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ATI's next generation card, the 64MB Radeon for the PC, has been available for some time. This pricey card (at $400) was briefly the king of 3D in the PC world, topping even Nvidia's GeForce series in total FPS benchmarks for a brief window of time. Mac users therefore have reason to be excited, as ATI has promised a Mac version of the Radeon due very soon. However, since only the 32 MB version of the card will come to this side of the fence, it was difficult to gauge how this will compare to the 64 MB version on the PC side; And after Mac users saw a dramatic difference between the Mac and PC benchmarks of the 3dfx Voodoo5 5500s, there is even more doubt cast on comparing benchmarks across the two platforms.

To shed a bit of light on the situation, Sharky Extreme has just published another of their excellent reviews. This time they cover the just-released PC version of the Radeon 32MB with a huge 18-page article and interview. The benchmarks reveal this 32 MB card nearly keeping up with its 64MB big brother, which could be very good news for Mac users. The card is also cheaper, and should be sold for around $279 on both Mac and PC.

Gamers should be cautioned not to expect 100 FPS, though. ATI seems careful about overhyping the Mac Radeon's capabilities, as the card's real strength, hardware transform and lighting, isn't used by any games on the Mac currently. ATI is set to release the retail version of the Mac Radeon later this month, and you can bet we will give you the full scoop when it is out.

ATI Mac Radeon Web Site

Sharky Extreme Radeon 32MB Review

ATI (add to watch list)

Radeon AGP (add to watch list)

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