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rslifka · Jul 22, 2006, 05:22 PM

Hi all,

I'm a bit confused about how to upgrade my video card. Last year I purchased a Dual Core 2.0 pretty much as soon as they were launched. It ships with a dreadfully slow video card (the 6600LE). This card is available in both PCI-E and AGP so that alone won't tell me what I have.

According to the Apple site for the current rev:

http://www.apple.com/powermac/specs.html

"16-lane PCI Express graphics slot with one of the following graphics cards installed"

...so I take it that means I have to find a PCI-E card? Also that I can get a PCI-E 16 if I can find one.

Crap... they only seem to be available mail-order and I would have liked to pick one up today

Rob

Catfish_Man · Jul 22, 2006, 05:26 PM

Correct, you'll need a PCI-E card.

rslifka · Jul 22, 2006, 05:44 PM

Thanks CM!

Would you happen to know if PCI-E cards are hybrids? Their Mac page seems to only list older AGP cards so I'm thinking their new PCI-E cards are compatible with both Mac and PC?

Some MacConnection search results that show products not on ATI's own Mac page.

Hell this review (x800 xt) was posted 1.5 years ago and is the newest product on ATI's Mac page!

Rob

mduell · Jul 22, 2006, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by rslifka

Would you happen to know if PCI-E cards are hybrids? Their Mac page seems to only list older AGP cards so I'm thinking their new PCI-E cards are compatible with both Mac and PC?

The only hybrid card I know of is the 9600Pro, which is about as slow as your 6600LE.
Despite the switch to PCIe, PowerPC Macs still require special video bioses to work with OpenFirmware.

rslifka · Jul 22, 2006, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

The only hybrid card I know of is the 9600Pro, which is about as slow as your 6600LE.
Despite the switch to PCIe, PowerPC Macs still require special video bioses to work with OpenFirmware.

Ah shizzy... I'm combing the Apple support forums now to see if anyone has actually upgraded a Late 2005 PowerMac and to see what they went with. Hmm I should probably check the Aperture forums since it does make use of faster video.

Rob

rslifka · 06:21 PM

This is bloody confusing... MacConnection's listings are either saying that the PCI-E cards are hybrids or they're plain wrong.

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/...p;folderID=299

...shows that the downloadable software only supports what's on ATI's Mac product page, and was last posted in 2005.

Ah, once the MacPros come out, I bet they'll all be able to use PC cards so why bother going to the effort to release cards for the G5 Dual Core machines?

Rob

Leonard · Jul 24, 2006, 10:40 AM

Right now there is only one PCI-E card available in retail for Macs, and that's the Geforce 6600, which Apple sells at the Apple Online Store which is only a little bit better then your card. Apple does not sell the OEM Geforce 7800GT as a separate part, you have to buy it when you buy your G5. ATI does not sell a PCI-E card for Macs. You could check if there are any ASAP's selling OEM Geforce 7800GT.

I'm not sure if you can flash a PC PCI-E Geforce 7800 or 7900 to the Mac.

rslifka · Jul 24, 2006, 12:25 PM

Hi Leonard,

That's been my findings as well since my last post. People are clamoring for a high(er) performance after-market part as so much performance can be gained in programs like Aperture that use the Core APIs.

There's a guy in SoCal flashing GF 7800s for $450. I'd prefer to get the Apple part

Rob