Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Skip Breakfast · Apr 23, 2004, 12:05 AM

Anybody seen this card in stock anywhere yet?

Kenneth · Apr 23, 2004, 12:45 AM

For the Mac edition? I don't think so.

Luca Rescigno · Apr 23, 2004, 02:15 AM

There are a gazillion PC-compatible graphics cards around. The only Radeon 9000 I know of for the Mac is the 64 MB Radeon 9000 Pro.

Hell, there are 256 MB Radeon 9200s for $74 if you buy from a cheap company (Sapphire). Too bad they only work in PCs, or I'd get one.

Skip Breakfast · Apr 23, 2004, 11:21 AM

There is a 128MB version. It's ATI # 100-433022.

Kenneth · Apr 23, 2004, 01:14 PM

Originally posted by Skip Breakfast:
There is a 128MB version. It's ATI # 100-433022.

nice found! The price is around $130. However.. looks like either the product is no longer making or backorder.

Skip Breakfast · Apr 23, 2004, 01:35 PM

I tried to buy it from OWC and they said it isn't shipping yet.

macgyvr64 · Apr 23, 2004, 08:16 PM

I got a Radeon 9000 64 MB on eBay a long time ago.. haven't heard of a 128

osxisfun · Apr 23, 2004, 11:11 PM

Originally posted by Kenneth:
nice found! The price is around $130. However.. looks like either the product is no longer making or backorder.

Anyone know if this card has minimal fan noise?

I am waiting for this thing to ship so i can dedicated a whole card to each one of my LCDs (instead of my default dual head) since expose slows down with lots of windows...I just want it for the vram

I'd buy in a second but not if it has 9800 level noise....

mjoecups · Apr 25, 2004, 01:37 PM

I am using the Radeon 9000 PCI (64M )in my B/W G3.

This is a flashed version of the Powercolor Radeon 9000 (evil commando edition).

It doesn't have a fan at all.

1) Doesn't work in the 66Mhz PCI slot.
2) OSX doesn't see the s-video out. Don't know about the DVI connector don't haveantything to hook it to.
3) Had to flash it in a PC.

Aside from the above, it does work solidly. Although it doesn't seem to provide as much performance boost as one might think. Quake 3 is playable at 1600*1200 though...

CheesePuff · Apr 25, 2004, 01:58 PM

The 128 MB card for the Mac is still pre-order, and will be available within a month (mid-May).

Thilo Ettelt · Apr 27, 2004, 07:44 AM

Originally posted by CheesePuff:
The 128 MB card for the Mac is still pre-order, and will be available within a month (mid-May).

What's your source? Any links?

Thanks in advance,
Thilo

reader50 · Apr 27, 2004, 01:45 PM

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_It...m=ATI100433022

Kenneth · Apr 27, 2004, 03:44 PM

It looks great as an upgrade.

Let's say.. I am on the DP 1.25 w/ATI Radeon 9000 Pro (64MB), it works fine. I am not a hardcore gamer. What will a 128MB card do for me? Quartz Extreme works fine with just 32MB of VRAM. I sometimes hook up 2 displays off the 64MB card and I notice a slightly slow down on the whole system. I think a 128MB will improve that "issue", right?

osxisfun · Apr 27, 2004, 03:46 PM

Originally posted by Kenneth:
It looks great as an upgrade.

Let's say.. I am on the DP 1.25 w/ATI Radeon 9000 Pro (64MB), it works fine. I am not a hardcore gamer. What will a 128MB card do for me? Quartz Extreme works fine with just 32MB of VRAM. I sometimes hook up 2 displays off the 64MB card and I notice a slightly slow down on the whole system. I think a 128MB will improve that "issue", right?

i believe this is true, more specifically, expose performance will improve.

that's why i am buying one.

Thilo Ettelt · May 26, 2004, 03:42 PM

where is the 128 MB Radeon 9000? when can we expect anything official from ATI anyway?

- Thilo

MindFad · May 26, 2004, 05:03 PM

The 9000 is a crappy card for gaming today as it is, and adding another 64MB ain't gonna make it any better.

