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Which video card to choose? Help
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Duluth, MN
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I'm looking to upgrade my video card in my G4/733 Desktop Mac and would like some help. Which would you recommend? Want something good, $$$ not too much of a concern, but don't want to go wild. I've read some posts, but don't know enough about graphics cards to make a knowledgeable decision.
I do mostly graphics work, photoshop and have a 22" Mitsubishi Flat CRT running at 1280x960. I need a good refresh rate as I sit in front of this thing all day long. So far I've looked seriously at:
PNY Verto GeForce4 Ti 4600 for $249
But am willing to spend up to $400
Any suggestions?
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Senior User
Join Date: Jan 2001
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Originally posted by dadder:
I'm looking to upgrade my video card in my G4/733 Desktop Mac and would like some help. Which would you recommend? Want something good, $$$ not too much of a concern, but don't want to go wild. I've read some posts, but don't know enough about graphics cards to make a knowledgeable decision.
I do mostly graphics work, photoshop and have a 22" Mitsubishi Flat CRT running at 1280x960. I need a good refresh rate as I sit in front of this thing all day long. So far I've looked seriously at:
PNY Verto GeForce4 Ti 4600 for $249
But am willing to spend up to $400
Any suggestions?
That PNY card is for the PC and I'm not aware of a flasher for the Mac. The Radeon 8500 is reasonable for the Mac and you can grab a PC version and flash it for around a hundred bucks.
HTH
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"-Dodge This"
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Right Here.
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Id get the GeForce 4 Ti from apple ($399.00)
or a GeForce 3 (Can be had for $240 at Other World Computing)
You want to get a AGP card, not a PCI
is your display using DVI or VGA? if its DVI either of the cards mentiond will do the trick.
you should also consider a ATI Radeon 8500 ($168, check dealmac.com)
If you dont want to shell out $400 for the GeForce 4, Id get the 8500 over the GeForce 3 much better deal.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Toronto
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I would recommend an ATI Radeon (either 8500 or 9000). Since you are doing graphic design, colour is important. ATI cards put out the best and richest colours.
Both of these cards are also fantastic for 3D games.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Utah
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Keep your current card, buy a ATI 7000 or 7500 PCI and buy a second moniter.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Toronto
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Originally posted by CIA:
Keep your current card, buy a ATI 7000 or 7500 PCI and buy a second moniter.
I do like that idea as well.
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Old Country
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Apple GeForce4 Ti hands down best card.... ATI fokes out their, let me ask you how many Video cards from Nvidia have had issues with drivers and not showing up after a system software upgarde? ATI has alsways lagged in driver support... and alsways in mac products...
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Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2001
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I don't know about that last poster, but i've had a Radeon 8500 since it first came out and have never had any problem with driver support.
I also have the same speed CPU as you and when I play 3d games, the CPU is what is holding me back, not this vid card... I wouldn't bother getting anything more powerful such as the Geforce4Ti unless you plan on getting a faster processor... plus the 8500 is much cheaper.
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Professional Poster
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Santa Clara, CA
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I understand that everyone's requesting the GeForce 4 Ti 4600, which is definitely the best card, but predictably...the most expensive. You can take a step down by going with the Radeon 9000 Pro, but if you're reaady and willing, get the GeForce 4 Ti 4600
128MB DDR RAM
(twice that of the Radeon)
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World of Warcraft (Whisperwind - Alliance) <The Eternal Spiral>
Go Dogcows!
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Old Country
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Originally posted by iamnid:
I don't know about that last poster, but i've had a Radeon 8500 since it first came out and have never had any problem with driver support.
I also have the same speed CPU as you and when I play 3d games, the CPU is what is holding me back, not this vid card... I wouldn't bother getting anything more powerful such as the Geforce4Ti unless you plan on getting a faster processor... plus the 8500 is much cheaper.
when 9.2, 10.0, 10.1 and 10.2 came out there were issues with ATI retail cards (i.e. no video, messed up video or other problems) not saying your going to have them but historicaly ATI has issues with every major release of the OS.
Along with this I would like to restate that there is no ATI all in wonder cards for the mac nor have there been for sometime. (that are supported)
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: rodeo island
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I have a Geforce4 ti and find the 2d output very good, if not excellent, and of course the game performance is great.
I tried an Ati Radeon 8500 for the mac and found the game performance disappointing, although it was otherwise an excellent card. It has vga and dvi output connectors, so you will not need an adc to vga converter to use it with a conventional monitor in a dual display configuration.
If game performance is important but you don't care to spring for the geforce4 ti, then one of the old apple geforce 3's may be your best bet.
However, (someone plz correct me if I'm wrong), I do not think the geforce 3 has dual display support.
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