[X4U] G5 Video Card Question

[Stroller]

On 4 Apr 2008, at 22:32, Zane H. Healy wrote:

>> You can flash a PC's ATi 9800 Pro to a Mac firmware.
>>
>> These cards are quite common - they're quite distinctive when you
>> know what to look for, and you can easily get one on eBay for £30 (or
>> probably less now). It's not too difficult to do and although it's an
>> imperfect solution, well, compared with the cost of an official card,
>> it was the only answer that seemed to make sense when my G5's
>> graphics card died.
>
> How much Video RAM?

Looks like 128meg in System Profiler.

If that's correct, then that's probably the only realistic option as  
far as flashing is concerned - when I looked at the MacElite pages  
(the new name for the StrangeDogs boys) there seemed only to be this  
one particular card that worked optimally. Other cards were quirky -  
for instance a card with dual DVI out didn't work when connected to  
DVI monitors, but only when using VGA adaptors; other charismatic  
features were more problematic, IIRC. The 9800 Pro based on ATi's  
reference design "just works" - perfectly and the way you'd expect it  
to.

> I was lucky, mine started going out about a week prior to my Applecare
> expiring.

My experiences with this G5 tempt me towards the full 3-year  
Applecare next time. I've always got it for laptops in the past, but  
working with PCs had led me to perceive towers as "repairable". But  
the cost of Applecare makes a MacPro seem even less affordable. : 
(  It seems like plumbers & builders can tell when the economy is on  
a downturn - all my customers are complaining of cashflow problems at  
the moment, and taking ages to pay their bills.

(Having said that, I just looked at the MacPro pages on Apple.com,  
and they're showing only a 1.6x or 2x performance increase against a  
G5 on many applications. Admittedly the G5 is a quad-core, but  
still... I guess I expected more, somehow. Maybe this'll make waiting  
to afford an upgrade less frustrating.)

Stroller.