G4 Graphite and ADC Studio Display

Is the Studio Display a 17" LCD or CRT? I can only guess that the power draw from the display is enough to cause the power supply to not distribute proper voltages to the rest of the machine. The CRT pulls 113w and the LCD only pulls 40, which is the lowest draw of any ADC display. Only other issue I could see is a bad card or AGP slot on the logic board.

 

Try reseating the graphics card. Sometimes the pins do not make full contact and that would pose power issues since the display is driven off the PSU in the Mac!

 

The Rage 128 is somewhat less powerful than the GF2MX. Neither are particularly fast cards, but for OS 9 the Rage will do an excellent job.

 

Wow! I didn't realize they actually released a Rage 128 with ADC. I have two Rage 128 cards, one at home and one in a G4 here at work. One is PCI and the other AGP, but both video ports are DVI/VGA. I have never seen with ADC. So, you probably have a rare card.

That being said, the Rage 128 is simply mediocre in OS X. As mentioned, it will do fine in OS9, but it's not a great card in OS X. Additionally, and you are probably already aware, even though it has two video ports it does not support dual displays.

 

Actually that Rage 128 Pro would have been the stock card in that system. At the time your G4 was introduced, it was the low end card. For some reason, Apple had a serious love affair with that card. When it was introduced in the B&W G3 in 1999, it was top of the line, but the idiot thing never was a good card for OS X. It doesn't support Quartz Extreme and surely not Core Image. If you ever wanted to throw OS X on it, I would suggest a Radeon 7500 at least for your setup. I have one in my G4 Cube 500MHz (replaced that same Rage 128 with ADC) and it really makes OS X much easier to deal with. I've actually got Leopard on that Cube, and it gets the job done.

 

No problem! I had a similar issue with a PC, but that is another story for a different forum. I would recommend upping the graphics card if you even want to run OS X part time!

 

On my G5, going from a Nvidia FX5200 to an ATI Radeon 9600XT (128 MB) was like going from a Corolla to a Camaro when it came to general snappiness when driving dual 20" displays. When only display was attached it was okay with either card but when the strain was on, the 9600 shows its strength. I just wanted to reinforce your purchase.

As for using the 5200 in a G4. It will work if the pins are taped off. I forget which pins it was, but if I recall correctly it was 3 and 11. However, I don't believe the ADC power will work then due to the pins not connecting with the G4 Logic Board. Intell will tell you for sure though...

 

Tell I shall, an OEM G5's GeForce 5200 won't work in a G4 without taping pins 3 and 11 and cutting off the AGP Pro tab. Even when modified, there is a very high chance it won't work. In my opinion, GeForce 5200's aren't worth the time. You'd be better off with an ATI 9200 or a Nvidia GeForce 4 in the G4.

 

Expect to pay a nice price for a Mac Edition ATI X800. They tend to go for $70-$100 used.

 

I actually have the GeForce 4 and the 9200 in my G4s and they do great even with dual displays. They lack the power of the G5 driving both, but they do fine anyway but have issues playing games like Battlefield 1942 on one display with the other connected.

I recommend the 9600 XT for the G5. Not too much dough, 128 MB of VRAM, and can drive dual displays fine. Mine came with the Mac, but they aren't too bad in terms of cost.

 

For flashed ATI X800's you'll want the a flashed ATI Fire GL3 with dual-DVI ports. Those will output DVI and VGA over both ports and show up in Mac OS X as an ATI X800. A flashed ATI X800 will only do VGA out of both ports. They do lack the ADC support, as you noted.

 

I stay away from flashed anything unless Intell gives the official "it will work fine".

 

My word isn't the best to go on for flashed video cards. I still feel rather bad about telling eyoungren to get a PCI 5200 that he hasn't yet been able to flash.

 

I see a few Radeon 9600s on eBay. If you do graphical intensive work and play then get X800.

 

There is a X800XT running at $40 but there is 5 days left. Buy the best card you can afford.

 

That card should work for you. A bit much for a flashed one. You may want to research prices of a Mac Edition X800 before committing to buying that one, unless you really want dual DVI ports and no ADC.

 

$100 bones is a lot for a video card for a 10 year old Mac.