[Sam Venning]

Today I again tried to get a PCI graphics card to add a second display to a PowerMac G4. It is impossible to get a PCI graphics card for the Mac from Radeon or Nvidia! Unbelievable!

I found this page at ATI, but it is not possible to purchase it - it seems to be no longer available. I registered, login and search for the item but it can not be found.

The maximum number of displays I can therefore connect is two... both running off the AGP card provided: one using the DVI connector and the other using the Apple Dispay Connector ADC.

And to drive a non-Apple display I need a ADC converter!

Eeeek! If I can't easily add a second (or third) DVI or VGA screen what can I do? Buy a PC?... there are so many high performance PC PCI graphics cards available (just look at the ATI web site).

Why is it so hard to get a PCI card for Macs? Anyone have ideas?

[york28]

eBay.

[C.J. Moof]

I'm wondering the same thing. I've got a user with a perfectly adequate GeForce MX2, that despite having VGA and ADC on it, can't actually drive 2 monitors independently. I should be able to hook him up with a $60 PCI card do drive the other monitor, and be set. But that's easier said than done.

[osxisfun]

the newest machines come with a dual head card. this will drive two. when ati releases that card you mentioned it should be able to drive 3 (or 4).

i am waiting for the card too...

[velodev]

Hmm, the Radeon 9000 that I picked up from CDW has a dual head (ADC and DVI). It wasn't hard to find. Not sure why he has to use eBay. I think even BestBuy sells it but I won't shop there.

Also, you can use your second PCI slot to run another graphics card and start bumping the amount of monitors up. When I first received my PowerMac it had a crappy GeForce2MX (the one us Cube owners usually drool over) and an even crappier ATI Rage in the PCI slot. Now, none of their cards were true dual heads IIRC so I never tried 3 or 4 displays. But I can't see why if you bought a Radeon 9000 and a PCI card why you can't get 3 or 4 displays.

[Talk2Angus]

Originally posted by velodev:
Hmm, the Radeon 9000 that I picked up from CDW has a dual head (ADC and DVI). It wasn't hard to find. Not sure why he has to use eBay. I think even BestBuy sells it but I won't shop there.

Also, you can use your second PCI slot to run another graphics card and start bumping the amount of monitors up. When I first received my PowerMac it had a crappy GeForce2MX (the one us Cube owners usually drool over) and an even crappier ATI Rage in the PCI slot. Now, none of their cards were true dual heads IIRC so I never tried 3 or 4 displays. But I can't see why if you bought a Radeon 9000 and a PCI card why you can't get 3 or 4 displays.

[Cadaver]

For fun I've used the dual-head feature of the Radeon 8500 in my G4 plus a Radeon PCI to drive 3 monitors. Just for fun; had it connected for a couple hours at the office, running an Apple 17" Studio LCD (via ADC adapter), 17" Dell 1703FP LCD (VGA) and an 18" Dell 1800FP LCD (DVI from the Radeon PCI). Kinda fun. Menu Bar in the middle, space on both sides.

If you use a dual-head AGP card and the dual-head Radeon 7000 PCI, you can drive 4 displays on a G4... no problem. If you wanted, you could put three Radeon 7000 PCI cards in and drive 8 displays (or 10, if you have a 4-PCI slot G4).

Now, realize that some of the older Apple-supplied AGP cards, even though they had two connectors (ADC and VGA), are not dual-display capable. The original GF2MX did not support two displays. This was introduced with the GF2MX-TwinView card (a BTO option at the time). I think all the the GF4MX-based cards (and the GF4Ti) support two displays. The 64MB GF3 did not. Not sure about the original Apple/ATI Radeon AGP, but pretty sure that the Radeon 7500 (and on up) does.

[Cadaver]

Originally posted by Sam Venning:
The maximum number of displays I can therefore connect is two... both running off the AGP card provided: one using the DVI connector and the other using the Apple Dispay Connector ADC.

And to drive a non-Apple display I need a ADC converter!

Eeeek! If I can't easily add a second (or third) DVI or VGA screen what can I do? Buy a PC?... there are so many high performance PC PCI graphics cards available (just look at the ATI web site).

To drive a non-Apple display off the ADC connector you'll need a $20 ADC to VGA adapter (or ADC to DVI, depending on your display). They're not hard to find.

ATI is apparently moving the (dual-head) Radeon 7000 PCI from 32MB to 128MB VRAM; the original models are presently out of stock at many places, and the new 128MB'ers have not yet come in. Still should be able to find a 32MB one somewhere... and there's always eBay for a bargain. Original Radeon Mac Edition PCI cards can also be found on eBay, too. Discontinued by ATI some time ago (in favor of the 7000), these cards are not dual-capable, but are faster than the dual-capable Radeon 7000. The original Radeon chip was renamed Radeon 7200 by ATI some time ago. The original Radeon Mac Edition PCI has a VGA and DVI connector.

There's also rumor of a Radeon 9000 PCI card coming sometime, too.

[osxisfun]

ad) Radeon 7000 PCI f

careful . i heard the old 7000 may or may not drive the apple 20" in case you have one of those lcds...