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Maritje · Jan 31, 2004, 06:37 PM

I have a G4 AGP Sawtooth and wondered if anyone is successfully using the Radeon 9000 in their machine?

TIA

Luca Rescigno · Jan 31, 2004, 07:07 PM

Well I have a gigabit ethernet model (it uses nearly the same motherboard as the Sawtooth) and I've borrowed the Radeon 9000 from my brother's Quicksilver and used it. However, if you have a model prior to the gigabit ethernet one, you'll have to do without ADC. The Radeon 9000 has a DVI port and an ADC port - unless you need dual monitors, you should be fine. If you do need dual monitors, it might still work, but you'd have to test if an ADC-DVI or ADC-VGA adapter would work on the ADC port.

I'm not sure why you'd want a Radeon 9000 though... the card is overkill given the slow processor. A G4 upgrade, even a cheap G4/800, would show more improvement with gaming. A Radeon 9000 would do Quartz Extreme unlike the Rage 128 it shipped with, but a much cheaper standard Radeon would do QE just as well for only about $50. The only catch is that the standard Radeon isn't available new, because it's been discontinued. It should be available on eBay though, or you could try the Marketplace here.

Maritje · Jan 31, 2004, 07:20 PM

Thanks for the fast reply. I do use 2 monitors. Since upgrading to Panther I had to take out my PCI card that ran the other monitor.

Am now just using the original ATI Rage Pro. I'm not sure what card would enable me to use 2 monitors. I don't play games but do use Adobe Elements 2 occasionally.

I certainly don't want to overkill my Mac. It runs great.....just miss the second monitor. Would you recommend a card?

I eventually want to upgrade the cpu. The graphic card for now is the cheaper way to go.

Would love a newer Mac but funds are low.

TIA

Lateralus · Jan 31, 2004, 07:24 PM

The card is not overkill, I can't see how you would say that. We're not talking about putting a Radeon 9800 in there. The 9000 is the lowest end Radeon that can still be purchased new, and it is slower than the Radeon 8500. Far from overkill. And the Radeon Mac Edition AGP cards go for far more than $50 on eBay, closer to the $100 range.

That said, you might want to look around for a GeForce 4MX OEM card on eBay. Just make sure you are running 10.3.2 or higher before you install the card if you get one, apparently the GeForce4MX + Sawtooth/GigE combination doesn't work that well under prior versions of 10.3 because of drivers.

Luca Rescigno · Jan 31, 2004, 07:41 PM

Well the Radeon 9000 is a very good graphics card. And actually, since you use two monitors, it would be nice because it has 64 MB of VRAM (thus giving a healthy 32 MB to each display).

Of course, the Radeon 9000 is more expensive than, say, a GeForce 4MX, which also has 64 MB of VRAM (although a few had 32 MB, they were not common). The GeForce 4MX is still good enough for what you do, but again it has an ADC port that you can't use. I think you'll need to find out if you can still use the ADC port if you convert it to DVI or VGA, or if it won't work. Now, I'm pretty sure that the little extra socket on later motherboards is for ADC power only, but before you buy a graphics card I think you should find that out. I don't have a pre-Gigabit machine to try it in, unfortunately. However, some retail ATI cards have had a DVI + VGA configuration, without ADC. Some Radeons are like this, as well as the Radeon 8500 (which is even more powerful than the Radeon 9000).

The Radeon 9000 is still available new, but it's nearly $200, which is more than it's worth. On eBay, it should be a little over $100, with Radeon 8500s costing about $150 on eBay. The original Radeon can be had for about $50, but some people end up spending quite a bit more because it's one of the few graphics cards that will fit in a Cube, and Cube owners are known to pay huge amounts of money for such graphics cards. The GeForce 4MX should be under $100, and it's available both on eBay, and I think also at Other World Computing. Be warned that there are issues with the Sawtooth + GeForce 4MX in 10.3, but they were fixed in 10.3.2.

Maritje · Jan 31, 2004, 07:50 PM

Well.....thanks to both of you. I have a lot to think about. I've looked on eBay but I'm leery of buying a card that doesn't specify for "Mac"

I know that some people flash pc cards but that is out for me. I looked at the OWC site and they mention some kind of adapter for my setup. I'll keep looking for a cheaper price but I won't hold my breath. I probably will end up buying full price at some Mac site.

Thanks so much for helping me decide.

Maritje