Graphics card recommendation - Macintosh Garden

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2013, July 8 - 3:56pm

Gary

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Joined: 2011 Jul 21

Graphics card recommendation

I bought a copy of Apple's Production Suite on ebay for a ridiculous price of $15. I am primarily interested in Final Cut Pro but out of curiosity I tried to install something called Motion.

The Installer complained that my Graphics card didn't measure up. I apparently need one of the following graphics cards:
* NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
* ATI Mobility Radeon 9600
* ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
* ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
* ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

My problem is I use the computer primarily as a Mac OS 9 system. From your experience which of the graphics cards above plays well in Mac OS 9 as well as X (Tiger)? Also are the cards I've listed generic or do I have to locate a Mac Specific flavor?

Gary

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2013, July 8 - 6:17pm

MadMac

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Joined: 2010 Mar 20

We need more info, like... what mac do you have to run FinalCut. From what i have found in google:

http://lowendmac.com/video/agp/geforce-5200.html

The ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 needs at least MacOS X 10.3.6

http://lowendmac.com/video/agp/radeon-9600.html

http://www.macpalace.com/661-2798-card-video-r300/ati-radeon-9700-pro.html

Try google, there are a lot of sites related to mac parts.

2013, July 8 - 8:43pm

pvar

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Joined: 2013 Jan 13

The Geforce 4 Ti (4600, 128MB VM) cards are amazing for the money. They are the most powerful cards for OS9, but still compare very favorably with the Radeon 9800 Pro cards for OSX. A really good Open GL compromise. A number of people have complained that they don't have Core Image, but unless you are in Leopard, the only thing you actually loose is the 'Water Ripple' when adding widgets to dashboard.

They have really kept their value for a long time (generally over $100.00) till about a year ago, and now are just finally starting to see them for these prices:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-PowerMac-NVIDIA-GeForce4-Ti-4600-128MB-AGP...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/APPLE-MAC-G4-nVidia-GeForce4-Ti-4600-128-MB-DVI-...

Just make sure the Fans are OK, because they do eventually go out on older units.

2013, July 9 - 6:42pm

(Reply to #3) #4

Gary

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Joined: 2011 Jul 21

>The Geforce 4 Ti (4600, 128MB VM) cards are amazing

Do you have the drivers for this card?

Gary

2013, July 10 - 12:09am

(Reply to #7) #5

MikeTomTom

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Joined: 2009 Dec 7

Geforce Ti 4600 128MB Video Card
This is a card that I bought 2nd hand on eBay back in 2009 for AUS$89 and yes it was very nice in OS 9 & X (in my Quicksilver 2002), it had Mac chips - it wasn't a hacked PC card.

My purchase didn't come with drivers, it used the Apple installed nVidia drivers OK in OS 9.2.2 - I assume that originally it would've come with extra Mac software but the original CDs, if any, weren't included in my auction.

2013, July 11 - 4:07pm

(Reply to #7) #6

pvar

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Joined: 2013 Jan 13

In general, unless you have a special need (like S-Video TV output) the drivers are built into the cards themselves for Mac (firmware). Any updates will be part of OS 9 itself.

To give you a better idea of how good the Ti 4600 is, I am using Flash and Fireworks CS4 on my G4 MDD right now with NO slowdown at all (these were made to use with Core Image G5 systems). LOVE this card - just had to replace the fan at one point (cost $10.00 on ebay).

2013, July 8 - 9:53pm

bertyboy

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Joined: 2009 Jun 14

The Radeon Cards are all PMG5 cards, for an AGP slot.
Like said above, they usually require OS X 10.3 and above, but they support Classic fine.

If you're putting it in a G4, you may need to tape some of the pins, ie. so you can put an AGP 4x card into an AGP 2x slot. Google your Mac model and card model to get more info, usually from xlr8yourmac

2013, July 9 - 12:23am

MikeTomTom

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Joined: 2009 Dec 7

My problem is I use the computer primarily as a Mac OS 9 system. From your experience which of the graphics cards above plays well in Mac OS 9 as well as X (Tiger)

What model of Macintosh are you wanting this for? G3, G4? PCI, AGP?

2013, July 9 - 12:21pm

(Reply to #5) #9

Gary

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Joined: 2011 Jul 21

My target computer is a G4 933 mHz (2002 - Quicksilver) with 1.25 GB RAM and an AGP slot. The video card in the machine right now is an nVIDIA GeForce4 MX with 64 MB of VRAM.

Gary

2013, July 11 - 10:41am

#10

themacmeister

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Joined: 2009 Oct 26

Before I went to NVIDIA, I used a 9800SE (softmodded to Pro) under Windows. This was an astonishingly good card for games. If there are OS9 drivers, I would recommend the GeForceFX, although the 9800PRO would trounce it for speed/capabilities?!

I believe my original G4 15" iMac has NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32MB, which is only just passable. The 4MX is way better, and the Ti has (from memory) hardware texture support, lacking in the MX models.?

