Will an ATI Radeon 9700 work in a Quicksilver?

Bagstar · #1 December 10th, 2005, 03:30 PM

Hi MacBuddies,

I know there was a posting back in October by Paul C regarding trying a Radeon 9700 in a digital audio 450, just wondered if it worked out in the end?

I have a Quicksilver G4 at 933 mhz (Overclocked from stock 733 - so no L3 cache

) with AGP x4 slot. I want to upgrade my existing graphics card (Nvidia GeForce 2MX) to a Radeon 9700 Pro Mac Edition as I want to get into gaming (Star Wars Battlefront etc), as I've heard they are one of the best with ADC, but have also heard that they only work in MDD G4's - Anyone know if this is true?

I have a cinema display and really don't want to bother shelling out loads on an ADC - DVI adapter, hence the 9700! I've checked ATI and they support both 2x and 4x AGP so technically it should work depending on the processor which I'm also thinking of upgrading to a Sonnet Encore Duet (Dual 1.3 G4) with L3 Cache!

Anyone got any experience with either of these or further knowledge I'd be grateful

kellhound1 · #2 December 12th, 2005, 01:55 AM

Hi,

The ATI 9700 should work fine with your machine. Of course, your computer falls into the "minimum requirements" for the setup, but that's not such a big deal. Quite frankly, the upgrade shouldn't be much of a problem. Have you also looked into Nvidia graphic cards? The 9700 is good, but Nvidia AGP cards are just as good, and often cheaper than their ATI counterparts.

Good luck.

ElDiabloConCaca · #3 December 12th, 2005, 09:08 AM

NVidia does not sell retail Macintosh graphics cards, so your only option for an NVidia card is to find a Macintosh-specific OEM card second-hand that has been pulled out of a Mac.

Also -- I see that the 9700 was never sold as a retail card -- only as a build-to-order option for new Macintosh computers. Is the 9700 card second-hand? I ask because it's common practice on eBay to label an ATi card as "Mac-compatible" even though it's a PC video card that's been "flashed" with a Mac ROM. While these cards may work well most of the time, I would never recommend using a flashed PC card in a Macintosh.

Bagstar · #4 December 14th, 2005, 02:20 PM

Yeah I was looking at buying the Radeon 9700 Pro Mac OEM version 2nd hand on ebay. Loads of flashed PC versions but not many actual OEM Mac pulled versions around - your right they are pricey too!
Just bought a Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti (OEM Mac version) brand new from an Apple reseller at a better price than a 2nd hand ATI 9700 & can't wait to get it fitted & test it out! From what I've read they're almost as good as the ATI 9700 anyway.

Thanks for your help guys!

kellhound1 · #5 December 14th, 2005, 03:30 PM

Someone here replied that Nvidia doesn't make Mac graphic cards. That is totally erroneous. Nvidia has a large line of Mac-specific graphaic cards. They are more expensive than their PC counterparts, but they do exist. You can go to the Nvidia website and click on MAC on their Products link.

Both ATI and Nvidia know they have a large Mac base that will buy their products. And, in fact, both companies have frequent "sales" through 3rd party dealers, so you can actually get a brand new card for about the same price as the same one for the PC platform.

ElDiabloConCaca · #6 December 14th, 2005, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kellhound1

Someone here replied that Nvidia doesn't make Mac graphic cards. That is totally erroneous. Nvidia has a large line of Mac-specific graphaic cards.

I never said that NVidia does not make Mac graphics cards. You read wrong. Of course they do -- they've been offered in Macintosh computers for the last few years. Here's exactly what I said, which is pretty specific and is boggling how someone could misinterpret it to the point where they think I said that NVidia does not make Macintosh graphics cards at all:

Quote:

NVidia does not sell retail Macintosh graphics cards, so your only option for an NVidia card is to find a Macintosh-specific OEM card second-hand that has been pulled out of a Mac.

I said that you cannot purchase an aftermarket NVidia graphics card for a Macintosh computer, as the only way you can get a Macintosh NVidia graphics card is by Apple's BTO options.

Sure, you can get them second-hand, but they will be OEM versions that have been pulled from a machine.

If you can purchase an aftermarket, retail NVidia graphics card for a Macintosh, then that's news to me -- I don't see anywhere that offers an NVidia graphic card for a Macintosh in a retail box. If they do in fact sell them aftermarket, please provide a link.