PowerMac G4 graphics card

[R.Youden]

Hi everyone. As you can see from my sig I have a DP 1.42GHz G4. i love the computer, think its great. Looking at some of the new games that are comming out soon, Sims 2, Tiger Woods 2005, and Colin McRae Rally 2005 I think it is time for a new graphics card maybe. I currently have the Radeon 9000 with 64MB.

The big problem with the G4 is that it does not take a lot of the latest 8xAGP cards and I am limited to a 4x card. Which one would people suggest is the best? From looking around the nest one appears to be the Radeon 9800 with 128MB. If I get one of these would I see a big imporvement over the 9000? Also what sort of price am I looking at in GBP?

Thanks for your advice.

 

[freiheit]

Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition

The Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition (2x/4x AGP) is the best card that will go into a G4 PowerMac (at least without warranty-voiding modification). I'm never sure of the exchange rate, but I've been seeing prices in the US creeping down to about US$230 (I think I got mine on a really good sale for about US$250 6 months ago at buy.com). Since then the prices have been coming down all over.

I can't speak for the gaming performance, but under OSX 10.4.1 it runs beautifully, including all the fancy eye candy effects like the ripples when opening a new Dashboard widget.

 

[R.Youden]

That is around teh price range that I have seen them for (about £150ish). Thats the thing that really gets me with this 'PowerMac' it is only two years old and I dont get no rippleson dashboard but my new PowerBook does? I would have thought the G4 would have been able to ripple.

The main reason is that I am thinking of getting a 20" ACD so if I can persuade that out of a joint birthday present then I will treat myself to the graphics card. After-all that is why I got the PowerMac, so I can upgrade it!

 

[GulGnu]

That is around teh price range that I have seen them for (about £150ish). Thats the thing that really gets me with this 'PowerMac' it is only two years old and I dont get no rippleson dashboard but my new PowerBook does? I would have thought the G4 would have been able to ripple.

The main reason is that I am thinking of getting a 20" ACD so if I can persuade that out of a joint birthday present then I will treat myself to the graphics card. After-all that is why I got the PowerMac, so I can upgrade it!

The ripples are all about the GFX card - not about the processor

 

[dmw007]

Go for the 9800 its an awesome video card.
The reason your Mac does not display the ripple effect is because your video card does not support core image (I think this is what it is call - new to Mac OS).

 

[Passante]

Get the 9800 Pro Mac edition. Made a world of difference in my 1.25DP MDD G4. Halo runs great. Full eye candy in Tiger.

 

[R.Youden]

I think I will get the 9800. What I was saying is that the 9000 aint that old, so its a bit silly that core image is not supported.

 

[Platform]

I think I will get the 9800. What I was saying is that the 9000 aint that old, so its a bit silly that core image is not supported.

Well the speed of computers is tooo fast in that perspect

 

[freiheit]

The Radeon 9000 is based on the older 8500. It doesn't have the hardware support that the 9500/9600/9700/9800 have. CoreImage (and DirectX 9 if you were using it on a PC) need the features of the 9500 and higher. The 9000/9100/9200 were only DirectX 8.1 (and Quartz Extreme) compatible.

Now there are several niceties I noticed going from the 9000 to the 9800 in my G4 PowerMac. But mostly it was eye candy. If your purchase decision is based on eye candy, I have to ask just how many hours will you sit watching the ripple effect versus actually doing something with the computer?

 

[R.Youden]

In all fairness, it was the 'eye candy' that got me thinking about the graphics card in the first place. It is not like I am going to pay £150 for the ripple. I am just thinking that with all the new G5 only graphic cards comming out it wont be long till you cant get the 9800 anymore (maybe anyway).

As I said earlier. I could have got a iMac for cheaper than the set up on the tower but I want the expandability so I might a well use that ability. I have grand plans for my PowerMac and this would be this first step. I appreciate that I will never be able to put a G5 in the thing but the work that I do, I probably dont need the G5. I have had a old iMac G3 and it was great for the first 2years and then it just started to go down hill so fast with the G4's so I dont want to be in this position again!