PowerMac G5

fahawker said:

Now how would I know if it was compatible? Just as long as it's compatible with Leopard right? The video card with fit in to the slot it would just be a driver issue, right?

Click to expand...

Pretty much yes to everything you mentioned. First issue would be will the card fit in the G5's video slot. Then you would have to make sure you can find drivers for the card...and finally it has to be a "Macintosh" card. Sometimes the same video card is released for both the Macintosh & Windows computers.

The Windows video card has "Windows" commands programmed into it...and the "Macintosh" card has Macintosh instructions programmed into it. So you can't just "pop" a Windows video card into a Macintosh.

The best thing to do is search the internet to make sure a video card you might be considering was ever made for a Macintosh. The make sure it was compatible with a Powermac G5.

With a 5 year-old computer...you pretty much have to search e-Bay for video cards for a Macintosh. But almost any video card you're going to find is going to be at least 2-3 years old...and may not perform any better than the video card that comes with the G5.

- Nick

As long as it is capatable with Leopard it should be fine right? Like this one....

Same card...one is a best buy site...the other is the manufacturer.

Galaxy - NVIDIA GeForce GT240 1GB PCI Express Graphics Card - BB24GGS8HX2PUX

Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

fahawker said:

As long as it is capatable with Leopard it should be fine right? Like this one....

Same card...one is a best buy site...the other is the manufacturer.

Galaxy - NVIDIA GeForce GT240 1GB PCI Express Graphics Card - BB24GGS8HX2PUX

Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

Click to expand...

Almost! That's a PCI-e video card...unfortunately none of the dual 1.8ghz Powermac G5's had a PCI-e video slot.

- Nick

Wow, I thought they did. Had to look it up myself. That's definitely a deal breaker for me. Thanks for your help man. Really glad you pointed a lot of that stuff out. I'll be sure to use this again if I have any questions. I have to ask since you seem to be a big fan of Apple, do you own a iPad? If you do, what do you really think of it?

On the PowerMac G5, can you replace the AGP video card?

Site on same card.

EVGA - GeForce 6200 512MB DDR2 AGP Graphics Card - 512-A8-N403

GeForce 6 Tech Specs

fahawker said:

Wow, I thought they did. Had to look it up myself. That's definitely a deal breaker for me. Thanks for your help man. Really glad you pointed a lot of that stuff out. I'll be sure to use this again if I have any questions. I have to ask since you seem to be a big fan of Apple, do you own a iPad? If you do, what do you really think of it?

Click to expand...

You're welcome for the help.

As far as the iPad...I don't have one yet...but I'm planning on getting one at some point. Some people don't like when this is said...but the iPad is really a BIG iPod Touch. But that's just fine with me! I like what the iPod Touch can do...and the bigger screen of the iPad makes it more fun when sitting on the couch, laying in bed, or taking it with on vacation.

I wasn't even thinking about the iPad 3g version at first...but I sort of like the "month to month" pay as you go deal AT&T has going...so I may be thinking of getting the 3G version.

I think that the iPad is a great/fun device for e-mail, internet surfing, and light gaming...and other uses I'm sure I'll find once I get one. But I would definitely not give up my laptop or desktop for an iPad.

To me the iPad is to a laptop, as a laptop is to a desktop. A laptop is more portable & mobile than a desktop...and an iPad is more portable & mobile than a laptop. Plus the long battery life on an iPad is great as well.

Of course other folks will say an iPad is just a toy...but then what's really wrong with that!

- Nick

fahawker said:

On the PowerMac G5, can you replace the AGP video card?

Click to expand...

This may help. Here's a list of all the video cards that shipped with the various Powermac G5 computers:

Graphics cards for the Power Mac G5.

I would basically say...for best compatibility...stick with the video cards in this list (and even all the cards in the list are not backwards compatible with all G5 models).

- Nick

Do not purchase a 1.8 Dual processor G5, as they are simply too old and too slow for that sort of cash. Mactracker supplies Benchtests as a guide, and the 1.8DP comes in at 1592 and a 2.3 Dual Core PCIe machine at 2108, neaqrly 50% faster.

Thanks man. I'm glad I didn't make the decision on buying it. It sounded really good until all the stuff you really can't do with it. It would just end up sitting in a corner or something.

I'm jealous that you have a Mac Pro though. That's going to last a LONG time. I wish I could afford one of them.