I am still running a 3 to 4 year old Power Mac G5 Dual 2.0 Ghz with 2.5 Ram and I am looking to replace the current graphic card with a better one. Now the thing is that I am not really very informed when it comes to graphic cards. I started looking around but got all confused. Can anyone tell me what I CAN buy that works with my machine? I am willing to spend around 200 bucks (more if needed) for a new card…any pointers?
My machine specs:
Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: Power Mac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac7,3
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 2 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 2.5 GB
Bus Speed: 1 GHz
That looks a lot like the specification of my G5 (recently deceased). I think the best card you can put in it is the ATI Radeon X800. It can be quite a difficult thing to find, though, because ATI ceased production of it for several months before eventually bringing it back into circulation.
I was considering getting the X800 myself, but in the end I decided that it made more sense to upgrade to a new Mac.
Yeah, get an X800 if you can find one. It’s a big improvement over the 9600. The only downside is that it’s not completely silent because of the fan, but even at its loudest, it isn’t really that noticeable anyway, or at least mine isn’t.
Thanks Nick. Yeah I was checking into that one…do I have any other options than the X800? As for a new mac…I’d like one but can’t afford it at the moment.
There weren’t very many graphics card released for this particular model of G5, unfortunately. The X800 is about as good as it gets, and the other options (such as the 9800) really don’t give you much of a boost over the original 9600.
I half-remember that there was some super-expensive Nvidia card that worked in this kind of G5, but I can’t remember what it is. I suppose you might also be able to find a PC card that can be flashed to work with it… not sure what would be suitable, though.
Other options aside from the 9800 and X800 are the X850 and nVidia 6800. Both of those were build-to-order only, though, so you’d have to scavenge eBay or something to find them. And yeah, there was the Quadro workstation card, but it’s stupidly expensive, so you might as well just get a new computer instead of that one. Flashing is a possibility…I did hear of people getting the nVidia 7800 (last of the AGP cards I think) working.
Thanks for your help NEIL (sorry for calling ya Nick lol). Well I guess I will have to go for the X800 (found one for $379). Will this card give much of a boost? Does anyone have experience with that one?
Selling the whole thing and reinvesting into a new machine or maybe you can find a used 9800Pro. Performance wise not this much difference to the X800 which Nigel suggested if i remember things correctly but it was a silent card.
A friend of mine had a 9800 in his G5, and it wasn’t entirely happy with the fan noise. I haven’t heard either the 9800 or the X800, but they’re probably both going to be a bit more annoying than the one you currently have.
With regards to performance of the X800, I scouted around for comparisons between it and the 9600, and I recall coming to the conclusion that it was about twice as fast, and it had more features, so it was a worthwhile step up. Not sure how accurate my understanding of the speed is, though.
Yes, I have it; it’s about 4X faster than the 9600, so it’s a pretty big boost. Of course, that doesn’t mean games necessarily go 4X faster since the CPU is still the same, but the more you crank the graphics settings, the more difference you notice. (The 9800 is more like 2X faster or so, and it does have a fan so it’s not silent either.) I haven’t found the fan noise to be a problem. It’s loud when starting the computer, but that only lasts a few seconds.
I was a long time very happy with my 9800Pro. Very well performing card due to the 256bit memory interface and it was silent. The first versions of the 9800XT and X800 were not this silent anymore but they might have been improved over the time, so it might be worth checking out some reviews (at some point those cooling systems turned into tasteless Colani like designs), Norris may have some links?! ;O)
Well, you know that was in my younger days. I’ve decided to exchange my glasses with contact lenses. They make me feel more sexy and also look thinner. Don’t you think?