Thilo Ettelt · May 26, 2004, 05:06 PM

Originally posted by MindFad:
The 9000 is a crappy card for gaming today as it is, and adding another 64MB ain't gonna make it any better.

I don't need it for gaming. I wanna have my 104 Hz at 1600x1200 instead of crappy 86 Hz my ATI Rage 128 Ultra delivers...

- Thilo

osxisfun · May 26, 2004, 05:20 PM

A) I don't play games
B) The extra vram should speed up exp�se
C) I'll also be checking out the 7000 if and WHEN????? they ship

MindFad · May 26, 2004, 05:36 PM

Then go for it.

I've never heard anything of a 128MB version of the Radeon 9000, though.

Cadaver · May 27, 2004, 12:07 AM

Originally posted by MindFad:
Then go for it.

I've never heard anything of a 128MB version of the Radeon 9000, though.

OWC has them listed as pre-order only. They say ATI has missed two ship dates already; current ETA is 5/25 (and today is...).

Me = loosing faith in ATI's ability to deliver retail Mac products. The Radeon 9800 Pro Special Edition is 4 months late so far...

Link · May 27, 2004, 06:48 AM

The total lack of decent (and cheap) retail graphics cards for us mac users is begining to get on my nerves. For a while now I've been contemplating a quick upgrade (new graphics card + maxing the ram + maybe a new hard drive or DVD burner) but have been holding it off due to the total lack of things..

My g4 has a geforce 4mx/64 card.. no speedster by any means, but the only few choices I have for a card right now are:

*Radeon 8500: which is just about the same, if not worse?
*Geforce 3: Total dropout of dual monitors (no thanks!)
*Geforce 4ti: Ok but WAY too expensive for what you get
*Radeon 9800: Almost the same price as the 4ti, much better, but no ADC jack!

A whooping 4 cards.. ranging from $100 to $400. This is all that's been released in the past 3 years!!

A 9600 would be perfect, provided there was an ADC jack. Rumor has it the DVI 9800 doesn't even work in pre-MDD g4s. What the heck is going on here? A nice upgrade right now would be great, especially something that brings the machine back to life, but as time goes on so does the lack of an upgrade being worth it..

Admittedly I'm not a fan of ADC at all. It makes card development a pain of the ass, causes apple to have to make ALL of the power systems in their power macs from the ground up to support the damn displays, and makes the displays harder to use with other computers besides powermacs.

Oh well :|

Luca Rescigno · May 27, 2004, 10:03 AM

Link:

The Radeon 8500 should be much better than your GeForce 4MX. Of the cards available for Mac, the Radeon 9800 is fastest, followed by the GeForce 4Ti, then the Radeon 9600, the Radeon 8500, the GeForce 3, the Radeon 9000, and THEN the GeForce 4MX.

The card that doesn't work in pre-MDD PowerMacs is the Radeon 9700. It uses some sort of different voltage so it only works in MDDs. Which is stupid, but unfortunately, it's true. A friend of mine learned that the hard way. If you WERE able to use it, it would be just behind the Radeon 9800 in performance.

The Radeon 9800 is too expensive for the Mac right now. $300 just about everywhere. My brother saw a flashed one (yep, a flashed 9800) on eBay for ~$250 a few days ago. The GeForce 4Ti is really a great card, and it's also a monster. It takes up the entire depth of the G4 case. My brother has one of those. They're about $200. Not too cheap, but not necessarily a bad price for an ADC+DVI 128MB card.

Radeon 9600s are sometimes available on eBay. Look for a CHEAP one. Some asshats sell them for $200+ because, well, they're asshats. I have seen them for $120 though. They normally only work in an AGP 8x slot, due to ATI being a bitch and not making them compatible (it might be Apple being a bitch and insisting they not make it compatible with 4x, we may never know), but either way, you can modify the 9600 Pro that is normally sold with G5s to work in an AGP 4x slot pretty easily by using a small amount of tape. It has an ADC port that I think should work in a pre-G5 PowerMac, but I'm not sure.

