Upgrading a Video Card?
I have an older (pre Digitial Audio) Power Mac G4 500Mhz with a Rage 128 Pro. As an impulse buy, since it was cheap, I just bought an nVidia GeForce4 MX440 as one of buy.com's Price Mistakes of the Day (5/7/02, still 90 or so left as of noon if you're interested) to take advantage of Jaguar's Quartz Extreme features.
Anyway, I then looked on Apple's website and they say that video cards aren't upgradeable on G4's. I looked at nVidia's website and they say that Apple handles all their graphics cards through store.apple.com, which listed no individual cards.
Is the G4 actually designed so that this isn't upgradeable, or is it just not a fully Apple-sanctioned upgrade? Basically, is it impossible for me to ever upgrade my card or does it just maybe void my warranty? Thanks a lot!
Anyway, I then looked on Apple's website and they say that video cards aren't upgradeable on G4's. I looked at nVidia's website and they say that Apple handles all their graphics cards through store.apple.com, which listed no individual cards.
Is the G4 actually designed so that this isn't upgradeable, or is it just not a fully Apple-sanctioned upgrade? Basically, is it impossible for me to ever upgrade my card or does it just maybe void my warranty? Thanks a lot!
Comments
2. There are no retail Nvida cards for the Mac
3. Some have successfully flashed varoius brands of Nvida GF 2mx & GF 3 with a Mac rom & they work fine
4. There are no known successes with any PC GF 4mx cards
5. I'd suggest you bring back the card & get a refund. Then purchase either an origional Radeon AGP (MAC EDITION) or Radeon 8500 (MAC EDITION). Both of these are available retail & will work with your mac with no difficulties.
6. I would not suggest you try to flash cards because it's a pretty involved process (rearching what card to get, getting the flashing apps, flashing it in a PC, then testing on the mac) & you don't seem to be to knoledgable (no offense intended). I'd stick with cards made for the mac until your know a bit more about Apple & 3rd Party hardware.
[ 05-08-2002: Message edited by: X704 ]</p>
<strong>1. Your Power mac is upgradeable
2. There are no retail Nvida cards for the Mac
3. Some have successfully flashed varoius brands of Nvida GF 2mx & GF 3 with a Mac rom & they work fine
4. There are no known successes with any PC GF 4mx cards
5. I'd suggest you bring back the card & get a refund. Then purchase either an origional Radeon AGP (MAC EDITION) or Radeon 8500 (MAC EDITION). Both of these are available retail & will work with your mac with no difficulties.
6. I would not suggest you try to flash cards because it's a pretty involved process (rearching what card to get, getting the flashing apps, flashing it in a PC, then testing on the mac) & you don't seem to be to knoledgable (no offense intended). I'd stick with cards made for the mac until your know a bit more about Apple & 3rd Party hardware.
[ 05-08-2002: Message edited by: X704 ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
WHOA!!! I'm glad i just READ this... I cancelled my order just-in-time. If you are correct, then I almost wasted money on a GeForce4 Ti 4600. If it actually would've worked, I can always re-order, but until I confirm... I'm glad I read this post. Thanks!
- Scott
Okay... just got off the phone w/ the manufacturer of the card and they confirmed that it will not (currently) work in my G4 due to lack of driver support... YET... Apple offers them as build-to-order options...? So that means a driver MUST exist... is it available anywhere for download...?
Again... thanks for the heads-up... I almost became the owner of a GeForce4 Ti Doorstop.
[ 05-09-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
<strong>AND How come the Mac Radeon 7000 is $50 more than the PC version? Is it possible to flash that card?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Why does most mac stuff cost more. Low volume. Deal with it. Until Apple gets say 20-30% market share mac specific hardware will cost more then the eqivelent PC hardware 95% of the time.
If you don't like paying more for mac specific hardware then write the companies who are putting out Mac specific hardware & tell them you'd rather have a PC compatable hardware with Mac firmware & software.
There are no known successful flashing of any PC ATI video card that make them work on macs.
Keep your eye on places like dealmac.com & you'll find good deals which will often bring the price down comparable to PC stuff.
BTW you realize the Radeon 7000 (Mac Ed) is PCI only right? No Quartz Extreme accelerationi in OS X.
At least I don't have to deal with crappy nVidia on my TiBook/800.