Just bought a PowerMac G5

[eastcoasteric]

And i'm looking to upgrade from this lousy 64mb graphics card that is inside of it.

I need something that will handle new games like StarCraft II at almost max settings that won't break the band, I have 4.5 gigs of ram in it right now and it's a dual 1.8 processor.

Ideas on names? I've been searching for a long time but have been having a really hard time finding something correct

Also, it has pci-x slots, can I use ANY pci-express cards for this? Like 2.0 or 1.0?

Help I need something decent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PowerGamerX]

And i'm looking to upgrade from this lousy 64mb graphics card that is inside of it.

I need something that will handle new games like StarCraft II at almost max settings that won't break the band, I have 4.5 gigs of ram in it right now and it's a dual 1.8 processor.

Ideas on names? I've been searching for a long time but have been having a really hard time finding something correct

Also, it has pci-x slots, can I use ANY pci-express cards for this? Like 2.0 or 1.0?

Help I need something decent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

StarCraft 2 isn't PowerPC compatible. You're sol on that front with this machine.

There aren't any real good graphics cards for PowerPC Macs, theres one that can still run WoW on high settings, but thats about the max you're going to find.

 

[eastcoasteric]

and what would that card be?

And I've been playing the beta on my computer with no problems what so ever.


Also, I want to play Ages Of Empires III as well on max almost.
That game is still mighty good and power pc compatible

 

[goMac]

There really isn't much for a PCI-X Power Mac, and as noted, SC2 isn't PowerPC compatible.

The Radeon 9800 is the fastest official card that's compatible with that model. I think there is a flashed GeForce 7800 somewhere out there. Both will get you decent performance with something like AoE3.

PCI-X and PCI Express are entirely different. You cannot use PCI Express cards. Only AGP.

 

[InsightsIE]

If it's from late 05 it has PCI-X = get the 7800GTX 512MB Card for the Power Mac + max everything. Best PPC machine. No intel though

 

[GyroFX]

If it's from late 05 it has PCI-X = get the 7800GTX 512MB Card for the Power Mac + max everything. Best PPC machine. No intel though

I think you mean late 2005 G5s are PCIe. The best card can be had for a PCIe is a flashed version of 7800GTX 512 or he can get an full Mac compatible Ati X1900 G5 edition, Nvidia 7800 GT and an Nvidia FX4500.

The best PCIx G5s ran on AGP 8x graphic cards. The best for those machine would be a flased Nvidia 7800GS or a mac compatible ATI radeon X800

 

[eastcoasteric]

I'm not exactly sure what my year is but I have a 1.8 processor (x2) and 2.5 gigs of ram and theGeForce FX 5200 for a graphics card.


I wanna stick another gig or ram in here and the best graphics card I can get for this computer in it.

I can play AoE3 right now on mediumish settings with no problems at all and games like DOOM 3 on lowish(between medium and low) settings with no problem either.
However playing WoW I can only do it on low settings with like 4 things turned up a tiny bit.
I wanna be able to play WoW maxed out and games like Doom3 and AoE3 on almost max settings.
I'm mainly a console gamer but I like RTS's and some FPS on computers, nothing beats the control of a mouse or a mouse and a WASD set up.
I play Halo on this at MAX settings too with no frame rate drop what so ever, it's pretty nice.
The only thing I'm bummed about is that I can not run STEAM because it's for intel processors only and I have like $400 worth of games on my Steam Account and a lot of MAC compatible.
I can only do AGP 8x or PCI-X, someone help me out and tell me what my absolute best bet would be and does the ram have to be "mac" compatible?
I wouldn't imagine so because Ram does not require drivers or anything ridiculous like that.
And do you think maxing out my system to 8 gig's of RAM would really help with games as well or should I just stay at about 4 gig's or ram as it is right now?

Any feedback that is FACT helps, no opinion's please!
I'm making the switch after 14 years from PC to MAC and I need all the help I can get to get the most out of my power mac as possible.
I know this thing is very much capable of being a beast for it's age and already it's better than most PC's that are brand new on the market right now.

