G5 AGP Video Card Upgrade

[daveL]

I've seen a recent thread bemoaning the endless backorder status of the ATI X800 Mac edition card for the AGP G5 PM. I, too, have been waiting for weeks, to no avail. So, I started poking around eBay. There was a X800 and X850, but they didn't come with DVI, only VGA. Then I came across this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mac-nVidia-GeFo...2QQihZ018QQcategoryZ25449QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here's a Barefeats review:

http://www.barefeats.com/mutant3a.html

Anyway, I bought one. It sure looks like the best video upgrade you're going to manage for a G5 AGP vintage PM. I was really starting to worry I'd be stuck with the original ATI 9600 forever. Note that it requires OS X 10.4.6 or later.

DISCLAIMER: I have no relationship with the seller.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

All these AGP GeForce 7800GS cards on ebay are PC models using the G70 core that have been flashed to the Mac using a hacked ROM developed by a few enterprising souls at the Strangedogs video card flashing forum, so credit to those guys.

Just to be clear - these cards are generally perfectly reliable but are NOT OEM cards, have never "officially" existed and carry no warranties or formal support of any kind. It's a PC card with a hacked ROM.

With that said, this is the fastest card you'll ever get for an AGP Mac - faster than the Quadro in most cases.

Just as an FYI - if you own a PC or have access to one, you can convert one of these cards yourself pretty easily by following the directions on Strangedogs. It can save you a few bucks.

 

[daveL]

All these AGP GeForce 7800GS cards on ebay are PC models using the G70 core that have been flashed to the Mac using a hacked ROM developed by a few enterprising souls at the Strangedogs video card flashing forum, so credit to those guys.

Just to be clear - these cards are generally perfectly reliable but are NOT OEM cards, have never "officially" existed and carry no warranties or formal support of any kind. It's a PC card with a hacked ROM.

With that said, this is the fastest card you'll ever get for an AGP Mac - faster than the Quadro in most cases.

Just as an FYI - if you own a PC or have access to one, you can convert one of these cards yourself pretty easily by following the directions on Strangedogs. It can save you a few bucks.

I noticed the strangedog site had a download for a 7800 OpenGL "patch". Do you by chance know how much of an improvement it yields? It's not clear that Barefeats had it installed during the benchmarks they ran, and I was wondering if the lack of the patch might explain the somewhat weak Core Image results (relatively speaking)?

 

[Lord Blackadder]

You'd have to dig around in the Strangedogs forums to find it, but there is a thread discussing this in detail - if I recall correctly it was a significant improvement, and worth doing.

I'd like to try this card myself but it would be severe overkill in my Digital Audio...still, it's THE card to have for G5 users who demand maximum gaming performance.

 

[mustang_dvs]

n/m

 

[ziwi]

This looks great (especially for those with the AGP G5's and no options), but the question is what is the risk to its operation with future OS updates and Leopard?

 

[Lord Blackadder]

This looks great (especially for those with the AGP G5's and no options), but the question is what is the risk to its operation with future OS updates and Leopard?

Since it uses a modified Apple ROM, the chances of it working reliably in the future are good - of course, since it is a hack with no official support, there is no guarantee it will work with Leopard. From what I've heard compatibility is excellent with Tiger so I don't think it will be broken by the new OS.