Go with ATI Radeon 9000 on G4 now or wait for 9700/9800

edinla43edinla43
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I'm finally ready to buy a new 1.42GHz G4. With all the good reports on the ATI Radeon versus the InVidia, I'd like to get it with the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro but it's still not available. The website says Coming Soon and won't let me complete my order. I'd like to order the G4 within the next week.



So my dilemma is, should I go with the ATI 9000 now or delay making my order until the 9700 or 9800 comes out in the next several months (if then)? My 5 year old Windows 98 machine is in sad health and I'd like to swith soon.



Is changing out the 9000 for the 9700/9800 a difficult task? (I've never worked on a computer before so I wouldn't even know what to look for inside there - hopefully the instructions have some good photos) Is it as simple as just unplugging one board and plugging in the new one?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    filmmaker2002filmmaker2002 Posts: 686member
    I have the Radeon 9000 in my Dual 1Ghz Powermac that runs games like Wolfenstein, Medal of Honor, and Jedi Outcast at 1600x1200 res at great quality. It is a little choppy sometimes, but very very rarely. The 9700 Pro would kick serious @$$, but I don't know that I could justify the extra money. If you are playing games, the 9000 is more than adequate, but if you want top notch performance, the 9700 is very easy to install later if need be.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    If you don't mind upgrading later, just go for the 9000. Upgrading is basically just pulling the old card out of the slot and sticking the new one in, it's not a very difficult process. You may have to install drivers as well, but that should be easy to do.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    t'hain esh kelcht'hain esh kelch Posts: 1,274member
    [quote]Originally posted by MCQ:

    <strong>You may have to install drivers as well, but that should be easy to do.</strong><hr></blockquote>

    No need for this, since OSX handles all the drivers from nVidia and ATI.



    If you are a hardcore gamer, or plan to be one, go with a Radeon 9700. Dont wait for the 9800, since I believe it would be overkill.. (The G4's suck at games right now...)



    And dont get worried about changing a grafix card. Its almost as easy as pluggin' in a keyboard/mouse..
  • Reply 4 of 7
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    [quote]Originally posted by T'hain Esh Kelch:

    <strong>

    No need for this, since OSX handles all the drivers from nVidia and ATI.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Okay cool, I wasn't completely sure on that... only used to the PC side for that stuff.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    grad studentgrad student Posts: 184member
    somebody set me straight on this one: can you buy a PC ati radeon 9000 and use it in a AGP mac? what about a PC 9700?
  • Reply 6 of 7
    gspottergspotter Posts: 342member
    [quote]Originally posted by grad student:

    <strong>somebody set me straight on this one: can you buy a PC ati radeon 9000 and use it in a AGP mac? what about a PC 9700?</strong><hr></blockquote>

    The PC and the Mac version do have different firmware. In a recent (german) computer magazin was a description how to flash a PC Radeon 8500 into the Mac version (You'll need a OS 9 bootable Mac for this). With the example card, everything worked well, but there is no guarantee, and you might end up with an unuseable (= burnt) graphics card, if something doesn't work as planned...
  • Reply 7 of 7
    alex londonalex london Posts: 613member
    Would I gain anything from sticking the retail 9000 in my dual 533, which is 2x AGP and has the geforce 2mx? Will it run the future games like Halo and Doom 3?
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