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PowerMac G5 GPU Help

TheBeeDev

TheBeeDev

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 11, 2022
13
3
Australia
Hey all!
I recently got a G5 7,3, and i want to up it from its 64MB Radeon 9600 to a 128MB Radeon, or other card, for costs sake is it possible to buy a generic PC 9600 or any other GPU that can show the apple logo on boot and work flawlessly and flash it to work in the G5?
The goal is to have enough GPU power to stream youtube on InterWeb and try to daily drive it for some weird fun
 
TheBeeDev said:
Hey all!
I recently got a G5 7,3, and i want to up it from its 64MB Radeon 9600 to a 128MB Radeon, or other card, for costs sake is it possible to buy a generic PC 9600 or any other GPU that can show the apple logo on boot and work flawlessly and flash it to work in the G5?
The goal is to have enough GPU power to stream youtube on InterWeb and try to daily drive it for some weird fun
Click to expand...
The best one that I'm aware of is the Geforce 6800 Ultra. There is a Mac edition but they're pretty pricy. I would pick up a Radeon X800\X850 XT and flash it. You can also use a FireGL, I don't remember which model number the FireGL is though. Its the same card as the X800s
A Radeon 9800 Pro will also do but they aren't any cheaper, and the X800 series is better.
 
Dronecatcher said:
Another GPU won't make a shred of difference to Youtube playback on PowerPC - all of the video decoding takes place on the CPU.
A Dual G5 with the right tweaks should still be capable of 720P playback:

Click to expand...
100% true. The GPU won't make youtube or browsing any better. Though I'd argue a Core Image compatible one would make a difference if running Leopard. But a 9600 already is.

That said, for a G5 a 9600 is pretty mediocre. The G5 can do some pretty good early 2000s OS X gaming with a capable GPU. If that's something OP is interested in that is.
 
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Dronecatcher said:
Another GPU won't make a shred of difference to Youtube playback on PowerPC - all of the video decoding takes place on the CPU.
A Dual G5 with the right tweaks should still be capable of 720P playback:

Click to expand...
Ohhh, well now i know that, i feel kinda silly...perhaps my issue is 2.5GB of RAM then 😅
I'll read through the comments and do every thing i can get! :D
 
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Project Alice said:
100% true. The GPU won't make youtube or browsing any better. Though I'd argue a Core Image compatible one would make a difference if running Leopard. But a 9600 already is.

That said, for a G5 a 9600 is pretty mediocre. The G5 can do some pretty good early 2000s OS X gaming with a capable GPU. If that's something OP is interested in that is.
Click to expand...
Well, I sadly missed out on PowerPC entirely [I wasnt even born when the G5 was made ;-;] and really wanna experience and love this old machine, and maybe make some software for it for some fun
 
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TheBeeDev said:
Just to check im getting the extentions i saw:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160401003957/http://ss-o.net/safari/extension/NinjaKit.safariextz NinjaKit

http://sebaro.pro/viewtube/ Viewtube
Click to expand...
Yes, Ninjakit for Safari/Webkit - InterWebPPC can use Greasemonkey.
I haven't had my G5 out for a year and last time it worked but recently on my Powerbook I could only get Greasemonkey/Viewtube to download videos.

A quicker solution would be to use TenFiveTube:


Or make your own applet with InTheBox (both are from @wicknix )
 
Dronecatcher said:
Yes, Ninjakit for Safari/Webkit - InterWebPPC can use Greasemonkey.
I haven't had my G5 out for a year and last time it worked but recently on my Powerbook I could only get Greasemonkey/Viewtube to download videos.

A quicker solution would be to use TenFiveTube:


Or make your own applet with InTheBox (both are from @wicknix )
Click to expand...
Oo and, one last unrelated-ish question
What kinda ram do i need?
I got some cheap Kingston KVR and it *almost* worked, but it was extremely unstable
So im not sure if the RAM was bad or a bad connection or just the entirely wrong RAM
Kingston KVR400X64C3AK2/2G x2
Kingston KVR400X64C3A/1G x2
 
@TheBeeDev The solder on G5 RAM sockets can go brittle - I had a Quad where one stick would reappear when the machine got hot, another G5 I broke simply by installing more RAM.

Check your machine's RAM specs here:

Compare Macs, Compare iPods, iPhones & iPads @ EveryMac.com

EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Comparison - compare Macs, iPods, iPhones & iPads side-by-side, Mac comparison charts, iPod comparison charts & more.
everymac.com everymac.com
 
Dronecatcher said:
@TheBeeDev The solder on G5 RAM sockets can go brittle - I had a Quad where one stick would reappear when the machine got hot, another G5 I broke simply by installing more RAM.

