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g5 video card port

Y

yg17

macrumors Pentium
Original poster
Aug 1, 2004
15,030
3,011
St. Louis, MO
Hi, I may be getting a dual 1.8 G5, I've had a G3 iBook for a little over a year and it's really making me want to get rid of my PC desktop.

I've got a question...if I got a G5, I'd be keeping my 15" Samsung LCD monitor. I'd love an Apple display, but I just dont have the money or desk room for it. My monitor has a regular vga connector, no DVI or anything. Do the G5s come with a vga port or dvi->vga adapter? Thanks
 
yg17 said:
Hi, I may be getting a dual 1.8 G5, I've had a G3 iBook for a little over a year and it's really making me want to get rid of my PC desktop.

I've got a question...if I got a G5, I'd be keeping my 15" Samsung LCD monitor. I'd love an Apple display, but I just dont have the money or desk room for it. My monitor has a regular vga connector, no DVI or anything. Do the G5s come with a vga port or dvi->vga adapter? Thanks
Click to expand...
Duff-Man says....yes, your VGA monitor will work - the G5 comes with a DVI->VGA adapter (have a look at the specs at Apple.com - it is all spelled out there)....oh yeah!
 
they have adc and dvi, or dual dual link dvi ports on the 6800, adapters cost like $30, and make sure you get at least a radeon 9600xt none of that 5200 crap
 
Both my Powermac G4 and my new powerbook came with DVI to VGA adapters.

I believe that all Macs that have a DVI port come with an adapter for VGA.

You will be fine.
 
Hector said:
they have adc and dvi, or dual dual link dvi ports on the 6800, adapters cost like $30, and make sure you get at least a radeon 9600xt none of that 5200 crap
Click to expand...
whats the difference between the 2 cards? im not going to be doing gaming or anything
 
ok thanks.

also, to save money, would 512 megs RAM be enough to start out with? Ill be using it for web browsing, very light photoshop work and web design, and I'm a freshman comp sci student, so a little C++ programming (simple, basic stuff like hello world programs so far). My iBook handled all that with 640 megs RAM, so I would assume 2 G5 processors could handle it with less RAM? Besides, I would be upgrading to more RAM in the future. Thanks
 
If ur going to use motion the MINIMUM u will want is the 9600!!! i STRONGLY recommend a 9800!!! and around 1.5gb of RAM for the MINIMUM! I have experience with Motion. FCP as well as PhotoShop I'm betting WILL use the same technology in the next version.

My System:

2.5ghz G5
2.5gb of RAM
9800 Pro (i bought it with the 9600 XT
but after using Motion it just wasnt going to cut it.... so i got a 9800)


See the results here....
http://barefeats.com/motion.html
 
crazzyeddie said:
If you dont do gaming of video editing (advanced video editing with Final Cut Pro or Motion) then the 5200FX is fine for you.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but at only $50 more for what I would think would be a pretty good increase in Core Image performance, I don't see why anyone would stick with the 5200FX. When you're spending $2k or more on a computer, another $50 to get a much better video card is a wise buy.
 
unixkid said:
If ur going to use motion the MINIMUM u will want is the 9600!!! i STRONGLY recommend a 9800!!! and around 1.5gb of RAM for the MINIMUM! I have experience with Motion. FCP as well as PhotoShop I'm betting WILL use the same technology in the next version.

My System:

2.5ghz G5
2.5gb of RAM
9800 Pro (i bought it with the 9600 XT
but after using Motion it just wasnt going to cut it.... so i got a 9800)


See the results here....
http://barefeats.com/motion.html
Click to expand...

what in the heck are you talking about? he REALLY REALLY REALLY doesnt need that!!! You are a big power user. he isn't! I know film production majors that dont need all that crap!!!! kind sir. you are FINE with a 5200.
 
for $50 more as the above dude said it's a no brainer, it's future proofing the g5, in a while when were all running 10.5 that 5200 will be the main bottleneck in the system, it will make your mac seem lagy, it's $50 for a gpu that is twice as fast.
 
