Video Card Upgrade Question

Discussion in 'Buying Tips, Advice and Discussion (archive)' started by mohaukachi, Aug 18, 2005.

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  1. mohaukachi, Aug 18, 2005

    mohaukachi macrumors member

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    #1
    im thinking about upgrading my video card on my g5 single 1.8 but i have questions first. thought this might be a good place to bounce some ideas off people. first of all, agp is different than pci right? so i cant really ADD a card, and have 2 can i? i don't know enough about hardware to figgure this one out. i would like to have a main monitor card and a secondary monitor card, but im willing to sacrifice.

    right now i have the basic 64meg one that came with the comp. i play a lot of games and im thinking about the radeon 9800 pro mac 256 version. is there something better for that price? (300 bucks) also does anyone know if there is a good place to get a deal on that card? oooh or even better, are there any new awesome cards soon to be released i should wait for?

    thanks for the advice guys!

    k
     
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  2. RGunner, Aug 18, 2005

    RGunner macrumors 6502a

    RGunner

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    #2
    Better choice

    there are new OEM 9800's at www.macsales.com for $179.

    best choice out there.

    Alternatively the x800 is the best available @ $400+
     
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  3. mohaukachi, Aug 18, 2005

    mohaukachi thread starter macrumors member

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    #3
    oh! nice. although im seeing its 128 megs vs 256. how big of a difference is that going to make?
     
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  4. RGunner, Aug 18, 2005

    RGunner macrumors 6502a

    RGunner

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    #4
    Ahhh

    Good point.

    Well the 256MB card would be better of course, if you can swing the $259 G5 Special Edition and still get the $50 rebate, I would tend to go that route.

    Wait a couple weeks, I think ATI has something up their sleeve (as well as the soon to be released 9650 hybrid card). See www.barefeats.com for more information and performance.

    Good luck!
     
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  5. freiheit, Aug 18, 2005

    freiheit macrumors 6502a

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    #5
    You can only have one AGP card in a computer at a time so if you wanted dual video cards you would need one AGP and one PCI. But I think on the Mac side of things the best PCI card you'll find (other than a hacked PC version) is a Radeon 7500 or something. That's probably fine for running the second display for just basic stuff. Don't expect great things from Doom 3 on that monitor. :)

    The Radeon 9800 Mac Edition (or Pro Mac Edition) is a great card. I put one in my dual G4 PowerMac and saw a pleasant improvement in display quality and speed over my base 9000. But if your G5 has a 9600, the 9800 won't be a HUGE improvement (it'll be better for sure, just not amazingly better).
     
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  6. RGunner, Aug 19, 2005

    RGunner macrumors 6502a

    RGunner

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    #6
    Welp, the AGP 9600 hybrid was released...

    I would buy the Special Edition 9800 256MB for your machine.

    It can be had at Newegg for $188 this morning (refurb)
     
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