What is the best video card for a Mac G5 2.3ghz machine?
pci-x slots, agp 8x slot

p.s. it came with a 9600


[ Edited by bash64 01.07.2013 - 16:47 ]

That depends...

I think for right now, the 9600 is the best for the G5. The 9800XT has some issues, that I and a few others have experienced.

In Mac OS X, it's kind of a toss up, neither will work with MOS, that would be the GeForce 6800 Ultra or the Radeon X800.

[ Edited by SteveE617 01.07.2013 - 22:14 ]

Is there an XT version of the 9600 that would fair better?


[ Edited by bash64 01.07.2013 - 17:46 ]

The only real problem you'll have with a 9800XT is that the cooling fan speed is software controlled.
On PC cards I've been modding, I've used an altered 9800Pro rom so that the fan runs at full speed.
I would definitely not recommend a 9800XT that hasn't either been modded this way or fitted with a 3rd party cooler.
I have an Apple 9800XT I've intended to send to AmigaDave so that he can check out whether this is a problem with Apple cards as well.
Further some 256mb 9800Pro cards have R360 gpus (even some that have a universal keyed AGP card edge - two notches not just one - I've got one of these ready for coolAmigaN).

For OSX, an R400 based card is definitely an option. This includes some FireGL X3s, the X800, X80XT, X800XT PE, and even the X850XT.
But if its not an Apple card each of these requires some specific rom mods.
I can't recommend the FireGL X3 cards to the average hobbyist because only some of these cards can be successful modded. They are cheap though and I know one person that is very talented at modding R400s for Mac use (it takes more skill than an R300, so I don't do these).
Further, while we've managed to get some R400s running in G4s, many just refuse to (like the FireGL X3 I traded to AmigaDave - runs fine in his G5).
A few will, I sent one of these to Frank quite awhile ago (I've always admired his and Mark's skill with video drivers).

Finally, at this point I tend to agree with Pampers (at least in regard to G4s) that modded cards probably aren't the best solution (although I've run through several).
G5s, I wouldn't have any problem with modding (except for 9600 which are cheap anyway).

Sorry for the overly wordy post. Many of us have been considering what video cards would be nice to have. And I've just switched back to a 9000Pro for my PowerMac to retain full 3D support.

> Is there an XT version of the 9600 that would fair better? :-D

Yes, there is.

Quote:

As Andreas has mentioned, there is an Apple 9600XT card.
From what I understand, the later 9650 cards are not as fast as older 9600 cards.

Please, can someone of the MorphOS team tell if the 9800XT problem is actually under investigation/fixing or nothing has changed since the MOS 3.2 release? I would like to start to use the G5 that is parked under my desk. And, please, don't tell me to buy another GFX Board or to report again which is the problem, it has been reported (even using the Morphos report a bug tool..) and explained by me and others ages ago!



[ Edited by Miky060 02.07.2013 - 18:58 ]

What is the bug with 9800xt anyway?
Is it just that the fan doesn't turn and it overheats?
I will stay with the 9600 for now to avoid issues.
According to benchmarks the 9700 pro is faster than the 9800.

Jim,
Quote:
AFAIK 9650 cards mostly produced for Apple, and by 3d,memory bandwith speed these cards is between the 9600 pro and 9600XT

So 9650 slower than 9600xt, but faster than the rest of the 9600 family:

http://www.barefeats.com/rad9650.html

[ Edited by Derringer 02.07.2013 - 21:11 ]

> From what I understand, the later 9650 cards are not as fast as older 9600 cards.

Performance-wise, the 9650 is between the 9600 and the 9600XT (closer to the XT at that).

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=8358&forum=11&start=2


Edit: Seems I missed Derringer's posting as he already wrote that ;-)

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 02.07.2013 - 21:59 ]

Great and very thorough reply Jim!

Personally I like wordy replies when they give us so much precise information.

I hope to hear in the near future that Frank and/or Mark are working on a graphics driver for the R400 based Radeon video cards. Now that the G5 PowerMac is supported, the inclusion of a good 3D video card driver for the R400 series Radeon video cards would be a great thing to have.

Hello all,

I bought to a friend a radeon hd 3650 graphic card for a linux pc. My intend was to be able to look videos on usb stick or hard drive, and also those from youtube and else correctly, without any slowdown. But I have had no luck so I removed it and it is unused. Could anyone tell me if this radeon hd 3650 graphic card could/would be supported by morphos 3.2 in my powermac g4 mdd or in any powermac g5 supported models ? If I swap my radon 9000 pro, mac edition, for this one will my powermac g4 mdd boot or not ? Will it work under macos x tiger ? I have founded these specifications on internet, agp 8x, bus bandwith 128 bits, gpu rv630 or rv 635 (no sure) and 512 mb ddr2 of graphic memory.

Brumiga

[ Edité par Brumiga 03.07.2013 - 10:41 ]

> Could anyone tell me if this radeon hd 3650 graphic card could/would be supported
> by morphos 3.2 in my powermac g4 mdd or in any powermac g5 supported models ?
> [...] I have founded these specifications on internet, [...] gpu rv630 or rv 635 (no sure)

http://www.morphos-team.net/hardware has the list of supported graphics card. It's obviously not mentioned there, so most likely not supported. Besides, MorphOS currently supports R300 GPU family at best, so R600 GPU family support sounds out of reach by far.

> If I swap my radon 9000 pro, mac edition, for this one will my powermac g4 mdd
> boot or not ?

I doubt there's a PPC-compatible ROM file for the HD3650 (or anything beyond R500-based X1900) to flash it with, so PowerMac G4 or G5 won't boot at all with it.

Are there any plans to add more graphic card support? I would be happy to chip in for better cards (any with 1 gig memory basically).

> I would be happy to chip in for better cards (any with 1 gig memory basically).

The best Radeon card that can work in a PPC Mac (see my previous posting in this thread) has 0.5 GiB VRAM. MorphOS doesn't support as much VRAM anyway.
However, support for newer and better Radeon cards would make sense for MorphOS on Sam460ex.