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ghifary

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2010
3
0
Hello, im a newbie here. i just bought a G5 1.6ghz. 512MB ram. 80 GB HDD which is noisy.this is my first mac. since i got this machine, my window 7 just collecting dust under the table. need opinion to choose good graphic card which support my G5 for video editing and games.and what else to make it faster and reliable.because im also doing some audio recording. thanks.
 

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
Firstly, if youre intending on doing professional audio/video recording/editing, youd do well to grab a lot more RAM (Id take it to its maximum of 4GB) and also get a larger HDD (most SATA drives will do, if you jumper them correctly to take them down to the correct speed. Id also recommend getting a nice PCI Sound Card (these can be found relatively cheaply on ebay as these machines are 6-7 years old).

As far as graphics cards go, the built-in one will be fine for basic video editing (Im doing prosumer video work on my MacBooks built-in Intel Graphics using Final Cut Express and it works perfectly). As far as games go, Id take a look at older titles, as many modern titles (such as the Sims 3) are Intel only, and wont run on your G5.
 

Hrududu

macrumors 68020
Jul 25, 2008
2,299
627
Central US
I believe some of the best AGP cards that will work in your Mac are the Radeon X850, 9650 and GeForce 6800. All of these will get you up from 64MB of VRAM to 256 and all have much faster clock speeds. For RAM, getting just 2 more 1GB sticks will bring you up quite nicely (remember, the G5 requires RAM be installed in matched pairs) and shouldn't be too expensive. Also consider buying a new hard drive. What you have now sounds like the original drive which is about 7 years old now. Its probably about due for replacement anyways just to ensure you don't lose anything. A nice 250GB 7200rpm drive shouldn't set you back too much and you'll see some speed increase.
 

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
ts probably about due for replacement anyways just to ensure you don't lose anything. A nice 250GB 7200rpm drive shouldn't set you back too much and you'll see some speed increase.

For video editing in anything other than iMovie, a larger drive than even that is a must (I have a dedicated 1TB External just for Final Cut, since its average 10 min imported file size is about 50GB in Apples Codec). Also, as far as RAM goes, again, you really need 4GB for Final Cut Express/Pro, as otherwise itll start to limit things, and with the prices of both of these (especially the larger HDs - I havent seen a 250 cheaper than even 500GB drives recently), it makes more sense to buy big.
 

ghifary

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2010
3
0
thanks guys! well i might get a graphic card first. i saw few of them in gumtree. and cheap too. it hard to find DDR ram pc2700 here. i saw one today but it was pc3200.i didnt buy it. and yes im definitly want to change HDD. and get the quiet one. ide or sata. i dont know how to backup all my software.
 

ghifary

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2010
3
0
hi guys! just ordering DDR ram online. i bought Sapphire Ati Radeon 9800XT s/hand. but i realize its only for window. i search thru the web that to use it, i hav to modifide the card which it call "winflash it". im not confident to do it myself. any solution guys?

p/s : is this ram compatible with G5 - Hynix 1GBDDR400SR Strontium 1GB DDR400 184-Pin DIMM PC-3200 RAM
 

kbfr08

macrumors 6502
Mar 16, 2007
462
29
Yep, you'll be able to use the ram at a reduced speed (I think your G5 takes PC-2700).

All that winflash means is that you'll need to flash the cards firmware to make it compatible with your mac. It's a similar process to upgrading your bios.
 
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