[dummyfung]

Hey peepz, ok i own a dual 867 mac G4 a.k.a (Dual mirrored bay door) and i plan to put in the best Graphic card that money can buy into this machine but i was hoping if someone could tell me what Graphic card would that be? i cant remember if its AGP slot is a 4x or a 8x.
I plan to get a 20" cinema display for it so i need to upgrade my GPU coz im using the standard one that came with it at that time.

[angelmb]

It is a 4x AGP slot. Take a look here:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/video/hardware/

The best model seems to be the ATI 9800, but it is much more expensive than the 9600 models.

[bowwowman]

The best model seems to be the ATI 9800, but it is much more expensive than the 9600 models

4x the video memory + dual head capability = mucho deniro
sppeeeed + power = happy camper

[angelmb]

Good points there bowwowman, 4x the video RAM and/or dual head could be reason enough to get it over the more affordable models… RAM is always RAM, and being dual head capable you don't need to spend additional money in a second card that is going to be nevertheless an old slower PCI model.

Even when it is "mucho dinero" if you don't look at those details, there is a $30 rebate offer. After all the OP asked for 'the best GPU money can buy'.

[dummyfung]

Sweet, thanks guys...

Just one question what do u mean by dual head capable?

[angelmb]

dual head capable: you being able to attach two displays to your Power Mac with just one single graphics card, cool enough if you ever need it

[dummyfung]

hell ya that would be great! i guess this is the one then...

Thanks a million guys!

[Kenneth]

I ended up dropping $200 on the R9600 Pro (Mac+PC edition) for my DP 1.25 (FW800) 3 months ago. However, ATI lost my $30 mail-in rebate [pdf link], which I found out last week since the rebate never come.

Hardware-wise, it's good if you don't want to invest on an Intel-Mac.

[Leonard]

But if you have the money the Radeon 9800 is the better card. A definite improvement even over the the Radeon 9600.

[emark]

The 9800 is an older architecture, but still the more powerful (more pipelines, faster) whether you find the origianl 128 or the new 256 MB config, the downside (for some) is that it has one digital and one analog output.

the 9600 is two digital outputs, if the dual monitor thing is of interest / concern.

Note that if your into running anything from OS 9 or earlier, while the ATI 9600/9800 cards will allow your machine to boot, you get zero hardware acceleration and the load is put on the cpu(s)...The fastest card that ever was for 9 compatitibility, that is a decent performer in X is the nvidia GeForce4Ti. It's shortcomings are the lack of programable vertex shaders (or some mumbo jumbo like that) that means you don't get the ripple effect on widgets/dock things and won't get certain effects in later games. I would think most people could give 2 hoots about 9 compatibility anymore, so it's probably not an issue.

[Hal06]

Originally Posted by emark

The fastest card that ever was for 9 compatitibility, that is a decent performer in X is the nvidia GeForce4Ti.

How does that nVidia compare to a OEM Radeon 9000 Pro 64 MB ?

[Lateralus]

It stomps it.

[Hal06]

Cool to know… since the majority of the people doing it (nVidia crew) came from SGI.