The stock graphics card in the new Thunderbolt-y iMacs is AMD’s Radeon HD 6970M, in 1GB or 2GB flavours. How powerful is it?
It was benchmarked a few months ago. The bottom line? At the time, it was pretty fast (for Modern Warfare 2, at 1920×1080 with 4x AA and the highest detail settings it averaged 77.4fps), but not as fast as the fastest mobile chip, Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 480M series. [Tom's Hardware, Notebook Check]
Jeff
Friday, May 6, 2011 at 8:00 AMApple. Making old things new again…
Simon Reidy
Friday, May 6, 2011 at 10:31 AMJeff. Making clichéd statements new again…
Robert
Friday, May 6, 2011 at 10:43 AMYup, if you want a copmuter as powerful as a compact barebones workstation.. like the ones that Dell ship to businesses en masse for $500 (but include a $70 graphics card).. then the new iMac is for you and will only set you back $2k. *roll eyes*
I can’t wait for them to start advertising them as “next gen” (it’s really not), and “crazy powerful” (if you compare it to a 4yo laptop).
…and then you need to deal with the bottomless pit of despair that is OSx.
Captain Mal
Friday, May 6, 2011 at 11:15 AMget your facts right…. its a great GFX card… way more powerful than the previous. Sure its no alien ware box, but its still a great card.. low power, and low heat, just the right chip for a all in one imac.
choosk
Friday, May 6, 2011 at 1:43 PMlol at alienware response.
any product is alienware compared to apple’s innards.
Stefan
Friday, May 6, 2011 at 1:42 PMAnd the new AMD Radeons should come out in a couple of months… gawd I love having a proper desktop!
Zhi Hao
Monday, May 9, 2011 at 1:11 PMNo, the 6970M is much faster than the GTX 480M. The 480M’s performance is about the same as a GTX 470M, and is utterly trashed by the 6970M.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6970M.43077.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-480M.30196.0.html
On average, the 6970M wins by a margin of 30%.
And btw, the 480M is definitely not the fastest mobile chip. The 485M is.
Even then, the 6970M can beat the 485M in some titles.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-485M.42883.0.html
Please fix this, Gizmodo.