Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition

[KeithP]

Sapphire has announced a new card for Mac Pros 2010 or later and it can also be used in standard Windows boxes.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/media/media_index.aspx?psn=0004&articleID=5083&lid=1

Some benchmarks:
http://www.barefeats.com/gpu7950c.html

Barefeats lists retail at $479. Seems interesting that Sapphire would announce such a card given the age of the current Mac Pros, maybe they know something we don't?

-KeithP

 

[Centauri]

Yeah... Maybe they know somebody has to sell modern graphics cards for Mac Pros since Apple wont even offer them BTO, let alone at the store as a separate upgrade...

 

[KeithP]

Yeah... Maybe they know somebody has to sell modern graphics cards for Mac Pros since Apple wont even offer them BTO, let alone at the store as a separate upgrade...

Well no one "has" to sell modern graphics cards for any platform so I don't think that is it.

-KeithP

 

[mmntech]

Is there even any difference between these Mac GPUs and their PC counterparts? I'd assume it's just a driver issue. Not sure what they meant when they were babbling on about firmware compliance modes. The identical PC HD 7950 is only $310. Been awhile since I've farted around with a Mac desktop.

 

[Centauri]

No difference technologically. It's just a markup. Used to be much worse back in the PowerPC days, too.

 

[lindasuny]

The SAPPHIRE HD 7950 Mac Edition is compatible with Apple Mac Pro models from 2010 and later with an available PCI-Express x16 slot. Two six-pin power cables required are supplied with the card. A driver disk is provided which enables the card to be used with Mac OS X 10.7.5 (Lion), 10.8.2 (Mountain Lion) or later.

 

[KeithP]

No difference technologically. It's just a markup. Used to be much worse back in the PowerPC days, too.

No, at least not how I read the description...

The SAPPHIRE HD 7950 Mac Edition can also be used in the latest PC architectures. It has Dual Firmware support via a simple Firmware (Dual BIOS) switch. In one position the Sapphire HD 7950 MAC Edition supports Mac OS X/Windows under non-UEFI compliant mode and in the other it supports Windows with UEFI hybrid firmware enabled. A Windows driver disk is also included.

Sure, there is some extra mark up there, but there does seem to be some hardware differences compared to the vanilla Windows only variant. R.I.F.

-KeithP

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I thought there were some bios differences too?

 

[gpse]

firmware should be the only difference, hardware should be the same.

 

[Rakehellion]

The PC version on a Mac won't show any video until the drivers load, so no Apple logo at startup or pre-boot stuff. Personally, I'd prefer the price savings.