[G4] what type of video card?

[Eric Wood]

Am 08.01.2009 um 21:46 schrieb c m:

> I want to upgrade the video card in my AGP as video playback is  
> choppy and freezes a lot. i will not be playing games on this  
> machine so will I need a AGP or PCi card with 128MB?
>
> I am trying to keep costs as reasonable as possible. And I also  
> have ruled out flashing a PC card since I have no skills to do so.
>
> my specs:
>
>
>
> Machine Name:	Power Mac G4 (AGP graphics)
>   Machine Model:	PowerMac3,1
>   CPU Type:	PowerPC G4  (2.9)
>   Number Of CPUs:	1
>   CPU Speed:	400 MHz
>   L2 Cache (per CPU):	1 MB
>   Memory:	1.5 GB
>   Bus Speed:	100 MHz
>   Boot ROM Version:	4.2.8f1
>   Serial Number:	XA0091A2HSE
>   Sales Order Number:	M7641LL/A
> Chipset Model:	ATY,Rage128Pro
>   Type:	Display
>   Bus:	AGP
>   Slot:	SLOT-A
>   VRAM (Total):	16 MB
>   Vendor:	ATI (0x1002)
>   Device ID:	0x5046
>   Revision ID:	0x0000
>   ROM Revision:	113-63001-108

I'd say to find any used AGP card that's newer than the Rage 128 you  
have now. I hope, by the way, you don't believe that number refers to  
your VRAM. You need not even worry about how large that is if it's 2D  
applications you're after, such as video playback.

Another possibility for poor video performance is your CPU. If you're  
trying to play something highly compressed or just really high  
quality, it will certainly tax that 400MHz you have at present. An  
upgraded graphics card can only off-load so much of the burden for  
you. So, you may end up needing to upgrade both of those..

Eric W.