[PCsmashr]

Hello all, As you probably know, I am maxxing out the power of my B&W powermac G4. Ive been adding HD space, RAM, a G4 processor, fan, and now im looking to upgrade my current ATI rage 128 PCI graphics card. My only options seem to be either an ATI radeon original PCI, or an ATI radeon 7000 PCI. Are there any other options? Nvidea.... Voodoo.... (personally perfer ATIs) Also, what would the best choice be? Both are 32MB, but the 7000 is better. Last, where should I buy, and where can I find a decent price? Is OWC the only place? They are selling the 7000 for 119$! Can I find it NEW for cheaper? Meaning not on Ebay? lemac, I know has had experience with graphics cards in B&Ws, Please, any suggestions would be appreciated! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[lemac]

I'm afraid there aren't too many good options for you. The best legal option for you is to find an original Radeon PCI. It is the fastest solution possible (excluding the hacked Radeon 8500 series cards I hear about in xlr8 or xp forms). If you don't play games, the 7000 is also a great choice (does great in conjunction with Quartz Extreme PCI). If you are looking for best Quartz Extreme performance, a hacked 64 MB Radeon 7000 is probably the way to go. Although there are a lot of GF2MX cards that work with the B&W, only Radeon cards work with the QE hack. I'm hoping that ATI will announce an updated PCI card tomorrow at the expo, but I wouldn't keep my hopes up.

[doggdamac]

Do the Rads, man.......
only straight up option for B&W's
got one in mine & it works great w/PCI hack to run QE, fast user rotation & all /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Drivers are built into X too......

[PCsmashr]

Yes, I do play some games, what would the best option for gaming be. To me, anything will be better than the rage 128, as long as it is 32mb. I wasn't aware that there are 64MB cards available to the B&W. What do you mean "hacked cards"? How do you hack them, and are they legal? Also what are the prices for all these cards? Someone I know has a quicksilver with a Geforce 2MX, Would this card work? Also, what are the prices for all the cards? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[lemac]

Selling and buying hacked cards is probably illegal. Hack cards being "PC" cards flashed with a mac rom so they work on macs (though I believe that technically, it's legal for you to flash ATI cards with ATI Roms for your private usage). The main advantages of flashed cards are cheaper and better options. Not the recommended route as there are a lot of issues with hacked cards even if you could get them to work (though I haven't heard any complaints for the flashed 64 MB Radeon).
Best Option for gaming and overall usage is still the original Radeon PCI. The hacked 64 MB 7000 comes in second, and the Radeon 7000 Mac Ed comes in third. No PCI GF2MX Mac Ed were ever made, but you can use certain PC models without modification... but can't be used with the QE hack. I'm still hoping for a 8500 series PCI card to be released by ATI.

[PCsmashr]

Couple more questions. I've noticed how much cheaper PC ATI cards are, and I would be able to get one right now because they are so cheap. How hard is it to "flash" the cards ROM and make it Mac compatible? What would I have to do, and how would I do it? Which PC aTi cards are able to be flashed, and made compatible with the B&W? I would like to know this for future reference, if I decide to get a PC ATI card, and make it mac compatible for cheap. Thanks. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[SueG]

As I understand it, ATI released the ROM for the Radeon 7000 to fix a problem. Since the ROM was made available to the public, as long as the PC cards are legally purchased, there should not be any problem. ATI didn't see the market for 64 MB Radeon 7000s as large enough to justify manufacturing, stocking and shipping a Mac version. Independent entrepreneurs with access to a PC (a PC is needed to flash the ROM) and a Mac (a Mac is needed to test whether a stable ROM was installed) sell them on eBay, often for less than list price for the Mac Radion 7000.

[PorthosthePirate]

http://www.ati.com/p...0/radeon7000me/

http://www.ati.com/p...tion/index.html

http://www.insidemac...view.php?ID=138
http://www.macaddict...v.radeon7k.html
http://cgi.ebay.com/...item=2778272720
the links are for info so u know what cards u need

[lemac]

Sorry PCsmashr, but I don't have the info you need. I don't support people going out to flash cards, but let's just say that you do need to put it in a pc first before flashing with the mac ROM flasher (and this only works with the Radeon 7000). Though I don't blame people in doing so... it's ATI's fault for giving us outdated cards at 3X the price of the PC equal. Hopefully someone will give us a 8500 series solution (I don't care if it's ATI, Sonnet, or some random ROM hacker).

[PCsmashr]

Well, hacked cards are out for me. I don't want to go near a PC unless I absolutley HAVE to. Thanks for the info, ill just wait and see if the expo brings any new options. If It doesn't I'll look into the radeon 7000 PCI, or original Radeon. Just wondering, what is the best prices for these cards, and where can i find best prices other than ebay? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[iloveitaly]

I think there are 64MB flasheded cards on e-bay, i think itanliano sell them. ( thats his creen name on these forums )