Upgrading the graphics card in a AGP Power Mac G4

[MacFox]

I recently acquired an AGP Power Mac G4 Sawtooth with an upgraded CPU and 1 GB of RAM and it's been the main Mac I've been focusing on.  OS-wise, I have a dual boot setup with OS X 10.5.8 on the primary HDD and OS 9.2.2 on the secondary HDD.  I decided to make some upgrades of my own.  I've added a USB 2.0 card and just ordered more RAM so I can reach the maximum of 2 GB.  I also want to upgrade the graphics card.  I bought a Radeon 8500 off of ebay and unfortunately it doesn't work.  It lacked the face plate to screw it into the AGP slot, so the card wasn't secure.  I assume that's why it didn't work, either that or the seller gave me the PC version by mistake.  I chose that card because it has 64 MB of VRAM and doesn't require tapping into the power supply. 

What I'm asking is: Are there any other compatible graphics cards that don't require tapping into the power supply or should I not even bother upgrading the graphics card at all in this Mac?

Thanks  

 

[MOS8_030]

iirc the Sawtooth systems may have issues with some video cards and won't provide enough power because the AGP is only 2X.

 

[Gorgonops]

I bought a Radeon 8500 off of ebay and unfortunately it doesn't work.  It lacked the face plate to screw it into the AGP slot, so the card wasn't secure.

Have you gotten your money back? This kind of sounds like the most shady thing ever.
 

iirc the Sawtooth systems may have issues with some video cards and won't provide enough power because the AGP is only 2X.

Broadly speaking I think that most of the cards you'll run into that don't work in the older AGP G4 towers are AGP 8x or "AGP Pro" cards that you *probably* wouldn't want to upgrade to anyway because they don't have OS 9.x drivers. (People were at one point upgrading those systems with GeForce 5200 cards because that enables Core Image in OS X but, again, the 5200 is basically worthless under 9.) ATI sold a Mac Edition of the 8500 so *if* the card had actually been a functional card with a Mac firmware it should have been fine.

What kind of video card does the system have now? If it's at least a Radeon 7500 or GeForce 2/4MX the benefits of upgrading will probably not really justify the cost unless there's some specific video game you want to run better. (A rare scenario on a Mac.) Only if you have a quite early G4 tower with a Rage 128 will you really see much benefit for OS X proper. (Or most productivity software.) If it supports Quartz Extreme it's probably "good enough".

 

[MacFox]

Have you gotten your money back? This kind of sounds like the most shady thing ever.
 

Broadly speaking I think that most of the cards you'll run into that don't work in the older AGP G4 towers are AGP 8x or "AGP Pro" cards that you *probably* wouldn't want to upgrade to anyway because they don't have OS 9.x drivers. (People were at one point upgrading those systems with GeForce 5200 cards because that enables Core Image in OS X but, again, the 5200 is basically worthless under 9.) ATI sold a Mac Edition of the 8500 so *if* the card had actually been a functional card with a Mac firmware it should have been fine.

What kind of video card does the system have now? If it's at least a Radeon 7500 or GeForce 2/4MX the benefits of upgrading will probably not really justify the cost unless there's some specific video game you want to run better. (A rare scenario on a Mac.) Only if you have a quite early G4 tower with a Rage 128 will you really see much benefit for OS X proper. (Or most productivity software.) If it supports Quartz Extreme it's probably "good enough".

No I haven't returned it.  I'll just have to remember not to buy from that seller again.  I don't want to start any e-drama.

The card I have in this system currently is the original Rage 128 Pro that it shipped with back in the day.  I wanted to upgrade to improve OS X performance mostly.  I do plan on installing Photoshop or Illustrator for fun, though I might do that on 9 instead of X, haven't decided yet.  I use OS X for TenFourFox and 9 for games and Office.  I have iWork '09 installed under X because I like Pages, but I guess since I don't have the required VRAM, it refuses to load.  I thought the VRAM requirement was just for advanced features, not basic functionality.

 

[Unknown_K]

Ati 9000 cards for mac are easy to find and work in plain old OS 9 as well.

I did hack a 9600 card from a G5 into a MDD (you have to cut a trace so it will work in 4x AGP mode and it will only work in OSX) but you can't use a mac ADC monitor since the 24v tab is in the wrong place.

 

[swamprock]

I have a Radeon 9200 in my 450mhz Sawtooth that works with both OS 9 and OS X. I think I paid $15 for it on eBay. I have a ADC to DVI (or is it the other way around? I always forget) adapter to run my Cinema Display with it, though.

 

[MacFox]

Thought I would give an update.  Since my last post, I've purchased a couple different graphics cards for the G4 with the most recent being the Radeon 9000 with 128 MB of VRAM.  I could've went with the 256 MB 9800 (I found a driver from Ati that forces the card to work under OS 9 with just basic display functionality no acceleration), but that would've required a PSU upgrade with a spare molex cable.  The 9000 works great, but there's a downside: DVD playback doesn't work right in OS 9 now (works fine in OS X Tiger though).  I've noticed with this upgraded G4 that some things that would work fine on one of my G3s, won't work at all on this G4 (Example: Toast 5).  I do like the fact that iWork '09 woks properly now and TenFourFox is slightly faster on some sites.  I might even put Leopard back on here (I downgraded to Tiger to help with iWork a few months ago).  OS 9 itself works fine and Classila and Office 98 are fine with the upgrades. 

To sum it up, I've gained capability in some areas, but lost compatibility in others.  Something I'll keep in mind if I consider upgrades for my other Macs.