I'm going to grab another mac soon with a intel processor for my wife though, most likely a airbook because all she does is listen to music and play around on facebook so I don't need anything crazy, but I won't be able to really game on that thing...it just sucks, I wish I could switch out my processor to a intel one!!!!!!!

 

[eastcoasteric]

oh and is the flashed process easy to do with a mac?
Can someone give me a quick crash course on how to do it?

I'm a computer tech for AT&T but we do thing's like networking and virus clean up,etc.
We do not support MAC's so I have very little experience on one, but give me a PC and I can do a hefty amount of things on it.

 

[666sheep]

oh and is the flashed process easy to do with a mac?
Can someone give me a quick crash course on how to do it?

Check this site. All you need to know is there.

For max gaming performance of your rig, get 7800GS and flash it on PC. Max RAM (4GB - if you have 4 slot model) will also not hurt

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Sell your crappy Nividia 5200 on ebay for $75 and use that money towards a better card, like the 7800GS and flash it. You will need a PC to flash an Nvidia card.

 

[eastcoasteric]

yeah, the PC I have is a all in one PC, meaning no agp slots or pci or pcie.
So I'm pretty much screwed.


I can max out my ram to 8 gig's, I might as well just find a good MAC compatible card, I have one on ebay that I'm eyeballing right now and it's at a dirt cheap price right now.
I'm not going to say what it is so someone doesn't swoop away and steal it, haha yeah that paranoid.
it's still int the box and not from china (as in, being shipped from there) so I'm guarding this thing like a starved rottweiler over a piece of bloody steak.

But thank you everyone for the feedback, it has certainly helped a lot!!!

 

[sysiphus]

Sorry, but some of the info about graphics cards here is flat-out WRONG. For starters, a Radeon 9800 is not even close to the best official card to go in your machine. It was the best one initially available, due to the delays in the release of the Nvidia 6800 DDL cards...more on that below.

A dual 1.8GHz G5 (used to have one myself) has three PCI-X slots and one AGP 8X slot. PCI-X is NOT the same as PCI-Express; it's just a slightly faster original PCI bus. You don't want your graphics card there, because you'd be limited to PCI graphics (no such thing as a PCI-X graphics card, and PCI-Express cards won't work). As such, your graphics will be on the AGP 8X bus. The best two cards officially made were the ATI Radeon X850 and the Nvidia Geforce 6800 Ultra DDL. Both have 256MB of video memory, and depending on the game, one will be slightly better than the other...but they're roughly the same (slight edge to the ATI). Just below those, there also was a ATI X800 and a Geforce 6800GT DDL. If you're going with an official (non-flashed) card, get one of the ones listed above...otherwise you're wasting your money. Below that there were ATI 9800s, 9600s, and Geforce FX5200s etc...horribly outdated by today's standards.

All four of the contending official cards were sold in retail packages, though the Nvidia cards only in VERY limited quantities in white box kit form from Apple stores. This was primarily due to that the 6800 cards were the first ones on the market to drive the then-new 30" Cinema display, which required a dual DVI port. (Note: Both Nvidia cards have two Dual DVI ports; the ATI cards have one each along with an ADC port (used for most of the older acrylic-framed Apple displays).

You can recognize an official Nvidia card by noticing the following things: it's a full-length card, the same length as a full-size PCI card. Also, the PCB (board) will be BLUE--the same color as your motherboard inside your G5. It's nearly impossible to find any other Geforce 6800s (the flashed ones) which will look like this, so this is your best way to find the official item. For the ATI cards, it's very easy--look at the ports on it. If there's an ADC and a DVI port, it's the right one--if it doesn't have both of those, it's a flashed card. Any of the official cards, due to scarcity, will likely run you $2-400.

As for flashed cards, an nVidia 7800GS is the best I've ever seen running in a stable environment...but I'd just save yourself the time and trouble and pay the premium for the official card. The 7800GS flashed will be a bit faster, but honestly, unless you know what you're doing with that sort of thing, I'd just keep things simple Hope this helps; good luck, and enjoy your G5!

Feel free to ask if you have more questions

 

[eastcoasteric]

also, what is a good card to get for sound? Same deal, will any pci sound card work???

