Replacing PCI-Express graphics card in G5

I need to replace the video card in a Late 2005 G5.

According to the Knowledge Base, the following cards were shipping with those G5s:

* GeForce 6600 LE
* GeForce 6600
* GeForce 7800 GT
* NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 (part number 631-0110)

However, none of those cards are easy to find, or if you can find them, they're incredibly expensive. Is there another compatible graphics card that would be easier to find? I'm having trouble finding a list of all compatible cards for those machines.

G5, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Sep 27, 2009 8:11 AM

Reply
15 replies

Oct 7, 2009 12:46 PM in response to Matthew Meeks1

Apple's "early/late" naming convention doesn't really help with what's on the inside, but officially "Late 2005" was dual-core processors, using PCIe graphics.

How about a snippet from the top of System Profile, and graphics (be sure to leave out SN etc).

http://www.apple.com/support/powermac/

Standard graphics
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE with 128MB of GDDR SDRAM, one single-link DVI port, and one dual-link DVI port
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 256MB of GDDR SDRAM, one single-link DVI port, and one dual-link DVI port

Optional graphics
NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT with 256MB of GDDR3 SDRAM, one single-link DVI port, and one dual-link DVI port; or NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 with 512MB of GDDR3 SDRAM, two dual-link DVI ports, and one stereo 3D port (occupies PCI Express 16-lane slot and adjacent four-lane slot)

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP37

Apple's PowerMac G5 Late2005 manuals
http://support.apple.com/manuals/#powermac

"Up to 16GB of main memory Eight DIMM slots hold up to 16GB of fast new 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM. For mission-critical and compute-intensive environments, you now have the option of ECC (Error Correction Code) memory for automatic correction and detection of data errors." - Page #4

Oct 7, 2009 2:14 PM in response to The hatter

It's a dual core processor, but I don't understand why the Apple Genius would tell me to buy a PCI-E card, when the computer says it has an AGP card in it.

Here's what the System Profile says:
Hardware Overview:

Machine Name: Power Mac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac7,2
CPU Type: PowerPC 970 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 2 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 3.5 GB
Bus Speed: 1 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.4f0

And here's the graphics profile:

ATI Radeon X800 XT:

Chipset Model: ATY,R420
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x4a48
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-A3580A-202
Displays:
VGA Display:
Resolution: 800 x 600 @ 60 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
VGA Display:
Resolution: 800 x 600 @ 60 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Supported
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported

Oct 11, 2009 5:26 PM in response to japamac

I just picked up a Radeon X1900 Mac Edition for my Quad G5. I put it in the 16x PCIe slot and.....nothing. The computer just hangs there - won't boot. I don't even get to the grey screen with gears. As soon as I pull the thing back out, everything is back to normal. I assumed since it's the "Mac Edition" that it should be as easy as following the installation instruction. Does anyone PLEASE have any info this?

Oct 11, 2009 5:44 PM in response to studio924

Hi-

Is that a Mac Edition, or a G5 Edition?
There are two cards, with the Mac Edition (512MB VRAM) being for Mac Pro machines, and the G5 Edition (256MB VRAM) being for the G5 dual core.

Very confusing, but none the less, a very important point.

Also, the X1900 requires connection of the power cable that should have been included.
The power cable connects from the card to an auxiliary power connector on the logic board.

Oct 12, 2009 10:59 AM in response to japamac

It says on the box that it's the 256MB G5 Mac Edition, and there was no power cable included (I bought it on Ebay).

The need for the power cable would explain the graphic with the flashing red (cable) that I see on the screen when I try to boot up! I'll seek one out and post back if that's all it took to solve the problem, or not.

Thank you so much for the information. It's people like you that make the world a better place!

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Replacing PCI-Express graphics card in G5

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