[dantley]

Is it possible to flash a PC Radeon 9700 Pro so that it can be used on a mac? If so, can someone point me to a url that describes how?

I am replacing the Radeon 9700 Pro in my PC with a Radeon 9800 XT. I would much rather replace the Radeon 9600 in my G5 with my old 9700.

[roders]

It would be cool if this could be done, but at present it doesn't appear that it is, certain older cards can be flashed (Rad 85/9000 NVGF2/4MX) this is all down to how close the hardware specs are to there Mac counterparts, and the availability and compatibility/suitability of the relevant Rom flashers.
Now as far as I'm aware the Mac 9700 Pro and a PC 9700 Pro are almost if not entirely identical hardware wise, it's just the matter of the Rom being flashed, or more to the point, the availability of a Flasher and a Rom to flash with.
I've never heard of someone doing this on a 9700Pro but it would be a damn good idea for someone with the experience to try (I guess all is needed is a Mac rom extractor app, there's loads for the PC) and we'd all be seeing big performance and saving s boosts.
But as it stands, I don't think it can be done at the moment.

N.B
This is all my own personal opinion/speculation, and in know way should be taken as "fact"

[mousehouse]

why don't regular PC cards work when you plug them into your Mac? Is that something with a local BIOS with x86 code on it?

And I think you could use a PC flash util, if you have access to a ROM file read by a Mac owner with the same card for the Mac. I don't expect ATI to design new cards for the Mac, they probably just have a different ROM with PPC code...

[roders]

Well mouse, as far as I'm aware, the 1st reason PC cards don't work straight out of the box with Mac's is there Rom/Bios as I would have though was obvious from my post ( ).
In the past the hardware was slightly different, but I believe this is no longer an issue.
Some Mac card flashing has been done on the PC in the past, but I would like an all in one Mac solution.
Also just because you have access to Flash utilities on a PC does NT mean you have a Mac Rom (although this "might be able to be extracted on a PC).
There's so many talented (compared to me) people out there who have edited and flashed Rom's for the Mac on older cards, it's a shame that we as Mac users can't pool are resources and sort this out (Rad9700Pro's for PC's are approx 1/3 cheaper than the best Mac price I can find, and going lower).
Maybe a collective could even get together to make a little Vid card over-clocking app maybe with AA & AF for Nvidia cards for all games a bit like ATi' 4.1 control panel.
Gee, wish I could code,

[a2daj]

The only Mac 9700 Pro that was released is the OEM model with a completely different setup than any PC board (ADC connector). The retail 9700 was skipped as we got the 9800 Pro instead.

[Todd Madson]

A year and a half ago there was a very long running thread on this board on how to flash a PC version of the Radeon 8500 to work on a Mac.

I do not believe that ATI was wholly unaware of this thread since subsequent cards you likely couldn't do this to.

[roders]

The retail 9800 Pro is as far as I'm aware hardware wise identical to the PC version, and I still think what I suggested is a good idea.
I might try and sort something out myself if no one else is going to, as it's about time some one did!