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StRHorn · May 28, 2004, 06:26 AM

I recently bought a Gf4 TI 4600 on ebay to replace my FX5200 in my G5...today the piece arrived but unfortunately it doesn't fit. There is a small one piece connector on the side of the AGP bus....but it's a little bit nearer to the AGP piece than on my 5200 (see picture)
<img src=http://hornile.ath.cx/99_3.jpg> I know it's a bad one but was the only I had...you can see this connector above the red-black wire of the fan...

As I suppose that this connector has absolutely no use at all (on the PCB it's connected to nothing) I thought I might saw this off....what do you guys think ?? Would this work or will I kill my G5 with that ???

Anybody knows the function of the small connector on the side of the AGP-slot ???

Thanks !!!!

ChrisF · May 28, 2004, 07:40 AM

Originally posted by StRHorn:
As I suppose that this connector has absolutely no use at all (on the PCB it's connected to nothing) I thought I might saw this off....what do you guys think ?? Would this work or will I kill my G5 with that ???

Anybody knows the function of the small connector on the side of the AGP-slot ???

That's the connector to provide power for the ADC port. It's not compatible with those on G5s.

StRHorn · May 28, 2004, 07:46 AM

Originally posted by ChrisF:
That's the connector to provide power for the ADC port. It's not compatible with those on G5s.

But if I don't need ADC...can I simply saw it off ???

Arkham_c · May 28, 2004, 07:49 AM

Originally posted by StRHorn:
But if I don't need ADC...can I simply saw it off ???

I doubt it. I suspect that the ADC connector powers the card.

rhogue islander · May 28, 2004, 09:56 AM

I *think* you can saw it off. There were some threads on this several months ago.

I suggest you do some research over at www.xlr8yourmac.com

They have a database of user reports in various hardware categories.

Research thoroughly before you try.

StRHorn · May 28, 2004, 09:58 AM

Thank you all, I will try...I'll keep you informed about what happened then....

Cadaver · May 28, 2004, 10:51 AM

Originally posted by Arkham_c:
I doubt it. I suspect that the ADC connector powers the card.

Can't recall exactly how the fan on the GeForce 4Ti is configured, but I also suspect the card draws power from the ADC motherboard connector to drive the fan.
I suspect you'll have to do some modifications to make the card work in a G5. I'm not aware of anyone doing this yet.

Radeon 9600 G5 editions are widely available on eBay (from people upgrading to Radeon 9800's), so this might be a better option for you.

traktimino · May 28, 2004, 02:48 PM

Since the pc version of the card gets all of it's power through the AGP socket, the mac version should do the same. So removing the ADC tab shouldnt be a problem. I recommend you keep it close at hand in case you need to reattach it with some wires.

StRHorn · May 28, 2004, 02:56 PM

I already solved the problem...I sold the card and bought a Radeon 9800 Pro....cost a much more but it should be worth the money

Link · May 31, 2004, 04:00 AM

I'm glad that this issue has already been solved, but to throw a technical explanation on it:

The G5 uses an AGP pro 8x slot. While AGP pro is usually backwards compatible with AGP 4x, for some reason apple offset the ADC power line on the AGP pro cards a bit.

This means that the newer "g5 only" cards have the ADC connector in a different location, and while it's almost always used only for powering the display (as it should be), it has been known for use as auxilary power for the card itself or the GPU fan. (I've only heard of this being done on the radeon 9800)