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PPC Graphics Card Collections

bunnspecial

bunnspecial

macrumors G3
Original poster
May 3, 2014
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Kentucky
Many of us who collect/use PPC Macs have-out of necessity or the desire to chase the last little bit of performance out of our machines-become collectors or hoarders of GPUs(depending on how you want to define it). Some of these cards are actually sort of rare, so I though it would be interesting to see what cards other members have. Here's my list. All are OEM/retail Mac cards unless otherwise noted. I also have multiple examples of several of these cards, particular the low end ones as I often remove them to make way for a better card.

PCI
Rage 128 Pro
Radeon 7000
Radeon 9200
GEForce 5200(flashed, 256mb VRAM)

AGP
Rage 128(Sawtooth version w/VGA+DVI)
Rage 128(ADC+VGA)
Radeon 7500
GEForce 2MX
GEForce 2MX Twin-View
GEForce 4MX
GEForce 4Ti
Radeon 8500
Radeon 9000
GEForce 5200
Radeon 9600XT
Radeon 9600 Pro(PC&Mac Retail)
Radeon 9650
GEForce 6800 GT Ultra
Radeon X800XT(flashed from ATI FireGl X3)

PCIe
GEForce 6600
GEForce 6600 LE
GEForce 7800GT
 
If your thread is only about cards that are not installed my list is limited.

AGP:
FireGL X3 (PC/Flashed)
FireGL X3 (PC/Seller flashed)

PCI:
ATI Rage 128
PNY NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 256MB (Stole the heat sink from this for my Radeon 9800 Pro because the fan connections on the Pro are burned out). I have never been able to successfully flash this card and now with no heat sink it's unused.

I also have an odd assortment of AGP/PCI cards that are either broken/repairable or missing heatsinks. Most of those are G5 cards and as I own no PowerMac G5 not worth my effort in trying to get any of them working properly.
 
I'm including cards installed-in fact most of the above are installed.

128keaton said:
Doesnt the 2MX fit in a G4 cube?
Click to expand...

Yes. The standard version uses the same faceplate as the Rage 128, so you can swap faceplates. The twin-view uses a different faceplate.
 
bunnspecial said:
I'm including cards installed-in fact most of the above are installed.



Yes. The standard version uses the same faceplate as the Rage 128, so you can swap faceplates. The twin-view uses a different faceplate.
Click to expand...
Ah, I might be checking Ebay soon.
 
I've got rather a lot - I'm currently using the X800XT.

ATI Rage 128, 16MB (PCI)
ATI Radeon, 32MB
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro Mac / PC Edition, 256MB
ATI Radeon 9800XT, 256MB (flashed)
ATI Radeon X800XT, 256MB (flashed)
nVidia GeForce 3 Ti200, 64MB (flashed)
nVidia GeForce 4MX, 32MB
nVidia GeForce 6800GT, 256MB (flashed)

Unfortunately I can't use the 6800GT as they famously don't work with the MDD logic boards. It always causes a kernel panic when OS X starts up. (unless you're running in safe mode, which negates the card entirely as the system can't use hardware acceleration) Shame too, as it's a *really* good card.
 
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I guess I never thought about it but you're right! I have a bunch of video cards from over the past 20-some years just sitting around!
 
Ok, I have:
2xATI Rage 128,
2xGeforce 4MX (one in USPS transit),
GeForce 6800 GT DDL.

Not much at all really.
 
Here's what I've got, in rough order of least-to-most powerful.

ATI Rage 128GL 16MB (PCI)
ATI Rage 128 16MB (PCI)
3Dfx Voodoo2 12MB (PCI) (PC card, but not flashed)
Nvidia GeForce4 MX 32MB (AGP)
Nvidia GeForce4 Ti-4600 128MB (AGP)
Nvidia GeForce 6600 (PCIE) (I'm not 100% sure this isn't a 6600LE)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (AGP) (Flashed)
ATI Radeon X1950XT 256MB (PCIE) (Flashed)
 
I've got a 3dfx Voodoo 3 PCI somewhere.

