New videocard for a G4? 2

[Morgan19]

Hi all,

I successfully updated my 9.2 G4 to Panther last week, but performance is noticeably worse than with 9.2 so I'd really like to do some hardware updates.

The system is one of the blue-grey G4s (450 mhz, I think?) from around 1999. It currently has 800-some megs of RAM and a brand-new 7200 rpm harddrive so I don't think either of those are a bottleneck. What I would like to update is the videocard because performance seems to suffer on the visual side: menus are jerky when they open, windows do not drag around smoothly at all, and I can just tell that things aren't as smooth as they should be in that respect.

What's in there now is an ATI card (AGP) with 8 memory chips on one side, but I'm not sure exactly what model it is but my guess is a 4 mb card. Considering it's from '99, it's safe to say it's old. I do graphic and web design on this machine only (no games, so high-end 3D isn't a necessity) and I was working fine with the old setup, so I really don't need a bleeding edge card. A solid-performance videocard will do fine.

Can I get some sub-$100 card recommendations that'll work with this system and help run Panther a bit better? It looks like the top few on this page (

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...rtby=14&order=1)

are in the right price range for what we need. Like I said we're not doing gaming so we don't need to blow the budget, it's all just production work, so how much difference between the 8, 64, and 128 mb cards would there be?

A sidenote: another co-worker has a brand new G4 with OS X (bought about a month ago) that I'd like to see what videocard they have because it runs pretty well, but I can't tell from looking at the card itself. Is there some way of checking the systems specs from within the OS?

Thanks!
m19

 

[Morgan19]

Come to think of it... Will the Radeon 9000 card even work with a Mac?

m19

 

[Morgan19]

Ok! Three posts and I'm talking to myself. I've done some more research and it looks like the card I found is PC-only, and what I'm actually looking for is a Mac-edition Radeon 8500. Problem is, I can't seem to find any stores that sell it. Can someone help with a link or two?

m19

 

[ftechguy]

Macmall.com and macwarehouse.com (part of CDW now) are good choices for mac hardware shopping. The mac radeon 8500 is discontinued, I believe you can only get the low-end 7000, middle 9000 and high 9800 nowadays. Even the radeon 7000 should be much better than the rage 128 that is currently in your system (I think). And it will offer dual-display capability.

 

[Morgan19]

Thanks ft! I started out thinking this was going to be as easy as popping in a new card and then, after more research, it turns out Macs have need Mac-specific videocards. Glad I found that out.

You're right, I have the Rage128 currently, which I believe is a 16mb card. I'm wondering how much of a difference a 32mb card will make, though? Dual-display isn't a concern and won't be any time in the near future. I like the 7000's price, but 64mb of RAM on the 9000 is tempting though more expensive. What would you recommend, just knowing the information I've given you?

m19

 

[ftechguy]

The rage128 doesn't support Quartz Extreme, so I'm guessing that's why the menus and windows don't scroll smoothly. All Radeon cards do support it so it should help, but I'm not sure whether you would notice a difference between the 7000 and 9000. There would be a big difference in 3D rendering, but just the OS X system effects, I don't know. With that said, 32MB should still be plenty for image editing and web design. Even if you run at high res, it will be more than enough.

I think the 7000 is about $110 while the 9000 is ~$150 so I guess if you can find a good deal on the 9000, go for it. But I don't think you'll hurt yourself by going with just the 7000.

 

[Ecaboodle]

You could upgrade your CPU as well.

Check this link out.

http://www.sonnettech.com/

PS I don't work for them, have just updated a few macs with them, there great.

If you can't fix it in 20 minutes call someone who can.

 

[lukelukeluke]

Hi there,

I wouldn't upgrade your machine with a radeon 9000.
I just wanted to tell you that with a 450mhz cpu,
a kickass video card wouldnt do such a good job.

I'm currently on a 867mhz G4 with a GeForce2MX with 32mb RAM. I'm doing video things and graphical and such, its enough for more than i need.

For your machine, i would look on ebay or something like that to buy an occassion graphics card with 32mb, geforce or radeon. Panther runs very smooth with mine and my graphical applications (dreamweaver, photoshop, flash, imovie) run very good for me.

Such cards should be around $40...

lucas

 

[SYQUEST]

You can check out Other World Computing, their URL is: macsales.com or Small Dog Electronics, their URL is:

http://www.smalldog.com.

Both have a lot of good MAC stuff and good prices.......

Also for memory modules you can try COAST-TO-COAST MEMORY, their URL is:

http://www.18004memory.com.

I have had good service from them.

Hope this helps!

....JIM....

 

[Morgan19]

To give everyone an update... I'm giving the Mac a 1.3 GHz processor update along with about 1.5 GBs of RAM total. That being the case, I ended up purchasing a Radeon 9000 for it, guessing that with the new processor it could get plenty of power from it.

m19