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angelmb · Dec 4, 2004, 09:00 AM

a friend is looking for a new AGP card for his G4 AGP2x, so far he would love to get all the fancy CoreImage candy, but being a AGP 2x slot inside, could be by all means it possible?

AFAIK, the cards shown at http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/core.html are not AGP2x friendly.

Supported graphics cards:

ATI Radeon 9800 XT
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
ATI Radeon 9600 XT
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra
NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 Ultra

So, are there any hope for my friend�s PowerMac?

thank you very much.

deboerjo · Dec 4, 2004, 10:27 AM

The 9800 Pro is AGP 2x compatible. The FX5200 should be as well (the PC version is).

Weezer · Dec 4, 2004, 10:56 AM

seems like a waste of money when you will hit a major bottleneck because of the 2X and probably the cpu.

angelmb · Dec 4, 2004, 12:45 PM

well, the CPU has been upgraded to 1.2 GHz, maybe that could help to avoid the bottleneck, though.

Luca Rescigno · Dec 4, 2004, 12:51 PM

AGP 2x won't be a HUGE bottleneck. I don't think it'll be as good as if you had AGP 4x, but really it's not that big a deal. The 9800 is a pretty good card. I'd argue that the GeForce 4 Titanium is better for gaming because a lot of Mac games run better on nVidia hardware, but the 9800 has full pixel shader support.

angelmb · Dec 5, 2004, 11:37 AM

OK, could be this modified ATI 9600 card a valid option?,

the site claims that the G4 compatible models are the AGP4x, but could be just that you can only 2x on the Sawtooth model

deboerjo · Dec 5, 2004, 11:51 AM

Originally posted by angelmb:
OK, could be this modified ATI 9600 card a valid option?,

the site claims that the G4 compatible models are the AGP4x, but could be just that you can only 2x on the Sawtooth model

No, it really does require 4x. Look at the card; see how there's only one notch in the AGP connector, and it's toward the back of the card? You need a card that either has two notches or the notch is toward the front of the card. That indicates AGP 2x voltage compatibility.

none of the 9600 family are 2x compatible, nor is the 9800XT. Only the 9800, 9800 Pro and 9700 are. Most members of the GeForceFX 5xxx family are 2x compatible, but I believe the 6xxx family are AGP4x only.

angelmb · Dec 6, 2004, 07:54 AM

Originally posted by deboerjo:
No, it really does require 4x. Look at the card; see how there's only one notch in the AGP connector, and it's toward the back of the card? You need a card that either has two notches or the notch is toward the front of the card. That indicates AGP 2x voltage compatibility.

none of the 9600 family are 2x compatible, nor is the 9800XT. Only the 9800, 9800 Pro and 9700 are. Most members of the GeForceFX 5xxx family are 2x compatible, but I believe the 6xxx family are AGP4x only.

Thanks for such a perfect explanation

Cadaver · Dec 6, 2004, 10:12 PM

Originally posted by deboerjo:
No, it really does require 4x. Look at the card; see how there's only one notch in the AGP connector, and it's toward the back of the card? You need a card that either has two notches or the notch is toward the front of the card. That indicates AGP 2x voltage compatibility.

none of the 9600 family are 2x compatible, nor is the 9800XT. Only the 9800, 9800 Pro and 9700 are. Most members of the GeForceFX 5xxx family are 2x compatible, but I believe the 6xxx family are AGP4x only.

But also note that there is no Macintosh AGP 2x or 4x compatible nvidia 5200-based graphics card. The GeForce 5200 Ultra cards that ship with the G5s will not work in a G4-based Mac. These cards use an AGP Pro card layout/connector, not a standard AGP connector.

The only option a 2x AGP based G4 has for CoreImage support is the retail Radeon 9800 Pro.