[bstone]

A good buddy of mine is looking for the best freaking video card to put in his QS dual 1ghz. He has a Geforce MX 64mb in there now. He is a professional film maker/video editor and just got a major project.

I suggested the Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition. He would get the Special Edition, but that seems to be G5 only (he is planning on getting a G5 in a year when the funds become available).

Suggestions?

[TheDeathman]

If he's doing video editing he would probably want something like a Radeon 9600 or 9800 because those are both supported under new apps. For what I do(chatting + games) a GeForce 4ti 4600 is fine for me.

[Lateralus]

9800 Pro.

[Luca Rescigno]

Originally posted by PowerMacMan:
9800 Pro.

Ditto. I have one. It rocks. And the SE is not only G5 only, but it's also just the same except it has 256 MB of VRAM, which really doesn't help at all.

[bstone]

Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
Ditto. I have one. It rocks. And the SE is not only G5 only, but it's also just the same except it has 256 MB of VRAM, which really doesn't help at all.

How might it be possible to get the Special Edition to work in a QS dual 1ghz? I think i once heard it required actually modifying the card itself.

[Lateralus]

As for as I know, it can't be done.

What you probably saw was the G5 9600 Pro-to-G4 modification.

[faragbre967]

Can you use a PC 9800 Pro and just flash the bios for the mac version?

[Luca Rescigno]

No, the PC 9800 Pro has a 64 kb ROM chip, while the Mac version has a 128 kb ROM chip. It is possible, though, to solder on a new 128 kb ROM chip and then put the Mac ROM onto it. But it's quite a hassle and probably a better idea to just buy a Mac version.

[rocky2]

I have done the PC 9800 PRO to Mac 9800 PRO conversion successfully twice. It involved changing the ROM to a 128 K version from the PC 64 k version and moving three exceedingly small 0402 SMT chip resistors. The ROM change is quite doable for somebody with average soldering skills but moving the resistors requires a steady hand and good magnifying glass. The instructtions are well documented on the web by Thomas Perrier.
I am presently working on a way to achieve the same result without moving the resistors by preflashing ROMs to the Mac firmware using a programmer. If I have success, I'll post here. All that will then be required is to clip off the old ROM and solder on the new one.
The cards that support this must be the ATi reference design, a full 9800 PRO with 128 MB of DDR RAM and not an Atlantis or SE. In addition, I had problems with one card from PowerColor that shows screen artefacts because the RAM was low-spec Hynix and not SAMSUNG.
The cards with Samsung RA have both worked fine--I am typing this on one now and plan to make another for a friend tomorrow.

[Amacapart]

Or flash with reduced ROM that fits on 64K chip. Then all you need to do is tape those two pins.

Works GREAT on a G4.

dp

[Link]

Yep, no soldering, and if you're lucky no need to tape the 2 pins (but that's EASY).

I so hope I can order a 9800 in the next week or so

[reader50]

One wonders if taping two pins on a 6800 would make it G4 compatible.

bstone did ask for the "Best freaking video card in a QS", not for the "Runner up from previous GPU generations".

[a2daj]

Originally posted by reader50:
One wonders if taping two pins on a 6800 would make it G4 compatible.

bstone did ask for the "Best freaking video card in a QS", not for the "Runner up from previous GPU generations".

No. The 6800 is an AGP Pro card. AGP Pro cards do not fit in AGP ports. It's keyed like the Radeon Mac Special Edition.

[faragbre967]

How did you guys flash the 9800 with a reduced rom? Did you use a PC or Mac? I just picked up a 9800 and want to flash it to mac.

[Amacapart]

Look in "Mac Modding" forum under "Flashing a PC Radeon 9800.

[Webscreamer]

Radeon 9800 Pro Special Edition. 256 ram on board ...I think this is right

[Lateralus]

Originally posted by Webscreamer:
Radeon 9800 Pro Special Edition. 256 ram on board ...I think this is right

G5 only.