Partial powermac

[idude]

Hey!

i was recently given a dual g4 500 powermac without ram or a video card. I was thinking of buying a 512 stick from crucial, and ebaying a video card, but wasn't sure what to get. I will probably use it for iLife, dreamweaver and some gaming (wc3, age of myth). I was also wondering how performance would be on this machine and whether it is worth upgrading. I have an ibook g3 900, and it does everything pretty good, but thought it would be cool to have a second mac. If anyone could give a general speed comparison i would really appreciate it! Thanks!

 

[Brother Michael]

Knowing absolutely nothing about Mac Video Cards andmy first Mac is an iBook. I will take a stab at this.

Why not get something like a GeForce FX 5200 or GeForce Fx 5600 with any where from 128-256 Video RAM.

I should think that wouldnt run you too much money.

Mike

 

[Counterfit]

Getting an FX would most likely be a waste of money. That PowerMac has a 2x AGP slot, so I would suggest something that isn't too fast for that kind of slot. As for what, I dunno, I haven't had to compare video cards in.... forever.

 

[paxtonandrew]

I believe your PMG4 to be a gigabit ethernet model. If so, your computer came with an ATI rage 128 Pro card. You may be able to pick these up off ebay, but otherwise, i would contact apple or a reseller, to see if I could get a compatible card. The computer would be a great addition to any Mac family, and will be good for a few more years yet. My (single) 667 is a quick computer, and with ~1000Mhz, your computer will be good with ram and a decent memory card.

 

[garybUK]

and with ~1000Mhz, your computer will be good with ram and a decent memory card.

Dual 500mhz CPU's is not ~1000mhz!

Memory you should be fine with curcial as long as you buy the right sort (I beleive its PC133 CL2)

Im not too sure about the graphics card, but I am pretty sure you will need to pick one up that has a apple bios on the card for it to work. You can usually pick up a Geforce 4 or ATI Radeon on ebay that has been a Apple OEM card, if not have a look on the net for ones that are PC/MAC Compatible.

 

[solvs]

You're going to want one of these. It's about $150. You will need a Mac specific card, PC cards won't work. Use the memory configurator to get the right RAM. At least 512 MB. Crucial's good too.

 

[davegoody]

Just be careful

I have heard of people buying equipment with parts missing, then once they have purchased all they need it ended up costing more than the original item would have done !

 

[blueBomber]

Actually what your probably going to want is something like a Radeon 8500. Hit ebay for one, just do a search for "radeon 8500 mac" and you should get a bunch of results. It's a great card, and more than fast enough for Warcraft 3 and some solid QuartzXtreme performance. And also, based on the prices I've seen for the components you need, you don't have to worry about putting more than the cost of the machine into it. You should top out at $200 for the vid card and ram; and that is about $300-$400 less than that machine usually goes for

 

[MrSugar]

Actually what your probably going to want is something like a Radeon 8500. Hit ebay for one, just do a search for "radeon 8500 mac" and you should get a bunch of results. It's a great card, and more than fast enough for Warcraft 3 and some solid QuartzXtreme performance. And also, based on the prices I've seen for the components you need, you don't have to worry about putting more than the cost of the machine into it. You should top out at $200 for the vid card and ram; and that is about $300-$400 less than that machine usually goes for

I second this, a 8500 is perfect for that setup. I have a friend with a dual g4 500 mhz and an 8500. It is a nice computer, not super duper speedy but it definitely gets the job done.

 

[invaLPsion]

Hey!

i was recently given a dual g4 500 powermac without ram or a video card. I was thinking of buying a 512 stick from crucial, and ebaying a video card, but wasn't sure what to get. I will probably use it for iLife, dreamweaver and some gaming (wc3, age of myth). I was also wondering how performance would be on this machine and whether it is worth upgrading. I have an ibook g3 900, and it does everything pretty good, but thought it would be cool to have a second mac. If anyone could give a general speed comparison i would really appreciate it! Thanks!

For the graphics card I would recommend the Geforce3 over the Radeon 8500. If you look at comparisons on Barefeats from a year or two ago it shows that the Geforce3 consistently bests the 8500.

 

[cluthz]

All these cards will work in a dual 500

Nvidia:
geforce 2mx
geforce 4mx
geforce 3
geforce 4ti

geforce 2mx and 4mx are ok cards that dont costs too much.
i bought a gf4mx from OWC for 69 usd a few years ago.
Both are much faster than the original Ati Rage Pro 128

ATI:
Rage Pro 128 (agp or pci)
Radeon (agp or pci)
Radeon 7000 (only pci)
Radeon 7500
Radeon 8500
Radeon 9000
Radeon 9800

I would recommed to get a AGP card, all the radeons are faster than the original Rage Pro 128 card.

You HAVE to buy a MAC VERSION of the cards!!!!


-tb