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23" HD LCD on a 2004 Dual 1.8 G5??

R

roman705

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Does anyone recommend a vid card to run the new 23" Cinema displays on an older Dual 1.8 G5? I bought my computer in the summer of 2004, and just recently bought a new HD cinema display... only to find out I need a new vid card to run it. I've seen some in the $500 range, but they are capable of running two 30" monitors. i don't need that much power... just enough to run the one 23". Any suggestions? Please help because my new "non-working" display looks pretty lame just sitting on my desk. =(

sorry in advance if this question has been asked a billion times.
 
What display card are you using right now? Any card that shipped in a PowerMac G5 should be able to drive a 23" Apple Cinema Display. The two most basic cards for the G5 were the 64MB Radeon 9600 Pro and 64MB GeForce 5200. Both have dual display support and can drive every LCD on the market except the 30 incher. If you have one of those cards you're fine.

But if you are still shopping...

The Apple Store (and retailers like OWC) have three ATI video cards available:

Radeon X800XT $399 - very high performance, but not cheap.

Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB $299 - good all-round performance, somewhat cheaper.

Radeon 9600 Pro 256MB $199 - good performance for non-gaming users.

All three will happily drive a 23" display. The 9600 (and in a few cases, like Doom 3, the 9800) will suffer with newer games.

There are several other cards that are good choices but no longer available new:

Radeon 9800XT - fairly rare, slightly better performance than the 9800 Pro. Was a BTO (build to order) option on some G5s.

GeForce6800 Ultra - Performance equal to the X800XT. Can drive up to two 30" displays. Another discontinued BTO card. (it also blocks the adjecent PCI-X slot due to its huge fan).

GeForce6800GT - Very high performance, close to the Ultra in performance but can only drive one 30" display.

These three can be found on the used market but will not necessarily be substantially cheaper than the X800XT or 9800 Pro. All three of these will happily drive a 23" display.
 
roman705 said:
thanks everyone for all your quick responses... now it's time to go shopping. =) again =(
Click to expand...

Curious why you think you need to get a new card? Read the Lord's post again - especially that first paragraph.
 
does LCD make some difference to what you need for a vid card? my 1.25 mini will run 1920x1440 (on a 19" CRT) happily enough with an ATI Radeon 9200
 
frankblundt said:
does LCD make some difference to what you need for a vid card? my 1.25 mini will run 1920x1440 (on a 19" CRT) happily enough with an ATI Radeon 9200
Click to expand...

No. The desired resolution determines (roughly) the required video hardware for 2D video. 3D performance is another thing but beyond games it is of only minor importance for most uses.

Your Mini has a 32MB video card, which should be fine with a 23" Apple display, although 32MB is getting on the light side. 64MB VRAM is more of the standard baseline VRAM nowadays. The place where your Mini falls a bit short is on 3D performance, where cards like the GeForce4ti and Radeon 9600 we are discussing are significantlly faster. But that has nothing to do with the display type. LCDs and CRTs require the same resources when running at the same resolutions.
 
i need a new card because my G5 has neither the 64MB Radeon 9600 Pro or 64MB GeForce 5200. i'd tell you what my machine has, but i can't check until i get home. i just know i don't have those. then i read in some other forums that people with my computer weren't able to run the HD cinema displays. i'll keep everyone updated..... after 5pmPST.

hm..... now that i think about it some more, maybe i do have one of those cards. damnit. i hate working... i just want to go home now.

in the meantime, if anyone else is bored and needs some quick movies to watch while at work, please visit SEVENOHFIVE.COM they're just short, funny, stupid movies i make.
 
every card that ever shipped with the G5 can drive a 23". period.

you probably heard about how the 30" requires a special card and mistook it for saying the 23".

heck, even mac mini's and iBooks (with hack) can drive the 23"
 
so i checked my specs and it says i have the following card:

PCI Card: ATY, RV360
Vendor: ATI

is this why i can't view the 23" ACD? i really need to know whether or not i need to buy a new card OR just return the monitor for a new one.... and the apple support line was no help =(
 
Thats a radeon 9600, so you should be fine.

So have you actually tried connecting this monitor to your PM? It should work - what exactly are you seeing (or not seeing).
 
oh ok. so at least i know i have the right card.

what's a PM?

yeah, when i first got it, i plugged everything in, sat back and enjoyed the view for about 5min.... then it started to fade in and out really quick. light to dark. then BAM, no image. all i saw was the 3 flashing lights from the bottom of the screen. then after reading on apple's technical support it said that either the "3 flashes" means i don't have a compatible card OR i just need to reset my PRAM. i tried resetting. still same problem. so i guess i'll just return it for a new one. i'm just REALLY happy that i don't have to buy a new card. i was all mad thinking i had to spend even more money to make the ACD work.
 
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro Mac Edition. i just upgraded my dp 1.8 G5 to get aperture to work. This card is core image suported and supports the 30 inch display. I really like it.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
GeForce6800 Ultra[/B] - Performance equal to the X800XT. Can drive up to two 30" displays. Another discontinued BTO card. (it also blocks the adjecent PCI-X slot due to its huge fan).

GeForce6800GT - Very high performance, close to the Ultra in performance but can only drive one 30" display.
Click to expand...

The 6800 GT will drive two 30in displays not just one. Other than that a good summary.
 
psycho bob said:
The 6800 GT will drive two 30in displays not just one. Other than that a good summary.
Click to expand...

Whoops, my bad.

It's a pretty irrelevant fact for most of us though. Even one 30" display is too much for most of us to afford.😉
 
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