nvidia Geforce 7800GT vs. ATI Radeon X1900 G5 Mac Edition

Hey there -

Saw your post and had a question. I've got a G5 quad also and am using the new Panasonic SD5 videocam that records in full 1920 by 1080 HD. Unfortunately, the new imovie 08 (which is great BTW), chokes using the nvidia 6600 card that I have installed. Have you run full HD on your Quad core? Does it stutter?

With regards to your question, though, if you don't have a pressing need to upgrade or change the video card, I would recommend leaving well enough alone. (As they say: The enemy of good is better.) i.e. you could just end up screwing up a good thing.

Thanks

Hi-

The overall feeling is that the two cards are pretty much equal- one will out do the other, depending on the task/software, but overall performance is close to equal. Ask who likes what, and you'll get responses for both.

As for conflicting reports, as long as the reports are from a G5, and not a Mac Pro, performance margins between the two cards are slight.

http://barefeats.com/quad15.html

Jeffrey, This isn't an answer but a question about what G5 you have. I am looking to upgrade my video card but am abit confused on what I should get. I am not sure if I have a PCI G5 or a PCI express. When I look at the sytem profiler at the video card it just saqy BUS:PCI...when I look inside the machine case I see PCI-X on the expansion slots. Can you help me?

JB,
You should read the 'reviews' on the Apple Store webpage about the ATI Radeon X1900 G5 Mac Edition. They are somewhat mixed, some folks love 'em and others are not happy. As mentioned, it is faster at some applications and slower at others, it's a mixed blessing. I've had a (flashed) Nvidia 7800-512MB in my Quad for 1-1/2 years now and it's a very fast card. Personally, I'd leave the Nvidia 7800 card in there.
Use Temperature Monitor by Bresink to watch your GPU temps, my 7800 is running at 42C at the moment, never seen it over 55C.
~~
Maxxfield,
My G5 Quad/7800 runs 1080p HD at about 15% of the CPU's. My screen is a Apple 23" HD Cinema Display so I use the 1920x1200 resolution. I let movie trailers download at 1080p, then watch them in their largest size when the download is complete - no studders, just smooth viewing.

I'd like to try it on a bigger HD video but don't have any, a link to one would be good.
~~
Musiqdaddy17,
There are two very different Mac types, PCI-X and PCI-E.
Jeffery's Quad G5, like mine, is a PCI-E version.
If yours says PCI-X on the slots, then it needs the earlier G5 8X AGP Mac Edition video card.

PCI-X has one 8X AGP slot for the video card, three PCI-X slots for other add-on's. This type G5 uses the G5 Mac Edition AGP video card that is made for 8X AGP. See this for that G5 spec:
http://support.apple.com/specs/powermac/PowerMacG5.html
http://support.apple.com/specs/powermac/PowerMac_G5_Late2004.html

The PCI-E Mac is different, it has only the faster PCI-E slots for video cards. It uses Mac Edition PCI-E video cards. See this G5 spec:
http://support.apple.com/specs/powermac/PowerMacG5.html

I need to correct the above post's PCI-E link, I accidentally linked to an earlier G5. Sorry for any confusion.
This new link is to the PCI-E Mac G5. http://support.apple.com/specs/powermac/PowerMac_G5_Late2005.html