[bossep]

Well, my heading is telling everything! Is a 933MHz cpu 'enough' for an ATI Radeon 9800?

[MORT A POTTY]

yeah. it's plenty.

you'll love the card

[Lateralus]

Yes and no, it'll depend on what you're doing with the card. If you're buying it for shader support in a few select apps, or for Tiger's CoreImage, your 933MHz will be sufficient.

If you're buying it for games, the 933 will be holding back the 9800 a good bit. In which case, I suggest you plunk down for a CPU upgrade first.

[MORT A POTTY]

well it may not be able to reach it's max potential without a CPU upgrade, but it'll still be loads better than any other GPu you put in it (with the possible exception of the Radeon 9700 that you can't find anywhere)

[Lateralus]

It wont matter how much better it is than his current GPU if the CPU is holding it back so much that it isn't performing much better for what he is doing with it.

[MORT A POTTY]

Originally posted by Lateralus:
It wont matter how much better it is than his current GPU if the CPU is holding it back so much that it isn't performing much better for what he is doing with it.

that's the thing though, he never said what he was doing with it

[bossep]

Originally posted by MORT A POTTY:
that's the thing though, he never said what he was doing with it

I am mainly getting the card, ATI Radeon 9800, because of Tiger and its Core-
It may that I change what I am doing because of the card and cpu upgrade?

[Lateralus]

Originally posted by MORT A POTTY:
that's the thing though, he never said what he was doing with it

Then why did you say it would be enough without asking?

[Amacapart]

Woah boys, DOWN !!!

Did anybody ask him what card he had?

Did anybody ask him if he plays games?

No, you just went straight to the p*ssing contest.

And, as has been proven before, even a 500 Mhz CPU benefits from a card upgrade.

His machine may very well have a GF4 MX, in which case it is = to a GF2.

Or, perhaps he has a Radeon 9000.

In which case, the following benchies are especially interesting:

http://www.macologist.org/portal.php?topic_id=1104

Have a look at the bottom few spots. Note that a Radeon 9000 was able to choke a dual 2.0 G5 down to PATHETIC levels. A Cube with a 9800 is MANY places higher in list.

Then look here:

http://www.barefeats.com/cubeup2.html

Where you see a 500 Mhz G4 with a GF3 walk ALL OVER a Dual Processor 1.5 with a GF2.

Point being? That "You don't have enough CPU MHz to benefit from XXXX GPU" is NONSENSE !!!!

Either of the cards likely to be in his machine are MAJOR bottlenecks themselves compared to a 9800. Or is there some rule that says "You MUST upgrade your CPU first, otherwise you are silly and foolish."

Moral of the story is, it is ALWAYS a good idea to upgrade either your CPU or GPU. CPU upgrade will show with ALL apps, GPU upgrade with MOST apps.

Get yourself a 9800, you won't be sorry.

[Lateralus]

Originally posted by Amacapart:
Woah boys, DOWN !!!

Did anybody ask him what card he had?

Did anybody ask him if he plays games?

No, you just went straight to the p*ssing contest.

Simmer down, Mort and I friends.

And for the record, I brought up games in my first post.

[Link]

A flashable 9800 now costs about $150.. but only yields 1 DVI and 1 VGA port.. if you wish, you could also get a g5 9600XT for about $100 (depending on your luck with ebay), and use that too -- ADC would be unpowered due to it's jack location on the board itself (though this can be hacked to work too), but it would do what you want

[bossep]

Originally posted by Amacapart:
Woah boys, DOWN !!!

Did anybody ask him what card he had?

Did anybody ask him if he plays games?

No, you just went straight to the p*ssing contest.

And, as has been proven before, even a 500 Mhz CPU benefits from a card upgrade.

His machine may very well have a GF4 MX, in which case it is = to a GF2.

Or, perhaps he has a Radeon 9000.

In which case, the following benchies are especially interesting:

http://www.macologist.org/portal.php?topic_id=1104

Have a look at the bottom few spots. Note that a Radeon 9000 was able to choke a dual 2.0 G5 down to PATHETIC levels. A Cube with a 9800 is MANY places higher in list.

Then look here:

http://www.barefeats.com/cubeup2.html

Where you see a 500 Mhz G4 with a GF3 walk ALL OVER a Dual Processor 1.5 with a GF2.

Point being? That "You don't have enough CPU MHz to benefit from XXXX GPU" is NONSENSE !!!!

Either of the cards likely to be in his machine are MAJOR bottlenecks themselves compared to a 9800. Or is there some rule that says "You MUST upgrade your CPU first, otherwise you are silly and foolish."

