Enable quartz extreme?

eric2006

eric2006

iMovie Professional
I recently got a new PCI graphics card for my powermac AGP ( I know, it sounds weird, a PCI graphics card for an AGP model? Apparently, my AGP slot isn't fast enough for the new ATI AGP cards, it's only 2x AGP, and i need 4x or 8x)
But anyways, I was surprised that quartz extreme was till not enabled. I have 128 mb of VRAM, so I think that I have the power to.. I tried a program that enables Q.E., but it doesn't work. Am I stuck with a non-QE machine? Are there any new AGP that will work with my computer? Is their any way to enable quartz extreme? Thanks in advance.
 
Quartz Xtreme has been disabled under Tiger because it is too buggy. Bad news, I know, but Tiger handles video differently so even though you might not get the "cube" effect with faster user switching I think you'll find it quite good enough!

eric2006 said:
I recently got a new PCI graphics card for my powermac AGP ( I know, it sounds weird, a PCI graphics card for an AGP model? Apparently, my AGP slot isn't fast enough for the new ATI AGP cards, it's only 2x AGP, and i need 4x or 8x)
But anyways, I was surprised that quartz extreme was till not enabled. I have 128 mb of VRAM, so I think that I have the power to.. I tried a program that enables Q.E., but it doesn't work. Am I stuck with a non-QE machine? Are there any new AGP that will work with my computer? Is their any way to enable quartz extreme? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
 
In addition, Quartz Extreme is only supported on the AGP bus.

Just about any AGP card will be faster than the fastest PCI cards. PCI is extremely slow compared to AGP, no matter how much VRAM the card has.
 
sourcehound said:
Quartz Xtreme has been disabled under Tiger because it is too buggy. Bad news, I know, but Tiger handles video differently so even though you might not get the "cube" effect with faster user switching I think you'll find it quite good enough!
Click to expand...

that's actually wrong. Quartz Extreme has been enabled since it was part of 10.2 Jaguar.

Quartz *2D* Extreme is still turned off by default, and was a feature of 10.4 Tiger.
 
Wow - thats expensive. But I wonder if I can justify it. Will this help with rendering times, burning DVD's, and other multimedia work, or will it just quicken up games and the mac os x "eye candy"?

And how many times better is AGP than PCI, would a 128 VRAM AGP card be equivalent to a 256 PCI card?
 
there is a way to enable it for pci, i have done it on my 7500 running 10.2 and an ati 32mb card! i'll post the how to when i get home.
 
basically, PCI bottlenecks anything more than an old ATi Rage128 16mb card. AGP 4x bottlenecks anything better than a Geforce 2/3, and AGP 8x bottlenecks all the latest cards, hence the need for PCI-e 16x.

PCI will cripple anything better than a 16mb card. choose the best bus.
 
well heres the info i have, and what i used for my 8600 running 10.2.
Enabling Quartz Extreme for PCI Macs?
6:00 AM | Andy Largent | 6 comments


A recent post to the Ars Technica Mac forums revealed it is possible to enable Mac OS X 10.2's Quartz Extreme on Macs without AGP video cards. While not necessarily game-related, many gamers have upgraded Beige or B&W PowerMacs with PCI Radeon or Radeon 7000 cards from ATI, and those brave enough can now try it out.

The modification requires the user to change one file and restart, though please only do this if you're well aware of the dangers it could pose to your system, and understand that it's not an official Apple practice.

While many IMG readers have verified it does work, there are reports of some glitches with movies playing in the background and stuttering on terminal transparency windows. If you're up to the task, first make sure you "su root" and follow the instructions from the Ars poster:

Open the config file
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Configuration.plist
...
Change IOAGPDevice to IOPCIDevice

Restarting should enable Quartz Extreme, which can be verified with a simple "Quartz Extreme Check" application available at Versiontracker. Creative users are also finding they can enable Quartz Extreme on a secondary PCI card if they have something else like a Radeon 8500 in the AGP slot by adding the IOPCI line instead of overriding the AGP line, but as always, be very cautious with any such modifications.


For those concerned Quartz Extreme might negatively affect game performance, OpenGL guru Kenneth Dyke recently made a very informative post to the IMG forum explaining exactly how VRAM is used in Jaguar. He notes that for fullscreen games, the VRAM is used the same by any OpenGL application --whether it be a game or OS X 10.2-- so there is no danger of the OS "hogging" memory from a game. Check it out for the full scoop.
Click to expand...
i have not had the need to try it with anything else, namely because i went to a g4 with a geforce 2 in 4x agp slot.
 
I've tried that, and another program. That does nothing, the program stops my computer from booting. I hesitate getting an AGP card.. because this computer is on it's last legs for video editing. I don't know how much an AGP card will help for video editing stuff.
 
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