Radeon 9600 Pro faster then 9600 XT?????

9600XT is the faster card ( RV350 core in 9600pro vs. RV360 in 9600XT with faster core clock and faster VRAM )


Faster cards


Radeon

9800pro
9800XT
X800XT
X850XT


nVidia

6800
7800

There may be some applications where the 256MB would help, but the main advantage of the 9600 Pro PC/MAC edition is that one of its DVI ports is dual-link, so can run a 30" display at full resolution.

Hi

When I first got the 9600 Pro retail version (PC & Mac) I downloaded a utility to see out of interest how much of the 256MB VRAM was actually being used. During 'normal' usage it wasn't that much, typically less than 128MB, with an Apple Cinema display connected. Certain games may use considerably more if they load huge amounts of textures in, but then the 9600 isn't really a gaming card anyway, a 9800 would be a much better choice. As already mentioned it's mainly directed at people wanting a relatively cheap card that supports Apple's 30" Cinema display, hence the dual link DVI and 256MB VRAM. In terms of naming conventions, I think they go [no name], Pro and XT (extreme?) in increasing levels of performance (core and memory speeds).

Rather than start a new topic, I thought I'd add my question to this one.

How do I find out what GPU I have installed on my G5? It's either a 9600XT or 9700XT but I remember it shows up as 350 or something in the specs...

...I would like to upgrade the card on my G5 and I wanted to know my options. Since it's a PowerPC, am I limited in my upgradability? One of the previous posts has a list of GPU's to choose from. Are those the only ones? And how much is the most expensive or cheap one? I'm not looking to spend more than $70...is this possible?

Thanks mac guys

9600, there was/is no 9700XT. Nor was 9700pro offered for G5's

9000 RV250 core

9600 RV350 core

9650 RV351 core

9600XT RV360 core

9700pro R300 core

9800pro R350 core

9800XT R360 core

So the best I can upgrade this machine is to a 9800XT?

I bought this G5 knowing it would last b/c I can upgrade very well...

...is this Apple letting me down b/c they changed to Intel?

you could also upgrade to Radeon X800XT ( R420 core ). or the incredibly rare Apple OEM X850XT ( R481 core )

Hi

For me the X800 XT would be the best upgrade in terms of performance and cost. The very last G5 models used PCI express for the graphics card rather than AGP, so in a sense the technology had already moved on before the Intel based Macs were even introduced.

It's nothing unusual though. The G3s use PCI and are limited because the technology moved to AGP. The early G4s use AGP 2x and are limited because the technology moved to AGP 4x (and some cards such as the 9600 won't work with AGP 2x). The later G4s use AGP 4x and are limited because the technology moved to AGP 8x Pro. Most G5s use AGP 8x Pro and are limited because the technology moved to PCI Express etc. I guess it's largely unavoidable if technology is to move forward, and in a sense welcome otherwise you'd have a G5 with the same graphics technology as a G3.

 PM G4 QS 1GHz DP, ATI 9600, 1GB RAM, WD Raptors, 23" ACD Mac OS X (10.4.9)

I hope the above didn't sound all doom and gloom. The X800 XT is still a considerable upgrade compared to the stock cards (~4 times faster than a 9600?). Beyond that other things such as the processor speed, memory speed and inherent logic board limitations probably become the bottleneck, by which time the only option is to buy a new machine anyway.

Ha, no you didn't sound totally doom and gloom 🙂

I stopped paying attention to what GPU's were great about 1 yr ago and I remember hearing things about the ATI 800 being good.

How can I find out if my machine is AGP up to 8x or PCI Express? I bought this dual 2.5 right when they released them back in Aug 2005. Oh and thanks for putting the GPU upgrades into perspective for me.

Only the very last G5 models with dual core processors use PCI Express, all others use 8x AGP. The easiest way to tell is probably by the number of ethernet ports on the back of the computer. The PCI Express models have two, the AGP models one.

Benchmarks and reviews for the X800 XT can be found here:
http://www.barefeats.com/radx800.html
http://anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2313&p=1

and for the X1900, suitable for PCI Express based G5s, here:
http://www.barefeats.com/quad15.html