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Rumor · Feb 23, 2006, 12:44 PM

Big Mac · Feb 23, 2006, 12:55 PM

Looks legit to me. . .

Rumor · Feb 23, 2006, 12:58 PM

Or this one.

I'm looking to get a 128mb AGP card next week and was checking out what eBay had to offer. I'd appreciate any advice.

Lateralus · Feb 23, 2006, 01:08 PM

...Why would you think these are scams?

Rumor · Feb 23, 2006, 01:08 PM

You can "flash" a pc vid card and make it a mac card?

SSharon · Feb 23, 2006, 01:11 PM

I'm sure the auction is legit and that you will get the card, but I don't think you are legally allowed to flash a video card.

Rumor · Feb 23, 2006, 01:16 PM

Would a card altered in this manner be reliable?

Lateralus · Feb 23, 2006, 01:23 PM

Actually, they're being sold because they're unreliable.

SSharon · Feb 23, 2006, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by Rumor

Would a card altered in this manner be reliable?

From what I have heard around here, Yes. The ones that require a hardware modification (blocking a pin or something like that) may be less reliable though.

Maflynn · Feb 23, 2006, 02:40 PM

Originally Posted by Lateralus

Actually, they're being sold because they're unreliable.

I thought these type of cards are being sold to make a quick buck. Buy a PC video card that's a lot less then a typical mac video card, reflash and sell it on ebay for a small profit. (For what I've seen in the past, they went for more money then a pc card but less for a true mac video card).

As for the actual reliability, I have no idea as I never used a reflashed card.
Mike

SSharon · Feb 23, 2006, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by SSharon

From what I have heard around here, Yes. The ones that require a hardware modification (blocking a pin or something like that) may be less reliable though.

I will willingly retract any comment on reliability since Lateralus says it's no good I believe that more than my memory of what I've seen here.

Lateralus · Feb 23, 2006, 02:53 PM

Actually I was being sarcastic, sorry. Forgot the obligatory wink.

But there was still some truth to it.

The only problem I have with most flashed cards isn't so much with the flashing process but rather the people who flash them and their taste in cards. It is common place for flashers to raid sites like NewEgg for 'refurbished' graphics cards at a discounted price. I'm not sure what it is in particular about graphics cards, but buying them as refurbished seems to be more of a gamble than is involved with most other computer hardware. But in addition to being refurbished in the first place, these cards are usually lower-brand cards such as Sapphire, which I find to be built to a significantly lower standard than Genuine ATIs.

So, buyer beware. Try to find out what brand the card actually is before buying. If it's a higher-end brand like Gigabyte, VisionTek or a Genuine ATI, I wouldn't worry too much. And use your better judgement when acessing the seller; look through their feedback, see what kinds of cards they usually sell, and drop a line with a question or two about the card.

bowwowman · Feb 24, 2006, 08:42 PM

Flashed cards, when done properly, by someone who knows what they are doing, with the proper tools, are generally reliable to a certain point. My brother does it all the time, but he has the technical knowledge AND the tools too!

The problem is finding a flasher who actually fits ALL of the above criteria, and NOT just saying they do in order to sell products & get your money

However, the #1 most common problem with flashed cards is ROM data corruption, due to either flaky flash code and/or low quality rom chips on the board.

As Lat said, most of the flashed cards being sold on ebay are lower quality, NON-reference designs that are cheap to start with, or were bought in bulk/clearance sales, and/or were refurbs that some other idiot tryed to flash & screwed up, reflashed back to X86 roms, and then returned them to the original supplier for credit......

Cadaver · Feb 26, 2006, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by Rumor

Or this one.

I'm looking to get a 128mb AGP card next week and was checking out what eBay had to offer. I'd appreciate any advice.

This one is suspect.

In the description, the seller says its "brand new" but that it comes in "an OEM white box."
Retail ATI Mac products don't come in an OEM version (since there are no OEMs except Apple).
Either its a new or used retail kit, a pull from an Apple machine (which its NOT, since the card is shown with a VGA connector - NOT PRESENT on the Apple OEM version), or a PC-to-Mac flash.

IMHO, this one is a flashed PC card.

Edit: I'm an idiot. I missed this statement in the description: These particular video cards are professionaly converted PC video cards as is many AGP based Radeon 9800 PROs here on eBay for the Mac.

Rumor · Feb 27, 2006, 06:59 PM

Would this one work for my Sawtooth with 10.2.8?

Lateralus · Feb 27, 2006, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by Rumor

Would this one work for my Sawtooth with 10.2.8?

Uh...

We have personally tested one of this model in a G4 Sawtooth 2X AGP, G4 Quicksilver 4X AGP, G4 Cube, and G5 8X AGP Tower.

Yes.

Rumor · Feb 27, 2006, 11:28 PM

Oops, I didn't notice that part. Thanks for pointing out the obvious to me since I cannot seem to see it.

Coddies · 03:01 AM

Someone mentioned that last particular 9200 over at another website and said they are downclocked as low as 150MHz on the memory, although people over at that site also sell on ebay so I never know what to believe anymore since nearly everyone on the face of the earth is an ebay seller these days! But, everything I read over at Cubeowner.com from their moderators before buying my 9200 card said to stick with Connect3D brand 9200s. They seem to be the best quality and the 9200 that everyone seems to be using most often with no problems. That last card doesn't look like a Connect3D model to me from all of the pics at Cubeowner, so I'm not sure if it's a slower 9200SE model or an offbrand. Anyone know what brand that card is? Oh, and a fan is probably necessary, especially if you have a processor upgrade. I had artifacts without a fan in some games in my G4. Also, keep in mind, a Radeon 9800 is supposed to require a 300watt power supply I think it says on ATI's website. Your machine won't have that so depending on what you've got running in the machine or added on, that 9800 card might be a bit on the dangerous side. You might want to get a calculator out and start adding up the wattage of your upgrades, i.e. DVD/CD burner, CPU upgrade, etc., things you added that didn't ship in the stock machine. The 9200s don't need a lot of watts so you dont need to worry with them.

Rumor · Feb 28, 2006, 05:47 PM

So I bought the last one I mentioned and should be here later this week. Are there any diagnostic programs I should run after the install?

Coddies · Feb 28, 2006, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by Rumor

So I bought the last one I mentioned and should be here later this week. Are there any diagnostic programs I should run after the install?

U can download the program Graphiccelerator and see if the card is running at the correct speed of 250MHz core/200MHz memory (ATI's stock 9200 Mac speed), although I've noticed lately some that even run as high as 275MHz.

To test it, ATI has some cool demos & screensavers that few people know about. They test most of the Smartshader functions. If there was something wrong with the card, most likely it would fail one or more of those tests. Try them and a game or 2, if everything seems fine, then your AOK.

mountainash · Mar 24, 2006, 11:35 AM

If it's for something mission critical, don't get it. Otherwise, it is probably worth the small risk.

strangedogs.com has all the info on flashing. You can read how it is done, and decide for yourself if it is a risk you want to take.