video cards for G5 DP

I purchased a G5 DP on ebay a few days ago. I've never owned a desktop mac before, and realized that I have some questions on the graphics output.

It's listed as having an Nvidia Geforce FX5200 graphics card. Is this an AGP card, PCI-E, PCI-X? Will the output be in VGA, DVI, or Apple Display connector? Can anyone recommend a good card if I choose to upgrade?

Could be either AGP or PCI but probably an AGP card. Will come with DVI and VGA fittings, as ADC is a thing of the past, although some ATI Radeon 9600 cards for G5 do have ADC.

It is a pretty slow card especially if you are into games. Do a Google for an ATI Radeon X800XT for a top of the range card.

thanks harryb. I checked out the x800xt. It's way more pricey than I'd want to pay. Do you know of anything less expensive? Preferably in the $50-150 range.

I'm running an ATI Radeon 9600 on my G5 PPC D2.0 (June 2004) and it's leaps and bounds over the functional but quite lowly nVidia GeForce FX 5200 that came with machine. It has dual DVI outputs which is a better option for me and the monitors I use. I still have two older 17" Apple diplays with the ADC connector that are still quite good (and the inverters haven't died in them yet) that I can't bring myself to part with even though I really don't need them. I still have my G4 500 MHz Graphite and G4 QS867 which have ADC connectors on their video boards but with Screen Sharing I just don't have a need to have more monitors on my desk. Oh and I got my card from OWC. Here's a link:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/video/AGP_Slot_Video_Cards

It's a bit higher than your price bracket but if you can find the wiggle room to spring a bit extra I don't think you'll be disappointed.

shawn

Funnily enough I also have the Radeon 9600 256MB VRAM card in my FW800 G4 as they have a heat sink and no fan to fail like the Radeon 9800 and use 17" Apple LCD.

You will see them on eBay from time to time, but make sure it is the 256MB card with dual DVI as there are a lot of 128MB cards out there. OWC at the above link have a limited numb er for $165, new but with opened box. I suggest grabbing one of them.

Thanks. I'll look into those 9600s, but I think my video card budget just got eaten by my KVM budget. Maybe in a few weeks, if I see it needs it.
When you swap out the cards, is it very different from a PC? I've built PC desktops before, but I've never seen the inside of a G5 tower.

Quite simple. Unplug and move to stable surface. Unlock side latch and earth out on metal framework. Undo screw at top and if held at the rear by a lug, bend it back SLIGHTLY to clear the lug, remove.

To replace position lug, get in place, and push down rocking the card if necessary. The mount on the card should be flush with the case before replacing the screw.

Thanks. I've seen pictures of the inside. It looks very clean, and exacting, just what I would expect from Apple, but it also seems crowded compared to a PC in a full tower case. Glad to know its user friendly. Do you know if installing ram is just as easy?

Changed memory in plenty of G4's so don't think G5's would be that much different. Have a look at this link with photos:-

http://www.scribd.com/doc/206739/Memory

Memory upgrade is a three minute job

Really, it's just about as easy as it gets. Pop the latch on the rear panel, pull the side panel off, pull out the clear plastic cover and then pull out the fan chassis. The memory is right at the front of the case on the logic board, ya can't miss 'em. Just don't do what I recently did on my G5 and forget to put the fans back in. I fired it up after the latest upgrade and within four minutes every other fan inside was going full bore. Oops . From latch opening to latch closing it takes me three minutes, tops. It's just slightly more involved than upgrading memory on my G4s but there's nothing to it.

shawn