Check your machine's RAM specs here:

Compare Macs, Compare iPods, iPhones & iPads @ EveryMac.com

EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Comparison - compare Macs, iPods, iPhones & iPads side-by-side, Mac comparison charts, iPod comparison charts & more.
everymac.com everymac.com
Click to expand...
Is there anyway i can reflow the solder? I have a hot air station
The current fix is i sprayed in some contact cleaner and its far more stable now
 
TheBeeDev said:
...perhaps my issue is 2.5GB of RAM then 😅
Click to expand...
No, the issue isn't ram either. It's exactly as @Dronecatcher stated earlier. Everything is done on the CPU.

I used a Quad G5 with 16GB ram and a Radeon X1900 XT from February 2017 to May 2020 as my primary Mac. That's max ram for a Quad, along with one of the two best cards you can use in a G5 (NVIDIA Quadro being the other). YT video was the one thing I could not do and I wasn't willing to go through the machinations of various apps and workarounds to try and get it to work. I just pulled out my 2008 MBP for all that.

The era that YT was in during the PowerPC era is also gone. It is possible, Dronecatcher has done it and continues to do it. You just aren't going to get there on video card and ram alone.
 
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eyoungren said:
It is possible, Dronecatcher has done it and continues to do it.
Click to expand...
Alas, I no longer keep the fires burning on that one - as and when I'll update my Powerbook to try and keep that option open but I feel the battle is more uphill than it was before. Having said that using Links2 and yt-dlp/mplayer still gives Youtube to most G3/G4s.
 
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Dronecatcher said:
Alas, I no longer keep the fires burning on that one - as and when I'll update my Powerbook to try and keep that option open but I feel the battle is more uphill than it was before. Having said that using Links2 and yt-dlp/mplayer still gives Youtube to most G3/G4s.
Click to expand...
There are so many other, more practical, and useful things to do with these old machines besides youtube, I don't ever bother going to YT on these things anymore. I use my iPad if I want youtube.
 
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Dronecatcher said:
Alas, I no longer keep the fires burning on that one - as and when I'll update my Powerbook to try and keep that option open but I feel the battle is more uphill than it was before. Having said that using Links2 and yt-dlp/mplayer still gives Youtube to most G3/G4s.
Click to expand...
Project Alice said:
There are so many other, more practical, and useful things to do with these old machines besides youtube, I don't ever bother going to YT on these things anymore. I use my iPad if I want youtube.
Click to expand...

I think OP was probably just hoping for the experience of YT in the PowerPC era. Unfortunately, as with a lot of other things in life, if you weren't present (and aware) at that time then you're going to need a time machine.

The YouTube now is very different than the YouTube of that era. Sure you can find old videos from that time period, but they are streamed from the newer YT platform. It's just, as said, more uphill now. So, even if OP succeeds, they are not going to have the same experience as we all did from 2005 to 2006 or so.
 
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eyoungren said:
I think OP was probably just hoping for the experience of YT in the PowerPC era. Unfortunately, as with a lot of other things in life, if you weren't present (and aware) at that time then you're going to need a time machine.

The YouTube now is very different than the YouTube of that era. Sure you can find old videos from that time period, but they are streamed from the newer YT platform. It's just, as said, more uphill now. So, even if OP succeeds, they are not going to have the same experience as we all did from 2005 to 2006 or so.
Click to expand...
Isn't there a site that has videos from that era, displayed on a site that also looks like early 2000s youtube? I remember seeing it once, but I can't for the life of me remember what its called. I also just searched and I couldn't find it. I think its one of those hobby projects like the oldnet and frogfind.
 
Project Alice said:
Isn't there a site that has videos from that era, displayed on a site that also looks like early 2000s youtube? I remember seeing it once, but I can't for the life of me remember what its called. I also just searched and I couldn't find it. I think its one of those hobby projects like the oldnet and frogfind.
Click to expand...
One of those projects is yt2009, which, as the developer puts it, is "a fairly accurate 2009 YouTube frontend." I am not aware of any public instances, so you would have to "host" it yourself. I write "host" in parentheses because all you need to do is start the Docker container on a computer on your local network, and you're set. Then you can just hop on Safari, navigate to the IP address of the computer running the yt2009 instance, and enjoy YouTube on your old Mac. The homepage even shows period-correct videos and will actually attempt to give you recommendations based on your viewing history.

It's not exactly as simple as visiting Invidious, but I don't think it's going to get much better than this. I actually think this is the way forward: hosting lightweight frontends on your local network, not just for YouTube, but also for websites like Reddit, Twitter, etc. Anyway, those are my two cents. I hope this will be of use to someone.
 
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thewireless said:
One of those projects is yt2009, which, as the developer puts it, is "a fairly accurate 2009 YouTube frontend." I am not aware of any public instances, so you would have to "host" it yourself
Click to expand...

Dronecatcher said:
Are you talking about Warpstream via Protoweb:

Click to expand...

I forgot about Warpstream. I'm pretty sure I was thinking of yt2009. I think I discovered it in a video of one of the youtubers I watch, but I can't remember who. IIRC that youtuber did have a public instance that they hosted.

I think both would be solid choices though
 
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