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Graphics Card upgrade for PM G5 dual 2 GHz

P

PedroDiniz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hi,

All this talk of 8800GT's on the Mac Pros is putting me in the mood for upgrading the 64mb ATI 9600 in my stock PM g5 dual 2 GHz.

I have an old Formac Oxygen ADC monitor (used as one screen of my dual head system) but the ADC connector on the graphics card seems to be dead, and everytime I plug the monitor in to the port, the Mac just keeps 'tripping' out and won't power up - almost like something is shorting out.

As a result, I'm stuck to using just the DVI port (1 screen is so limiting after being used to 2!!), connected to an ancient VGA monitor. I really miss having a dual screen set-up, and this is another reason why I would like to upgrade the card. would be good to still be able to use my ADC monitor, but I guess only the older, low spec cards had these, and I'm probably gonna have to ditch the monitor and get a couple of DVI screens.

Can anyone please suggest a suitable replacement GFX card for my aging, but still very worthy G5?

Many thanks 🙂
 
The fastest card you can get for the AGP G5 is not an X1900, but a flashed GeForce 7800 GS. Check eBay. These typically have a single dual-link DVI port and a VGA port.

The fastest official AGP card for the G5 (and the fastest with dual-DVI) is the x850 that was briefly a CTO option and is total unobtanium. However it's not much faster than the x800 which is reasonably easy to find on eBay.
 
If you want two Dual Link DVI ports, you can also try to get the nVidia GeForce 6800 for Mac card.
Might be a bit harder to find, but worth the trouble IMHO.
 
MacsRgr8 said:
If you want two Dual Link DVI ports, you can also try to get the nVidia GeForce 6800 for Mac card.
Might be a bit harder to find, but worth the trouble IMHO.
Click to expand...

The 7800's about twice as fast as the 6800 though.... so I'd go for that. And it cleans house with the 1900xt...so i'd go for a flashed 7800.

After all, we all know the PowerMac G5 is the fastest personal computer on the planet... http://video.aol.com/video-detail/apple-powermac-g5-commercial-blown-away/841458914 😉
 
IMHO, if the 7800 is too expensive (I couldn't justify spending that much on a video card thats 3 years old) I'd look for a 6800 GT. I'v used three video cards in my AGP G5, the stock 5200 Ultra, a x800 XT, and a 6800 GT, all under leopard. Especially if your not playing a lot of video games, you'll find core image performance similar (leopard core image effects i.e. minimizing windows, the ripple effect when adding widgets to the dash board etc. perform identically. in Apps that support core image the 6800 should just be a few seconds slower). These are the best video cards right now in my opinion as far as bang for your buck. I hope that helps.
 
iMpathetic said:
...isn't the 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro any good?😛
Click to expand...

it is good, and would be a perfect upgrade for the OP as it has one ADC and one DVI connector and would plug right in. just what i was going to recommend.

isn't the fastest available, but it's a good value. i used one with my dual 1.8 to play quake 4 at med/high settings with no problems for whatever that's worth.
 
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