NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 or ATI Radeon HD 4850?

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Hi,

I am planning to buy the new updated iMac. The only thing I need to decide is which video card I should get. Either NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 512MB or ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB.

I will perform some heavy tasks like video editing with Final Cut Pro, audio editing with Soundtrack Pro, Print work with Adobe photoshop/illustrator/indesign, and batch video encoding. I want to know if NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 or ATI Radeon HD 4850 have specific strengths and weaknesses I should be aware of, or is the ATI Radeon HD better overall since it costs extra for the upgrade.

Thanks,


Vidhunter
 

bobtomay

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Most of what you're talking about is still all CPU intensive work vs GPU. The 4850 is a superior card, but if you're not doing a lot of 3D rendering, don't know if you would be taking advantage of it's power.

Need to get Mama Luigi to weigh in on this one.
 
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I have the same question, my uses are 70% video editing (is final cut up to date for these new imacs?) photoshop, making quicktimes for web, watching web tv, dvds, web video, no gaming or 3d

Not sure which card
to get
looking at
24 in
3.0 ghz
4 gig ram
1 tb hd
card nvidia ge force gt 130 with 512 mb
OR ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB [+ £40.00]
 
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Like bob said, the more powerful video card is only useful for applications that offload some or all of their rendering to the GPU. If the program only relies on the CPU and RAM, then having the most powerful GPU in your system won't make for any difference.

I know that Photoshop CS4 allows for the GPU to take up some of the load, though since it's not really 3D rendering, onboard graphics should be able to handle it just fine. I also know that Motion uses GPU rendering, but the rest of Final Cut seems to be primarily CPU reliant. Though if you're using Motion, then you'll benefit from the more powerful system. You'll see no benefit from the video card with audio editing.
 
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Thanks for the advice.

I guess there was no real point in mentioning audio editing and video conversions. What you guys said made a lot of sense. I forgot to mention another task I might be doing in the future. I was going to start using Motion or maybe After Effects soon, which like Kash said uses GPU rendering.

Assuming I do use programs that offload work to the GPU, is the extra $60 for the upgrade a good deal? Or should I just skip the upgrade and change the video card myself or something?
 
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Im basically in the same prediciment as you. Except i solely study graphic design. So i'll be just using the whole Adobe suite and maybe playing around with some movie editing software, i was deciding between the 9400m in the 2.66ghz mac and the gt120 in the 2.93 ghz imac. Ive decided upon saving up a little more money and going with the gt120 option as not only will this make my purchases 'more' future proof but a better (dedicated) graphics card will benefit you in the long run whether it be the GPU offloading features in leopard or just programs that take advantage of your GPU.. In your case your using alot of motion and things like that. From what little i knowledge i have gained on graphics cards and such i think the gt130 is quite a good card and should be suffice enough for what your doing..

PS: I dont 'think' that you can upgrade an imac with an aftermarket graphics card. Something to do with the GPU being soldered onto the motherboard..
 
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Assuming I do use programs that offload work to the GPU, is the extra $60 for the upgrade a good deal? Or should I just skip the upgrade and change the video card myself or something?

Since the video card is not an upgradeable component in iMacs, I would suggest paying the extra $60 for the better video card. It'll pay dividends over time as you'll find yourself saving time on rendering.
 
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Since the video card is not an upgradeable component in iMacs, I would suggest paying the extra $60 for the better video card. It'll pay dividends over time as you'll find yourself saving time on rendering.

Ah, thanks for the sound advice. I will go with the ATI card.
 
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im nothing close to an expect on this and have been debating like you.. but every bit of evidence ive gathered suggests that in the future (and sooner than we may think), applications are going to use the GPUs more and more and less of the CPUs.

given that bit of info, my conclusion is that the ati card is more 'future proof' than the nvidia card and since its a negligible price increase vs the gt130, there isnt a good reason not to get the upgrade unless u need the new machine right away
 
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I ordered the ATI Radeon 4850 upgrade and my computer isn't shipping until April 16 (presumably due to the custom configuration). :Grimmace:

Not sure if that matters to you, just thought I would mention it.
 
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iMac and graphic card

Hey guys
just to clear things up a bit....
graphic card has nothing to do with 3D rendering speed. This is soley a CPU task.
What you could benefit from a more powerful GPU is viewport speed in a 3D application, which means that you could have more objects in your scene without slowing down a computer.

Once you click "render" CPU takes all the responsibility.
 
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That's not entirely true. There is such a concept as GPU assisted rendering. One example is nVidia's CUDA, which allows programmers to take advantage of the processing capabilities of a GPU. It depends on each program to take advantage of this feature, however stating that rendering is completely CPU intensive isn't factually correct.
 
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OK, hold on a sec...

Cuda is an entirely new story. That technology is just warming up and we're about to see the true benefit of that in the upcoming months or even years. For now every major 3D application is relying on the CPU for rendering speed and I haven't seen so much effort on the programmers side to implement this feature.

If you could give me just one example of such an application I would be grateful.
 
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I was on Mac-Rumors forums the other day, a lot of people who ordered the ATI 4850 upgrade are having lock-up issues.
 
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my customized Imac with Radeon setting lasted less than 4 hours before I had to ship it back to Apple and asked for a refund. Where's the QA before launching this configuration to the public? Is anyone seeing the same issues with the Nvidia setting?
 
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there is a stability issue with regards ati radeon hd 4850 and apple is working hard to fix the problems. the imac at my work which i my boss purchased is acting up (4850), so he had me contact apple and they told me that there will be an update soon that will fix the the stability issue. hopefully the problem will be fixed soon.
 
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there is a stability issue with regards ati radeon hd 4850 and apple is working hard to fix the problems. the imac at my work which i my boss purchased is acting up (4850), so he had me contact apple and they told me that there will be an update soon that will fix the the stability issue. hopefully the problem will be fixed soon.

iMac's with the ATI card are known to "freeze" or lock up when doing the simplest of tasks - watching a HD movie, playing a song in iTunes etc. Users have even reported they can't get past the Apple setup screen because of the locks up.

If you go with the ATI card, and happen to experience lockups you can always request a replacement but there is no guarantee until Apple officially releases a fix.
 
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you can the nvidia 260+ series for less than the upgrade cost i think

Only if you have a machine with an open PCIe slot. Oh, and two PCIe power connectors.

Yes, Apple is charging WAY more than a fair price to upgrade to the 4850. I mean, you can buy a 4850 card on NewEgg right now for $120. Yet you have to buy a $2000 iMac in order to get it. Sure, you get some other upgrades as well, but it's still pretty crazy.

But that's the price you pay if you want gaming on a Mac. IMO you're much better off getting a cheap Mac (like a Mini) and a dedicated gaming PC.
 

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