The Radeon X1900 G5 Mac Edition, is a PCI Express (PCIe) card, so it won't work on any of the AGP Macs.
Lots of options for the AGP Macs though...
The simplest course of action would be to buy the Radeon X800XT Mac Editon available from
OWC,
Newegg(10 bucks cheaper), and others. It's still in stock, and it's a very fast card. But it
is expensive.
Other options...you could flash a PC card. Here are the best candidates:
- Radeon X800XT, Radeon X800 PRO VIVO, Radeon X800XT Platinum Edition
- Radeon X850XT, Radeon X850 PRO VIVO, Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition
- Nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra, GeForce 6800GT, GeForce 6800GS(many, but not all)
To flash the cards,
download an appropriate hacked ROM file from the Strangedogs video card forum. These guys spent many hours reverse-engineering the Mac ROMs and making them work with PC cards - so all the credit goes to them. Once you've downloaded the ROM, you need to flash (copy) it to the EEPROM chip on the video card. Assuming you've done it properly, the card will then work in the Mac.
Some important things to be aware of:
-Flashing the GeForce 6800 series cards must be done in a PC (in DOS) using the nvflash application. I did this with the 6800GS (modded into a 6800GT) installed in my G4 tower.
-If you find a 6800 series card with dual DVI ports, you'll get dual DVI on the Mac. Otherwise, you get DVI and VGA (more common). My 6800GS has dual DVI, and I can confirm it works perfectly.
-The Radeon cards can be flashed in a Mac. The "real" Mac Edition X800XT has dual DVI - but no PC X800 series has this. All PC X800 series cards have one DVI and one VGA port - as a result, flashing one of these cards to the Mac produces a card with one working VGA port and no DVI. There is one exception to this - the
FireGL X3. Using the Strangedogs X800XT Mac ROM produces a perfectly working dual DVI card. However, this workstation card still retails for over $670(!), so you're better off going with a 6800 series card or a "real" X800XT Mac Edition if you need dual DVI.
-The Radeon X850 series cards can be flashed to the Mac, but the Strangedogs people have not produced a ROM specifically for it yet. They can be flashed with the X800XT ROM, but you must use ATIcellerator II to turn the memory speed down below 330MHz or so for the card to work properly. The reason for this is that incompatibilities between the X800 and X850 chips cause the memory timings to be off when using the X800 ROM with an X850 card - in short, the card will run at normal speed when turned down to 330 but the speeds will be incorrectly reported by the computer. Setting the speed at the usual speed for the card will cause it to run much faster than normal and toverheat the card, possibly fatally.
There's a lot more; I just wanted to give you an idea about flashing. Read the Strangedogs forum for how-tos (they're kind of buried, but they're there).
Bottom line: You can save a lot of money, but flashing is more work.
If you can get a GeForce 6800 Ultra or GT (and have access to a PC to flash it in), it is a very easy flash, is fast and can give you dual DVI depending on which card you get. The 6800GS can also be flashed (read the thread linked in my signature), but beware: recent GS cards have featured hardware changes (a PCIe->AGP bridge chip) that make them incompatible with the hacked Mac ROM - best to find a GT or Ultra. Do NOT try to flash a 6800XT - they have the same bridge chip problem as the newer 6800GSs.
You can get a Radeon 850 PRO from Newegg
right now for $140 - less than half what the Mac version costs. I've ordered one just for fun and I'm going to try flashing it when it shows up. The downsides: you have to flash it, fiddle with the memory timing, and you'll get only a single working VGA port. Advantages: it is MUCH cheaper than the Mac card, and performance is identical. It also has a bit of a performance edge over the 6800 series in some instances.
People on the Strangedogs forums also sell flashed cards, or may flash a card you send them - so join the forum if you want and ask around.