Go with the Ti, and you will be fine -- MikeTomTom is very reliable

You cannot flash a PC to a Mac model, as it requires a hardware mod, which I cannot locate.

They are not going to be cheap either...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/603-0939-Apple-Power-Mac-G4-nVidia-GeForce-4-Ti4...

2013, October 28 - 3:22pm

#11

supernova777

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Joined: 2013 Mar 18

hey ive got a radeon 9800 128mb pc card in my g4 sawtooths agp slot..
im running my video off a pci rage128 card for the moment,

ive downloaded the 9800 rom can anyone give me the flashing app for os9
the only one i can find says it requires osx panther or tiger to be able to flash
the card and ive got no osx install on this machine atm! im pretty sure the from
flasher was originally for os9... does anyone have this small app for me to make
my ati radeon 9800 work !!!

any help GREATLY appreciated

2014, January 15 - 10:23pm

(Reply to #11) #12

themacmeister

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Joined: 2009 Oct 26

@supernova777 -> You will almost certainly need to do a dos flash on a windows compatible machine. I have managed to do this on a Mac Pro 4,1 but I would not recommend it. Also, you will need two graphics cards installed if you do not trust a blind flash (a real old PCI one).

Keep in mind that the connectors for PC/Mac cards may be different. See above re: taping connectors.

I have found MacOS9 to be so unreliable, that I wouldn't flash a video card from there. DOS is the way to go. There should be ample instructions on the site where you downloaded the Mac 9800 ROM.

2014, January 22 - 11:16am

(Reply to #13) #13

supernova777

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Joined: 2013 Mar 18

@macmeister yes you were entirely correct when i was finally able to flash it in a windows pc.. it works!!!!!! the flashing on the mac doesnt compare..and is problematic..
i did it using an ancient ati mach64 which made teh graphics allmost all yellow monochromatic lol!!!
but yes i got the 9800 pro working with my powermac g5 1.8ghz now.... i also happened to nab a ati silencer for it by arctic cooling otu of pure chance i saw one at a friends house and he was like sure take it.. score;) anyways the card makes the powermac g5 noticably faster. the most efffective upgrade for a low end g5.. I havent tried it on my sawtooth but im guessing it would work magic for the sawtooth.. but im not running osx on the sawtooth.. os9.2.2 + running logic 4.81 on it (dl'd from here!)... and loving it! (now that i figured out that u cant have more then 1gb ram installed or the app wont work properly!)

2014, January 15 - 3:19pm

#14

Dimitris1980

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Joined: 2009 Apr 21

I have ordered a Gforce Ti 4600 fom my Powermac MDD. Do i need drivers for OS 9.2 and Leopard?

2014, January 16 - 8:31pm

(Reply to #12) #15

MikeTomTom

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Joined: 2009 Dec 7

I have ordered a Gforce Ti 4600 fom my Powermac MDD. Do i need drivers for OS 9.2 and Leopard?

As I mentioned upstream (post #8) I did not source drivers for this card. I only used what was provided with the OS install. Mac OS 9.2.2 & Tiger 10.4.11, & card installed into a Quicksilver 2002 model G4. It ran great "out of the box".

You'd expect it to as it was a genuine Mac chipped card, not PC flashed. Don't know about Leopard as I never installed that OS on this G4. No issues otherwise.

Good to know you can still source the nvid drivers for this tho', tmm.

2014, January 16 - 9:26am

#16

themacmeister

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Joined: 2009 Oct 26

Apparently, the latest supported NVIDIA drivers for the Ti 4600

http://eshop.macsales.com/tech/ftp/nvidia/nVidia3.5Drivers.sit

Enjoy

2014, January 18 - 1:27am

#17

themacmeister

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Joined: 2009 Oct 26

@mtt, if you ever need advanced features (?) that aren't available OOTB, these drivers provide a control panel (from memory). I can't quite picture what those advanced features are, or even remember what is IN the control panel... but it is there if you want to try it.

2014, January 18 - 3:01am

(Reply to #16) #18

MikeTomTom

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Joined: 2009 Dec 7

Hi tmm, I'm grabbing those drivers for safe keeping, no worries

It'll be a while before trying them out tho'. My only AGP slot Macs (both dual CPU models) power supplies died some time ago... and getting replacements are on the back burner for now.

2014, January 18 - 10:47am

#19

Dimitris1980

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Joined: 2009 Apr 21

Thank you for the drivers. Soon i will have the gforce Ti 4600 for my powermac mdd. It is the mac version.

2014, January 22 - 11:19am

#20

supernova777

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Joined: 2013 Mar 18

@GARY original poster......
I believe the GEFORCE 6200 AGP is the best card (only card?) for getting *BOTH* a) OSX Core + Quartz support, --while keeping-- b) compatibility with mac os 9!!!
if you want to use this motion app, + still boot to os9.. get the geforce 6200... or the radeon 9800 pro...