Upgrade Video board PowerMac G4

[tokiacop]

Hello to everyone!

I have a PowerMac G4 with dual processor at 500mhz and 1gb of ram. I have a Apple Monitor Cinema Display 15" CRT with ADC port and ATI Rage Pro 128. I got all working flawless with Tiger OS X but i want to install Leopard, in fact i success with the help of Leopard Assist Utility but Not Video Acceleration at all.

I want to change video board so i can install leopard with video acceleration and full support QE/CI. What video board do you recommend me to buy with ADC port that work Out of Box and full compatible with leopard in my G4?

Could be this ? ...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Radeon-...124?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item419069bd74

Or any other you recommend of course...
Thanks for your time. Regards

 

[Zotaccian]

Technology wise Radeon 9550 / GeForce FX 5200 and anything newer support those technologies, but I saw that there are some cards which only work at 8x, probably those cards which were shipped in systems (G5 machines).

EDIT: Sorry I remembered wrong, DP 500Mhz machines were Gigabit, not Digital Audio models!

 

[bunnspecial]

You will be somewhat limited by your choices. The card you linked to WILL NOT work without modification. I haven't researched the specifics of that particular card, but it may not even be possible to make it work in a G4 with modifications.

All of that said, with dual 500mhz processors you probably have a gigabit ethernet model. These have a 2x AGP slot, and as far as I'm aware there are no off-the-shelf video cards which support core image and will work in a 2x slot(although there are some flashed cards that will). The best you can probably do is a high-spec card capable of Quartz Extreme.

If you don't want to get into flashing cards, your best option is a GEForce 4 Ti. For a little bit less money, a GEForce 4MX or Radeon 9000 will be easy to find and will do okay under Tiger and even Leopard. Even the 4MX or 9000 will be a significant step up from your current Rage 128.

If, by some chance, you have a Digital Audio model(3 RAM slots and 4 PCI slots), your options are a lot more open and you can pretty easily get a CI supporting card. The most available is probably the Radeon 9600XT for the G5, although it requires some slight modification to get it to work in the G4(taping pins) and a little bit more modification if you want ADC support.

 

[tokiacop]

Hello! Thanks for your answers. Sorry for my late reply.

I confirm that i have the ethernet gigabyte model. About the options that i have bunnspecial by what you say i see that is not be easy to find an Out Of Box video card for my purpose, so, i think that i can probably buy a video card to flash it and make it work if is not very difficult of course.

In that case, if you know, what video card do you recommend to buy and flash it that give me best performance and compatibility in my G4 ? The one i mention before you tell me that even with modification probably don't work?

Thanks!

 

[bunnspecial]

I bought a GEForce 6200 the other day on the advice that it could be flashed and used in a Cube(which also has a 2x AGP slot).

I don't have the card in hand yet, so can't comment on flashing it or any other operational quirks. Others have gotten it to work, though, so it's possible.

This card DOES support CI.

Of course, the primary attraction to this card for use in the Cube is that it's small. You don't have to worry about that limitation with a G4 tower.

Here's a(probably not exhaustive, but still informative) list of CI supporting cards, and indicating which ones will work in a 2x slot

http://www.jcsenterprises.com/Japamacs_Page/Blog/4B4B7BA2-7ABB-47F1-87AC-B03D37942BEE.html

 

[tokiacop]

Ok thanks, Very useful your link ! I`m going to check the list in detail and try to see which would be the best option for me. If not convince me anyone i thing i will go for this :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-App...704?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cd15212f0

Good price and i think could be a good option. I will use the mac mainly for internet. What do you think ?

 

[bunnspecial]

Ok thanks, Very useful your link ! I`m going to check the list in detail and try to see which would be the best option for me. If not convince me anyone i thing i will go for this :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-App...704?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cd15212f0

Good price and i think could be a good option. I will use the mac mainly for internet. What do you think ?

That card will do QE but not CI. That was the standard card for MDD G4s and they are plentiful. I'd want to pay about half that...

 

[tokiacop]

Ok thank a lot. Other question..

Returning to this card...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-X800-XT...26faaa&pid=100011&rk=1&rkt=10&sd=281595723124

This card is listed in the link you send me. i`m not entirely sure. Will this card may works on my G4 gigabit ethernet? I understand that with modifications, which would be the modifications i would have to make? At this point i don`t have problem to do it and also i`m tempted with this one because is easy to me to get it, this card is for sale in a shop a few blocks from my place and has a very good price

 

[Intell]

That card is a G5 only card. It cannot work in any G4 machine.

 

[desantii]

I would do a G5 9600 which you can get for less than $20 on eBay, just tape pins 3 and 11. I'd you want more than that then a 9800

 

[bunnspecial]

I don't think a 9600 in any form will work in the 2x slot of the OP's GigE G4.

As per Japamac's website, 9700s and 9800s work in 2x AGP slots, although I don't know enough of the specifics of these to know if that's referring to the Mac version or the flashed PC versions of these(I'd guess the latter, but don't know).

 

[Intell]

ATI 9600's will not work in an AGP 2X slot. They are only 4X/8X cards. The Apple OEM ATI 9700/9800 will not work in a 2X slot. Mac Edition ATI 9800's will work in a 2X slot. Some PC flashed ATI 9700 and 9800 cards will work in a 2X slot. You can check by looking at the number of notches in the slot. If there are two, it will work in an AGP 2X slot, if there is only one it will not.

 

[desantii]

You are right was thinking it was a DA machine....

----------

Maybe a 6200... Those work in 2X in the cubes and bring CI and QE support