Not Yet Shipped? Gimme!

BRK » 25 May 2008 » In Hardware » 10 Comments

After we read that the 8800GS in the new 24″ iMac isn’t really an 8800GS, but really a down-clocked version of the 8800GT, we couldn’t wait any longer.

How do we know it’s the 8800GT? Because of the bandwidth and memory stats that we found from a guy who ran the GPU-Z application from TechPowerUp on his iMac. His results? Here ya go:

The Real 8800GS

Memory: 384 or 768MB of GDDR3
Memory Clock / Bus-width: 800MHz / 192Bit
Core Clock: 550MHz
Vertex Shaders: 96

The Real 8800GT

Memory: 512MB of GDDR3
Memory Clock / Bus-width: 900MHz / 256Bit
Core Clock: 600MHz
Vertex Shaders: 112

The iMac’s 8800GS (reconfigured-8800GT)

Memory: 512MB of GDDR3
Memory Clock / Bus-width: 800MHz / 256Bit
Core Clock: 500MHz
Vertex Shaders: 64

Take a stock 8800GT, cut the memory clock and the number of shaders, maintain the wicked 256bit bus-width, save a ton of heat and power consumption, and charge your customers a lot less for a still-awesome video card. At least that’s what we’re hoping.

How does it compare against the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro that comes standard in the new iMac? Apple gives this pic below as an example.

We’re not really excited with that, so a little more research unearths this page. Barefeats shows the iMac’s 8800GS has a massive increase over the Radeon in all gaming/3D applications. We slapped down our plastic and are foaming at the mouth in anticipation.

We’ll be sitting at the door, waiting for the UPS guy. Someone feed the dog, OK?

Hardware | May 25, 2008

Comments

10 Responses to “Not Yet Shipped? Gimme!”

  1. Bloodtrip on May 25th, 2008 9:46 am

    Did you get the 2.8GHz because of the price? or because you ordered after the 3.06GHz came out? and the 2.8GHz now shows that it comes with the ATI card, unless you special ordered it. That is my reasoning for ordering the 3.08GHz due to me being a NVIDIA fan…

    Cant wait to hear your reviews when you get it… Macs rock! (i say that and i am writing from a PC w/XPpro, lol)

  2. Vanakis on May 25th, 2008 10:10 am

    Enjoy the wait :)

    One of the most excrutiating things of today is the wait for the postman delivering something you bought online.

    I abandoned WoW a few months ago, yet I still read your blog from time to time, a testament to how entertaining it is I suppose!

    Is there any reason to ocme back? (Apart from the fact I have a lot of time to kill at the moment)

  3. BRK on May 25th, 2008 10:19 am

    We custom-built our iMac with the 2.8 CPU and 8800GS video card. We have a 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo in our MacBook and it cranks iMovie plenty fast enough; the $$$ to go from a 2.8 to a 3.06 will be used elsewhere.

  4. Galoheart on May 25th, 2008 10:40 am

    Man I feel like I need to upgrade my Mac. I’m still playing on my G5 from almost 4 years ago. I need a bit more power under my PC hood. I need to head over to the Mac store for some more pixel power.

  5. ehay on May 25th, 2008 11:36 am

    Still glad I went for the mac pro :)

  6. Doryen on May 25th, 2008 1:41 pm

    Hello! You’ve bought the Mac equivalent of my computer!!!

    It’s amazing! You’ll have to let me know how it works!!!

  7. Tyndil on May 26th, 2008 11:29 am

    That’s the exact same configuration that I got, and it came on Wednesday. WoW runs like no one’s business on it, absolutely stunning. I never knew WoW could run so smooth. Over 100fps in instances, and I’ve seen it up to 175 or so outside.

  8. Nirriti on May 27th, 2008 3:23 pm

    I’m very interested in how this works out for you. I’ve been thinking of changing over from a PC to Mac for a number of reasons. One of which is Vista. It has caused so many problems here at work on all our new Dells that I don’t want it on a computer I own at home.

    So, keep us posted, and thanks!

  9. Suuri on May 28th, 2008 9:11 am

    I received mine yesterday after a month (first one was lost by FedEX). Pulled it out of the box, pluged in the 3 wires (Power, Keyboard, Mouse) …..and ….well….WOW???? I’m totaly amazed. 3.06GHz, 4GB, 24″ model. I’m in lust.

  10. blue_clax on June 4th, 2008 5:17 pm

    I just ordered the same configuration. Hopefully it will be here by the end of the week. God forbid I have to go the weekend without it! Any word on how it preforms as compared to a MacPro with 8800GT? I wanna know how it stacks up and maybe we will be able to tell if the 8800GS is indeed a downclocked 8800GT.