Power Mac G4 400MHZ graphite maximum cards

[Mac3Duser]

Hello,
I have a Power Mac G4 Graphite 400 MHz and I'd like to know the maximum graphics cards that can be installed in this computer.
What is the best graphics card I can install?
What is the best Gigabit Ethernet/network card?
Is it possible to use a SATA SSD with an adapter?
What type of RAM can I use? Is PC100 SDRAM mandatory?
What operating system? I believe Leopard is the best option.
Thanks in advance!

 

[eyoungren]

I have a Power Mac G4 Graphite 400 MHz and I'd like to know the maximum graphics cards that can be installed in this computer.

OK

You may install as many graphic cards as the Mac has slots. I had a Quicksilver with three video cards once.

What is the best graphics card I can install?

That is a matter of debate.

A Radeon 9800 Pro, specifically the G4 card will work if your Mac is AGP. Also, the Radeon FireGL X3 flashed to Mac might work. Again, if your Mac is AGP.

I have no real recommendations for PCI cards.

What is the best Gigabit Ethernet/network card?

That is subjective.

You can use the cards from the G4 Xserve. Also, Netgear GA311s work. I have both and both work fine.

Is it possible to use a SATA SSD with an adapter?

Yes.

The question to you though is, why would you want to? Use a PCI card.

What type of RAM can I use? Is PC100 SDRAM mandatory?

Sorry. Can't help here. It's the one place I really know nothing.

What operating system? I believe Leopard is the best option.

Again, subjective. You can get Leopard on a 400mhz G4 but not through installing it directly on that Mac.

There is a long-time debate over the merits of Tiger and Leopard. Install Tiger if you want speed and don't need the system up to date. Install Leopard if being up to date is more important than speed.

Finally. Don't get trapped in 'best'. Someone could snap their fingers and you would have the 'best' options all magically installed for you and then…you'd find that your G4 is still slower/not as good than a PowerMac G5. And compared to the Intel Macs and later? No. Just use what you want/need. It's better that way.

 

[Mac3Duser]

inside ! 3 PCI + one X2 AGP for graphic card

 

[eyoungren]

inside ! 3 PCI + one X2 AGP for graphic card
View attachment 2630556

So you have an AGP G4. So my earlier card suggestions stand. You can load PCI graphics cards in the other slots.

 

[joevt]

In the DingusPPC emulator, I added 14 PCI graphics cards to an emulated Power Mac 9500. PCI bridges were added to add more slots for the extra GPUs. The GPUs were 2 MiB ATI graphics cards. PowerPC Macs only have < 2 GiB of PCI address space so you can probably connect 3 or fewer GPUs with 512 MiB BARs. Double that number for GPUs with 256 MiB BARs.

 

[Mac3Duser]

ok which PCI graphic cards can be added without vbios issues ?

 

[joevt]

ok which PCI graphic cards can be added without vbios issues ?

Any graphics card designed for PowerPC Mac? It needs to have an Open Firmware image in the PCI Option ROM.

I was able to use a Nvidia 7800GT from my Power Mac G5 in my B&W G3 using a StarTech PCI to PCIe bridge card.
Nvidia 7800GT doesn't have Mac OS 9 support so with that card you can only use a single resolution and color depth in OS 9 (the Open Firmware framebuffer) without 2D or 3D acceleration. Everything works in Mac OS X.

What OS do you want to use with your G4?

The list at https://mac-classic.com/articles/mac-os-9-compatible-graphics-cards/ doesn't mention ATI Radeon 9800 Pro so maybe that card is only good for Mac OS X, like my Nvidia 7800GT.