Network Card for PowerMac G5

[Dangerdom]

I have a PowerMac G5 with two gigabit network ports on it, but one of them has stopped working. I am wondering if I can just buy a PCI gigabit network card and plug it in to one of the open PCI slots. If so, can I buy any brand?

The one that is listed on OWC is like $90.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet Technology/GE1000LA/

I have browsed through all of the ones on NewEgg and none of them mention support for Macs at all, much less a PowerMac G5. Will any generic PCI Gigabit card be supported?

 

[Sun Baked]

Personally, I'd just use the other ethernet port until it also dies, likely by that time you would be looking at simply replacing the machine with something faster (like a Mini)

Been awhile since I've seen any news on which PCI ethernet cards work with the G5. Some did, and some people had problems with.

Edit: looking at that they have a rather old driver, don't know if you still need their driver for it to work, or it was replaced by a generic Apple driver.

Might be able to buy a similar chipset for $15 and the local computer stone and use the sonnet driver also. Don't know with if it'll work with a newer chipset, but that used to be what some would do.

Presto Gigabit Driver Installation Steps
If you are using Mac OS X Version 10.2.x–10.3.x, this section covers the installation of software to support the Presto Gigabit. If you are using Mac OS X Version 10.4.x or later, you may skip this section; the driver is built in and your installation is complete.

 

[Dangerdom]

Thanks for the info. The problem at this point is that I am using the PowerMac to run a DroboPro and am wanting two network ports so I can connect the DroboPro via gigabit rather than firewire.

A mini will probably replace the machine eventually, but if for a while I can spend only $15 to keep it going, that would be nice.

 

[nanofrog]

Koutech USB 2.0 + Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000 Combo PCI Card Model PC520
Rosewill RC-400 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI V2.2, 32/64-bit, 33/66MHz Networking LAN Card

Both are inexpensive cards that are PCI and claim to run in OS X (10.9 +). But no specifics if they'll run in a G4/5 system at all. So I'd recommend checking out the product's page, and even fire off an email if needed. Worth the effort vs. $90USD for the Sonnet card IMO.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Have you tried checking ebay?


http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_tr...nkw=pci+gigabit+mac&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Quite a few choices and are pretty cheap. Just stay away from anything that has a VIA chipset . There's even a dual gigabit card there so if your other ethernet port fails, you can still have 2. And it's only about half the price as the one you mentioned!

Edit:
Do you have the dual-core version of the G5, those use PCIe cards. The ones above use PCI/PCI-X.

 

[Sun Baked]

OS X PCI Ethernet Card Compatibility Reports

Note: If you follow some of the "other" cards using this chipset, they are of the $15 card variety.