[Maflynn]

OK, I have a Dual Gig QS with a Geforce 4mx hooked up to a 20" cinema display (awsome display btw).
I don't play too many games AOE2 and Unreal Tournement 2003 but all in all I use it for office apps and internet.

Would I notice any difference in the 8500 and the 9000 over the 4mx?
I need adc it seems the 8500 doesn't have that (at least the retail version). I've heard that panther will speed up the finder but I'm looking to see if plunking down the 165 for the 9000 will yield noticable results, or should I look for an oem version of the 8500 or finally do nothing and be happy with the 4mx.

Thanks
Mike

[andrewbw]

I have a similar setup to yours: Quicksilver 2002 dual 1GHz, 20" Cinema Display, OS X 10.2.6, 1.5GB RAM. I upgraded the 64MB GeForce4MX it came with to a retail Radeon 9000 a few months ago, primarily to feed my Return To Castle Wolftenstein-Multiplayer addiction.

Do I think it was a wise upgrade? eeh. Maybe. RTCW is a horribly CPU-bound game, so it may not have been the best upgrade for my particular uses (I have only measured roughly a 5% frame rate increase overall using standard test maps and demos). However, the R9000 is a great mid-range card for most uses and for games that aren't CPU-bound, it should provide a nice improvement over the 4MX. The 8500 is marginally faster than the 9000, but, then you have the added expense of buying a DVI -> ADC adapter, so, there's no real reason to consider the 8500 over the 9000, unless you really want the S-VIdeo out port that the 8500 has.

Hope this helps,

-A.