Radeon 8500 Mac/PC in Dual 867 help...

michael x. s.michael x. s.
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hello... I'm generally fairly knowledgeable about Macs but before going out and spending some cash, I was wondering if anyone knew how to go about flashing the ROM on a Radeon 8500 video card... I bought a dual 867 g4 with nvidia geforce 4mx, but I want to go dual monitors, and have svideo out for dvd's.... thus, i need a radeon 8500 or 9700.... 8500 has similar performance and twice the ram so its better for dual monitor...



the pc version costs about ~$85 while the mac version is ~$185... i had heard whispers about the hardware being identical, i mean its just an AGP slot... right? so can i just buy a pc card? flash it? etc?



any help would be great!!!



// michael

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    try checking over at <a href="http://www.xlr8yourmac.com,"; target="_blank">www.xlr8yourmac.com,</a> or look around on google. i know a few members here have done it, i think it saved them about $40. not sure if it's worth it in your case, on the off chance you fry the card.



    i'd tell you to search around, but i think the search function is broken now. it's gonna be fixed soon hopefully.



    best of luck!
  • Reply 2 of 3
    bobwbobw Posts: 49member
    From macosx.com

    <a href="http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?s=332e28fb23943d91388d71839e4d6536&; threadid=20531&highlight=flashed+ati+cards" target="_blank">http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?s=332e28fb23943d91388d71839e4d6536&; threadid=20531&highlight=flashed+ati+cards</a>





    Here are the steps I used (gleaned from MacNN & xlr8yourmac forums):



    1. Bought PC 8500 Radeon card from Newegg.com rated at 275/275 for $109.

    2. Booted into OS9.2

    3. Installed Firmware RESTORE (from ATI firmware downloaded)into startup folder.

    4. Shut down. Removed original ATI card, installed Radeon 8500.

    5. Restarted leaving CRT unconnected, waited 5 min, shut down.

    6. Replaced Radeon with original card. Restarted, replaced the FIRMWARE RESTORE with Firmware UPDATE. Shut down.

    7. Reinstalled the Radeon 8500. Restarted. Waited 5 min. Shut down.

    8. Reconnected the CRT. Restarted and reset the PRAM (Waited for 5-6 chimes ... lost count{sheepish grin})

    9. Installed the drivers in OS9. Booted into OSX Installed he drivers and everything is working great.





    Download;



    <a href="http://ati.com/support/drivers/mac/ati-radeon8500-mac-rom-126.html"; target="_blank">http://ati.com/support/drivers/mac/ati-radeon8500-mac-rom-126.html</a>;
  • Reply 3 of 3
    macmaniacmacmaniac Posts: 183member
    Good luck with your upgrade, Michael. Sorry I can't help you with it, but when you get your new card, I'll give you $40.00 for the geforce 4mx.

    Steve B.
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