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G5 dual monitor problem

M

micrors4racer

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 19, 2012
354
0
I have a late 2005 G5 2.0ghz with a nVidia 6600LE video card. I got two Dell P2412H 1920x1080 monitors yesterday and I plugged them in and I got weird lines on both monitors. When I log in and get to the display settings and click a random resolution the monitors will go blank then switch to that non native res and it looks fine. After that, I click 1920x1080 and the monitors will display fine. So from the looks of this the computer can handle dual 1920x1080 but why is it on start up I get video artifacts? Thsi post on the apple support communities describes my problem exactly:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2477095?threadID=2477095

38c732cd.jpg


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I also have this problem with the monitor power-save mode but I think it is more related to Dell and OSX than it is powerpc's so I posted it in a different sub forum.

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=14872650#post14872650
 
Its that graphics card pal, I had the exact same setup as you and the same issues. That card is an absolute joke, as it's only 128mb. It doesn't have the juice to push 2 full HD monitors. I bought a 7800GT off ebay and flashed it for £20, that fixed it. I later updated to a Quadro FX 4500 512mb, which is even better.

I know you say after boot up you can click 1920x1080 and they display fine, but thats a hassle every boot up. Just get yourself a new graphics card mate.
 
Dont really want to spend any money on this machine and the specs said it should be able to support 1920x1080 on both DVI outputs so I started to look for more problems that can cause this. From my PC overclocking days I knew veritcal artifacts are usually heat or ram related so I took a look at the card and on the bottom of it (opposite side from heatsink) there seemed to be some deposts on the PCB. Possibly from being used in a humid environment mixed with corrosive dust. I took the heatsink off the card and gave the whole card a good alcohol bath with a toothbrush. Re-Applied thermal paste and it works dandy now. Thanks guys!

By the way what is the highest card will this model support? It is the PCI-E model.
 
Finally, someone with my problem!

i never found a solution, but you got more responses to your query than I.

I never found an answer. My 6600 is capable of driving two displays, but can't boot up.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1145112/

I bought a 7800 but it was DOA and I gave up.
 
Last edited:
Nameci said:
Is the X1900 more powerful than a QFX 4500?
Click to expand...
For games and general use, yes. The Quadro is a "heavy lifting" GPU, not a "high speed" GPU.

Because AFAIK the 7800GTX is more powerful than a QFX
Click to expand...
See above.

remember it is the 512MB GTX not the 256MB GT.
Click to expand...
Both are just as bad. I had a GTX, in every single game the framerate and playability was much worse than the X1900. Especially in heavy graphics games like Fable and KOTOR. Even the lowly Halo Demo had visibly worse performance with the GTX.

How do you explain this?

http://barefeats.com/quad15.html
Click to expand...
Explain what? It proves my fact exactly that the X1900 is the most powerful GPU available for the G5.

And this?
http://www.barefeats.com/mutant4.html
Click to expand...
Invalid data since the X1900 was not part of the comparison.

Xbench
512GTX OpenGL Graphics Test 94.66
Spinning Squares 94.66 120.08 frames/sec

X1900 OpenGL Graphics Test 126.47
Spinning Squares 126.47 160.43 frames/sec

CINEBENCH 9.5 (attached)
 

Attachments

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  • LMN G52.3 X1900 16x CINEBENCH 9.5.jpg
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Last edited:
I'll toss in a vote for the X1900 being a great performer. That said, the fan on mine is annoying as hell! Thats one thing I do miss about the 6600 GT that came stock with the late 2005 Quad. Now, the GT is still an improvement over the LE that came in the 2.0 and I bet one of those could be had really cheap on eBay right now if you just want something that is inexpensive.
 
Whargoul said:
For games and general use, yes. The Quadro is a "heavy lifting" GPU, not a "high speed" GPU.


See above.


Both are just as bad. I had a GTX, in every single game the framerate and playability was much worse than the X1900. Especially in heavy graphics games like Fable and KOTOR. Even the lowly Halo Demo had visibly worse performance with the GTX.


Explain what? It proves my fact exactly that the X1900 is the most powerful GPU available for the G5.


Invalid data since the X1900 was not part of the comparison.

Xbench
512GTX OpenGL Graphics Test 94.66
Spinning Squares 94.66 120.08 frames/sec

X1900 OpenGL Graphics Test 126.47
Spinning Squares 126.47 160.43 frames/sec

CINEBENCH 9.5 (attached)
Click to expand...

Well if that is the case, would it be better to trash my QFX?
 
phyrexia said:
Finally, someone with my problem!

i never found a solution, but you got more responses to your query than I.

I never found an answer. My 6600 is capable of driving two displays, but can't boot up.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1145112/

I bought a 7800 but it was DOA and I gave up.
Click to expand...

That makes us 3 then me you and the guy I linked to. The problem is pretty much fixed I must have done over 15 reboots since and it came up perfect everytime. The combination of things I did was clean the corrosion off my graphics card which was probably from high humidity and dust build up. Sprayed my PCIE slots with an air compressor. With the power connected, I pressed the SMU clear multiple times since once didn't work I was getting desperate :D and I also did the NVRAM reset. I did all of this pretty much at once so I dont know which actually fixed it. When I was cleaning the graphics card with alcohol (bare in mind you must have new thermal paste to put on the graphics die if you want to take the heatsink off because the old stuff was dried) the computer was unplugged so this could have also reset any other ailments. Good luck to you!

And thank you for the graphics card suggestions And all of those graphics cards I think are good for the era. I had a 7800GTX my self in my gaming pc when they were the best graphics cards out back in 2005 I think. (now I am eyeing that GTX 590)

A wierd thing that occured after I fixed the problem was that the apple logo on the grey boot screen is now the wrong resolution. Before it would be the correct resolution but then the log in screen and everything else would be artifacted. Now its distorted and everything is fine but I don't know why
681ce3de.jpg


Perfect now on boot
88814709.jpg
 
Whargoul said:
No, but sarcasm does nothing to help your bad position.



Thats why I replaced mine with a TMG AT1.

Image
Click to expand...

I am not sarcastic, and I am not in a bad position. I am asking questions so I can be well informed.

Bloated egos are the cause of the world wars.

I am not a gamer, so those benchmarks does not tell me anything or everything. I have both cards, if I can get most from X1900 then why not. Would the X1900 perform better than QFX in Modo and CAD applications?
 
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