Flashed it with a mac ROM and used it in my PowerMac 7200 for a couple of years. Sold the Mac, kept the graphics card. No idea why!
 
So far:
AGP
- Mobility Radeon 9700 w/ 64 MB (in a PowerBook)
PCIe
- Geforce 6600 w/ 256 MB (Mac version)
- Quadro FX 4500 w/ 512 MB (Mac version)

CapnCrunch53 said:
3Dfx Voodoo2 12MB (PCI) (PC card, but not flashed)
Click to expand...
If I remember well, you didn't have to flash it to use it on a Mac, right?
 
val1984 said:
If I remember well, you didn't have to flash it to use it on a Mac, right?
Click to expand...

Probably not. The Voodoo I/II were 3D only so didn't require boot support. The normal graphics output was passed through the 3Dfx card which switched the signal over with the click of a relay on the card. Most games used the proprietary Glide API, some like GLQuake used a cut down version of OpenGL IIRC.

They ever work under OS X? Think I've still got an Orchid Righteous somewhere which I could try in the G5...
 
val1984 said:
If I remember well, you didn't have to flash it to use it on a Mac, right?
Click to expand...

Correct. I'm not certain it was always that way, but at least the newer drivers work fine with PC cards.

This particular card was actually a spare I had leftover after I built my Voodoo2 SLI PC (had originally bought one card, then found a deal on two, so I had an extra). It is somewhat faulty with 2D textures, which I suspect is due to a missing surface mount component on the card where it must have been damaged, but otherwise it works fine. In Diablo II all it amounts to is a slightly glitchy-looking menu background; in Unreal Tournament, a mildly distorted HUD.

Funnily enough, the Rage 128GL it is paired with was also originally bought for my SLI PC; I didn't realize until too late that it was a Mac card. But, I later bought a G3 B&W that was missing its OEM card, so it all worked out in the end!
 
• All of these in use, all Apple PPC supported:

PCI:
3Dfx Voodoo 5500 Mac Edition (G3 B&W 400 Mhz)
ATi Rage 7000 (G3 B&W 350 MHz)
ATi Rage 128 (G3 B&W 300 Mhz)

AGP:
ATi Radeon 9000 (ADC, G4 Digital Audio)
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro (G4 MDD)
nVidia GeForce 2MX (ADC, G4 Cube)
nVidia GeForce 2MX 64 MB VRAM Twin View (G4 QuickSilver)
nVidia GeForce 4 Ti (Mac Edition) (G4 MDD >> can't find that card now... but I definitely must have it somewhere)
nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL (G5 Dual 1.8 GHz - spare)

PCIe:
nVidia GeForce 7800 (G5 Quad)
 
Last edited:
Well, i can add the meanest thing i ever got to run in a cube to this collection. It's the one from my avatar pic. A flashed GeForce 6800XT.

6800XT_small_02.jpg


6800XT_small_04.jpg


Sadly a Giga-C VRM is needed just to get it to run and there was no way to keep temperatures in a safe range inside the outer case. So this is not exactly what i would call a cube card.

;)
 
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flyproductions said:
Well, i can add the meanest thing i ever got to run in a cube to this collection. It's the one from my avatar pic. A flashed GeForce 6800XT.

View attachment 595254

View attachment 595256

Sadly a Giga-C VRM is needed just to get it to run and there was no way to keep temperatures in a safe range inside the outer case. So this is not exactly what i would call a cube card.

;)
Click to expand...
Its pretty slick though. I've wanted to trick out a cube for some time now.
 
So maybe i have some other little exotic pieces to add to the collection of PPC graphic boards.

Next one with a pic of the backside, to prove it is the Quadro with RAM-chips only on the frontside. It's a flashed PC-card and yes, it is PPC ready. :)

quadro.jpg


I have seen discussion around this topic in some of the other threads. So if anyone still has one of these around and likes to use it in a G5, now there is an "unofficial" ROM-file for this one too.
 
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