Graphic card questions

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gparis

Registered
I purchased a G4 off ebay a few years ago, it's suited me well, no complaints.

Problem I have is, I still can't figure out the details about the current graphics card I have.

System profiler identifies it as an ATY, Rage128, with 16 mb of VRAM.

Also, the Machine model is identified as a Power Mac G3 (PCI graphics)
the processer itself is a PowerPC G4 (2.6), essentially a 400mhz processor.

The tower this is in looks like the original G4 tower, light gray/dark grey/plastic case.

Anyway, I opened it up, and I noticed that there are 4 expansion slots in the back. The slot that the graphics card fits in is smaller then the other 3, so I am a bit confused as to why that's the case.

A friend told me over the phone, that it means it's not a PCI card but an AGP, but he couldn't really say without looking at it.

The point is, that I would like to upgrade the card, as I can't really afford a new mac at this point.

Any suggestions? is this PCI or AGP? I would like to run some higher end video games, such as World of Warcraft, I think that's possible, but I here that PCI limits me.
 
Is that smaller expansion slot brown instead of white? If so, then it's very surely an AGP slot. I don't know much about the current graphic-card market. But be aware that you can't just buy a pc-compatible agp or pci card and simply plug it into your system. It should be a mac-compatible model..
 
You can get a PCI card, it doesn't have to be AGP, but it won't be quite as fast.

Can you show us a picture of the computer and/or system profiler? I'm confused as to why a G4 tower identifies itself as a G3... unless this was a misprint?
 
Your computer does not have an AGP slot, so don't purchase an AGP card for it -- it would be a waste, as it wouldn't even fit into the slot.

Your computer has four PCI slots -- three that run at 33MHz, one that runs at 66MHz (the shorter one), which is mainly used for graphics cards but is fully PCI-compliant, meaning you can use any Macintosh-compatible PCI card you want in there.

You have the same computer I do -- a Power Macintosh G4 PCI ("Yikes!") machine (http://www.lowendmac.com/ppc/g4.shtml). The reason the Apple System Profiler reports it as being a G3 machine is that this particular model of machine is simply a slightly modified version of the blue & white G3 towers that preceded it. The most notable, and possibly only differences between this machine and the old B&W G3 towers is case color, G4 compatibility (B&W towers won't accept a G4 processor without a firmware hack) and the lack of an ADB port.

Your options for video cards are:

Radeon 9200 128MB (recommended) - http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=6860&Item=ATI100436011
Radeon 7000 32MB - [discontinued, check eBay or retailers]
Radeon Mac Edition VE - [discontinued, check eBay or retailers]

If you'd like any recommendations for upgrades for this machine, I've done a lot of upgrading to my machine (hard drive with new controller card, PCI cards, DVD burner, RAM, graphics) and it's rock-solid. Not the fastest thing in the world, but it gets the job done and the upgrades I've put into it boost it far beyond what it originally was capable of.
 
Since we are on the topic of upgrading video cards... I have a old 450mhz dual G4. Now, would that same video card you suggested be the best thing I do? I have a ATI Radeon 9000 w/ 64MB of video ram. Now, is the Radeon 9200(128MB) my best bet also or could I use a different one?
 
You have an AGP-equipped Macintosh, so if you use the Radeon 9200, you'll have to install it in a slower PCI slot.

You'd get much better performance replacing your AGP card with a better AGP card.
 
Also remember that those early AGP Power Macs are AGP 2x and have a higher rated voltage. Any AGP card that you buy for it not only had to be Mac compatible, but it has to be compatible with the AGP slot and voltage on your Mac. While there are some 4x AGP cards that support the older 2x AGP slot, you need to make sure that the voltage is correct otherwise you can either fry the slot, the card, or both.

Check Low End Mac for more information regarding the early AGP G4 Macs.
 
psychicVTEC said:
Since we are on the topic of upgrading video cards... I have a old 450mhz dual G4. Now, would that same video card you suggested be the best thing I do? I have a ATI Radeon 9000 w/ 64MB of video ram. Now, is the Radeon 9200(128MB) my best bet also or could I use a different one?
Click to expand...

PCI is a very slow bus. it's fast enough for displaying visuals, but in terms of a pipeline for fast and intensive graphics, it completely bottlenecks the power of the card. you could, in theory, have a Radeon x800 PCI graphics card, which would have this hugely powerful GPU and tons of Video RAM, but would not realistically run games any faster than say an ATI Rage128.

your card is already too fast for it's PCI bus, and will not go any faster, due to the pipeline being 16 times slower than the current highend standard, and 8 times slower than the card's potential. any upgrade probably would not really affect the use of the computer.
 
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