Received the GeForce 6800 in the Mail !!!

Congrads! I wish I had a card like that!


I hope you enjoy it!

2.5 G5 w/ ATI 9600- On or before 11/12

Geforce 6800- On or before 10/29

Your computer will probably ship much before that

I sure hope so, or else Ill have a 256bit paperweight for 2 weeks. . .

Ha, so my 6800 finally shipped. But according to FedEx, it's shipping ground when it should have gone overnite. (Which I didn't pay for, because of the delays)

So I call Apple and complain, and after about 20 minutes on hold, they gave me a $50 store credit.

Look I know I am going to get flamed for this...but Apple is going above and beyond the call of duty to keep us all happy. For being a company that is so incredibly geared to listening to our needs and creating products that encompass an entire culture, I think we should all have a little more patience to get hardware that is the most advanced in the world. I really think Apple is most advanced company in the world and Steve Jobs is the best CEO around. Just my 2 cents.

CGP

Mine's shipping. Went out on Wednesday and should be here tomorrow(Friday)!

I can't wait!

-Len

Well, fedex nearly screwed up my 2day. The package arrived in town after the driver left for his normal rounds. I have to pick it up from the office.

Edit: They finally delivered it at 8:15pm! It's installed and very sweet!

Received mine yesterday (10/15). Never saw a full size card like that before. Man, what a beast!!

There was a cable running up the back of the G5 just crossing the bottom right hand coroner of the AGP slot and preventing it from seating properly. This cost me a little anxiety time until I finally spotted it and pushed it aside lightly with a screwdriver. Otherwise it was plug and play.

You can hear the fan but I don't find it to be an issue. It doesn't ever seem to rev or change volume. Kinda sounds like my fridge now.

I am very happy with it so far.

How much noise does such a beast make?

I really cant imagine it would be an issue for anyone. My previous machine was a G3 MT (beige) and I would say the G5 w/ the Nvidia is very close to the same lvl of fan noise (when not revved up of course). I don't know how else to describe it other than to say that yes, you can hear the fan on the card but its your basic small electric fan hum and its pretty nominal.

I just found what would appear to be my first issue w/ the card and compatibility. Myst IV: Revelation crashes to desktop at launch if 'special immersive effects' is checked. There are 2 other posts on Ubi's forums from peeps w/ this card having the same problem. Ubi has had a lot of porting issues w/ their mmorpg Shadowbane, so I'm thinkin' their Mac team is underfunded or just inept. Perhaps 10.3.6 will add some Open GL tweaks or something that will help this. The card came w/ a driver update CD. I know this isn't the 'Genius Bar', but if anyone has any suggestions it would be appreciated and I'll pass it on to the folks at the Ubi forum.

Mine's really quiet, except when it revs up. That usually lasts about 5 secs.

I'm having huge problems with this card.

I installed it and the outside-belvel of the card would not line up properly.

I managed to get a screw in there anyway and booted the computer and it froze.

I took out all the other cards in the computer yet the thing still would not boot past the Apple screen.

It crashes with the error basically saying "KERNEL PANIC!" in 10 different languages.

I'm in class right now, I read above that there may be a cable obstructing the port.

Given that it is the cable, and provided the cable has not been stripped of the insulation, I believe things should be OK.

If it is not the cable, I'll be very pissed... well either way I'll be pissed, at whom is the question.

Will keep you posted.. somehow.

OK here's what my default config is:
Dual 2.5 Ghz G5
Miglia Alchemy TV DVR card (pci)
ATi Radeon 9000 card (pci)
2.5GB RAM

This config has been tested with the extended hardware test and has come out clean.

THe 6800 did not work in this config.

Looking for a conflict, I tried this config:
Dual 2.5 Ghz G5
2.5GB RAM

(everything else removed)

This did not work either.

I have checked that cable mentioned before, I see it, and it's not in the way. I tried removing the metal cushioning to get a better alignment to no avail.

The card's connectors are perfectly seated and I've checked with a dental mirror.

