Video Card Upgrades

[ryank(3)]

I have been poking around for a while but can't really get a clear answer on this. What video cards are compatible upgrades for a power mac G5 (2.5 ghz quad core). There are a few things I have been able to figure out for certain:

Apple and third party vendors do sell ridiculously overpriced "video card upgrades" (a 6600GT LE for $230? methinks NO)

There does not appear to be any way to connect axillary power to a newer card such as an 8800 series card or above (which ALL require a 6 pin power supplement)

There is one and only one pci E x16 slot on the mobo and SLI is impossible on a power mac (or any mac desktop as far as I know of). The other slots are all PCI-E but at reduced speeds so putting a vid card in them would probably work but be kind of a waste of moolah.

So my question stands, what kind of vid cards (third party, not offered through apple) can I put in there? I am hoping anything that is PCI-E and doesn't require extra power. Right now it is an old 6600 which I'd like to replace with an 8600 GTS or something like that.


*I love mac but god damn I wish there were some more direct documentation lying around, they really don't like you trying to do your own thing with their computers and usually seem to do whatever they can to kill customization.*

 

[CaptainChunk]

You can't install an 8-Series GeForce card in a G5. Mac Pros only. G5 graphics cards upgrades are all expensive, unfortunately.

If memory serves me correctly, I think the fastest graphics cards (besides the Quadro FX 4500) you can get for the PCIe G5s are the GeForce 7800 GT and the Radeon X1900. And those are both $500-600.

 

[velocityg4]

You may be able to flash a cheap PC version of a Radeon X1900xt or Geforce 7800.

With that being said. When looking for ROM's all I can find are for either the AGP versions of those cards or PCIe ones but the PCIe ones are for Intel Macs only.

Since the owners of PCIe Powermacs are a very small group compared to Mac Pro and AGP Powermac owners. Finding a usuable ROM file may be difficult.

If you are interested though. Go to the Strangedogs forums to find out if this is possible. You will need to register to view and post in the forums. They can give the most help.

edit: As for you question about the 6pin powerplug. You can easily find 4pin to 6pin molex adapters on newegg.com

 

[MacVidCards]

You can flash yourself a 7800GT with the ROM from The Mac Elite. As usual, the trick is finding a card with a 128K ROM chip to begin with.

I don't recall seeing the X1900 GT ROM ever posted somewhere, but it might be. You need to use a similar card to the PPC one...note that a different card, a X1900XT came out for Mac Pro, cards and ROMs from PPC and Intel DON'T MIX.

There is a rather rare upgrade option in the form of a 7800GTX512, which got tested on Barefeats. Fastest PPC card ever. Occasionally they pop up on Ebay from a few different vendors.

This is one of the "minuses" to the Intel switch. Had Macs stayed with PPC we would likely be able to use much faster cards in the PPC ones now, at the very least the 8800 and 3870.

s far as the Power goes, there is a plug on your logc board for just such a purpose. The Mac specific cable is available from ATI for like $12 or again from Ebay for $30 or so. Or you can make one yourself. A guy on 10,000% did so. But it is preferable to the 4 Pin adapter.