Where to buy a video card online?

**PowermacG4_450** · May 9th, 2002, 08:59 AM

Im looking to upgrade my video card to a ATI radeon 7500 (I beleive).

cant find it online.... I want to order today.

where can I buy a video card online for MAC? Been searching, no luck

thanks.

**PowermacG4_450** · May 9th, 2002, 09:28 AM

Im lost..... I have a AGP graphics mac, with 2 open pci slots... (3rd one has a usb card)

so, do I need a AGP card, or a PCI graphics card?

It appears to be using the AGP slot... but im lost.

Finding a AGP card is hard... would a PCI one work?

**shrill** · May 9th, 2002, 11:22 AM

You could use either PCI or AGP.

AGP has some benefits for video cards, like being able to use the system memory for 3D textures. Most of the real world performance benefits are in 3D, like video games.

PCI is just fine though, the actual performance difference between PCI and AGP is usually pretty hard to measure unless you're in a 3D video game, and then it's not all that much, and it depends a lot on what you're doing.

You should search on the internet for G4 video card benchmarks, somebody probably has a chart somewhere.

If you get a PCI card, you can have both your existing card and the new PCI card running and have a dual monitor set up (if you've never done it before, dual monitors are *really* neat).

If you don't want or care about dual monitors, then keep it simple and replace your existing video card.

Either PCI or AGP is going to be a lot faster than the card you already have.

I might add that if you're looking at playing video games, you might look at the comparably priced NVidia GeForce model, as they have, in general, a performance edge over comparable Radeon cards. NVidia is usually pretty good with driver updates too.

**unlearnthetruth** · May 9th, 2002, 12:11 PM

check www.macmall.com - their prices are usually pretty decent. if you're going to get an ati card, you could try ati's website, i believe they sell them direct, but not for cheap

**rinse** · May 9th, 2002, 12:16 PM

go to www.pricewatch.com and find who has it for the lowest $.

**ERICBRIAN2002** · May 9th, 2002, 01:33 PM

The videocards they have dont say if there for mac or pc so are they all mac?

**rinse** · May 9th, 2002, 01:51 PM

i would recommend checking out the compatiblity on a case by case basis, what is the difference between a Radeon AGP fo Windows and one for Mac anyway?

Can't you donwload drivers online for a Mac so that you could just use the cheaper PC card?

**ElDiabloConCaca** · May 9th, 2002, 03:09 PM

No, you can't just plop a PC card in a Mac and download drivers and have it work. There's also something called a "ROM," which contains code for the specific platform its designed for. PC video cards don't have Mac ROMs on them, therefore, they don't work in a Mac straight out of the box, and no amount of driver downloading will make it work.

Check out some place like macmall.com or macconnection.com or maczone.com for Mac-specific video cards.

Be prepared to spend a few hundred bucks. I bought an ATi Radeon 7000 PCI card and have a dual-monitor setup now -- the card is a bargain at about $125, but it lacks really high-end hardware, so it won't keep up with the newer AGP ATi cards like the newer Radeons and what not. Still, it was a big step up from the stock Rage 128 card I had.