Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

braindog

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 12, 2005
19
0
I'm one of the unlucky ones who got stuck with the Nvidia 6600gt with no upgrade path in sight. Now that Strangedogs seems out of commission, what are my options? Is ATI ever coming out with a new card?
 

Dont Hurt Me

macrumors 603
Dec 21, 2002
6,055
6
Yahooville S.C.
braindog said:
I'm one of the unlucky ones who got stuck with the Nvidia 6600gt with no upgrade path in sight. Now that Strangedogs seems out of commission, what are my options? Is ATI ever coming out with a new card?
Ati has the X800XT but thats about it. GPU games by Apple this steered me away from a G5 purchase at the time. Should be a bump up from the 6600 you have.
 

vohdoun

macrumors 65816
Jan 23, 2006
1,035
0
Far away from Earth.
He's on PCI-E remember. The Mac x800xt was AGP, last high end AGP card from ATI was the X850XT Platinum Edition for the PC and that was 1.5/2 years ago.

Only the NVIDIA cards were available for the Quad G5. That's of course if one has had luck flashing the PC ATI x850's PCI-E to work on the Quad... which could be a tad iffy...
 

Lord Blackadder

macrumors P6
May 7, 2004
15,662
5,496
Sod off
Unfortunately, you have the Mac that is by far the hardest to get a video card for...if you have one of the 6600 cards your only option is either an Apple OEM GeForce 7800GT or an Apple OEM Quadro FX 4500. Both are expensive, both can be tough to find, and that situation is unlikely to change in the near future.

There has been talk of a retail card for the PCI-E Macs from XFX (probably a 7800/7900 series card) and ATI (X1900XT)...both rumors have so far come to nothing.

The Strangedogs video card flashing forum developed a modded ROM that allowed PC 7800 cards to be flashed to the PCI-E Macs, but

- they have not yet released the ROM to the public - you need to pay them to do the mod for you.

- lately the person who does them has not been around the site, and

- only certain 7800s work, and they aren't necessarily easy to find.

So, you're pretty much stuck either ordering a 7800GT/Quadro FX4500 from an Apple reseller as a repair part or scoring one off ebay. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. :(
 

Dont Hurt Me

macrumors 603
Dec 21, 2002
6,055
6
Yahooville S.C.
vohdoun said:
He's on PCI-E remember. The Mac x800xt was AGP, last high end AGP card from ATI was the X850XT Platinum Edition for the PC and that was 1.5/2 years ago.

Only the NVIDIA cards were available for the Quad G5. That's of course if one has had luck flashing the PC ATI x850's PCI-E to work on the Quad... which could be a tad iffy...
Your right, those GPU games had escaped me, PCI-E another apple joke. Forgot all about that. I doubt anyone is going to bother making cards for such a tiny little market. What was Apple thinking?
 

braindog

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 12, 2005
19
0
Lord Blackadder said:
So, you're pretty much stuck either ordering a 7800GT/Quadro FX4500 from an Apple reseller as a repair part or scoring one off ebay. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. :(

Dang. That's so discouraging I might as well just dump my Quad on ebay. It is also infuriating the way Apple deals with their customers. This total lack of upgrade path experience is going to steer me away from buying another Mac in the future.
 

Lord Blackadder

macrumors P6
May 7, 2004
15,662
5,496
Sod off
ATI has been pretty good about releasing a few retail cards for Mac users in the past....they have not yet done so for the Intel Macs, but hopefully we will see retail cards early next year at MWSF, possibly some Nvidia ones too if the rumors about XFX are true. The new Macs make it very easy to upgrade the CPU - hopefully the same will be true for the GPU as well in the near future.

Other than Photoshop CS2 not being a univeral binary, I'd say you have nothing to lose by selling your Quad G5 and picking up a new Mac Pro with an X1900XT.
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,028
6,036
Bay Area
Lord Blackadder said:
I'd say you have nothing to lose by selling your Quad G5 and picking up a new Mac Pro with an X1900XT.

other than a lot of money...

What do you need the upgraded card for?
 

killmoms

macrumors 68040
Jun 23, 2003
3,752
55
Durham, NC
Dont Hurt Me said:
Your right, those GPU games had escaped me, PCI-E another apple joke. Forgot all about that. I doubt anyone is going to bother making cards for such a tiny little market. What was Apple thinking?
...Weren't you the one bitching for AGES how the market was moving towards PCIe and Apple was still using PCI-X and AGP in their PowerMacs? Now you're complaining that they DID use PCIe? Make up your damn mind!
 

braindog

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 12, 2005
19
0
Lord Blackadder said:
Other than Photoshop CS2 not being a univeral binary, I'd say you have nothing to lose by selling your Quad G5 and picking up a new Mac Pro with an X1900XT.

