graphics card question

[tumbleguts]

um... AGP - without a doubt.

AGP is the newer technology. Like described above it has the ability to transfer data MUCH faster than any PCI slot.

What you need to understand is that these days a graphics card is almost seen as a second processor. Using Apple's "Quartz Extreme" technology it transfers the bulk of the display processing over to the graphics card - freeing up the CPU. You need a minimum of 32MB of VRAM in order to enable Quartz Extreme which uses PDF scripting to display the graphics. The result is faster, sharper graphics.

It seems you have gone with a Radeon 7000 AGP card. Which is a good card. Although when I went through this process a couple of months ago I found picking up a secondhand Radeon 8500 was better value and performance for your money.

The Radeon 7000 processor should run at the recommended 183mhz. But from experience I have found that Mac edition cards sometimes run slightly below that. At least it's not a cheap PC LE version which is usually downclocked so much that an ATI rage pro would be faster!

The trick is to download the "ATIccelerator II" app (which is a free download) which allows you to modify the processor and memory speeds on the fly - and is enabled at boot-up. Generally you can usually get a liitle more grunt out of any card. And if you apply cooling, you can overclock that card significantly.

I'm running a Radeon 8500 which seems very happy at 300mhz/300mhz speeds.

[ElDiabloConCaca]

There is no Mac edition Radeon 7000 AGP card... only PCI.

[tumbleguts]

Correct. There is no mac edition Radeon AGP 7000 cards (only PCI).

However there are Powercolor branded Radeon AGP 7000 64MB cards available that have been flashed with the mac edition Radeon 7000 ROM - and these cards have earned a good reputation as a mac compatible card. (see Ebay). Don't think you can flash it yourself though, because Powercolor branded cards are very hard to come by and they are the only Radeon 7000 card that has a 128KB eepROM - all the rest have 64KB eepROM's. Mac edition cards differ only in the size of the ROM - mac needs 128KB sizes.

From my experience I would recommend the original mac edition Radeon over the 7000. Because it runs a lot faster and gives better performance. But that's entry level. I would suggest going with a Radeon 8500 or the newer 9200. The Radeon 8500 is slightly faster and better than the newer Radeon 9000.

Also there are the nVidia "GeForce" cards...
If you can obtain a GeForce3 MX - get it! - nice card - beats the rest hands down!
The GeForce2 MX is like the Radeon original and the GeForce4 MX is expensive but better than a Radeon 8500.

Then again, nearly all the above cards have or are ending their lifecycle.
Which doesn't mean they are bad cards - just something to consider...
Really, it all depends on your needs and desires.