Upgrade the AGP Rage128Pro

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Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Ok so I gots a OLD G4...Powermac G4 450Mhz with (shh don't tell aegis) 1.38GB of SDRAM. It's got a AGP slot with a Rage128Pro



What would be your suggestions on upgrading the video card to something better?



or like most Macs..chuck it in the dumpster and buy a new one(wonderful strategy by Apple..disposable computers and music devices)



unlike a PC...you know..where you have to take out video cards,RAM,Hard drives,SATA Drives and cables,DVD-RAM drives to upgrade..and then you have that HUGE selection of components you could stick in that PC...yeah so much work..

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    Where do I start...



    OK, I "gots" a PowerMac G4 350MHz AGP. I'm not sure where you were going with your mac vs. pc upgrade comparison but I've upgraded my 350 quite a bit.



    Quote:

    unlike a PC...you know..where you have to take out video cards,RAM,Hard drives,SATA Drives and cables,DVD-RAM drives to upgrade..and then you have that HUGE selection of components you could stick in that PC...yeah so much work..



    I've upgraded my video card, RAM, hard drive(s), processor, and optical drive. Plus I've installed an Airport card, USB 2.0 card, SCSI card, and a ATA/133 HDD controller card. So... um yeah, you can't upgrade a mac anywhere near as much as a pc.



    As far as your video card question, you didn't state what you want to do with your machine. I installed an ATI Radeon Mac edition card in mine a while back. It only has 32MB VRAM, but it works like a champ in Panther and all of the apps that I use. For light games it isn't bad but you will want a better card to play anything more demanding. I believe you can put up to a ATI Radeon 9600 in the AGP model.



    Was:

    PM G4 350 (stock components)



    Now:

    PM G4 1GHz

    OS 10.3.8

    896MB Ram

    ATI Radeon Mac Ed.

    Pioneer 16X dual layer DVD burner

    Maxtor; 80GB boot, 120GB & 250GB storage

    misc. extras
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  • Reply 2 of 6
    <<What would be your suggestions on upgrading the video card to something better? >>



    Again, why do want to upgrade the video card? To run two displays? Faster video performance? Are you planning to upgrade the memory or processor? As to your question, the ATI Radeon 9000 Mac Pro Edition with 128MB memory is probably the least expense of the card available.



    From your post, I couldn't tell whether you were serious about disposable Macs or were tongue-in-cheeck. The PM G4 is remarkably easy to upgrade, just open the side and everything is exposed.
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  • Reply 3 of 6
    webmailwebmail Posts: 639member
    This machine IS old. Find me a 6 year old PC that you can upgrade further than this powermac. Why instead of wasting money on things LIKE ram and new video cards buy a new computer?????



    Quote:

    Originally posted by alaskanblacklab

    Ok so I gots a OLD G4...Powermac G4 450Mhz with (shh don't tell aegis) 1.38GB of SDRAM. It's got a AGP slot with a Rage128Pro



    What would be your suggestions on upgrading the video card to something better?



    or like most Macs..chuck it in the dumpster and buy a new one(wonderful strategy by Apple..disposable computers and music devices)



    unlike a PC...you know..where you have to take out video cards,RAM,Hard drives,SATA Drives and cables,DVD-RAM drives to upgrade..and then you have that HUGE selection of components you could stick in that PC...yeah so much work..




     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 6
    webmailwebmail Posts: 639member
    So you could have bought a base line brandnew G5 for all the parts you purchased.



    Quote:

    Originally posted by opuscroakus

    Where do I start...



    OK, I "gots" a PowerMac G4 350MHz AGP. I'm not sure where you were going with your mac vs. pc upgrade comparison but I've upgraded my 350 quite a bit.







    I've upgraded my video card, RAM, hard drive(s), processor, and optical drive. Plus I've installed an Airport card, USB 2.0 card, SCSI card, and a ATA/133 HDD controller card. So... um yeah, you can't upgrade a mac anywhere near as much as a pc.



    As far as your video card question, you didn't state what you want to do with your machine. I installed an ATI Radeon Mac edition card in mine a while back. It only has 32MB VRAM, but it works like a champ in Panther and all of the apps that I use. For light games it isn't bad but you will want a better card to play anything more demanding. I believe you can put up to a ATI Radeon 9600 in the AGP model.



    Was:

    PM G4 350 (stock components)



    Now:

    PM G4 1GHz

    OS 10.3.8

    896MB Ram

    ATI Radeon Mac Ed.

    Pioneer 16X dual layer DVD burner

    Maxtor; 80GB boot, 120GB & 250GB storage

    misc. extras




     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 6
    Quote:

    Originally posted by webmail

    So you could have bought a base line brandnew G5 for all the parts you purchased.



    #1 Yes I could have. (maybe not quite)



    #2 I just didn't drop a bunch of jing and do this all at once. I started upgrading this machine long before the G5's were even out.
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  • Reply 6 of 6
    I don't game on this computer...WAY too slow..that's why I have a PC..



    Generally it's slow in everything..I would toss out the small SDRAM and toss in bigger chunks..but then again I might buy a G5.



    I have 2 vid cards. the Rage128Pro AGP bus

    a Rage128 PCI bus.



    I think I could toss in the ATI Radeon 9500 right? not a great card,but I got it for free...I also have a OC'ed 9700 Pro

    Would you suggest ATI or Nvidia?



    I don't do much hardware stuff besides burn a CD on occasion..but generally my mom uses it for Photoshop.



    She bought a Dell Inspiron 4150 with a 2Ghz mobile P4 with 512MB of SoDIMM DDR with a ATI 7200 I think...it plays games decently,but for my gaming use, I use a AMD Athlon XP @ 2Ghz with 1.00GB of 400Mhz DDR and a OC'ed Radeon 9700 Pro.

    I have 2 WDC drives and I'm using a Gigabyte MOBO.



    She uses the laptop now for email and surfing the web on the wireless network card that came with the Dell..even though the Mac has 100Mbps direct connection to the router, the laptop has a 10-11Mbps 802.11B wireless setup and it's like breakneck speed fast...



    Here's another question...is Airport really worth it? I've seen advertisments for airport boosters and range extenders..
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