which video card with G5?

[woodsie]

planning to get a dual 2GHz G5 soon. just wondering which video card to use....

i'll be doing mainly 2d & 3d graphics, web design, multimedia authoring and some video work. will the GeForce FX 5200 Ultra that comes standard be ok? or should I swap it for something else.???

bit of a newb with these things so any advice greatly appreciated. 🙂

thanks.

 

[tech4all]

planning to get a dual 2GHz G5 soon. just wondering which video card to use....

i'll be doing mainly 2d & 3d graphics, web design, multimedia authoring and some video work. will the GeForce FX 5200 Ultra that comes standard be ok? or should I swap it for something else.???

bit of a newb with these things so any advice greatly appreciated. 🙂

thanks.

I'm right with you, except I already have a G5 with the GeForce FX 5200. I use common graphic apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, and what not. The 5200 handles it well, IMO. But I have dual monitors spanning which only gives each display 32MB vram. And in the future I may want to do more graphic intesnse things. You say you want to do video work and 3d graphics....I would consider upgrading to a better card, as thats what I am in the works with doing right now. I'm thinking about getting the ATI 9800 PRO Special Mac Edition w/ 256MB RAM. I would like to get the new x800 but I have a plastic stuido display which has a ADC cable, x800 has 2 DVI, while the 9800 PRO special edition has DVI and ADC whic is what I have right now.

So yea, I would consider a better card.

 

[woodsie]

thanks for your opinion.

i'll only be using one monitor (an old 20inch applevision) so i guess that's not an issue.

alot of reports i've read is that the FX 5200 is the bottom of the barrel type card. the x800 gets talked alot but maybe cos it's new (??). i dunno.

can someone explain (in plain english) what these cards do exactly??? . it's very hard to find basic info beyond all the mumbo jumbo technical jargon.

 

[Santiago]

Don't stick with the stock NVidia 5200. The upgrade to the ATI 9600XT, a much better card, is a trivial $50. Beyond that, you need to analyze your needs and willingness to spend money, but the first step up should be a real no-brainer.

 

[woodsie]

i'm willing to spend the money if these cards give me what i need to get the work done...problem is i don't know anything about them.

anything above the 9600XT seems to be a big jump in price and i don't know why.

 

[cluthz]

A G5 is a $2000+ machine, the FX5200 is a $20 card.

The $50 upgrade (9600XT with 128MB VRAM) is a no-brainer!!

 

[woodsie]

ok so the $50 extra isn't much but what does it give me that the 5200 doesn't?

and what is the next option above the 9600xt ?

 

[cluthz]

ok so the $50 extra isn't much but what does it give me that the 5200 doesn't?

and what is the next option above the 9600xt ?

Twice the VRAM and much better performance.
Tiger is offloading lots of graphics on the GPU instaed of wasting CPU cycles on it.

The next option is the 9800XT, it costs an extra $350.
If you want a better card than the 9600XT, then get a 9600Xt, order a 9800pro from OWC ($299) and sell the 9600XT for $100 on this forum or ebay