Am I the only guy more turned on by pictures motherboards than by pictures of booth babes?

I believe the hydro copper version will be launching in conjunction with the GTX295 Co-op card.

A Mac edition? Could anyone explain what that means? =/

If I'm not mistaken, Macs use a proprietary connector to supply power to the monitor through the card and video cable. Therefore, you can't plug Mac monitors into regular video cards.

Apparently I was thinking of the Apple Display connector, which is no longer in use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Display_Connector.

Dunno what it might mean.

It means it's designed for users that want to upgrade their lame graphics in their already overpriced Mac Pro. My question is whats the point? It's not like you there's any games for the Mac. Also, Snow Leopord isn't out yet so there's no benefit of GPU processing as of yet. It's also not a Quadro so CAD designers won't get any benefit. Seems like too much, too soon, for me.

Wow...a little hostile are we? Mac's and PC's have their places, I use a PC for gaming, but Mac's do simply RUN and do what you want them to. Mac's don't allow for as much customization, but they make sense for a lot of mainstream users who just want a computer that runs without issues, and doesn't need you to enable/disable stuff through command prompt and registry keys just to make it stop second guessing EVERYTHING you do.
And as for Mac pricing....honestly, what you pay for is what you get. Paying for a Mac can save you tons of money for services, IF you are a standard user and do not know how to solve your own problems. Where as for users like *most* Tom's users, we participate in a tech forum and can get our own help, or already know how to fix it.

Really: Mac=Mainstream and simply works

Windows (mostly Vista)= For a non-standard user who can fix their own problems, or pay for tech support quite frequently. Or maintain it with multiple cleaning wizards and such.

And don't argue the whole "But Vista doesn't matter, XP is better" Because XP is being phased out for Windows 7, Windows 7 will have XP in the background for those programs that need it, which eliminates the need for XP, so don't hold on to it.

"GTX 285 Mac Edition"
Mac as in Macintosh?

your 'simply work's arguement has been put down many times. so i won't even bother touching it... it's wrong and that's it.

your ending arguement goes against your whole apparent point... that people want what works. and for a great many, xp just does the job.

these notions that windows is somehow unable to do the tasks a mac can do without crashing are very lame. don't try to act superior or claim your choice of toy is superior because you're either too lazy or just plain inept and can't be bothered to learn how to properly use a system.

You are not alone.

Can someone please explain to me what the difference is between this 295 and the older one? I dont get this PCB stuff. >.

the reference gtx295 has 2 separate Printed Circuit Boards sandwiched together with the cooler in between them. This version will put both GPU's on the same board, like a 4870X2, should help with cooling.

Oh , so less PCB means less heat then? =D And thanks for the explanation. x3

not necessarily... it just means the cooling solution doesn't have to be as elaborate. there could be some performance gains from the fact that PCB trace lengths will be shorter allowing for higher frequencies but only testing can prove it.

Thanks for all of that. x3 now if only I could find a site or mentor that could go in depth about PCB for me.

You should get that card if you are running directX on your Mac. That way you could play sweet games on it using DX11.

Oh, wait you need Windows to use DX don't you.

Well then, you should get yourself this card and buy a copy of Windows 7 after you finish paying the Apple Tax.

Errr... Wait what I meant to say was you should ditch your Mac and get a PC with this card.

I was under impression with the other ASUS article where they fused two GTX 285, that nVidia has strict hardware rules, so wouldn't altering the PCB without authorization violate the rules?

Who the hell would want the co-op when the copper is available? From all I've read of the Hydro Copper, it's the thing of my wet dreams... Maybe the Hydro Copper on a single PCB with 2GB per card?

And to all those saying what's the use on a Mac...
What about those using video/photo editing on a Mac? Sure, a dedicated workstation card would work better, but also would be much more expensive.
What about those wanting to play WoW on their Mac at 2600x1560 at max details, 8/16xAA and 16xAF? There are very few gaming exceptions, but I believe they exist.
A niche market. The 285/195 target a niche market in the first place.

Yes and no. Now that Nvidia is changing up their 295 to a single PCB,it looks like its free game for the rest of the other companies that want to modify the card. But in the past it would be in violation.

Thanks for the clarification, buddy.

Finally an nvidia company get's smart and puts both GPUs on a single PCB. It was completely pointless to have them each on their own PCB and I'm sure it slowed down the SLI rate, especially quad going between for boards of silicon.

The mac edition is in case you want to play one of the 3 mac games and make it look good.

it is surprising that you all know so much about hardware, yet noone seems to be aware that newer Macs use EFI and windows pcs still use BIOS. I believe this is the reason that they are different cards even though they are both the same connection type PCI Express 2.

Yes, that version will come in glossy white and have a compact passive cooler without any fins or proper heat spreaders because things like that are ugly, and not being ugly are what macs are all about- even if the clocks have to be lowered to 200-400-600 core-shader-memory respectively.

Wow...you just said your blatant opinion without any scrap of evidence, try and prove something next time.

And by the way, the 285 Mac edition would only go into a Mac Pro, which for the most part are used for Audio and Video editing, which gives you a perfect reason to need power like a GTX285, stop bashing Macs and find out what they're used for, the world isn't GAMES GAMES GAMES. Computers are for what YOU use them for, so don't bitch at someone for not playing games and doing something productive ^_^

That shouldn't have anything to do with it. Vista and later support EFI, and IIRC, there was even a board or two with EFI, and normal cards would work fine. No, the reason that it needs to be different is because Apple wants to control all the hardware you can put in a mac.