Hector said:
for $50 more as the above dude said it's a no brainer, it's future proofing the g5, in a while when were all running 10.5 that 5200 will be the main bottleneck in the system, it will make your mac seem lagy, it's $50 for a gpu that is twice as fast.
Click to expand...
But by saving the $50 now he can another $50 to that later (a year or two) and get a card that is much better than the 9600. or he can spend the $50 now plus another $100 or so later to get the better card.

**Prices are all estimates and made up, but the point is still valid.
 
The graphics card would be a nice upgrade if you can afford it, but don't kill yourself. You can live with the 5200 just fine. RAM, 512 will get you off the ground, and will be enough for what you describe-- it probably won't be as fast as it could be tho, depending. I'd sink another 512 into it ASAP, it's hell having too little RAM. You'll get a performance boost when you do.

paul
 
but if you spend the $50 now you get power now and will not have to upgrade for a good deal longer probably never.

the 5200 dose suck. the 9600 is a good card that will last a fair while
 
if I buy it at the retail apple store, I know they can do ram upgrades when you buy it, but will they add in the bluetooth module and the ATI card if I decide to buy it? or for that, do I have to order online?
 
don't listen to hector, he has a history of being somewhat trollish.

if you look at the benchmarks for a 5200 FX Ultra, they are actually quite impressive, I forgot the link (it was at Tom's Hardware), but it outperformed the 9800 on the PC side if i'm not mistaken...

as hector said you will be future-proofing your computer, but not by much. in 3-4 years when we see OS X 10.5, both of those video cards will be a bottleneck (the 5200 up to the 9800) so save yourself te time and money. the 5200 is perfectly fine for everyday use, if you game, i'd get the Nvidia 6800 (if you're concerned about future-proofing, this is the only option, as the 9800 is already dated).

save your money, and in 3-4 years buy a 6800 when it is at the bottom of the barrel for $50.

yg17 said:
if I buy it at the retail apple store, I know they can do ram upgrades when you buy it, but will they add in the bluetooth module and the ATI card if I decide to buy it? or for that, do I have to order online?
Click to expand...

anything but ram, you need to order online. the only ram upgrades i'd get from apple is consolidating the ram into the single largest available stick. (i.e. if you want 512, get 1 512 stick, not 2x256, if you want 1 gig get a 1 gig stick, not 2x512's or 4x256's). mostly everyone on here will say Crucial.com for more ram, but i think they only recommend it because that is the only option they know of. do a search and you will find much better prices than either Apple or Crucial offer.
 
BrianKonarsMac said:
anything but ram, you need to order online. the only ram upgrades i'd get from apple is consolidating the ram into the single largest available stick. (i.e. if you want 512, get 1 512 stick, not 2x256, if you want 1 gig get a 1 gig stick, not 2x512's or 4x256's). mostly everyone on here will say Crucial.com for more ram, but i think they only recommend it because that is the only option they know of. do a search and you will find much better prices than either Apple or Crucial offer.
Click to expand...
ok, so since I want bluetooth I have to go online then? damn :( instant gratification is so much better
 
BrianKonarsMac said:
don't listen to hector, he has a history of being somewhat trollish.
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:

if you look at the benchmarks for a 5200 FX Ultra, they are actually quite impressive, I forgot the link (it was at Tom's Hardware), but it outperformed the 9800 on the PC side if i'm not mistaken...
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, you are mistaken linky.

as hector said you will be future-proofing your computer, but not by much. in 3-4 years when we see OS X 10.5, both of those video cards will be a bottleneck (the 5200 up to the 9800) so save yourself te time and money. the 5200 is perfectly fine for everyday use, if you game, i'd get the Nvidia 6800 (if you're concerned about future-proofing, this is the only option, as the 9800 is already dated).

