[Siskomac]

I'm close to getting my first Mac, and so far I'm planning on the dual 1.8 GHz, since I'm migrating to an all-new platform and OS and would rather lowball at first. I also plan to upgrade the RAM separately. However, I have a couple of questions.

I have 36 GB Raptor and 160 GB Maxtor SATA drives in my PC...will they work in a Mac (reformatted, of course)?

I also have a 9800 Pro in my PC. Can I use it, or do I have to use a Mac-specific version of the same card? I'm not too keen on the GeForce series of vidcards, and I have a Samsung 213T monitor I plan to use on the Power Mac at 1600x1200 res.

Basically, I am just going to order the standard config and upgrade as needed afterward.

Thanks for your help in advance!

[Turias]

I don't know about the drives (I would guess they would work), but that video card will definitely not work. You would have to get the Macintosh version of it to be able to use it.

[Siskomac]

Originally posted by Turias:
I don't know about the drives (I would guess they would work), but that video card will definitely not work. You would have to get the Macintosh version of it to be able to use it.

Bummer...are the architectures really that disparate?

[Siskomac]

Hmm...one more question. Does the Power Mac have integreated ethernet or do I have to buy the separate card? I didn't see a port on there anywhere...

[MacGallant]

Originally posted by Siskomac:
Hmm...one more question. Does the Power Mac have integreated ethernet or do I have to buy the separate card? I didn't see a port on there anywhere...

All modern day macs (from iMacs to PowerMac G4 & G5) have an intergreated ethernet.
Many PowerMac G4s have gigabit ethernet, and the PowerMac G5 as well, I believe.

[MacGallant]

Originally posted by Siskomac:
Bummer...are the architectures really that disparate?

The issue, I think, isn't that the architectures of the video cards are different, but that the Mac requires a Mac Rom for the Video Card to operate. Some people have flashed their PC video card with a Mac Rom but success rates vary.

[Siskomac]

Originally posted by MacGallant:
All modern day macs (from iMacs to PowerMac G4 & G5) have an intergreated ethernet.
Many PowerMac G4s have gigabit ethernet, and the PowerMac G5 as well, I believe.

Originally posted by MacGallant:
The issue, I think, isn't that the architectures of the video cards are different, but that the Mac requires a Mac Rom for the Video Card to operate. Some people have flashed their PC video card with a Mac Rom but success rates vary.

Thanks for both replies. I assumed it would have integrated ethernet, but meine augen must’ve overlooked it.

Interesting...I might try a flash if I get the guts, heh.

[businezguy]

Both hard drives will work fine on your Powermac. You'd have to format them, as you've said.

[Lateralus]

Pretty much every desktop Mac built in the past decade has had built in ethernet. And every Power Mac since the 2000 edition G4 has had 10/100/1000 ethernet, which is still ahead of the curve.

As far as the video card, it is a bit more complicated than simply flashing it. Some lower end cards, such as the Radeon 8500 and GeForce 3, can be easily flashed with the ROM software from ATI or nVidia. But with newer cards, the 9800 in particular, the difference is no longer just the ROM itself but the EEPROM chip on the PCB that contains the ROM. They are different on the Mac and PC versions. I believe the Mac version has a 128K EEPROM chip. In order to hack a PC 9800 to Mac, the EEPROM chip needs to be taken off and a 128K EEPROM needs to be soldered on. Then you can begin working with the ROM flasher. Even then, it is still very risky.

And I'd get the Dual 1.8 as well. PCI-X is not going to become a mainstream technology. I am not even sure why Apple is offering it. It is useful for a few high end audio cards and what not, but there really are few devices that are capable of using it. And 4GBs of RAM should be enough for just about anybody for a few years.

[Siskomac]

Thanks for the replies.

Sounds like it'd be best to avoid the headache of card modding and just get a Mac-specific version. Glad to hear about the hard drives, though. I just couldn't part with my Raptor.

I have an M-Audio Revolution card, which should do nicely as well.

[mac freak]

The 9800 Pro CAN be flashed and modded to work, but talking about it is taboo on these forums for some reason, so I'll stop right there

[Lateralus]

Originally posted by mac freak:
The 9800 Pro CAN be flashed and modded to work, but talking about it is taboo on these forums for some reason, so I'll stop right there

I just talked about it, didn't I?

[SafariX]

You just IMAGINED you talked about it, when in reality you didn't talk about it at all. <jack black> IM INSIDE YOUR BRAIN, MAN! </jb>

[videian28]

I am pretty sure that flashing the rom on a 9800 will work only if you do som emicro soldering on the PCB of the card... thought about it, but got the nVidia 6800 instead, to many possibilities to go wrong

do a google search on how to do it, there are step by step instructions out there

[Siskomac]

Well, I just ordered the standard config dual 1.8 GHz with overnight shipping. I doubt it'll get here tomorrow, but one can always hope. Now I just have to figure out which apps I need to replace all the PC software I have...free, if possible, heh.

[Siskomac]

One more thing...

Since the standard RAM is 256 MB (128 MB x 2), will adding 512 MB x 2 work with it, or do they all need to be the same size of module?

[Arkham_c]

Originally posted by Siskomac:
One more thing...

Since the standard RAM is 256 MB (128 MB x 2), will adding 512 MB x 2 work with it, or do they all need to be the same size of module?

No, they don't all have to be the same size. Just the pairs have to be the same. You can do 2x256 and 2x512 with no problem.

[Siskomac]

Originally posted by Arkham_c:
No, they don't all have to be the same size. Just the pairs have to be the same. You can do 2x256 and 2x512 with no problem.

Sweeeeeet...thanks! I just ordered 1 GB from Crucial, hopefully 1.25 GB will do me right for a while.