Buying advice on video card for dual G4 MDD?

[PeterPaul]

My 2.5-year-old dual G4 came with a GeForce 4600 TI, which is a 128 MB AGP card with both ADC and DVI connectors. I use it to drive two 19" LCD displays at 1280x1024.

I haven't upgraded to 10.4 yet, but when I do, I want a card that supports Core Image, etc. Wouldn't mind better gaming performance, either.

Apple's Core Image page (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreimage/) lists the cards that support Core Image.

I'm trying to figure out which of those card(s) will work on my G4, and are worth buying. I can spend whatever it takes -- basically, I want the hottest card I can get.

According to ATI's website, the 9800 Pro Mac SE (256MB) requires a G5. The 9800 Pro (128MB) doesn't have dual digital connectors. The 9600 only has 64MB. As far as I can tell, some of the others are available only as a build-to-order item.

So now I'm wondering if I'm stuck with what I've got. Any suggestions? (Yes, getting a G5 would solve the problem, but that's not an option at the moment.)

 

[caveman_uk]

My 2.5-year-old dual G4 came with a GeForce 4600 TI, which is a 128 MB AGP card with both ADC and DVI connectors. I use it to drive two 19" LCD displays at 1280x1024.

I haven't upgraded to 10.4 yet, but when I do, I want a card that supports Core Image, etc. Wouldn't mind better gaming performance, either.

Apple's Core Image page (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreimage/) lists the cards that support Core Image.

I'm trying to figure out which of those card(s) will work on my G4, and are worth buying. I can spend whatever it takes -- basically, I want the hottest card I can get.

According to ATI's website, the 9800 Pro Mac SE (256MB) requires a G5. The 9800 Pro (128MB) doesn't have dual digital connectors. The 9600 only has 64MB. As far as I can tell, some of the others are available only as a build-to-order item.

So now I'm wondering if I'm stuck with what I've got. Any suggestions? (Yes, getting a G5 would solve the problem, but that's not an option at the moment.)

The only cards that fully support core image in an MDD are (as you said) the 9800 and modded 9600 - The modded 9600 does have dual digital outputs - a DVI and an unpowered ADC(which can run a standard DVI monitor with an adapter). Seeing as you already have a GF4 then I'm not sure you'd see much benefit from a 9600 apart from a few ripples in Dashboard. The 9800 would probably give you a general performance boost and is the only other option. To be honest unless you really want/need a core image card I'd stick with what you've got for now and get a killer card in a G5 somewhere down the line.

The GF4 you have is still a nice card - even if it can't do ripples