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g5 will not work with graphics card

Project Alice

Project Alice

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
2,019
2,090
Post Falls, ID
Hi all,
So I picked up a dual 2.0ghz g5 for 50$, loving it so far but the 128mb 9800 is dreadful. I bought the G5 to replace my dual G4 which I have come to the conclusion is a fried motherboard. Anyway in the G4 back when it worked had installed a GeForce 6200 512mb. Of course they're both AGP Macs. Anyway I moved the G4s card to the G5. But of course, it doesn't work. The Mac chimes, but there's no video at all. I've reset the pram and gone through all the usual steps.

Is there any reason this card shouldn't work on this G5 while it worked perfect in the G4? (I also re-enabled pins 3 and 11) Could the motherboard have fried it too? I'd prefer not to go find another card, as the Mac ones are way overpriced and I no longer have a PC with an AGP slot to flash one with :/
 
C

ctmpkmlec4

macrumors 6502
Jul 4, 2014
373
40
Lyons, KS
If the card is fully seated in the AGP slot, I would pull the 6200 out and clean the contacts with a pencil eraser and isopropyl alcohol. Depending on the type of tape used, maybe there is some adhesive residue present on the pins preventing voltage from going where it needs to go. I doubt this is the issue, but it's where I would start.
 
Project Alice

Project Alice

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
2,019
2,090
Post Falls, ID
So far the radeon 9800 isnt performing even half as well as the geforce 6200 did, and the 6200 was in a G4. Its definitely not better than the 6200. At least this ones not. Maybe its because my 6200 has literally 4 x the amount of vram that the 9800 does.

And I suppose ill try to clean it. I just used scotch tape, it didnt seem to leave any residue but i guess its possible.
 
Last edited:
bunnspecial

bunnspecial

macrumors G3
May 3, 2014
8,317
6,373
Kentucky
My preferred method for cleaning card contacts is to use absolute ethanol and a Kimwipe(or two).

When I'm at home, I have neither of those. Denatured alcohol is close enough, and 91% isopropyl will also do a decent job(in some cases better than denatured, depending on what exactly you're cleaning off). I also generally use a cotton flannel gun cleaning patch, but any clean cotton cloth(such as cut from an old T-shirt) will work just as well.
 
M

MacVidCards

Suspended
Nov 17, 2008
6,096
1,056
Hollywood, CA
Project Alice said:
So far the radeon 9800 isnt performing even half as well as the geforce 6200 did, and the 6200 was in a G4. Its definitely not better than the 6200. At least this ones not. Maybe its because my 6200 has literally 4 x the amount of vram that the 9800 does.

And I suppose ill try to clean it. I just used scotch tape, it didnt seem to leave any residue but i guess its possible.
Click to expand...

A Radeon 9800 should run rings around a 6200. I co-developed the Mac 6200 and can tell you that for a fact.

If your 9800 was slower, then you had a bad 9800. The 6200 was primarily created to bring Core Image to Cubes. FWIW, Barefeats tested our 6600GT and found it equal to a 9800, back in the day.
 
bunnspecial

bunnspecial

macrumors G3
May 3, 2014
8,317
6,373
Kentucky
MacVidCards said:
If your 9800 was slower, then you had a bad 9800. The 6200 was primarily created to bring Core Image to Cubes. FWIW, Barefeats tested our 6600GT and found it equal to a 9800, back in the day.
Click to expand...

Core image in a Cube?

I'm going to have to find one of those cards :)
 
Zotaccian

Zotaccian

macrumors 6502a
Apr 25, 2012
645
7
Radeon 9800 Pro is clearly better than 6200 and as it was pointed out, very similar to 6600GT in performance. GeForce 6 -series however is more modern in terms of technologies it supported, like HDR, but none of those shold make difference in regular use. Having 512mb vram on slow card like 6200 makes no sense atleast for gaming since the chip is so slow it cannot run games with high resolutions anyways, not the ones which were released back in the day and probably xouple years before.
 
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