Just bought a new Radeon 8500
I am the proud owner of a G4 466MHz computer. Over the past few months I've started to realize that it's getting a "little" dated, and could use an upgrade. After looking at the high priced CPU upgrades, and realizing that right now that kind of money just isn't available, I began to think about this new Quartz Extreme technology.
Having never upgraded my GPU from the stock Rage 128 card, I thought the best upgrade I could make for the time being would be to purchase a Radeon, and enable Quartz Extreme.
Wow.
The card came today, and it's truly amazing. I'm now running two displays! Game graphics look great compared to my old Rage card. Even though the G4 is only 466MHz, games like Medal of Honor played great! Having added Q.E. the CPU is now doing less work displaying all the aqua interface goodies.
If there are any users out there running OS 10.2 who have older AGP G4's with old Rage cards and are looking for a reasonably cheap worthwhile upgrade, the 8500 is just perfect! Buying a CPU upgrade has been postponed for the time being, and I don't see myself buying one within the next 7-10 months.
Get the Radeon 8500. It's just awesome!
Having never upgraded my GPU from the stock Rage 128 card, I thought the best upgrade I could make for the time being would be to purchase a Radeon, and enable Quartz Extreme.
Wow.
The card came today, and it's truly amazing. I'm now running two displays! Game graphics look great compared to my old Rage card. Even though the G4 is only 466MHz, games like Medal of Honor played great! Having added Q.E. the CPU is now doing less work displaying all the aqua interface goodies.
If there are any users out there running OS 10.2 who have older AGP G4's with old Rage cards and are looking for a reasonably cheap worthwhile upgrade, the 8500 is just perfect! Buying a CPU upgrade has been postponed for the time being, and I don't see myself buying one within the next 7-10 months.
Get the Radeon 8500. It's just awesome!
Comments
The card came today, and it's truly amazing. I'm now running two displays! Game graphics look great compared to my old Rage card. Even though the G4 is only 466MHz, games like Medal of Honor played great! Having added Q.E. the CPU is now doing less work displaying all the aqua interface goodies.
If there are any users out there running OS 10.2 who have older AGP G4's with old Rage cards and are looking for a reasonably cheap worthwhile upgrade, the 8500 is just perfect! Buying a CPU upgrade has been postponed for the time being, and I don't see myself buying one within the next 7-10 months.
Get the Radeon 8500. It's just awesome!
Hi...thanks for the info...I'm thinking about doing the very same thing for my Sawtooth G4/400. I am not a gamer, however. I am hoping to improve the responsiveness of the interface, and speed things up as I move from window to window, etc. So, can you comment on how non-3D performance is affected? Is window resizing much faster? Switching between apps? Also, are quartz-intensive apps like iCal and iPhoto improved at all?
Thanks for any info you can give.