Radeon HD 5870, GeForce 480 on Upcoming Macs?

**Paul Daniel Ash** · 07-05-2010, 03:03 PM

Drivers on the NVIDIA site, as well as ones found inside the default Mac OS X installation on the new Mac mini, indicate that Apple is working on supporting additional high-end graphics cards, possibly for upcoming refreshes of the Mac Pro and iMac lines, both of which are due for an upgrade. Though little hard information is available, MacRumors reports on the functional Mac drivers found for the Radeon HD 5000 series and GeForce 400 series GPUs, and suggests they could be available on future high-end desktop Macs.

The version of Mac OS X pre-installed on new model Macs is often slightly more updated than mainstream releases of the same version, including as they do support for the latest hardware Apple is shipping. In this instance, the Mac mini's build of OS X 10.6.4 included driver code for ATi Radeon HD 5000 Series graphics cards. The driver is available on netkas, and they have [ame="http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=958191"]reportedly been able[/ame] to use it successfully to run Radeon 5850, 5870 and 5970 cards, but only on hackintoshed desktops. Mac Pro support is still being worked out.

Meanwhile, Mac OS X drivers for the GeForce 465, 470 and 480 GPUs were found/leaked from NVIDIA's server, suggesting that Apple may be readying future desktop Macs with built-in Fermi-class graphics cards. The Fermi architecture, brings NVIDIA's latest parallel processing technology to GeForce CPU co-processors for advanced graphics as well as high-performance computing for science and engineering. Availability of Fermi-class cards has been short since the new product lines were announced, due to limited supply of custom 40nm chips from TSMC.

modified image via MacRumors

**tudtran** · 07-05-2010, 03:15 PM

That would be awesome. I need to upgrade my MacBook

Apple computer is becoming more popular. Plus apple is know for their quality and amazing display.

**howlett15** · 07-05-2010, 03:26 PM

My next computer needs.... No, has to be a MacBook Pro!

**adrian1480** · 07-05-2010, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by tudtran

That would be awesome. I need to upgrade my MacBook

Apple computer is becoming more popular. Plus apple is know for their quality and amazing display.

you'd go from laptop to desktop?

**SnowLeo** · 07-05-2010, 03:29 PM

i understand the mac pros are WAY overdue for an update but how is the imac due for another update... it seems like just yesterday that i was hearing about all those 27" imac issues. but then again im still using my late 2007 20" imac

**moon#pie** · 07-05-2010, 03:39 PM

this is for desktop computers guys. not macbook, mpb's, or airs.

**kuhndsn** · 07-05-2010, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by SnowLeo

i understand the mac pros are WAY overdue for an update but how is the imac due for another update... it seems like just yesterday that i was hearing about all those 27" imac issues. but then again im still using my late 2007 20" imac

MacBook pro just got an update and it is screaming fast!!! This news is foe MAC desktops.

**knguyen** · 07-05-2010, 03:49 PM

This is much better for hackintosh users who are planning to upgrade to these video cards.

**awesomeSlayer** · 07-05-2010, 04:03 PM

About time! Can't wait for awesome gaming performance when they do the MacBook family next!

**domthebigbomb** · 07-05-2010, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by awesomeiPod

About time! Can't wait for awesome gaming performance when they do the MacBook family next!

yea now u can play chess ultra fast

**redhotlog** · 07-05-2010, 04:35 PM

would be great news for anyone using bootcamp to play games!

**Cer0** · 07-05-2010, 04:36 PM

Glad Steam seems to be pushing some gaming Mac's way. We already have some but a distribution like Steam only makes it all the sweeter.

**dale1v** · 07-05-2010, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by cerote

Glad Steam seems to be pushing some gaming Mac's way. We already have some but a distribution like Steam only makes it all the sweeter.

Sorry to be a pedant here, but it's Valve

Also, the 480? Aren't Macs hot enough already? lol

**waheedtarin** · 07-05-2010, 05:42 PM

Well there kinda moving forward now. Cuz HD graphics been out for a while but I understand they can't keep them cool enaugh

**whereswaldo** · 07-05-2010, 06:08 PM

I have no idea what this means, but it sounds cool

**MetallicaFan1991** · 07-05-2010, 06:13 PM

All Mac need's is some really good games now.

**hamza2588** · 07-05-2010, 07:20 PM

All that GPU power yet no Blu ray support, hahaha thats radonkulus.

**SnowLeo** · 07-05-2010, 07:23 PM

where has everyone been? Steam blows. Onlive cloud gaming does all the processing in the servers so you can play all the best xbox and pc games on full res with no lag.
Welcome to OnLive.com

**KartRacer** · 07-05-2010, 07:59 PM

Mark my words, they will be crap crippled desktop chips downclocked and have less memory than the real desktop parts. That's what Apple does now and what they will continue to do. There is ZERO chance that they will offer real GPUs for any of their desktops. I don't think they will given their track record anyway. All the parts in the current iMacs are laptop parts with slow memory and lame memory buffers. The Mac Pros have ridiculously overpriced cards in them and are 'special' for some reason. It's completely lame of Apple to do all this crap because their computers are generic PC parts that are way overpriced and have a great OS. No reason what amounts to a generic PC should cost so much component wise.

Originally Posted by SnowLeo

where has everyone been? Steam blows. Onlive cloud gaming does all the processing in the servers so you can play all the best xbox and pc games on full res with no lag.
Welcome to OnLive.com

Playing real games? Playing games that don't stutter? Playing games they actually own rather than pay to rent them? OnLive is a great idea if you like paying to rent a game you paid full price for and at low quality. Kinda like iTunes movie rentals. I suggest you get a real gaming computer and buy your games for keeps. OnLive is a complete ripoff.

**SnowLeo** · 07-05-2010, 08:09 PM

^well i signed up for the beta and got free game and a year free membership. You can buy rent and demo the games by the way and play it on any computer, even a friggen netbook and run at full speed as long as you got a decent internet connection. Once they get that micro console you can hook it up with your tv and theyre building an iphone/ipad app. It might suck that you cant play games you already have on other systems but Im not renewing my microshit xbox live membership. I play splinter cell conviction (the game i got 4 free) and assassins creed (30% off july 4th sale and both games run on my 2 ghz late 2007 imac 20" way faster than my xbox 360 with virtually no latency.

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Thread: Radeon HD 5870, GeForce 480 on Upcoming Macs?

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