G5 Quadzilla graphics card upgrades
Discussion
I know Magic Torch will know 
but anyone else chip in to help me out!!
I have a Quadzilla Mac that came as standard spec from an Apple Store, I have since added an extra 4 GB of RAM but it still has the GF 6600 graphics card, which is utterly anaemic given the power of the rest of the system.
Apple don't seem to sell any upgrade cards for this box (PCI Express)??? I'm not a graphics pro so am not after a Quadro or something mega expensive, just fancy playing Doom 3 and Quake 4 a little faster on my 30" screen.
Does anyone know what options there are? I've been through the PC-card-flashing rigmarole before but this isn't an option now since I switched from PC kit a long time ago and don't have a Windows box with PCIe.
I don't mind paying a modest premium to support the Mac devs at ATI or nVidia, but this is games-only nice-to-have so am not interested in paying more than £300.
but anyone else chip in to help me out!! I have a Quadzilla Mac that came as standard spec from an Apple Store, I have since added an extra 4 GB of RAM but it still has the GF 6600 graphics card, which is utterly anaemic given the power of the rest of the system.
Apple don't seem to sell any upgrade cards for this box (PCI Express)??? I'm not a graphics pro so am not after a Quadro or something mega expensive, just fancy playing Doom 3 and Quake 4 a little faster on my 30" screen.
Does anyone know what options there are? I've been through the PC-card-flashing rigmarole before but this isn't an option now since I switched from PC kit a long time ago and don't have a Windows box with PCIe.
I don't mind paying a modest premium to support the Mac devs at ATI or nVidia, but this is games-only nice-to-have so am not interested in paying more than £300.
Strangely enough, I've been hunting down PCI-E graphics cards for a work CAD/3d-visualisation box (which happens to be a Dell... we have no choice in these matters...). We've plumped for a high end Quadro 4500 but the lower-end Quadro cards aren't too pricey - certainly you can get them for under £300. Have a look at www.3dprographics.com for sample prices.
Kris..
Kris..
There's a couple of things you could try - contact an AASP, and see how much they are asking for one.
I'll ask tomorrow, if I remember, and see what their reply is.
Alternatively, how long have you had the Quad?
Personally, I'd run with the fact they changed the min spec on Aperture to 7800 GT, you WANT the 7800 GT at the upgrade price - that had you known this would be the case, blah blah, blah, you'd have spec'd the Quad thus.
You could really push things if you paid for it by credit card!
I'll ask tomorrow, if I remember, and see what their reply is.
Alternatively, how long have you had the Quad?
Personally, I'd run with the fact they changed the min spec on Aperture to 7800 GT, you WANT the 7800 GT at the upgrade price - that had you known this would be the case, blah blah, blah, you'd have spec'd the Quad thus.
You could really push things if you paid for it by credit card!
I wouldn't flash the cash to try it but this might be worth some research.
I can't see Apple writing a Nvidia driver from scratch; logically they would have paid Nvidia to supply one.
Nvidia use a common driver system for their cards at least as far as Linux, BSD and Windows go... makes sense they'd just tweak the BSD driver to work in OS X which is BSD based.
You might well find that the Nvidia driver sat inside their will run on any Nvidia card you throw at it; it might not know about all of the capabilities though.
The BSD driver might well install on OS X... that is however doubtful in the extreme.
Snooping around the UK apple store the only to graphics cards they offer are the Ati X800XT or the GF6600 upgrade... no sign of a 7800 model even though Nvidia themselves mention it on their website.
I can't see Apple writing a Nvidia driver from scratch; logically they would have paid Nvidia to supply one.
Nvidia use a common driver system for their cards at least as far as Linux, BSD and Windows go... makes sense they'd just tweak the BSD driver to work in OS X which is BSD based.
You might well find that the Nvidia driver sat inside their will run on any Nvidia card you throw at it; it might not know about all of the capabilities though.
The BSD driver might well install on OS X... that is however doubtful in the extreme.
Snooping around the UK apple store the only to graphics cards they offer are the Ati X800XT or the GF6600 upgrade... no sign of a 7800 model even though Nvidia themselves mention it on their website.
thepassenger said:
I wouldn't flash the cash to try it but this might be worth some research.
I can't see Apple writing a Nvidia driver from scratch; logically they would have paid Nvidia to supply one.
Nvidia use a common driver system for their cards at least as far as Linux, BSD and Windows go... makes sense they'd just tweak the BSD driver to work in OS X which is BSD based.
You might well find that the Nvidia driver sat inside their will run on any Nvidia card you throw at it; it might not know about all of the capabilities though.
The BSD driver might well install on OS X... that is however doubtful in the extreme.
Snooping around the UK apple store the only to graphics cards they offer are the Ati X800XT or the GF6600 upgrade... no sign of a 7800 model even though Nvidia themselves mention it on their website.
The problem is not the drivers but the Firmware on the card itself. You need a Mac specific firmware to even get the machine to POST.
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