 

[eastcoasteric]

I found a ultra for about $150 on ebay, I just put a bid on it, I hope I win it!!!
I'm also looking at a radeon X800 XT as well for pretty cheap, after I know I've won the card I'm just going to go and throw my nvida card that is inside this G5 up on ebay for like $70 bucks BUY IT NOW instead of having people bid on it, but yeah thanks for replying!!!!

I'm going to take you for your word, as well could you point me in the direction of a good sound card? Or would any PCI card do? I just picked up some THX speakers so I want to get the most I can out of them, right now I can't even plug them in to this, they have the light orange,black and green input's for the back of the computer. bummmerrr, that and I need a airport card as well a bluetooth card, thought I might just get a usb add on I found online that works with the mac for lke 14 bucks...this is so I can use the magic mouse

 

[eastcoasteric]

Yeah it's a

GeForce 6800 GT DDL 256MB DDR3 that is BRAND NEW and still sealed and in the box, has a DOA warranty as well.
It is going for $180, should I take it? He said he would let me buy it right now even though the auction isn't done yet.

And are these cards pretty much just plug and play? Or are they a pain in the ass?

 

[sysiphus]

Yeah it's a

GeForce 6800 GT DDL 256MB DDR3 that is BRAND NEW and still sealed and in the box, has a DOA warranty as well.
It is going for $180, should I take it? He said he would let me buy it right now even though the auction isn't done yet.

And are these cards pretty much just plug and play? Or are they a pain in the ass?

That sounds like a good deal to me if you feel comfortable with the seller. The cards are very much just plug and play--Once it's swapped, OSX will automatically recognize it and seamlessly use the right driver (so long as you're not running an early version of 10.3 (Panther).

 

[eastcoasteric]

That sounds like a good deal to me if you feel comfortable with the seller. The cards are very much just plug and play--Once it's swapped, OSX will automatically recognize it and seamlessly use the right driver (so long as you're not running an early version of 10.3 (Panther).

Nah i'm running leopard so I should be all set to go! Thanks for the input I'll let you know once I get it , how it's working out!

 

[goMac]

also, what is a good card to get for sound? Same deal, will any pci sound card work???

No need for a sound card. You can either use normal 2.1 speakers, or use the digital output.

If you really felt the need to, there are several older sound cards out there for PCI Macs. You can't just put any card in though, has to be Mac compatible.

 

[eastcoasteric]

No need for a sound card. You can either use normal 2.1 speakers, or use the digital output.

If you really felt the need to, there are several older sound cards out there for PCI Macs. You can't just put any card in though, has to be Mac compatible.

Yeah but no MIC port..I think? There is some weird ICON with a port below the speaker one, is that the mic port? And I don't think I've ever seen a optical audio chord for computer speakers in my life, if you know of some, please point me in the right direction!!!! I really want those clear ones everyone has with a MAC, no idea what the connections are like for those

 

[sysiphus]

Yeah but no MIC port..I think? There is some weird ICON with a port below the speaker one, is that the mic port? And I don't think I've ever seen a optical audio chord for computer speakers in my life, if you know of some, please point me in the right direction!!!! I really want those clear ones everyone has with a MAC, no idea what the connections are like for those

Yes, the 3.5mm port that is NOT your line out (speaker) port is indeed a line-in port (for a mic). It is not, however, a powered port, so you'll need to make sure whatever hardware you're attaching will work. Alternatively, a cheap option is a Griffin iMic (USB interface) which will give you a powered line-in. There are PCI options as well.

As for the optical audio, the two ports covered by grey rubber flaps are for your TOSlink optical audio. The one that is glowing red is your output; the other is your input. You'll need TOSlink cables to use them; most average computer speakers won't. There are some that will, though--look at some of Klipsch's options if you're interested. Also useful if you wanted to hook up your computer to a multichannel receiver.

If you want to get the clear plastic speakers you see so frequently, those are the Harman Kardon Soundsticks---some of the early ones had USB interface, but I believe they now just use the standard 3.5mm jack (your line-in port already built in...no sound card needed). In short, unless you're looking to drive surround sound speakers, there's no real point in sticking in a separate sound card.

Hope this helps!