That's an idea, but the memory for the new Mac Pro's is REALLY expensive. Even at Other World Computing, they're $200/gig.

I need a better video card to run Aperture. The 6600GT runs like like a snail. But at the moment I'm more inclined to end my frustrations and go back to a *gasp* PC-based workflow.
 

Lord Blackadder

macrumors P6
May 7, 2004
15,662
5,496
Sod off
Ouch. I'd hate to dump the G5 because of the vid card....

We Love Macs has a 7800GT for $780....pretty expensive but cheaper than a new PC or Mac...

If you call around to different authorized Apple specialists you might be able to get a better price...they may take a trade-in on the 6600 fora few buck off or something.

Good Luck!
 

MacsRgr8

macrumors G3
Sep 8, 2002
8,283
1,752
The Netherlands
There was talk about ATi delivering the X1900 GT card for PCI-E G5's.

Haven't heard much later, though.... :rolleyes:

I also have the G5 Quad, but got the BTO nVidia 7800 GT. It seemed a good decision then, and an even better one now!
 

beerad72

macrumors newbie
Oct 16, 2006
14
0
CA
I'm in the same boat I bought a Power Mac G5 because it was upgradeable but now I'm stuck with this 6600 that has a limited future. I love Macs but this is unacceptable. :(
 

Garden Knowm

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2006
307
0
California
ATI Radeon 9600 XT:

Chipset Model: ATY,RV360
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 128 MB


So, if this is what I have in my:
Machine Name: Power Mac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac7,3
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 2.5 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 6 GB
Bus Speed: 1.25 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.8f7


What is my best upgrade?

thanks
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
Garden Knowm said:
What is my best upgrade?

thanks

I already answered you in a previous post.

ATI X800XT AGP would be the best card for you and would improve your experience in motion no end.
 

Garden Knowm

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2006
307
0
California
yes you did, but I I got confused, I thought the, ATI X800XT AGP
was for Mac Pro only..

so I wanted to double check..

thanks..

and how about ease of instalation?
can you suggest any place to purchase this card?

thanks
again..
: )
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
Garden Knowm said:
and how about ease of instalation?
can you suggest any place to purchase this card?

thanks
again..
: )

answered over on the other thread too ;) :D

But yeah its a simple case of flip the side panel off, unscrew 1 screw/bolt and slide out the 9600, pop in the X800XT screw in the bolt and put the side panels back on.

Mac OSX will automatically have all the drivers etc all built into it, just turn it on and away you go.
 

pheidius

macrumors newbie
Aug 5, 2004
7
0
Indiana(Midwest U.S.)
ati x1900gt release

For myself I am trying to buy a Quadro FX4500 pull. I need the 3D output not higher game frame rates. In any case, ATI has released the X1900 GT for the G5 pci-e platform. Sadly, it is a little crippled by only 256 mb and some other tech specs are crimped compared to the x1900 XT 500 MB MacPro version. Of course, it is more expensive and slower than a pc version but it is still way cheaper than a 7800 or a Quadro. Still, I think it delivers 7800 performance or better. Don't count out Strangedogs though. There are still good people there. Only one of the modders, Ruby Tuesday, is now considered to be a thief. One other guy there still does the mods though. Hopefully, the core image of the GT and the XT mods will be the same so soon PC x1900 XT cards may be flashable to open firmware. In any case, most of you now have a more affordable option right now. Poor me:( sniff, I just lost again bidding on a Quadro.
 

SMM

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2006
1,334
0
Tiger Mountain - WA State
Dang. That's so discouraging I might as well just dump my Quad on ebay. It is also infuriating the way Apple deals with their customers. This total lack of upgrade path experience is going to steer me away from buying another Mac in the future.

Aren't you also the one who would not wait for the 7800? So, you did not wait and (evidentially) underestimated your need. You made a bad decision. Well, we all do that from time to time. And, Apple deals with their customers just fine. I will take the Quad off your hands. What do you want for it?
 

MacsRgr8

macrumors G3
Sep 8, 2002
8,283
1,752
The Netherlands
That's the X800 XT.
That is the best AGP 8x card for the earlier models of the G5.

The PCI-E models G5 can get the X1900 GT card which has similar performance to the BTO nVidia 7800 GT card. As the X1900 GT is the only retail card for the PCI-E G5's, it is the best option.
Too bad the X1900 XT (512 MB VRAM) is not available for the G5.... :(

EDIT:
So, yeah. The Radeon X800 XT is the best grfx card for your Mac, Garden Knowm.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.