of RAM and taking out the stock 2 gb...

Gunleik
 
Sidney said:
check out barefeats.com they do all sorts of mac tests. As I read it for Apple pro applications (FCP, color..) the ATI even with its smaller memory is the only way to go right now.
Click to expand...

I checked it out, but I didn't feel ATI was "the only way to go." Why not the nVidia 5600FX?
I understand it's expensive, but IMO it's almost necessary when you incorporate this level of image quality. I know going RED can become quite expensive really quick, but that's a part of high level filmmaking. But is this the reason why most are leaning toward the lower end cards?

I think a better question here is what is the cheapest card I can get away with?
 
For me the best card for Mac would be the faster and best quality rendering one for RED files
but I still do not know from this forum which is THE one !
if anybody from RED team knows, I'll be more than happy !
 
I have the ati and i am changing for the 8800. Full screen video playbacks in 30" screen flicker.
Intensive GPU applications such as Speedgrade or Scratch don´t work.
Redcine works. We´ll see how fast with nvidia vs ati.
 
We took delivery of a Mac Pro with the 8800 on Wednesday. We installed all available software updates (the thing already had QT 7.4). Not having access to a similar system with the ATI card we haven't done comparative benchmarks or anything, but we've processed a bunch of footage through RedCine without incident and QT proxies seem to work fine in FCP.
 
kowboy said:
I think a better question here is what is the cheapest card I can get away with?
Click to expand...

I think that is a good question. And what really is gained by spending thousands more on a card. If there's real evidence I can understand then fine - but everything I've read regarding FCP and higher end cards is "don't waste your money".

Sometimes cheaper is just fine. Sometimes it's not.
 
Thanks for all the feedback! I ordered today and paid the extra $200 for the NVidia 8800 GTS.
 
You'll be just fine Shawn.
 
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