Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Kyle Dreaden · Mar 16, 2006, 10:13 PM

Hey everyone -

I've got a dual 1.25GHz G4 Powermac MDD (FW800 model) which still has the stock graphics card in it (ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 64MB). I'm planning on making some upgrades to hold me over until the intel desktops get a revision or two under their belts to work out any kinks. My first thought is to upgrade the memory (add another gig for a total of two gigs) and then to upgrade the GFX card.

I have heard that with Tiger, most of my desktop processing is done by the CPU but with newer, faster graphics cards, a lot of that work is moved to the GPU, freeing up a good amount of processor resources. Also, and I know this may seem silly, but I don't like that my (more powerful) desktop machine where I do most of my work can't do the ripple effect (among others) that my less powerful notebook can. Laugh all you want, but it's just the idea that there are features of my OS that my machine is too old to take advantage of. That says to me, TIME TO UPGRADE (which I haven't done since I bought the machine).

So, would anyone have a good graphics card they'd recommend for my trusty MDD? Thanks!

Kyle

angelmb · Mar 17, 2006, 05:25 AM

I don't know how much better the ATI 9600 range is versus the 9000, but they are not expensive at OWC

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

And since you have a Apple Alu display the fact that those cards come with an ADC unpowered port doesn't really matter.

a2daj · Mar 18, 2006, 12:09 AM

The Radeon 9600 would be a nice, inexpensive improvement over the Radeon 9000 depending on what you're doing. It supports CoreImage (yay ripple effect) and is an overall more powerful card than the 9000, particularly in the 3D arena. But for most everyday computing, you probably won't notice much of a difference.

new newton · Mar 18, 2006, 12:21 AM

I've you're interested, I've got an Apple 9700. It's a nice card for an MDD.

G5s ROCK · Mar 18, 2006, 04:59 PM

The 9700 OEM is an awesome card, especially if you have an ADC monitor.

Fastest card out for a MDD right now is the 6600 GT.

http://www.barefeats.com/quick.html

Kenneth · Mar 18, 2006, 08:36 PM

Last month, I purchased the R9600 Pro (Mac + PC) card from ClubMac. It was the cheapest with $30 ATI mail-in rebate at that time.

The installation took less than 15 minutes. I installed the ATI Display software before the upgrade.

I have the same model of PowerMac G4 as you do. Meanwhile, I played a little WoW and RtoCW with the new graphic card and the frame rates were decent.

Coddies · 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by G5s ROCK

The 9700 OEM is an awesome card, especially if you have an ADC monitor.

Fastest card out for a MDD right now is the 6600 GT.

http://www.barefeats.com/quick.html

Are we allowed to sell stuff in the forums now?

Anyway, I've had nothing but trouble trying to get my R9600 Pro (Mac/PC) to boot in my Digital Audio G4. I had to RMA it to ATI and they are REALLY slow on that kind of stuff. The card always works perfect in a WinPC (like I really care), but it's a 50/50 crap shoot as to whether it's going to be recognized as a Mac card in booting Tiger 10.4.5. When it does boot at all, it works fine. And when I boot from a Radeon 7000 to diagnose the problem, it's never recognized AT ALL! I nearly pulled all my hair out trying to figure out the cause of the problem before giving up. I really don't think ATI has worked out all the bugs on this dual PC/Mac thing yet. The funniest thing about buying a legit ATI card was that the G5 Apple 9600 I previously bought (converted for G4 use) turned out to be more reliable than the ATI card. Now that just makes no sense. Oh, and the G5 9600s also have some issues in certain G4s I've read, but none as bad as the ATI card I got. I wonder if Apple just makes a better video card to higher standards?

If anyone has any additional 9600 advice before I send the ATI card back (still waiting on ATI), I'd be glad to take a few more cracks at getting it to boot reliably.

mountainash · Mar 24, 2006, 10:38 AM

9600, 9700 or 9800. You can get the 9600 and 9800 as third party upgrades (ATi makes them). The 9700 comes as OEM versions that shipped with a few select powermacs (as a BTO option), and as hacked PC versions. The hacked PC versions shouldn't be dismissed. They can be quite decent alternatives and cheaper.

The other option is to get a 9600 based card from a powermac G5, and do a simple tape mod (tape over 2 connectors on the card). OWC was selling premodded cards for cheap. Not sure if they still are.

I've modded a few G5 cards for the PowerMac. At the moment I am running a 9650 in my Digital Audio G4, which is a nice card because it is fanless and has 256Mb of VRAM. It also cost about a fifth the cost of a win/mac 9600 (in this part of the world).

If you were to buy a new 9800pro, it would probably make more sense to upgrade to a G5 system. They are hella-expensive!

Luca Rescigno · Mar 24, 2006, 11:02 AM

Don't buy the ATI retail 9600 Pro Mac/PC edition. They're charging $200 for it! Absolutely insane, considering you could buy both a Mac 9600 Pro AND a PC 9600 Pro for far less than $200.

The 9600s that OWC sells are fine cards. Not the fastest, but definitely an improvement over a 9000, and inexpensive.

You should even be able to get a 9800 Pro from someone on eBay for $150-$200, and that represents a significant upgrade over the 9600 Pro.

Orion27 · 09:49 AM

I accidently ordered one of OWC unpowered ATI cards. I have an ADC display and I suppose there is no work around for my display with this card. Is the only option an DVI powered display?

mountainash · Apr 10, 2006, 01:55 PM

Originally Posted by Orion27

I accidently ordered one of OWC unpowered ATI cards. I have an ADC display and I suppose there is no work around for my display with this card. Is the only option an DVI powered display?

You could get an adaptor to change the ADC on the card to DVI (fairly cheap) and another adaptor to change the ADC on the monitor to DVI (fairly expensive). But if you buy these parts new (around 100USD?), it would make more sense to upgrade to a new LCD screen.

Or you could hack the power connector on the card to give powered ADC. I saw pictures of how to do this, but can't recall where. A search for modding G5 cards for G4s should turn something up. If you can use a soldering iron, it is pretty straight forward.

Orion27 · Apr 10, 2006, 02:43 PM

How much do you want for your 9700 graphics card. How much video RAM?

Tom
Still Pond