Video card replacement

C

cryanathus

Registered
Hi,
I just got a G4 and am going to replace the video card... This is my first mac in 10 years so I was just wondering if there's anything tricky about replacing the card or if all it takes is taking the old one out and putting the new one in. The new card is OEM so I don't have a manual or anything, that's why I ask.

I have a Dual 1.0 Ghz G4, 1.5gig ram-
Replacing GeForce 4 Ti with a Radeon 9800 Mac.

Also since I don't have a driver disc or anything, will the display work after replacement so that I can go online and download drivers for it?
Thanks.
 
If it's the Macintosh Edition of the card, you should be fine. Which version of the Power Macintosh G4 are you using? If it's a very old G4 tower, you might have issues with AGP voltages.
 
it's the quicksilver, i believe. since i made that post earlier i took out the nvidia and put in the radeon, changing nothing in the software, and all i got was a black screen... so there must be something else i have to do...?
 
Have you installed the software for the RADEON card? If it is the Mac Edition then the software for OS X should be there. If not, you can download it from ATI.com.

I believe that OS X should detect this card as they are one of the ones supported for Quartz Extreme. Have you tried zapping the PRAM?

Would anyone else care to take a stab at this one? :D
 
I haven't installed any software - I run 10.4.2 Tiger, so I was told I wouldn't need to. On ATI's site I'm having trouble finding the drivers - something says "ATI Displays" under the driver section for it, I don't know if that's the driver or not. Like I said, I've been a PC guy for a decade... our drivers are called "drivers." Heh.

Zapping the PRAM... might try it if i knew what it meant. :p
 
What you got is a PC-version of that card that's been "flashed" for a Mac -- meaning, there's no guarantee that it will work.

Unfortuantely, flashing cards creates many, many compatibility problems. Just because the auction says that the card works doesn't mean that it will.

I, personally, would never put a flashed PC card into my Macintosh. For best results, buy a retail or second-hand Macintosh-specific graphics card.
 
Hmmmm well that's a pain. Thanks for the info though. I didn't know they were so sketchy. I'll have to pick up an authentic mac card.
 
Oh man oh man!! That sucks. I'm sorry to hear that. The unfortunate thing is that the reflashing doesn't always work. You're better off getting an actual Mac-friendly video card. The only card that I know can successfully be flashed PC to Mac and vice-versa are the 3dfx Voodoo cards. Most of them were supported on both, but they were flashed for whatever platform they wnted to sell. Problem was, 3dfx was selling the same card for a LOT more when the PC version was exactly the same as the Mac version (the support for the Mac was built in to the firmware on the PC version, but was only flashed for the PC). Once word got out this this could be done successfully, Mac users bought the PC version and flashed them for their Macs. The loser here was 3dfx.

Video card manufacturers learned from this and now many PC video cards will not work well or at all if flashed for the Mac, since there isn't enough space on the firmware for the Mac support (do a search on the forums for in-depth discussions about this topic).

I'm so sorry to hear that this happened, but I guess you can now chalk it up to experience. Just make sure that you give the appropriate feedback to the seller, because from what I saw it was DEFINITELY misrepresentation. He says that it's 100 percent tested to work on Macs, and obviously it's not. I believe it is also illegal to flash some of these cards, so this person might be braking the law (as was stated in another thread about this video card flashing issue).
 
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