The ages-old video card/chip wars had supposedly wrapped up more than a decade ago, leaving only two combatants: ATI [AMD] and Nvidia [NVDA]. These two kept slugging it out, year after year, with newer, improved chips and card implementations. When AMD bought ATI, it seemed that Nvidia would be down-and-out, but instead, the company bounced back with a new generation of chips that catapulted it into predominance. What helped propel Nvidia even further was its adoption into Microsoft’s Xbox. However, as the worm turns, ATI gained momentum as it was introduced as the GPU producer for Microsoft’s next gaming console, the Xbox 360. These days, the two manufacturers trade salvos with new chips, leapfrogging each other with each iteration.
In the Mac Pro arena, however, the card availability is a much narrower field, and when Apple [AAPL] declares the chosen products, that pretty much sets the selection in stone. Until recently, Nvidia’s 8800 GT card was the desired mainstream video card for the Mac Pro; however, the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT is the default shipping card. While Windows and Linux hosts are able to run more recent, upgraded Nvidia video cards, the 8800 GT has been the sole available card in the mid-level class for Mac Pro users.
This is about to change: AMD (under their ATI brand) has announced the new ATI Radeon HD 3870 for the Mac Pro. This effectively ups the ante on the mid-level category, bringing a worthy competitor to the 8800 GT. The release date has not been finalized yet, but AMD declares the card to be available via the Apple Store sometime in late June 2008– yep, it’s coming up soon!
Not to rest on their laurels, the developers at Nvidia have announced another graphics card series, the GTX 200 (there are the GTX 260 and GTX 280 chips in the series currently). However, there is no announcement for a Mac Pro form…
N.B.
There is one other card that I didn’t discuss… this is a potent video card that is often seen on professional workstation: the Nvidia Quadro FX 5600. Priced higher than most people are willing to pay, it has remained as the top-level product for the Mac Pro, typically reserved for the highly performant developers and other heavy-duty graphics pros.
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