I was grounded the whole time I was working on the machine, and the machine was unplugged.

In addition, I've assembled PCs for a living and so I know all the rest and how to tell if I did it right.


The card's crash is as follows

1. power button pushed, white LED in the front comes on
2. Fans function as normal
3. Hard drives spin up, the machine starts to boot
4. The Apple comes on the screen, and right as it's about to switch resolutions, the kernel panic comes up.

You may think "oh, it's a driver thing".. well I tried booting off the install disk that came with my G5 and the EXACT same thing happens.

So either the card is defective or the extra parts of my computer that are necessary to use the card are defective. Either way I'll take it to my local Apple dealer.

4 months waiting for this card to get here. 2 months of that were delays by Apple literally hours before.

There was a post earlier asking for us to cut Apple some slack. My card says "made in china" on it.

We all know where Apple's hearts are, let's treat them like we'd treat any other company. If I have to wait another 4 months for a replacement card I will be demanding my money back.

EDIT: I have never gotten a kernel panic on this machine before now, and, after I put all my stuff back in (and replaced the 6800 with the 9600), I was able to boot.. in fact, that's what I'm writing this with.

I can think of 2 other possibilities (other than the card is defective):

1. when installing firmware updates, you have to remove all 3rd party RAM. Perhaps it is the same in this case. My firmware is totally up to date, so that in and of itself is not the problem.

2. I have a WD Raptor HD in addition to the stock 160GB seagate.. maybe ?

OK there might have been a problem I had not considered:

Install the drivers FIRST like the instructions say.

I'M STUPID BUT THIS CARD ROCKS WOOT!

EDIT: This presents a potential problem, because you will have to remove the card in order to reinstall the OS or even boot from the install CD.

I'm guessing/hoping this could be resolved by a quick and simple ROM update . . .

Hopefully, otherwise I'm going to call Apple and demand an Install CD compatible with the 6800.

I've been working this issue with Apple now for a week (about how long I've had the 6800).. I got elevated to a "product specialist" in Texas who was going to have engineers look at it, that was 5 days ago.. Since then I basically figure out that the problem was my Mac shipped with Version 1.2 of the CD ROM set which was intended for the ATI 9600XT that it shipped with, and not the version 1.3 disk set that was supposed to ship for my 6800. The problem was that I accepted the 9600XT as a sub, temporarily while the production of 6800's was ramped up.

The way I see it though, I ordered my mac as a CTO with the 6800, and I am entitled to the have the right CD set. Plus, it says right on the Box for the 6800 that it requires 10.3.5! my version 1.2 disk set is 10.3.4!!!

I would call them and insist the send you the correct disks.

This whole 6800 delay thing and the whole G5 line being delaied sevearly after each rollout makes me not only hesetent about switching, but I also wonder if this may lead to some mac pros switching to pc with winblows, and a demand on adobe to port the entire line up to linux for x86/x86-64

Slughead, you're not off the hook yet... now try to boot your mac into the CD's that apple provided for you to use as recovery and disk repair disks.

Surprise! They don't contain the drivers either!

It's not that bad. Compared with two IBM Aptiva's and a Gateway I've owned, these this has been a dream. And those are major brand name PC's... forget the homebuilt registry and driver mess that most PC users have in front of them.

Great point. it is all about out of the box useability - no need to spend 12-14 hrs updateing and properly configureing their equipment.

If you get a new DVD, give us the guy's name so we can do the same.

They delayed my order 60 days. I paid over $3000 for my computer. They owe me a working product.

In the meantime, I've found a way to make an OS X install DVD or a repair CD:

http://www.blargatron-systems.com/?s=blog&a=151547531

yeah that will work... but you know, like i know that those disks can't cost Apple more than $1.50 and postage... so I'm gonna demand them!

Finally got mine.

Installation was ok, except I kept dropping those little screws into the case while putting them back in. Also, my card was slightly warped.

The fan is louder than I expected it to me. It's very noticeable even though my computer is underneath my desk.

On the other hand, it seems to preform really well, and I like having my dual displays back.