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Graphics Cards

N

nerdy_scenester

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 9, 2003
Messages
140
My boss is finally going to upgrade the graphics card on the mac. I've been looking around and all I can find really are three different cards. Is there really only three cards you can upgrade a mac with? If not could some of you post some links to pretty cheap (100-200) dollar graphics cards for the macs. Thanks.
 
Exactly....

Check www.ati.com and click on the products link, then Mac link. You'll find most of the retail cards there. Most of the nvidia cards are sold directly through Apple.
 
the sad part is... if you get the radeon 9800 pro it is not very fast on a G4
compared to the G5.
the ONLY good thing is you'll be able to run "Motion" on a G4....thats it there is no real speed increases over the 64 meg radeon 9000 on a G4
Verify:: == www.barefeats.com
 
Well, gaming benefits from a better graphics card pretty much regardless of your processor, superchunk. The 'effects' in the OS, like Exposé and such, benefit from a better GPU, too. Plus more VRAM = better for Mac OS X, since the windows and such are stored there.
 
Anddd.... as soon as Tiger comes out.. we'll all be clamoring for the newer vid cards! CoreVideo looks absolutely stunning.....
 
Deific said:
Anddd.... as soon as Tiger comes out.. we'll all be clamoring for the newer vid cards! CoreVideo looks absolutely stunning.....
Click to expand...

CoreVideo and CoreImage have high drool factors. Really high. :p
 
you can buy several cheap ati cards off of ebay for the pc, and reflash them for the mac. (such as 8500, 9000 and 9200 i believe)

unfortunately, with ATi, there isn't any OSX flash software, so you'll have to boot into OS9, or just flash them on an old PC.
 
neuroquake said:
Yes they do! Sucks we won't get Tiger this year.
Click to expand...

I know! To hell with 2x3GHz G5, I want Tiger, damnit! On the other hand, I suppose them working on it until it's finished might be good. :p
 
Black Morty Rackham said:
I know! To hell with 2x3GHz G5, I want Tiger, damnit! On the other hand, I suppose them working on it until it's finished might be good. :p
Click to expand...

All I want from Apple right now is Tiger..........and a G5 PowerBook :p
 
superchunk2112 said:
the sad part is... if you get the radeon 9800 pro it is not very fast on a G4
compared to the G5.
the ONLY good thing is you'll be able to run "Motion" on a G4....thats it there is no real speed increases over the 64 meg radeon 9000 on a G4
Verify:: == www.barefeats.com
Click to expand...


I know it's in bad form to quote yourself but:: :(
motion = new apple software :mad:
WILL NOT RUN . on anything less than the specs call for.... this program is using "core video" "Open GL 2.0 Shaders"
you must have One of the following graphics cards:
— ATI Radeon 9800 XT (R360)
— ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (R350)
— ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (R300)
— ATI Radeon 9600 XT (RV360)
— ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (RV350)
— ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (RV M11)
— ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 (RV M100
— nVidia GeForce Go5200 (NV34M)
— nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (NV34)
recommended video card mem. 256 MB

Radeon 9200 nope, 9000 nope, Geforce 4 TI... you guessed it NO.
these are last years cards and they will be excluded from 10.4.0 ....
Tiger is one mean kitty...
 
so, how good will the ati 9700 in my powerbook run it?? i've only got 64mb of memory cause i didnt want have trouble with the bto and warrenty
 
It should run it.....as you can tell from my sig:
the dually should be close to your setup
the 1.5 ghz moto chip is no slouch so anything will run ok
and the 9700 Pro will work fine 17 to 24 FPS in Motion
The Powerbook HD speed will make a big difference so if you got a External HD Firewire
you should be great ....
ADD AS MUCH MEMORY AS YOU CAN
the motion app works on GF 5200FX cards @ 4 to 9 fps MAX
It really is ugly to see how old a imac gets in 6 months ;)
 
Black Morty Rackham said:
Well, gaming benefits from a better graphics card pretty much regardless of your processor, superchunk. The 'effects' in the OS, like Exposé and such, benefit from a better GPU, too. Plus more VRAM = better for Mac OS X, since the windows and such are stored there.
Click to expand...

VRAM GOOD but the system FSB & the G4's memory bandwith BOTH affect the 9700 & 9800 chips. there just ain't no more ta give captn..... so regardless how many Mega-Flops the cpu can crunch or the amount of pixels i can push... I have limited ability to make room for anymore data...
PCI Bus 133 mps X4 = AGP Bus 533 Mps
memory speed 2700 Mbps FSB Bus "166" the fsb is NOT Quad pumped
it is 166 that is a most severe cramp in the A55 . 133 fsb is about 1,060 MBPS
If you add this up correctly HDs & CD-Roms you have ata 33, ata 66, ata 100, then PCI 133 then agp 533, then there's contention for the buses so 80 % of the PC 2700 DDR bandwith is Available
PC 166 had about 1366 MBPS Bandwith "-20% bus contention" this is all the cpu has to give 1366 MBPS - 20%
it is all about the math and sure you get 10% to 16% faster games = about 3 to 26 fps per game on a G4
$350 for so little gain. :(
 
Just look at some benchmarks, for crying out loud. A Radeon 9800 will be great even in an old PMG4. The bandwidth has nothing to do with it.
 
Have you benchmarked the difference? I have and i'm telling you your better off selling, saving, and getting the G5 w/6800DDL
Tiger is coming and it is a bit different.... like longhorn.h
The desktop differences depend on how good your system is "and" MS & Mac & IBM & god knows who are drastically changing the approach to 3d and the next three years will see MS selling Dual G5's in a console & Nintendo taking the same approach = common IDE
for developers. my game will work on mac & windows & linux & consoles ect....
look @ the signs
everybody wants a common ide that will give you DX9 calls to open gl 2.0....
be nice if you wanna sell game subs=MS
Nintendo great games like everyone else
easier than PS2 "Very Hard to Write for" station
ect ect ect....
 
How much does a Radeon 9800Pro cost? How much does a new G5 cost? In terms of bang for the buck, I'd say the choice is obvious.
 
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