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goose · Apr 12, 2004, 12:23 PM

So what was the story again? I tried doing a search, but my eyes got sore looking through all the various posts.

Two video cards are the same model, but one is a "Mac edition" and the other is not. What are the differences? Will both work in a Mac or will only the Mac edition one work?

I know I read about this somewhere before, but I can't remember what the final word was.

Thanks.

::maroma:: · Apr 12, 2004, 03:28 PM

What video card(s) are you talking about? ATI, nVidia? Model? Need more info.

goose · Apr 12, 2004, 03:49 PM

Hmmmmm, I guess either ATI or nvidia.....say, uhm, the nvidia GForce FX 5200 cards or the ATI 7000 cards. Will the non Mac edition versions of the card work?

veryniceguy2002 · Apr 14, 2004, 05:37 AM

Originally posted by goose:
Hmmmmm, I guess either ATI or nvidia.....say, uhm, the nvidia GForce FX 5200 cards or the ATI 7000 cards. Will the non Mac edition versions of the card work?

There is an artice somewhere I saw it about a month or two ago which has instructions on how to flash a PC ATi Radeon PCI card to be Mac compatible... I can't recall whether I first saw it from one of the forum here or not...

Perhaps you should check xlr8yourmac first?

goose · Apr 14, 2004, 09:29 AM

Originally posted by veryniceguy2002:
There is an artice somewhere I saw it about a month or two ago which has instructions on how to flash a PC ATi Radeon PCI card to be Mac compatible... I can't recall whether I first saw it from one of the forum here or not...

Perhaps you should check xlr8yourmac first?

Ahhh, oh well. I guess "special steps" are required to make it work. Darn. There are just so many nice inexpensive cards out there for the other platform......

veryniceguy2002 · Apr 15, 2004, 01:29 AM

Originally posted by goose:
Ahhh, oh well. I guess "special steps" are required to make it work. Darn. There are just so many nice inexpensive cards out there for the other platform......

Well, as I always tell people: No pain, no gain!

bradoesch · Apr 17, 2004, 05:32 PM

Originally posted by goose:
Ahhh, oh well. I guess "special steps" are required to make it work. Darn. There are just so many nice inexpensive cards out there for the other platform......

ATi says the cost of writing Mac drivers puts the cost of the card up so high because sales of them are so low. This is where a bigger market share would really come in handy! This is also why people flash the BIOS of a PC to make the Mac version. It must be frusrating for those looking for a video card (and frustrating in another way for those of us with no expansion slots!)

goose · Jun 1, 2004, 03:21 PM

Originally posted by bradoesch:
ATi says the cost of writing Mac drivers puts the cost of the card up so high because sales of them are so low. This is where a bigger market share would really come in handy! This is also why people flash the BIOS of a PC to make the Mac version. It must be frusrating for those looking for a video card (and frustrating in another way for those of us with no expansion slots!)

Yes, it is frustrating. Been looking for a new video card for a few months now (something that's cheaper than the $300+ cards). Why couldn't they just make the Macs be able to use the majority of the cards that are out there (yeah, I know that's asking for a lot, but if Macs are for ease of use, this would make it a lot easier).

Macola · Jun 1, 2004, 03:42 PM

Originally posted by goose:
Yes, it is frustrating. Been looking for a new video card for a few months now (something that's cheaper than the $300+ cards). Why couldn't they just make the Macs be able to use the majority of the cards that are out there (yeah, I know that's asking for a lot, but if Macs are for ease of use, this would make it a lot easier).

If you don't mind waiting, ATI is producing a consumer-level 9000 Pro Mac edition (128 MB card). However, they've already missed several ship dates--latest ETA from OWC is mid-June, I think.

goose · Jun 1, 2004, 04:41 PM

Originally posted by Macola:
If you don't mind waiting, ATI is producing a consumer-level 9000 Pro Mac edition (128 MB card). However, they've already missed several ship dates--latest ETA from OWC is mid-June, I think.

Cool (I think). At least it's June now. Just a couple more week [crosses fingers]...........Still though, I wish I could just pick up a cheap nvidia FX 5200 for $60 and use that. Oh well.......

veryniceguy2002 · Jun 6, 2004, 02:36 AM

Originally posted by veryniceguy2002:
There is an artice somewhere I saw it about a month or two ago which has instructions on how to flash a PC ATi Radeon PCI card to be Mac compatible... I can't recall whether I first saw it from one of the forum here or not...

Perhaps you should check xlr8yourmac first?

Oh, I finally found it, it is actually from AppleTalk:

http://www.appletalk.com.au/forums/i...?showtopic=352

WizOSX · Jun 6, 2004, 02:45 AM

I used the steps from this site to flash an ATI 7000 for my G3 desktop. It worked perfectly on the second card I tried. My advice would be to pay a little more and get a genuine ATI PC 7000 video card, which I used on my second, successful, try. The first card was a "clone" with 64mb of VRAM and it didn't work. Get the genuine ATI card with 32mb of VRAM.

goose · Jun 7, 2004, 07:36 PM

Originally posted by WizOSX:
I used the steps from this site to flash an ATI 7000 for my G3 desktop. It worked perfectly on the second card I tried. My advice would be to pay a little more and get a genuine ATI PC 7000 video card, which I used on my second, successful, try. The first card was a "clone" with 64mb of VRAM and it didn't work. Get the genuine ATI card with 32mb of VRAM.

Sounds good. Do you know if this will work with an AGP card?