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Dennis the Phantom Menace · Apr 28, 2002, 12:01 AM

Since the Geforce 4 ti 4600 won't be comming out for awhile, I was wondering where I might find a Geforce 3 for my QS. Does anyone know of a source for a Geforce 3 that's Mac compatible or do I have to find a PC Geforce 3 and flash the ROM?

SkiBikeSki · Apr 30, 2002, 02:44 AM

As far as I know Apple was the only place to buy a Mac compatable GF3. And again as far as I know, there are only ROM's for GF2's.

However you might be able to get a used GF3 from the Buy/Sell forums or on ebay.

Pikachu_G4e� · Apr 30, 2002, 08:09 AM

Is this what you are looking for? Only AGP 2X ...

Good Luck!

Best regards from,
pmg4lktan

Dennis the Phantom Menace · Apr 30, 2002, 09:26 PM

That's what I was looking for! Thanks.
The only bummer is that it's only for AGP 2X.

SkiBikeSki · May 1, 2002, 02:24 AM

I've been proven wrong. There are ROM's for GF3's. I guess now I can't sell my GF3 on ebay. I was about to give it up and get a GF2 so that Yellow Dog Linux would work correctly.

Crazy ebot · May 1, 2002, 02:32 AM

Check out http://www.xlr8yourmac.com

There's plenty of info there on flashing PC GF3's. I'm running an ASUS V8200 GF3 deluxe in my G4/466 after flashing the rom. It works in both x2 and x4 AGP. Tactical ops in 1600x1200 is very cool.

Also, the ASUS 7100 pro GF2mx works straight out of the box in macs, no flashing required. Again, this is from personal experience.

Cheers,

Tobes.

Dennis the Phantom Menace · May 1, 2002, 05:59 AM

It works in both x2 and x4 AGP. So the ROM on the page above works for both AGP 2x & 4x? Or is there a different ROM for 4x?

SkiBikeSki · May 1, 2002, 09:38 PM

I think the ROM in the page above will work at any speed. However the computer that guy used was AGP 2X. But I don't know for certain, so you may want to look elsewhere for answers or a different ROM.

strepidus · May 1, 2002, 09:46 PM

I'm using a flashed GF3 in my G4/533 4xAGP right now, and it works wonderfully. I just d/led the nvflash.exe program and a copy of the 1055 ROM, and borrowed a friend's PC, popped in the card, started it up in DOS, and flashed with no problems. It's really quite easy; the hardest part was figuring out how to get the damn PC case open

I got my GF3 on eBay for $170, and sold my GF2MX for $125, so it was a good deal. Just make sure you get one of the original GF3's and not a GF3 Ti200 or Ti400, since flashing with the Mac ROM won't work on those. Good luck!

Todd Madson · May 3, 2002, 10:43 AM

Can anyone provide a good source for purchase of a ASUS 7100 pro GF2mx?

Sarc · May 4, 2002, 02:12 PM

Originally posted by strepidus:
[QBI got my GF3 on eBay for $170, and sold my GF2MX for $125, so it was a good deal. Just make sure you get one of the original GF3's and not a GF3 Ti200 or Ti400, since flashing with the Mac ROM won't work on those. Good luck![/QB]

How'd you sell your GF2MX ?
As a mac card or flashed it first to get it working on a PeCee ?

Sarc

joe · May 5, 2002, 02:08 AM

Originally posted by Sarc:


How'd you sell your GF2MX ?
As a mac card or flashed it first to get it working on a PeCee ?

Sarc

From what I've seen on eBay, sellers clearly state the manufacturer and model of the card as well as any changes to the ROM.....joe

Crazy ebot · May 8, 2002, 03:45 AM

Yeah, the AGP speed doesn't really matter for PC cards - they're all x2, x4 compliant (unlike Apple OEM 32 meg Radeon cards & nvidia GF3 - yukko).

I've run Both the unflashed ASUS 7100 Pro GF2mx, and the flashed ASUS 8200 deluxe GF3 card in a G4/466 (x4 AGP), and a G4/400 (x2 AGP). Both work well.

I think I used the 1045 rom image (not the most recent). I have no idea if updating the ROM image would improve performance - anybody?

Cheers,

Tobes.

Originally posted by SkiBikeSki:
I think the ROM in the page above will work at any speed. However the computer that guy used was AGP 2X. But I don't know for certain, so you may want to look elsewhere for answers or a different ROM.

X_RuLeZ · May 8, 2002, 09:08 AM

MSI sells GeForce3 Ti200/Ti500 for the mac. go here.

Ken_F2 · May 8, 2002, 11:15 AM

XRulez,

Interesting...MSI claims to support the MacOS, but they use a reference design and standard nVidia bios, without modifications. Perhaps that means the latest versions of the GF3/GF4 bios' from nVidia support the MacOS?

Does anyone here have the Windows software that was bundled with the MSI card? It should allow any GF3 or GF4 board to upgrade to the latest bios, thereby adding support for the MacOS.

climber · May 8, 2002, 05:08 PM

I don't see a DVI port on that card.

Dennis the Phantom Menace · May 8, 2002, 06:20 PM

Has anyone tried that MSI card?

rhogue islander · May 8, 2002, 06:46 PM

I have a Visiontek Gf3 that I flashed for use in my dual gigger g4. They were (still are?) the oem supplier to Apple for geforce cards. It looks just like the Apple card with a DVI instead of an ADC connector.

