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DeathMan · Dec 3, 2004, 03:40 AM

I know this had been through the rounds several times. Is there a consensus regarding the safety of using a flashed video card? I found a GForce 3 64mb card on ebay that seems like a good price, and supposedly works without flicker.

Is there anything that I should be aware of regarding this? I've looked throught the threads, seen a lot of debate, but those who are in the know might have a more clear answer.

Lateralus · Dec 3, 2004, 04:12 AM

They seem to be safe generally. The only gray area seems to be on machines with 2x AGP slots, like the Sawtooth. Flashed cards often cause flickering in them.

deboerjo · Dec 3, 2004, 09:36 AM

Originally posted by Lateralus:
They seem to be safe generally. The only gray area seems to be on machines with 2x AGP slots, like the Sawtooth. Flashed cards often cause flickering in them.

I've had no problems with a flashed Voodoo3 and a flashed GeForce2MX in a Sawtooth.

bwahahax · Dec 3, 2004, 10:38 AM

I bought a flashed Radeon 8500 on eBay and it works like a charm. Search the forums to find out which cards are more easily flashed and what computers they have been successfully used with. That way you not only have an idea of which card-computer combinations are the best, but also who to message if you have problems.

SSharon · Dec 3, 2004, 01:29 PM

I assume your question wasn't a legal one as flashed cards are a no no. With that said I think I would still get one because the Mac versions still cost too much for me to handle. Also check out the marketplace forum here because some flashed and non-flashed cards have been sold and are being sold.

lenox · Dec 3, 2004, 04:03 PM

I got my radeon 8500 about a year or so ago for $50 on ebay and flashing it was a little scary but not so bad, and it's been a great value. having twice the vram as the stock card has really helped. no stability problems, and ati's software and apple/ati's drivers treat it as a mac edition radeon. one thing worth noting (but this is NOT a big deal at all) is that apple's 16-bit color registers are different than a pc's. (32,768 colors versus 65,535 colors, or what they call 15-bit versus 16-bit). however i don't run anything in 16 bit so i don't see it. i noticed the color problem in a little freeware game that wanted to use 16 bit mode; that's the only reason i noticed at all.

go for it!

LeeG · Dec 7, 2004, 10:25 AM

Sawtooth 500Mhz - flashed radeon 8500, about 2 yrs ago. I flashed it myself, works great, no problems for 2 years-

Lee

Luca Rescigno · Dec 7, 2004, 10:55 AM

The one that causes flickering is the GeForce 3. These are really cheap and fast for the price (just above a Radeon 8500), but you have to use it in a Digital Audio PowerMac or later to have a pleasant experience. So don't get a GeForce 3.

Also try to avoid off-brand flashed Radeon 8500s. If you can get a regular one, built by ATI instead of a third party company, you'll be in better shape. I got a Gigabyte Radeon 8500, flashed, a while back, but it was kind of slow and caused artifacts and crashing unless I underclocked it.

Lateralus · Dec 7, 2004, 11:54 AM

Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
The one that causes flickering is the GeForce 3. These are really cheap and fast for the price (just above a Radeon 8500)

The 8500 is a bit faster than the GeForce 3, actually. It was the Ti series that allowed the GF3 to pull ahead of the Radeon a smidgen.

Luca Rescigno · Dec 7, 2004, 12:12 PM

I know the 8500 should be faster, but in Mac games the GeForce 3 was always faster for me. By a little bit. And this is comparing one to a built by ATI model.