[daiSho]

ok, just curious... is it worth upgrading the Radeon 9600 in my dual 2GHz G5 PM to a Radeon 9800? while i'm not a huge gamer i do work within gfx apps fairly often (Photoshop, Maya, LW, etc.)... will i notice much of a difference at all between the two?

on a related side-note, is it possible to flash a Radeon 9800 Pro (PC version) to work in a Mac? i just happen to have a PC 9800Pro sitting right here..

[Cadaver]

Not possible to flash a PC Radeon 9800 (well, I think someone did it once, but it required a chip de-solder and replacement).

The Radeon 9800 wont help with Photoshop. Photoshop is 2D-bound, and all modern graphics cards are going to have enough oomph to run 2D as fast as the processor(s) can push out data.

Even for games, the stock Radeon 9600 does a fine job. No trouble with Halo at 1024x768 or UT2K3 at 1280x1024, high settings for both (although the 9600's 64MB of VRAM isn't enough to run FSAA at high resolutions). Hard core gamers will want the R9800, however.

Maya and LightWave I think would both benefit, though if you don't back up those apps with enough CPU power, the graphics card will just sit idle anyway. Balance is the key.

One other thing the Radeon 9800 will help with is if you are going to run two displays at high resolutions (1600x1200 or higher). Things like Exposé and other Quartz Extreme effects will be more smooth. If you're only running a single display of any size, or two displays at lower resolution (say 1280 x 1024), then there really wont be any benefit.

FWIW, I run a 22" cinema display (1600 x 1024) and a 17" studio display (1280 x 1024) on my Radeon 9600 and its as smooth as silk.

Also, FYI, the Radeon 9800's fan is reportedly very noisy, if that means anything to you. Louder than the G5 itself.

[Tim Kosch]

Originally posted by Cadaver:
Also, FYI, the Radeon 9800's fan is reportedly very noisy, if that means anything to you. Louder than the G5 itself.

I originally had (and still have a 9800 card) but I did buy a 9600 off of ebay just to see how much quieter is was with the heatsink. The 9800's fan is very loud.

Tim

[djohnson]

Here is something else you might want to look into. Wait until ATI releases(rumor) the 9800XT for mac. It might provide a little more ummph.

[Lateralus]

They probably won't be releasing the 9800XT for the Mac. And I hope they don't. I would rather them stick us with the 9800 Pro for a while longer and then do a simultaneous Mac release for the R420 chip.

[-Q-]

I don't think you'll see enough difference if you're not playing games or using the dual monitor set-up as mentioned. Save your money for the next gen cards that are supposed to come out...

[daiSho]

thx for the input friends, all the reports of how noisy the 9800 is have already made up my mind to wait, especially if there are new Radeon offerings supposedly around the corner... the PC Radeon 9800 can accept some modifications and HS swaps (Zalman i believe?) to quiet it down though, i wonder if this might work w/ the Mac version as well..

[tthiel]

ATI already said they will release the 9800XT for the Mac. There is some speculation it will be in the Rev B G5's.

Originally posted by PowerMacMan:
They probably won't be releasing the 9800XT for the Mac. And I hope they don't. I would rather them stick us with the 9800 Pro for a while longer and then do a simultaneous Mac release for the R420 chip.

[djohnson]

Originally posted by tthiel:
ATI already said they will release the 9800XT for the Mac. There is some speculation it will be in the Rev B G5's.

Yes this is what I heard too... ATI is also going to start making cars PCI-Express and AGP, I am now waiting to get a mac when the PCI-Express cards are out! It also helps I do not have the money...