Still the fastest 3d card for the Mac bar none.

Trust me, I bought and subsequently returned a Radeon 8500. The Gf3 was at least 20 percent faster.

TheMosco · May 8, 2002, 07:05 PM

Where did you here that Visiontek made Apple's cards? According to mac addict and what i have heard from other people, Apple makes it themselves.

rhogue islander · May 8, 2002, 07:14 PM

I don't believe that Apple *makes* any cards.

Visiontek is the largest supplier of oem graphics cards to PC manufacturers. When Apple needed a Geforce3, they turned to Visiontek, which supplied them with an Apple branded Gf3.

davecom · May 9, 2002, 04:32 PM

Originally posted by Dennis the Phantom Menace:
Has anyone tried that MSI card?

Yes, really, has anybody tried that card?

davecom · May 9, 2002, 05:02 PM

I called up MSI. The tech support guy said he was surprised the page said it was Mac compatible. He didn't understand the whole ROM thing, but he did tell me that they don't make Mac driver, DUH! And told me the specificiations, like AGP were the same as the mac version, duh! Not very helpful. I'm too hesistant to try it out for myself.

joe · May 9, 2002, 06:47 PM

Originally posted by Crazy ebot:
Yeah, the AGP speed doesn't really matter for PC cards - they're all x2, x4 compliant (unlike Apple OEM 32 meg Radeon cards & nvidia GF3 - yukko).

FWIW, I've had Apple's OEM GF3 (4x AGP) running perfect in my Cube (2x AGP) for the last 2 months. And one of the fellows over at AppleFritter.com demonstrated his Cube with OEM Radeon 7500 (4x AGP) on TechTV's "The Screen Savers" recently. So it looks like at least some of Apple's 4x AGP cards will work in 2x AGP Macs.....joe

Crazy ebot · May 12, 2002, 10:48 PM

Originally posted by joe:


FWIW, I've had Apple's OEM GF3 (4x AGP) running perfect in my Cube (2x AGP) for the last 2 months. And one of the fellows over at AppleFritter.com demonstrated his Cube with OEM Radeon 7500 (4x AGP) on TechTV's "The Screen Savers" recently. So it looks like at least some of Apple's 4x AGP cards will work in 2x AGP Macs.....joe

Euginia'll be interested to hear the 7500/cube info - thanks for the update Joe.

Hey, quick question - what version of the ROM is your GF3 running? I flashed my ASUS with v1045 ... but there is a later ROM -1055- around. Is there any reason I should flash to the higher ROM? (can't find any info aside from a thread on xlr8yourmac.com).

T.

T.

joe · May 15, 2002, 01:02 AM

ebot:
The ROM for my GF3 shows up as 1055 according to OSX Apple System Profile. It's been a while, but I thought I read the latest GF3 flash was closer to 1088 in one of those GF3 flashing threads at xlr8yourmac. I'm not sure what the differences are between the various GF3 ROMs. My GF3 hasn't given me any problems so far. So I'm not planning on updating the flash any time soon.........joe

maffioso · May 15, 2002, 09:42 AM

What type of frame rates does the GF3 give in games such as G3, RTCW and UT?

Thanks

joe · May 15, 2002, 07:09 PM

Originally posted by maffioso:
What type of frame rates does the GF3 give in games such as G3, RTCW and UT?

I'm pretty much cpu bound with only a dual 500. I don't have enough cpu to drive my GF3 to it's limits. FWIW, I benchmark 113fps in Quake3 HQ mode (800*600*32). But here is a recent comparison of current Mac graphics cards (except GF4 Ti ) in a dual 1GHz: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/Graphics/...00/index2.html

Mike is also working on another comparison that includes the newly released Apple GF4Ti: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/Graphics/...anium_Mac.html

Based on all the benchmarks and reviews, the GeForce3 seems to fall halfway between the GF4MX and GF4Ti when it comes to performance. And just a slight bit slower than the Radeon 8500. In other words, it's still one kick ass graphics card one year after it was released. I would rank the current Mac graphics cards in this order:
1) GF4 Ti - simply the fastest card you can buy by a wide margin (PC or Mac)
2) Radeon 8500 - the only retail graphics card here - and the only graphics card with TruForm
3) GF3 - just about neck and neck with the R8500 (before ATi March driver update).
4) GF4MX - should have been called the GF3MX imho.
5) Radeon 7500 - die-shrunk and faster version of the Radeon
6) Radeon - still a fast card despite it's age
7) GF2MX - fast at lower resolutions.
8) Rage 128 Pro - fast if you turn off all the eye candy

........joe

Crazy ebot · May 16, 2002, 03:20 AM

Joe:
Ta for the info re ROMs.

Maffioso:
RTCW on my machine? Beautiful. I've got a Sony 19", some recent Logitech speakers and 512megs of RAM in a G4/466 ... with all the settings set to the absolute max (rez at 1280 x1024) the GF3 plays the game like a fluid dream.

Never has shooting Nazis out of Watchtowers been so much fun. :-)

Cheers,

Tobes.

P.S. UTX, and Tactical OpsX (under UTX) are both very, _very_ playable. :-)

Originally posted by maffioso:
What type of frame rates does the GF3 give in games such as G3, RTCW and UT?

Thanks