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power142 · Feb 14, 2006, 03:04 PM

My PowerMac G5 2.5DP came with the ATI Radeon 9600XT card, which has served me well but it can no longer keep up the pace. When I bought it, I didn't feel the need for the 6800GT/Ultra dustbuster, which in some ways I now regret. I've been looking around for a replacement card and my options currently look like this:

1) buy a 9800 or X800 upgrade from ATI
2) try and get hold of Apple part superior to the 9600
3) experiment with flashing a PC card

Some notes:

#1 - 9800 doesn't seem like a worthwhile upgrade for the price, maybe twice the performance of the 9600 for almost $300
#1 - X800XT seems to be a little scarce - neither ATI or Apple have it in stock (Apple lists 6-8 weeks). Could this be a sign of an impending upgrade of the AGP range by ATI?
#2 - 6800 or X850 from Apple will likely be hard to find and/or expensive. I'd rather not spoil my otherwise quiet G5 with a 6800
#3 - this is a little more of an unknown quantity, but those over at http://strangedogs.com seem to have had some success in modifying PC cards and getting them to work in Macs, notably 9800s and X800s and working towards the 7800.

I'd appreciate any other suggestions than the above, but please keep in mind that I'm not ready or able to switch out my machine for one with PCI-Express, as much as I'd love a quad

2009059 · Feb 14, 2006, 04:05 PM

I have the 6800, yes it is loud. BUT, I just bought an NV silencer 5 for it off ebay...should get here in a few days. I'll post back when I've installed the silencer and tell you how it is.

Your best options are: X800, X850, 6800. These are the best you can get.

G5s ROCK · Feb 14, 2006, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by 2009059

I have the 6800, yes it is loud. BUT, I just bought an NV silencer 5 for it off ebay...should get here in a few days. I'll post back when I've installed the silencer and tell you how it is.

Your best options are: X800, X850, 6800. These are the best you can get.

Did you follow his link?

I'd wait.

It's on the Main news page at XLR8.

A PC 7800GT PCIE is running great in a G5. And they are half done with a 7800 AGP, which will have any of the above cards for breakfast.

I'm gonna get one to replace my tired 9600XT.

I'll let you all know how it works out.

mduell · Feb 14, 2006, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by G5s ROCK

Did you follow his link?

I'd wait.

It's on the Main news page at XLR8.

A PC 7800GT PCIE is running great in a G5. And they are half done with a 7800 AGP, which will have any of the above cards for breakfast.

I'm gonna get one to replace my tired 9600XT.

I'll let you all know how it works out.

His link is to a page about "breeders of the Exotic "Chinese Crested" dogs."
The xlr8 main page talks about a 7800GT PCIe PC to 7800GT PCIe Mac flash working, and GTX flash in progress (which I'm skeptical of, since it has more processing units, so it's going to need quite a bit of firmware modification); no mention of a 7800GS AGP flash.

G5s ROCK · Feb 14, 2006, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

His link is to a page about "breeders of the Exotic "Chinese Crested" dogs."
The xlr8 main page talks about a 7800GT PCIe PC to 7800GT PCIe Mac flash working, and GTX flash in progress (which I'm skeptical of, since it has more processing units, so it's going to need quite a bit of firmware modification); no mention of a 7800GS AGP flash.

Talk about skimming the surface !!!

Dig deeper dude, the 7800 AGP is already half done.

Dog thing is a cover.

joe · Feb 14, 2006, 10:01 PM

Originally Posted by 2009059

I have the 6800, yes it is loud. BUT, I just bought an NV silencer 5 for it off ebay...should get here in a few days. I'll post back when I've installed the silencer and tell you how it is.

Are you sure it's your 6800 fan that's the source of all the noise? My 6800 fan is inaudible 99% of the time. Ditto the PCI bay fan. Instead, the cooling fan for "cpu b" is what makes all the racket in my dualie 2.5Ghz G5 Tower.

mduell · Feb 14, 2006, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by G5s ROCK

Dig deeper dude, the 7800 AGP is already half done.

Dog thing is a cover.

What a strange, strange site.

2009059 · 03:27 PM

just got the silencer installed, WOW it is so much quieter. There is still the pci bay fan though...

Todd Madson · Feb 15, 2006, 10:58 AM

I also am interested in the possibilities of faster video cards for my AGP G5.
Keep us posted please!

power142 · Feb 15, 2006, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by G5s ROCK

Did you follow his link?

I'd wait.

It's on the Main news page at XLR8.

A PC 7800GT PCIE is running great in a G5. And they are half done with a 7800 AGP, which will have any of the above cards for breakfast.

I'm gonna get one to replace my tired 9600XT.

I'll let you all know how it works out.

Sounds like we're in the same boat, G5s ROCK.

I first saw this posted on XLR8, http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/archives/...06.html#S20637 , which links to http://strangedogs.proboards40.com/i...rd=experiments

The 7800 AGP sounds really promising, I had almost settled on the X800XT from ATI, especially as they're offering $50 rebate on the card, doesn't make it so hard to swallow.

Does the pixel shader 2.0 in the X800 vs the 3.0 on the 7800 make any / much of a difference with current software or software that might be available during the useful life of my machine? (probably another year or 2). If I'm going to spend almost $400 on a gfx card, I might wait and see how if the strange dogs get the AGP going.

2009059, how does the silencer work out for you? A post over at strange dogs implied that the silencer on a 6800 was a bit of a squeeze in the G5.

G5s ROCK · Feb 15, 2006, 04:51 PM

They added 30" support to their special 78GT PCIE ROM today and it has been confirmed working.

So, I think they are done with 7800GT PCIE.

They claim to have a GTX 7800 coming next for PCIE, would be fastest Mac card on planet.

They hope to have AGP 7800 running well by March. Quite buggy now but they are working on it.

Somebody in UK got a X800GT running in MDD I think. This is a sub-$200 card. Is VGA only for now.

They may be a bunch of circus clowns but you can't argue with the results.

2009059 · Feb 15, 2006, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by power142

2009059, how does the silencer work out for you? A post over at strange dogs implied that the silencer on a 6800 was a bit of a squeeze in the G5.

The silencer is great. Pretty easy installation. It is a bit tight though, but it's my only card in the G5 so I don't use the others slots anyways. One thing to consider is, that the bracket/plate they come with doesn't fit (they send both a vent and an output/port bracket) so I had to cut the existing one with tin snips, and file it down...but well worth it in my opinion.