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l008com · Mar 31, 2003, 01:31 AM

I'm buying this G3 on ebay that has a rage pro video card, and I wanna sell that on ebay and buy an ati 7000 for this machine instead. Thing is, once I sell the rage, and before i buy the 7000, what to do for video? I have a few old ati PC video cards that I have accumulated over time (don't ask how I have no pc's). Will any of these work just to give me a simple unaccelerated image?

DrBoar · Mar 31, 2003, 03:46 AM

The short answer is "No"
If one of those PC cards is a voodoo card from 3fx, a flash to a Mac ROM will get you a very nice card. A Voodoo 3 card can be bought very cheaply and for games they are better than the 7000 card! the drawback is that the it only works up to 8.6 or perhaps 9.0 so OS X is out of the question and even some older games made after the demise of 3fx might have problem with V3.

Unreal and Unreal Tournament looks better with 3dfx than open GL. It really boils down to what game and OS you are going for. The rage video pro card indicate that it is a beige G3 and they really work best in the 8.1 to 8.6 range and I have seen Voodoo cards being sold at computer shows for 10 dollar or so.

l008com · Mar 31, 2003, 07:31 AM

No Games, just video, and OS X.

-Q- · Mar 31, 2003, 08:04 AM

Then the likelihood of it working is slim to none. The video card would need a Mac ROM file in order to run correctly and there are only a few cards out there (you listed most of 'em) that will work with that machine. And I don't think ATI ever provided a utility to flash ROM files for their older cards....

bluedog · Mar 31, 2003, 10:23 AM

If you don't have a video card that's mac, just wait to sell your Rage Pro card until you have the new one. If you were thinking about using that 'profit' to buy the other then perhaps you should wait until you can afford one outright before getting the other.

I can't imagine the voodoo3 technology would keep up with the latest offering from ATI. Its older technology and the ATi while it may not be their flagship product is no slouch.

Stick with the ATI if you want future support drivers for the card and not end up without drivers and an unusable card.

I've got a few 'older ati' cards and couldn't use them if I wanted to for their video-in capabilities. The drivers are older and don't run in X, probably won't work in 9 (I haven't bothered trying) and the cards just don't perform as fast the other ones I have.

Good luck in selling the RagePro (is it a ragepro128 - like the orion series?) If so its a fiar performer for that generation of machine. Yes, the ATi7000 may be better, but you probably will be limited by the processor more than the video unless you add a processor upgrade to the machine.

What vRam is in the ATI Rage Pro? and what's the speed of the G3? That's really the question to ask, if it is worth investing in the ATi700 at all.

Good luck with it, and enjoy the machine!