CoreImage and the VRAM

[Rubin421]

As you know, Tiger's CoreImage technology is said to require at least 64 MB of Video RAM. But here's my question: what happens if you only have, say, 32 MB? Is CoreImage software-emulated, of simply turned off?
This is of high importance for me, as I am just about to buy an iBook, and would like to make sure I'll be able to fully enjoy the features of Tiger when it's out.

 

[robbieduncan]

I believe that this will force all of the CoreImage video or image units to be rendered by the main CPU (i.e. Software Emulated).

 

[Rubin421]

If so, will having a lot of RAM help at all?

 

[oingoboingo]

As you know, Tiger's CoreImage technology is said to require at least 64 MB of Video RAM. But here's my question: what happens if you only have, say, 32 MB? Is CoreImage software-emulated, of simply turned off?
This is of high importance for me, as I am just about to buy an iBook, and would like to make sure I'll be able to fully enjoy the features of Tiger when it's out.

Even if you could somehow stick 128MB of VRAM in your iBook, it still wouldn't help. The ATI Radeon 9200 Mobility GPU in the current iBook lineup is not supported by Core Image. This means that Core Image-related effects will need to be processed by the iBook's CPU, or scaled back. The list of GPUs supported by Core Image is listed here:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/core.html

In a nutshell, these GPUs are:

ATI Radeon 9800 XT
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
ATI Radeon 9600 XT
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra
NVIDIA GeForceFX Go 5200
NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 Ultra

As you can see, currently shipping iBooks and eMacs are off the list.

 

[Rubin421]

Bottom line: I should get a PB.
Right? But the PBs' prices are about to drop!

 

[hob]

CoreImage just runs real slow on my PowerBook - it's got a 32MB graphics card (that'd be my problem) but lots of RAM...

It just kinda sucks how I feel like my one year old computer is already out date!! But that's technology!

Hob

 

[johnnyjibbs]

CoreImage just runs real slow on my PowerBook - it's got a 32MB graphics card (that'd be my problem) but lots of RAM...

It just kinda sucks how I feel like my one year old computer is already out date!! But that's technology!

Hob

Oh great - that's the exact same setup that I've got. Never mind, I always thought it would run pants when my graphics card was lowest on the list...

 

[BWhaler]

This is disappointing. I would like to get a mini--just for the hell of it--and hook it up to my TV. And I am not one of these people who demands the best tech at any price point--those people are idiots.

But I would want Tiger to work as promised on any new Mac. Sure, not as fast as my 2.5PM, but at least let me have all of the eye candy.