Which graphic card for G5 Quad?

M

Marty Graw

Registered
Hello,


After five years of saving my money, I'm finally ready to take the plunge on a new Mac. My DP G4/500 has served me very well, but it's definitely starting to show its age. Plus, I'm ready for some new iron.

My question for you all is this: which graphic card should I go with? I can't afford the Nvidia Quadro. Initially, I placed my order for the new G5 specifying the only other card that was available: the Nvidia GeForce 6600.

Now, I notice that Apple is offering the option of the Nvidia GeForce 7800GT for an additional $350. Not knowing anything about the Nvidia line, or the differences between the 6600 and the 7800 is that $350 really worth it?

I use my Mac for a lot of things, primarily:

- Final Cut
- Photoshop
- Various MIDI, synthesis, and digital audio apps
- Browsing and email
- Games

Not necessarily in that order.

I'm concerned that if I cheap out now and stick with the 6600, I'll regret it in a couple of years (or less!).

Any advice or input you can offer would be really appreciated. Thank you in advance.


Signed,


Marty
 
I would say get the best graphics card you can afford -- the 7800 will definitely help over the 6600 concerning games, if by games you mean things like Quake III and heavy graphic-based games.

While memory and hard drives are easy to get aftermarket, graphic cards are little harder to come by, and some of the graphics cards that Apple sells as BTO options are not sold aftermarket.

If Apple doesn't offer it as a BTO option, it may help to call an Apple rep and inquire about it.
 
The 6600 was crowned "Best bang per buck" card of the summer, its been a while and there are new cards out there now. It really depends on how much you really think you will utilize it. The 6600 will still play any modern game very well, as long as you aren't playing higher than 1280x1020 and leave the anti aliasing off. The 7800 is the current king of the hill, but those high end cards get phased out so fast..

It's not the mac card but same idea. Also they are reviewing a different line of cards but the 6600 and the 7800 are both on there
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2552&p=9
 
http://www.apple.com/powermac/graphics.html

on there it shows that the leap from the 6600 to the 7800 is huge. imo, the 6600 is the cheapest card they could realistically get away with putting in it, keeping basic prices down. but if you are going to spend all that money on a quad g5, i would see that as crippling the machine if you don't go for the 7800. it's only $350
 
Personally I'd stick with the 6600 and then in the near future buy an ATI x1800 XT when it's Mac version is released (which is supposed to be soon). The 6600 should be more than enough card for the majority of users right now and in the near future (1-2 years). I couldn't justify spending the $350 now, when in a year or two I would be spending that or slightly more for a far superior card on top of it. Especially considering I'd be keeping the Quad for quite a while, so a video upgrade would be inevitable.

3DMark05: 7800 GT vs x1800 XT :: Not the best test for us, but a good reference point for differences between families/manufacturers.
 
isn't final cup pro very dependent on graphics hardware these days (for realtime editing) ?

in that case it could be worth investigating the differences
 
Hey,

Definitely don't cheap out now and go with the 6600 graphics card. As you have thought in a few years it will definitely be out of date. I would highly recommend forking out the $350 to get the "best" Nvidia graphics card on the market.

Hope this helps (even though im a ATI fan)
 
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