Sapphire's Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition Unleashed
Sapphire has released its HD 7950 Mac Edition graphics card.
Earlier, we showed you Sapphire's HD 7950 Mac Edition, and now we have learned more about it. This card is based on an ordinary HD 7950 and is entirely similar to it. Like the regular HD 7950, it carries 3 GB of GDDR5 memory.
The Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition is compatible with Mac Pros from 2010 or later, assuming that it has a free PCIe x16 slot and two 6-pin PCIe power connectors.
Conveniently, Sapphire has decided to compare the graphics card against the 8800 GT in performance so that users will be able to see a big jump in performance.
| Benchmark | Nvidia 8800 GT | Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition | Performance Jump |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xbench | 296.7 points | 381.3 points | 29% |
| Novabench | 213 points | 463 points | 117% |
| Cinebench | 24.54 FPS | 33.02 FPS | 35% |
| Heaven | 16.5 FPS | 64.7 FPS | 292% |
| Portal | 130 FPS | 490 FPS | 277% |
| Call of Duty | 15 FPS | 49 FPS | 227% |
The HD 7950 Mac Edition is compatible not only with Macs, but with switchable firmware that will also work on Windows PCs. While this is less interesting, it does show that the main differences are in the firmware, meaning that we'll likely find enthusiasts who will flash the HD 7950's Mac Edition firmware to ordinary HD 7950's to make them work in their Mac Pros.
Sapphire's new HD 7950 Mac Edition will carry an MSRP of $450.

Why not show us how it fares against the TNT2, or the ATI Rage 3D?
It's most likely that both companies considered programming a GPU driver for the Mac OS wouldn't be worth it, since the Mac desktop market is puny.
It would make sense for AMD to charge more for a custom driver that wouldn't be used by many customers due to the small niche market.
Why not show us how it fares against the TNT2, or the ATI Rage 3D?
and why the hell is it vs an 8800 GT?
Because most 2010 pre-built desktops don't come with silly old GPUs like those.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-304.00.05f02-driver.html
Man even windows is difficult for them.
And now you have this new breed of Windows METROsexuals.
You know that page where it ask for for the GPU generation, exact model, and the OS you're running? I didn't see a Mac OS as an option.
Good. Companies make some money and iSheep burn some money they would do in a normal scenario on a Mac product. Everyone wins.
He's just being an @$$ hat. Nividia only supports 6 cards according to his page. The newest one is a GTX 285 and Mac OS does show up in the drives search... If you select the 200 series. But who would do that?
6 beyond outdated cards for 3-5 herself machines is not "driver support"