I recently purchased a PowerMac G5 7,2 (1047) 1.8Ghz PCI-X system. It boots and works fine under Mac OSX, but it has an AGP GeForce graphics card.

I know I need to buy a supported graphics card to get to the next step.. installation. I don't know what my end goal is with MorphOS, so I was looking for a fully 3D compatible graphics card. I am looking at the Hardware list (http://www.morphos.de/hardware) and decided that I want to try to get an ATI Radeon 9250 (RV280) card. I have bought both an AGP and then a PCI v3.3 version card and neither seems to work.

I assume that with the correct graphics card installed, I should see the Mac gray screen and then see the MorphOS CD boot (holding down the "c", of course).. but all I see is black and the monitor then goes into power-saving mode.

I have never been a Mac guy, is there a difference in PCI cards for MACs & PCs? Does it matter which PCI slot to put the ATI card in? Can I leave both graphics cards installed or does it need to be one or the other? Although I feel like I have tried everything.. I am not above retrying anything.

Is there a better list of what cards will work on my G5? Does anyone have an extra graphics card they are willing to sell that work on a G5? Does anyone see any eBay auctions for card that works?

I am more than eager to get this system setup, but I am getting frustrated. Trying to buy a card from eBay is proving to be more frustrating than anything.

Thanks.

> I want to try to get an ATI Radeon 9250 (RV280) card. I have bought both an AGP
> and then a PCI v3.3 version card and neither seems to work. [...] is there a difference
> in PCI cards for MACs & PCs?

Yes, there is. Essentially, PPC Macs require a graphics card with PPC-compatible ROM, either genuine cards for PPC Macs or x86 cards with reflashed ROM (may or may not work fully). Those AGP cards exist up to Radeon X850 and are 3D-supported. Then there are AtomBIOS-based AGP Radeon cards up to X1950, which MorphOS can also run with and support in 3D but won‘t display OpenFirmware or the Mac boot menu. 3rd option are PCI Radeon HD cards, which lack 3D support and also won‘t display OpenFirmware or the Mac boot menu.
MorphOS 3.11 may add 2D support for AGP Radeon HD cards, btw.

http://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=12285&forum=11&start=6

> Does anyone have an extra graphics card they are willing to sell that work on a G5?

http://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=12247&forum=38
http://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=12161&forum=38
http://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=12112&forum=38 (may be sold already)

Just search ebay for "Radeon 9600 Apple" and you should get plenty hits for genuine cards pulled from G5s.

Exotic option like PCI cards, reflashed ones or RadeonHD should only be considered if you really know what your doing

Quote:

That is a sound recommendation, Apple Radeon 9600 cards are cheap and powerful enough for most applications.
Just make sure you get a genuine Apple 9600 AGP card, because the 9600 in my experience usually doesn't produce good results when re-flashed with a Mac rom (and the genuine Apple cards are really inexpensive).

Other solid alternatives, Apple Radeon 9800 and X800XT cards.

I have a re-flashed PC 9800 in my machine, but I'm actually dubious of most re-flashed PC cards as small component differences often create instability issues once the cards are flashed with an Apple rom.

How often? Pretty damned often, as the card I have is one out of over a dozen I modified and its the most stable of the bunch (I can't tell the difference between it and an Apple card). Its a risky game to save a few bucks.

On the 9200, a PC card is actually a good option (as the Apple 9000 doesn't work in a G5) and its the only card that can be installed in a G5 giving you W3D support, BUT in addition to the rom flash, you need to move or remove some resistors on the back side of the card (I've done it and I wouldn't recommend it to a newbie).

So, Apple 9600, 9800, or X800XT, now.
These are your options, you just can't use the more common Nvidia based cards (and as an ATI/AMD fan, I'm cool with that).

And as Andreas has pointed out, maybe a few new AGP PC cards with rev. 3.11 (or an improved driver for the PC AGP X1950Pro).
Including a really cool option Mark "Bigfoot" Olsen teased us with as a possibility for 3.11.

https://bigfoot.morphos-team.net/test/g5-hd3850-agp.png

That driver would support overlay, and the gpu would be really fast compared to our current options (and as 3D support is eventually to be introduced - its a better option than any card Apple supported for the G5).



[ Edited by Jim 06.04.2018 - 21:53 ]

Quote:

^^This

To add on to what Jim is saying, reflashed PC Radeon cards will be a crap shoot. In my experience they give underwhelming performance in many areas. A genuine Apple G5 based card is the best bet for someone new to the platform. A Radeon 9600 (and 9650) will be your quickest and cheapest option. If listed properly for sale, it will just work.