Radeon 8500s are pretty available. They're about $130-$150 usually, but sometimes drop to $100. No ADC on these, unfortunately.

Anything below an 8500 is not worth upgrading to. And I agree it sucks that there are not nearly enough midrange graphics cards for Mac. It seems as if the only option for Mac users is either the crappy ones that shipped with their machines (Radeon 9000 or GeForce 4MX in most cases) or the super-expensive 9800 Pro. I've gone through eleventy billion graphics cards in my G4 - it shipped with a Rage 128, upgraded to a Radeon, upgraded again to a semi-working flashed GeForce 3, bought a semi-working flashed Radeon 8500 as a replacement, got a GeForce 2MX with the Quicksilver I bought a little while ago, and I've settled on the GeForce 3 because it runs my games much better than the 8500 for some reason, and it works 100% correctly now that I've upgraded to the Quicksilver. I think there's a serious problem with the 8500 because it's just terribly slow in many games when it should be faster than the GeForce 3. But oh well, life goes on.

Link · May 27, 2004, 04:45 PM

yeah the card selection is the reason I'll never buy another machine stock. BTW the story behind the 4ti's length was that they USED to be the same length as most video cards but just a bit longer, and for some reason during shipping the normal cards would actually break or fall off, apparently.

The long TIs were just 'modified' to have that plastic which takes it to the edge of the case for added stability ^_^. I wouldn't really mind a 4ti at $200 though :|

As for the 9600s, someone actually did modify one and have it working without a hitch in a QS g4 but they had to resolder the ADC wires.

jrramsey · May 28, 2004, 12:57 AM

Link,

I have an even more challenging problem in that I own a cube. A beautiful machine...aesthetically...and runs fine. This is a tighly packaged unit which is cool to look at but a nighmare to work on and upgrade.

Since I really needed to run full Panther (Aqua Extreme), enjoy games such as Halo and Unreal Tournament plus a solid performing Virtual PC, I bit the bullet and put in a PL 1.4Gig, Cuda 120 gig, and Radeon 9000. I really can't run any other graphics card that can has ADC and supports 2 monitors. (though I tried the GF3 but it was too hot).

It may not be the absolute fastest but this machine goes pretty darn fast. Halo and UT are gorgeous with very acceptable performance. Virtual PC is also decent performance. Seems similar to my 700 P3 laptop.

I'm sure I could buy a G5 with a super duper graphics cards but I'm not sure I'd be gaining anything but ego for bragging rights. Now, if you do SERIOUS high end Maya, Photoshop, etc..., then this performance is a must. These programs seem to work fine on my "little" cube and I'll wait for another year or so.

Good luck.

Thilo Ettelt · May 28, 2004, 10:39 AM

Originally posted by jrramsey:
Virtual PC is also decent performance. Seems similar to my 700 P3 laptop.

It's a lil off-topic, but have you tried Microsoft's Remote Desktop? It's almost like Virtual PC except everything is runnin on the PC and thus running faster.

- Thilo

dpfaust · Jun 2, 2004, 10:41 PM

Looks like this card is now shipping. The store referenced above has a note that they received the product today, but not enough to fill all of the back orders.

Dave

Link · Jun 2, 2004, 10:46 PM

Originally posted by jrramsey:
Since I really needed to run full Panther (Aqua Extreme), enjoy games such as Halo and Unreal Tournament plus a solid performing Virtual PC, I bit the bullet and put in a PL 1.4Gig, Cuda 120 gig, and Radeon 9000. I really can't run any other graphics card that can has ADC and supports 2 monitors. (though I tried the GF3 but it was too hot).

How did that go and how loud does your machine get in normal operation? I was thinking about ditching the whole powerbook idea and just getting a cube + samsung 172x (or something of the like) for my room since I could just leave that on all day/sleeping and it'd be a sweet game/work/fun machine like my g4 is -- plus more comfortable to use than a laptop (the whole hot wrist rest thing gets on my nerves)...

watcha say?