I finally did it!
I don't know if this is the right forum and I do not care if you move or lock this post. I just wanted to say that I purchased an OEM Radeon 8500 64MB for $97 including shipping, flashed it in my Mac, and am now using it trouble free. Saved myself about $200 and am now ready for 10.2! It was easier than I thought it would be and wow, what a difference.
It might be just me but everything looks a bit crisper and everything is definitely much faster video wise. Why anyone would not do this is beyond me.
Anyhow goodnight all!
It might be just me but everything looks a bit crisper and everything is definitely much faster video wise. Why anyone would not do this is beyond me.
Anyhow goodnight all!
Comments
<strong>I don't know if this is the right forum and I do not care if you move or lock this post. I just wanted to say that I purchased an OEM Radeon 8500 64MB for $97 including shipping, flashed it in my Mac, and am now using it trouble free. Saved myself about $200 and am now ready for 10.2! It was easier than I thought it would be and wow, what a difference.
It might be just me but everything looks a bit crisper and everything is definitely much faster video wise. Why anyone would not do this is beyond me.
I have a geforce 2 mx, and i will be please to replace it by a radeon 8500 in the near future or by the next generation of video card. I think i will update my powermac G5 533 next year : new chip (waiting for the prizes of the 1 GHz chip go down) and new video card.
<strong>can you tell us how you did it ?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes I can. It was really quite simple if you have the card and the files you need to do it.
I bought the card at BananaPC.com for roughly $97 including shipping. I just got the ATI OEM LE 64MB card as they were out of stock on the retail. The OEM comes with the card, the drivers and a S-Video cable. Not too bad actually.
I cleaned out any startup programs from my OS 9 startup group to be sure of no fatal interactions between the flasher and other software that may be running. I did not worry about extensions.
I placed the rom-image flasher in my OS 9 startup group. Set my machine to boot to OS 9 and shut down the computer. Since I do not have a PCI video card the next steps were the hardest.
I removed the AGP card from my machine and put in the PC version 8500. I did not plug in a monitor at this point to either the VGA or DVI connector on the card. Booted the machine to OS 9 and waited for a good long time. Probably about 10-15 minutes. I do not know if this amount of time is required or not, but I was playing it safe, it was worth it for the amount of money I was saving to give it as much time as it needed. I then shut the machine down the hard way (Held the power button until it shut off). Then Plugged in my LCD to the DVI connector and rebooted. When it booted into 9 Everything worked fine. The flasher came up and dissapeared. I took the flasher file out of the startup group and set my default boot to OS X. Rebooted and installed the latest updated drivers for ATI found at VersionTracker.
Lets just say, it works fine and I am a happy man.
What can I use? <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
I should have known it couldn't be when I saw the topic starter
<strong>how much faster is it? I have a Rage 128 and a 2x AGP slot to replace....
What can I use? <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
Faster by quite a bit. Remember this is a Radeon 8500 you are replacing that with. And I am using a Sawtooth G4. 2X AGP and Rage 128. Works fine for me.
<strong>I totally misinterpreted what this thread was going to be about.
I should have known it couldn't be when I saw the topic starter
If I am thinking what you are thinking then let me tell you now that I have 2 kids.
If not, You've lost me.
<strong>I'm sure Apple will do something to put a stop to this type of upgrade.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Actually, I cannot see how Apple would care, now ATI on the other hand...
Darned flood control, who waits 90 seconds between posts anyhow?
44847035 ATI Radeon 8500 LE Dual 64MB DDR W/TVout/DVI (OEM) $88.00 (Not including shipping)
For those who want to know.
<a href="http://www.bananapc.com/Products/Product_info.asp?product_id=5297&product_ref="; target="_blank">http://www.bananapc.com/Products/Product_info.asp?product_id=5297&product_ref=</a>;
Looks like they even dropped the price to $86. Grrrr. And just days after I bought it. Wonder if they have price protection....
<strong>Looks like they even dropped the price to $86. Grrrr. And just days after I bought it. Wonder if they have price protection....</strong><hr></blockquote>
Hehe, then think about the ones (myself included) who bought one at full price
does it have VGA? or just DVI?
<strong>does it have VGA? or just DVI?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Both VGA and DVI!
<strong>I did not plug in a monitor at this point to either the VGA or DVI connector on the card.</strong><hr></blockquote>
he says it !
<strong>Where did you get the flash image??</strong><hr></blockquote>
yah, I would like to know that too
AFAIK, it's risky to flash a PC Radeon 8500LE with the ROM from a Mac Radeon 8500 (non-LE.)