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Video Card or what else?

post #1 of 11
1/30/12 at 12:04pm
Thread Starter 
If I might ask a few questions about this, that would be awesome.

My G5 seems to have issues that may be the video card?

- The screen gets lines in it
- The screen will get blotches in it. The windows get distorted and weird.
- It doesn't always come up on start up. It appears to be running, but nothing on the monitor (30" Apple)
- Most of the time on restart it comes up, sometimes I need to do this 2,3 or even 4 times.
Less times, the longer I wait.
- Watching video's / movies online causes it to freeze
- Sometimes when working in any of the drawing applications, there will be blotches of colors showing up
that I can get rid of by resetting the window size. These do come back the longer I'm working in that application
and the longer my Mac has been on.
- Fast movement of the mouse or going into the corners can cause this to happen as well.

Your thoughts folks?

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post #2 of 11
1/30/12 at 1:12pm
I had similar issues with a G5 iMac several years ago ... it ended up being the "logic board" that had to be replaced.
"They" would not tell me what it was on/about the logic board that was faulty. It does, however, contain most of the components of the computer, so it could have been any number of parts (In fact, I believe the video card was integral to the logic board on that iMac... so it could have been the video card.)

In short, if that's your problem, it's a pricey fix... I just ended up spending a few more $ and got a new C2D when my G5 acted up... (in 25 years of owning Macs, that's the only one that ever had problems.)

Now, if you have a MacPro G5, you can replace the video card by itself... maybe find one used/cheap online and try it out ... see if it fixes the problems.
From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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post #3 of 11
1/30/12 at 1:15pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for that. The only interesting thing here, is mine is a desktop unit, so the video card and logic board I believe are two different pieces that can be replaced as needed. That's not to say it still won't be expensive

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post #4 of 11
1/30/12 at 2:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncee View Post

Thanks for that. The only interesting thing here, is mine is a desktop unit, so the video card and logic board I believe are two different pieces that can be replaced as needed. That's not to say it still won't be expensive

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iMac = desktop = video card soldered to logic board.

MacPro = desktop (floor? ) = video card easily replaced.
From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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post #5 of 11
1/30/12 at 2:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post

iMac = desktop = video card soldered to logic board.

Since you've said the same, logical thing that I would say but apparently that's wrong, I feel obligated to correct you by saying that some iMacs have their GPUs on MMX (or whatever the frick it is) cards and those can be upgraded/replaced.

PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
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PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
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post #6 of 11
1/30/12 at 7:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

Since you've said the same, logical thing that I would say but apparently that's wrong, I feel obligated to correct you by saying that some iMacs have their GPUs on MMX (or whatever the frick it is) cards and those can be upgraded/replaced.


newer ones, yes ... but if i recall correctly, the G5 iMacs were not so constructed (at least I KNOW the G5 iMac I had had it soldered to the main board.)
From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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post #7 of 11
1/31/12 at 1:23pm
Thread Starter 
Ok, so if it is the video card, is there an up-grade from the Radeon X1900 that I should consider?

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G5 2.66
5 GB memory
30" Apple Monitor
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post #8 of 11
1/31/12 at 1:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncee View Post

Ok, so if it is the video card, is there an up-grade from the Radeon X1900 that I should consider?

If it is, you'll have to get a new computer or buy a logic board and swap it yourself, since Apple doesn't do repairs on G5s anymore. You can't upgrade from whatever GPU you have right now if you buy a new logic board, as only the logic boards that work with your model will, well, work with your model.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
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PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
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post #9 of 11
1/31/12 at 1:41pm
Thread Starter 
Ooops, sorry this is a desktop pro and the video card is replaceable by itself, and I'm hearing that, that is likely to be the issue.

So I'd like to know if there are better Video cards I should consider, seeing I'll be replacing it.

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post #10 of 11
1/31/12 at 3:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncee View Post

Ooops, sorry this is a desktop pro and the video card is replaceable by itself, and I'm hearing that, that is likely to be the issue.

So I'd like to know if there are better Video cards I should consider, seeing I'll be replacing it.

Skip

OH! You have a PowerMac G5. Sorry, got confused; King has the iMac G5.

Okay, um Hoo, I have absolutely wretched short- and long-term memory, but I recall the X1900 to be absolutely terrible in terms of the performance/power draw/price ratio. Am I right with that?

You cannot get a better card than that. All Mac Pro cards are EFI and PowerMac G5 cards were OpenFirmware. You can, however, flash a PC Quadro FX 4500 card (because they're cheaper) and use that in your PowerMac, but that's somewhat dangerous, sort of silly at this stage, and I don't know how its performance stacks up against the X1900 anymore
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
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PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
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post #11 of 11
1/31/12 at 3:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncee View Post

Ooops, sorry this is a desktop pro and the video card is replaceable by itself, and I'm hearing that, that is likely to be the issue.

So I'd like to know if there are better Video cards I should consider, seeing I'll be replacing it.

Skip

You'll have to check on the slot that the card goes into ... AGP?, PCI?, PCIe? (I just don't recall) ... find an appropriate card THAT ALSO HAS DRIVERS FOR WHATEVER VERSION OF OSX YOU ARE RUNNING! ... As long as it meets those two requirements it'll work ... so yes, getting something newer would be better ... finding drivers for something different than it shipped with would probably be the tricky part.
From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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