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Can I put the ATI Radeon X1900 XT into Power Mac G5 Quad?

Z

Zoowatch

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Can I put the ATI Radeon X1900 XT into Power Mac G5 Quad?
I have been wanting to upgrade the graphics card of my Quad for a long time.

I know that it has PCIe... so can I buy the ATI Radeon X1900 XT from Apple and put that into my Quad?

thanks for helping
 
Apple is not listing the X1900XT as compatible with the G5, though that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

My guess is no. Someone in another thread noted that the Mac Pro's use EFI rather than Open Firmware, which may make a difference, though it's possible to have a card that works with both.

ATI has not had a retail Mac card release for awhile...the prototype X1800XT we saw running in a G5 at MWSF '05 has turned out to be vaporware...but maybe they are going to release a retail X1900 series card that works in the PCI-E G5s. There is certainly a market for them.
 
A the Radeon X1900 XT is a PCIe card which will work with the dual core G5s, including the Quad. A Mac version is shipping as an upgrade option to the new Mac Pros, and Apple Customer Service just sold me one as an upgrade for my Quad this thread.

What they didn't tell me when they took my money last week, was that it was backordered (or more appropriately a pre-order). When I received my order confirmation via email, it said expected ship date was Sept 14th. And suddenly, within the last few days, the card is listed on MacMall, yet without an actual ship date.

I think this card is finally going to fill the gap that many of us, who didn't upgrade at time of purchase, have been stuck with.
 
Nermal said:
No (source: ATI). A G5-compatible version is coming in a few weeks though.
Click to expand...

Interesting, I wonder if they are going to release a different range of cards or just the X1900 XT for the PCI-E PowerMac's.
 
incolor said:
A the Radeon X1900 XT is a PCIe card which will work with the dual core G5s, including the Quad. A Mac version is shipping as an upgrade option to the new Mac Pros, and Apple Customer Service just sold me one as an upgrade for my Quad this thread.

What they didn't tell me when they took my money last week, was that it was backordered (or more appropriately a pre-order). When I received my order confirmation via email, it said expected ship date was Sept 14th. And suddenly, within the last few days, the card is listed on MacMall, yet without an actual ship date.

I think this card is finally going to fill the gap that many of us, who didn't upgrade at time of purchase, have been stuck with.
Click to expand...

I'll guarantee you they just sold you a dud card that wont actually work with your Quad G5 due to its a card meant for EFI, not OF.
 
ReanimationLP said:
I'll guarantee you they just sold you a dud card that wont actually work with your Quad G5 due to its a card meant for EFI, not OF.
Click to expand...
It is a 130W card, so if it passes that -- it still needs drivers and the endian shifted firmware.

And from the sounds of things, the X1900 XT driver was only for the Mac Pro.

ATI would need to write the driver for the PowerMac, and even if it would work with the PowerMac -- the PowerMac is a different endian than the Mac Pro, requiring that dreaded Mac-only firmware.
 
it seems that nobody is certain of anything....

have you guys asked the genius at an Apple Store?

from the replies i could see that this new graphics card might not work after all... which is quite a sad thing about using Macs
 
I call Apple Store, and Technical support and say me the X 1900XT run in Quad G5. Toady arrive this graphic card,.......
 
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