save your money, and in 3-4 years buy a 6800 when it is at the bottom of the barrel for $50.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a good plan to me. Of course, by that time, you might just want to upgrade the entire computer anyway.

the only ram upgrades i'd get from apple is consolidating the ram into the single largest available stick. (i.e. if you want 512, get 1 512 stick, not 2x256, if you want 1 gig get a 1 gig stick, not 2x512's or 4x256's).
Click to expand...
too bad that can't be done on a G5. RAM needs to be installed in pairs.
mostly everyone on here will say Crucial.com for more ram, but i think they only recommend it because that is the only option they know of. do a search and you will find much better prices than either Apple or Crucial offer.
Click to expand...
Crucial (and Kingston) also have a lifetime guarantee on their RAM, so if it ever goes bad, or stops working with your system for whatever reason (other than something you did, such as chewing on it ;)), they'll replace it. Of course, the chances that your RAM will go bad are kinda slim, so it's not such a bad idea to shop around. Of course, I advise you to avoid anything with only a 1 year warranty.
 
Im buying with the edu discount, and I compared RAM prices on Apple's store to Crucial's prices, and Apple was only a couple dollars more if my math is correct. I'd rather spend a few bucks more and have it installed when I get my computer. Plus, the money I'd save with crucial would just be spent on shipping from them.

and generic RAM doesn't go near any computer I own ;)
 
Heh, Crucial and Kingston aren't even close to generic RAM. Chances are Apple's RAM came from the same factories that Crucial and Kingston's did.

Apple's RAM is nothing special. If you truly want special RAM, get Consair. Which I do not recommend (overpriced, unless you plan on overclocking, and I doubt it).
 
BrianKonarsMac said:
don't listen to hector, he has a history of being somewhat trollish. (<--- that alone proves you are a bigger troll than i apparently am)

if you look at the benchmarks for a 5200 FX Ultra, they are actually quite impressive, I forgot the link (it was at Tom's Hardware), but it outperformed the 9800 on the PC side if i'm not mistaken...

as hector said you will be future-proofing your computer, but not by much. in 3-4 years when we see OS X 10.5, both of those video cards will be a bottleneck (the 5200 up to the 9800) so save yourself te time and money. the 5200 is perfectly fine for everyday use, if you game, i'd get the Nvidia 6800 (if you're concerned about future-proofing, this is the only option, as the 9800 is already dated).

save your money, and in 3-4 years buy a 6800 when it is at the bottom of the barrel for $50.



anything but ram, you need to order online. the only ram upgrades i'd get from apple is consolidating the ram into the single largest available stick. (i.e. if you want 512, get 1 512 stick, not 2x256, if you want 1 gig get a 1 gig stick, not 2x512's or 4x256's). mostly everyone on here will say Crucial.com for more ram, but i think they only recommend it because that is the only option they know of. do a search and you will find much better prices than either Apple or Crucial offer.
Click to expand...

that is getting offecive now. not in a million years dose the 5200 outpreform the 9800, the 6800 will not come down in price much look at what happend with the geforce 4 ti.

as for ram get crucial as they have such good service, the only time a did not buy crucial ram it gave me kernel panics. get the minimum amount from apple and get a 512MB 2x set from crucial, and btw you cannot use single sticks in a g5 you have to install in matched pairs.

the 9600 is a much much faster card than the 5200 almost 2x as fast, it's like comparing a rage to a radeon, my friends g5 has a 5200 and it lags up when he uses core image stuff on 10.4 beta, and it overheated and broke in a week (jared back me up here if you read this).

it is $50 copared to the cost of the g5 it's pennys for so much more power.
 
guys, Ive got another dumb question.

I've got a set of logitech 5.1 surround speakers, the cheap set thats like 50 bucks. id like to use them and also keep the surround sound for watching dvds. The speaker has 3 plugs, front, center and rear (I think) does the G5 have jacks for all of those or do I need to buy a seperate 5.1 sound card? Thanks
 
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