[nickgold]

I have a 450 G4 Sawtooth, and it came with a Rage 128 AGP (not Rage 128 Pro, mind you). I am in the process of beefing up my system, and was wondering if I could benefit from getting a graphics card that's more burly than what I currently have. Just upped my RAM to 896 Megs, now that feels good!

This machine is used for video work (FCP2), graphics (Photoshop), and audio production. Basically it's a multimedia machine. But not too much 3D stuff going on, not even 3D games really (but I might want to give them a shot in the future, who knows.)

So does it seem like I could benefit from a better graphics card? What would it help out with? Would it actually make things like rendering filters and transitions faster, or does it really just have to do with displaying graphics on the screen? Yes, my understanding of the role of video cards is a little bit limited, compared to my knowledge of most other aspects of computing.

I am also a bit limited, it seems, with what cards I could actually upgrade to, as my AGP slot is only AGP x2, not the x4 that is required for nVidia cards from what I gather. So I could get a Rage 128 Pro AGP, or a Radeon AGP... Is that it? I read that just about no apps are optimized for the Radeon per se. Is it still a good card to get? The svideo out would be nice, but will it do anything for me production-wise?

I look forward to any advice you people might have to give. Thanks!

[pdot]

I am in a similar situation, so I'll post my interest to keep this on top. Also, my guess was to buy a Radeon or a GeForce2 for my next video card (we have basically the same computer). However, the Radeon seems to come in different flavors and with the VE coming out, I'm a bit confused about them. I know VE will have dual display capability, but it supposedly uses one or two new technologies. I'm not too sure.

My suggestion for you, however, is that if you're doing video work, don't go with the Rage 128 Pro. It's much less powerful than the Radeon and the GeForce2.

One last thing. i thought all Sawtooths used to come with a Rage 128 Pro. How did you get stuck with a Rage 128?

[nickgold]

Originally posted by pdot:
I have a first rev Sawtooth. I think I can upgrade to the 128 Pro from Apple for like 100 bucks or something. What is the difference between the 128 and 128 Pro?

As for the GeForce or Radeon, well, I believe the GeForce requires an AGP x 4 slot, Sawtooths are just AGP x2. If this is blatantly incorrect someone please let me know.

I just bought Deus Ex, and my 128 seems to be able to handle it pretty well.

-Nick

<STRONG>I am in a similar situation, so I'll post my interest to keep this on top. Also, my guess was to buy a Radeon or a GeForce2 for my next video card (we have basically the same computer). However, the Radeon seems to come in different flavors and with the VE coming out, I'm a bit confused about them. I know VE will have dual display capability, but it supposedly uses one or two new technologies. I'm not too sure.

My suggestion for you, however, is that if you're doing video work, don't go with the Rage 128 Pro. It's much less powerful than the Radeon and the GeForce2.

One last thing. i thought all Sawtooths used to come with a Rage 128 Pro. How did you get stuck with a Rage 128?</STRONG>