Moral of the story is, it is ALWAYS a good idea to upgrade either your CPU or GPU. CPU upgrade will show with ALL apps, GPU upgrade with MOST apps.

Get yourself a 9800, you won't be sorry.

Easy guys!

I have an ATI Radeon 8500, 64MB. I am not playing games (so far, may be because of my former Mac). What to upgrade first is the question I ask, and I am sure I am not alone. Of course, at one point the money is so much you as well can buy a new G5 (if I had fancied the design, I am waiting for somewhat smaller case).

[MORT A POTTY]

upgrade the Quicksilver... it's more fun, sexier case, and cheaper. 1000 bucks will get you THE top end GPU, CPUs, and optical drive to boot

[Link]

Originally posted by MORT A POTTY:
upgrade the Quicksilver... it's more fun, sexier case, and cheaper. 1000 bucks will get you THE top end GPU, CPUs, and optical drive to boot

$700 for the dual 1.4s that OC to 1.8s (I think there's 1.6s for $800 isn't there?) -- well anyway, yeah you're right that might barely fit.

I'm trying to get a new vid card here right now

[Amacapart]

New Vid card?

As you noted, flashable 9800's are in $150 range. This is best bet for MOST Mac users. Legit retail Mac versions are in $220 + range with luxury of 3 year warranty.

Flashable 9700's are in the $100 neighborhood but are less of a sure thing. 95% of 9800 performance wise but S-Video no workie and VGA portion of DVI no workie on 9500 PCB models. Also, most "ATI Control Panels" aren't there since it is technically an "OEM" card.

If you want the best....X800 for G4 will be debuted & benchmarked at a well known testing site within a week. This is a mod NOT for the faint of heart. Flashable VGA only cards are around $350+, if you want FULL DVI function & support for 30", the ante is $500+. However, on a fast G4, the X800 will run circles around the previous generation cards.

So far, 2@ VGA only & 1 @ DVI X800s have been done. (By 3 different people, hardly a hoax) More news within a week....

The 9600 XT is also a really fun card. Dual DVI for $120 or so. The ADC tab mod is pretty easy, also a very unique card. Perfect for a 4X AGP machine with an ADC screen. Especially since adding a 9800 would mean getting an adaptor for $100 or so, you can beat this. XT clocks faster than Pro and has 128 megs vs. Pro's 64.

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by Amacapart:
Server was busy, triple posted, can't delete for some reason.

Nobody can delete their own posts. It's a 'feature.' Even though you can delete all the text from your post.

I believe this is because an OP deleting his OP will banish the thread from the known Universe.

[ihatesuvs68]

Is there a 9800 with dual digital out? I have two ADC monitors.

[sideus]

I was under the impression that the G4 system bus speeds are the main hinderance, not the CPU speed itself. A 1.8GHz G4 is great and all, but if the fastest it can get data out is 167MHz, then I don't see the video card even coming close to being exploited to it's full potential.

[Amacapart]

Only 9800 with ADC or dual digital is the G5 model with AGPPro slot. Not gonna work in a G4.

9600XT is end of the line for ADC on a G4. 9700 OEM for MDD & FW800 is 95% of a 9800 but VERY hard to find. Somebody in Pasadena unloaded a few for $220 or so on Ebay 2 weeks ago.

Certainly the X800 does not perform as well in a G4 as it does in a G5. Same can be said for 9800 too. But....why not? Something will always be the bottleneck, doesn't mean you shouldn't upgrade. People put 1.4 Ghz upgrades on Sawtooths with 100 Mhz bus and 2X AGP. Are they "stupid"? No, they're just trying to make their Mac as fast as possible. Should we:

A. Make fun of them

or

B. Encourage them/ respect their efforts ?

Plus, for some, it is the challenge. And knowing you have a truly unique item. 3 people on the planet have a G4 with an X800, a pretty small club. 3 or 4 years from now when PC X3 256 is worth $50 on Ebay, G4 collectors/modders will be buying them up, doing the "mod".

Sensible thing for all G4 owners would be to sell our G4, and use the money from that + our upgrade money to buy a G5. But then who would be buying all of the G4s?

[MORT A POTTY]

Originally posted by Link:
$700 for the dual 1.4s that OC to 1.8s (I think there's 1.6s for $800 isn't there?) -- well anyway, yeah you're right that might barely fit.

I'm trying to get a new vid card here right now

there are no more dual 1.6 OCd cards. they have a single 1.6 OCd to 2.0Ghz, or a dual 1.42Ghz card up to 1.8Ghz.

anyway, dual 1.8 = 700
Radeon 9800 Pro = 220
Pioneer DVR-109 = 65-70

total ~ $987