[YY911DC]

Dear all,

I am in somewhat of a dilemma. I purchased my Quad G5 earlier this summer with the Geforce 6600GT card. I would like to upgrade this card either an ATI or Nvidia solution. But I am kind of stuck. I am not ready to purchase a brand new mac pro, because I cannot justify that.

Any help?

Thanks, Anthony

[dlefebvre]

I was just wondering the same thing. When I bought my Quad G5 other card were to pricey for my taste. I would be ready to look for another option.

[Leonard]

The only PCI Express graphics card available for the Power Mac Quad G5 2.5Ghz is the Nvidia Geforce 6600 from Apple which is a lower end card. The high-end Nvidia Geforce 7800GT that Apple sold as a BTO on the Quad G5, was never sold as a separate part. You might find it used or you might find an AASP willing to buy it as a part (usually for repair). No retail cards, so far, have come out for the Quad G5.

The ATI Radeon X1900XT and Nvidia Geforce 7300GT PCI Express cards, sold by Apple seem to require a Mac Pro.

[reader50]

The strangedogs people have been flashing 7800GTs for $450, but last I checked, they had run into issues with the latest 7800 core revision. It might be awhile before they get the firmware adjusted enough to work around that.

ATi is coming out with a retail X1900 for the PCIe G5s, but I have not heard when it will come out. Considering ATi's previous retail prices, I'd expect the price to be above $400, and probably $499.

XFX let it out in March that they were developing nVidia retail cards for PowerMacs. There has been no word since.

As Leonard says, the original 7800GT can be ordered as a replacement part, but it will be very expensive that way.