Upgrade G5 Graphics Card

Hi-

Welcome to Discussions!

Definitely the ATI Radeon X800XT Mac edition:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI%20Technologies/100435338/

Review at the following:

http://www.barefeats.com/radx800.html

Yes, but order with caution. I've received two defective ones direct from ATI in the past couple of weeks. They both had the same problem so I'm concerned that there is a widespread production problem. I have not decided whether or not I will try again. If you get one that works, let us know.

Hey Ric,

I just got a new (working) x800XT. I did have to go through a not-working (filling the screen with yellow artifcats) card, that I ALSO ordered from the ATI online store. ATI did not have stock to replace the card, so I ended up ordering it from a retailer.

So, don't loose hope. There ARE working x800XTs out there. I had the same thoughts when I got my first bum card . . . But if you're going to get one, get one fast. Last time I checked, ATI had removed the card from thier online store site! That's primarily why I didn't want to wait for ATI to restock . . . but it looks like with Ric and my experience that you should avoid the online store.

Good hunting!

CMF

All,
I just recieved an x800XT that I ordered from OWC... Question should I install the software drivers that came with the card or should I just use the built in drivers from OSC10.4.10

I think ATI removed them from their online store because they're all being returned as defective. I only know of three people who ordered cards from ATI and they all got bad cards (4 cards between 3 people). I don't know why their own shipment would be worse than any other retailer's. I wonder if we aren't going to hear about a bigger production problem in the near future. I may order a 3rd card anyway (from somebody other than ATI) to give it one last shot.

Tony,

I don't know, but please let us know if your card works.

Ric

Tony,

DON'T install those drivers, unless you're running Mac OS X 10.3.9!!!! If you look at the readme file that is on the disk, the drivers that come with the card (and the ones on ATI's website) are intended ONLY for Mac OSX 10.3.9. It explains in the readme that OSX newer then 10.3.9 have the appropriate drivers included in the OS upgrade.

I installed the very same drivers on a x800XT I got over the weekend . .. while I can't say that they did any harm, I did reinstall OSX 10.4 without those drivers and I think it looks better . . .

How does you x800XT work? We should take start a new thread and take a poll to see who got x800XTs from the latest batch and how many of them work.

For the record, mine has been working since I got it on Saturday .. . and with a few hours of World of Warcraft under it's belt! If that's not gonna melt a graphics card, I don't know what will . . . but I am keeping close eye on my operating temperatures just in case . . .

CMF

OK, I just installed the card and so far it works, however I have not had a chance to stress it yet. Thanks CMF for your advice on NOT installing the drivers. I had not intented to do so but I wanted to make sure

As for sound you can tell that the fan speed is higher as expected compaired to the fanless 9600xt. I ran the Hardware Test and what I see so far as being different are

with 9600XT: PCI Slot Fan = 29%, Slot 12V = 2225.0
with x800XT: PCI Slot Fan = 40%, Slot 12V = 22064.0 <= Big difference!


Question, How can you get the fan speed of the card?

And how can you test the speed of the card itself vs the original card (other than just by "feel")?

Ric232 wrote:
And how can you test the speed of the card itself vs the original card (other than just by "feel")?

http://www.xbench.com/

I did a before and after and with Xbench v1.3 and didn't show much of a difference 😟 maybe the test it does doesn't take advantage of the cards capabilities

Or try CineBench. I would expect the OpenGL test to be significantly faster on the X800.

I had the same experience. Xbench doesn't reflect much difference. Try this:

http://www.giofx.net/GioFX/OpenMark.html

OK I did the Cinebench R10 test here are the results:

*CPU Benchmark*
Rendering 1CPU --> 1857
Rendering 2CPU --> 3360
Multiprocessor Speedup --> 1.81x

*OpenGL Benchmark*
2657

Can someone please run it for the 9600XT so we can compare