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New Graphics Card For G5 Help

CountMaxMore

CountMaxMore

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 18, 2014
68
1
I want to put a new graphics card in my PowerMac G5 at the moment I have a ATI Radeon 9600 Pro I want something that will deliver more without breaking the bank and it needs a dvi port but its not a crying game if it doesn't have one I can always convert~Thanks I just want your opinions :)
 
The next card up is the ATI 9600 XT. It isn't much faster. After that it would be the ATI 9800 and GeForce 6800. They are becoming more expensive. If you want to spend lots of money, an ATI X800 is one of the fastest cards for a G5.
 
Intell and eyoungren are experts in this area but I will chime in. I would look for an ATI 9800 as an X800 class card is likely to be much more expensive, unless of course you flash a FireGL like some have done on this forum.
 
Altemose said:
Intell and eyoungren are experts in this area but I will chime in. I would look for an ATI 9800 as an X800 class card is likely to be much more expensive, unless of course you flash a FireGL like some have done on this forum.
Click to expand...
Intell is the expert, I just follow his recommendations. Granted, I've been lucky in some of the cards I've bought/received/used and unlucky in others which has imparted some sense of knowledge, but if you were to ask me for a recommendation beyond the cards I currently have or have used I wouldn't have a clue.

At some point video cards went waaaayyy beyond the Trident, Tseng and All-In-Wonder cards that I had some minimal experience in.
 
eyoungren said:
All-In-Wonder cards
Click to expand...

Now that brings up a "blast to the past", way back in my pee-see daze.
I can recall taking a BC Ferry over to Vancouver just to purchase one of the above Video cards.
Can't remember what I paid for the card, but the ferry ride alone, what with car+driver+wife probably cost approx $50 one way.
I know today (was just on the news) car driver and 1 passenger is $90 one way.
I also seem to remember I was into IBM's OS/2 at the time.
 
9800 would be great card... Flashed or Mac version are available

The fire GL as well which should work fine with a G5
 
I have a 6800 Ultra Mac Edition and love it, but it wasn't exactly cheap(relatively speaking) when I bought it.

The ATI FireGL flashes beautifully in a G5(I flashed mine in a G5) into an X800. These cards are are relatively inexpensive non-flashed, and are available pre-flashed on Ebay for somewhat of a premium. The downside to this card is that(unlike the Mac edition X800/X850) these need an extra power connector. You have to use a splitter on the molex cable to the optical drive, and then drop the other end of it down to the card. It's not that difficult to do-or a huge deal when it's done-but does "ugly up" the inside of a G5 a bit.
 
bunnspecial said:
I have a 6800 Ultra Mac Edition and love it, but it wasn't exactly cheap(relatively speaking) when I bought it.

The ATI FireGL flashes beautifully in a G5(I flashed mine in a G5) into an X800. These cards are are relatively inexpensive non-flashed, and are available pre-flashed on Ebay for somewhat of a premium. The downside to this card is that(unlike the Mac edition X800/X850) these need an extra power connector. You have to use a splitter on the molex cable to the optical drive, and then drop the other end of it down to the card. It's not that difficult to do-or a huge deal when it's done-but does "ugly up" the inside of a G5 a bit.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it is the way to go
 
i can vouch for the radeon 9800 making a big difference in a lowend 1.8ghz powermac g5... I have one installed and im quite happy with it but i understand that a geforce 6800 or 7800 would be even better!
one day i will find out.. maybe;)
 
Just note the following if you go the Radeon 9800 Pro route.

There are two types of 9800 Pro when it comes to Mac, three if you count a flashed PC card.

The first was a BTO option for the G5. That card will work in a G4 but you have to tape the pins. It's easy to tell that it's for a G5 because the card is blue.

Shortly after ATI shipped those cards for Apple G5s, ATI released a retail version of the 9800 Pro. That card is red and it's compatible with the G4 and the G5 and you do not need to tape pins.

The one flashed 9800 Pro that I used to have does not work in a Quicksilver with taped pins.

Lastly, there is a rare Special Edition of the 9800 Pro that is compatible with the G4/G5. The difference is that it's a 256mb card. All other 9800 Pros have 128mb.
 
eyoungren said:
Just note the following if you go the Radeon 9800 Pro route.

There are two types of 9800 Pro when it comes to Mac, three if you count a flashed PC card.

The first was a BTO option for the G5. That card will work in a G4 but you have to tape the pins. It's easy to tell that it's for a G5 because the card is blue.

Shortly after ATI shipped those cards for Apple G5s, ATI released a retail version of the 9800 Pro. That card is red and it's compatible with the G4 and the G5 and you do not need to tape pins.

The one flashed 9800 Pro that I used to have does not work in a Quicksilver with taped pins.

Lastly, there is a rare Special Edition of the 9800 Pro that is compatible with the G4/G5. The difference is that it's a 256mb card. All other 9800 Pros have 128mb.
Click to expand...

I might hold off the cheapest one I could find was 80$ I might call a couple local computer shops that carry older equipment to see if they have one but other then that I guess I will be fine with my current card
 
desantii said:
is the FireGL significantly faster that the 9800? at those prices might be a better option
Click to expand...
The FireGL has 8 channels and 256mb ram. The 9800 Pro has 4 channels and 128mb of ram, with the exception being the 256mb model.

One of the reasons I originally went after the FireGL.
 
supernova777 said:
i can vouch for the radeon 9800 making a big difference in a lowend 1.8ghz powermac g5... I have one installed and im quite happy with it but i understand that a geforce 6800 or 7800 would be even better!
one day i will find out.. maybe;)
Click to expand...


The 6800 Ultra outperforms the 7800GT...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1848060/

I also think that the 7800GT, at least in OEM Mac form, only comes in PCI-e so will only work in the late '05 G5s and not earlier ones.

The X800XT(including the flashed versions) outperforms both cards. Short of the rare X850XT Mac Edition, it's one of the best cards available for G5s.

One other thing-the FireGl has dual DVI out, while the OEM/Retail version has ADC and DVI out. If you intend to connect an Apple ADC display, the OEM card saves you having to buy at least one A1006 DVI-ADC converter. These are often $50, but do occasionally turn up cheaper. It might be worth paying the extra for the OEM card(assuming you can find one) for this. On the other hand, with the OEM card, if you want to use two displays with DVI in(including later Apple Cinema Displays) you will need an ADC to DVI adapter. This is a passive adapter(really just a short cable, since ADC is DVI+a few extra connectors for power and USB), but still often runs $20-30.

I love ADC displays, but use newer displays with my G5. Thus, I prefer cards with dual DVI out on the G5. The 6800 Ultra also has dual DVI out. I think even one of the ports is dual link(maybe both) so you could theoretically drive the 30" Cinema or a modern 4K monitor if you wanted to.
 
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