G4 Quicksilver GPU - 9000 Pro or GF4 4200Ti?

[TCH]

HI,

I have a QS 733MHz (psu dead, a project), a MDD FW800 1.25GHz DP and a MDD 2003 1.25GHz.

The MDD FW800 currently has the Radeon 9600 Pro (G5 model) in it, the MDD 2003 has a 9000 Pro and the QS has something, I even don't remember what. I plan to flash and install a FireGL X3 to the FW800, transfer the 9600 Pro to the 2003 and then I will have to choose the best OS9 compatible option for the QS.

Option 1: transfer the 9000 Pro from the MDD 2003 into it or
Option 2: recap and flash a Gainward Geforce4 4200Ti which I found from my PC parts boxes last week. The GF has several bulged caps from 20+ years of no use so I need to address that.

I was wondering that which one is the better card? Googling performance figures seems to indicate that the GF is a bit faster in almost anything - but how do they compare IRL when installed to a QS and run under OS9?

I also have a 867MHz CPU card for the QS which I plan to (try to) overclock, max RAM, mSata SSD etc. normal upgrades ready or already installed. So, I need to fix or replace the psu and figure out the best option for the GPU.

Thanks.

 

[alectrona6400]

the geforce4 will have better support in OS 9 i think. just need to flash it and cut off pins 3 and 11 if using a gigabit, DA, QS, or MDD G4.

 

[Phipli]

the geforce4 will have better support in OS 9 i think. just need to flash it and cut off pins 3 and 11 if using a gigabit, DA, QS, or MDD G4.

The 9000 pro is also a solid OS9 card. It's my go to card for G4s because it's cheap and an upgrade to older G4s.

Acceleration comparison (2D QuickDraw only) between some various ATI cards in OS9. 6100 for reference.



Yes the 9000 isn't much faster than a Rage 128, but increases in 2D performance plateaued as 3D performance became the poster child. It does show however that it is accelerated, and pretty fast.

 

[obsolete]

the geforce4 will have better support in OS 9 i think. just need to flash it and cut off pins 3 and 11 if using a gigabit, DA, QS, or MDD G4.

GeForce4 Ti 4200 (and 4400, and 4600) cards are not AGP 8x, no pin 3 and 11 business to mess with.

Confusingly, there is an AGP 8x version of the 4200; it uses a different GPU (NV28 vs. NV25) that the available Mac firmware doesn't work with in my experience.

 

[TCH]

Thanks for your replies. Now I started to think that I wonder what I upgraded to when I took the GF4 out of my PC? Something better I am sure but no recollection, probably not suitable for Macs though. I have the PC still in storage, I'll have to take a peek some day.

I am on holiday but when I get back to home I need to remove the cooler to verify that my card is a NV25 card. And also replace the capaitors. The ones in the left upper corner are clearly bad but what about the smd capacitors in the right upper corner? Are those a possible problem area too?

 

[Byrd]

I'd replace all the electrolytic caps top left x 3, not the purple ones.

Depends on how well the Ti4200 flashes over before making the call I'd think, and if working well how CPU bound it will be with the slower G4 CPU. The Radeon 9000 is a nice match for the era of games you will probably want to run on your QS under OS 9.

 

[TCH]

The purple caps seem ok by their looks (haven't measured them) but I will probably renew them too as the card is from the capacitor plaque years and several are already gone. Takes couple of minutes so why not...

Currently I run OS9 in my 2003 MDD but the plan now is to dedicate the Quicksilver to OS9. And do note that I have a 867MHz CPU card for it and I plan to overclock the cpu and the bus too. Not a rocket ship but should be usable.

Flashability is a bit of a mystery but I'll give it a try. It is my understanding that many NV25 cards should be flashable. In any case I have the cards so no further investment needed, if I fail then 9000 Pro it is. In fact I probably have 2 of the 9000 Pros as the FW800 and MDD 2003 both came with one originally.

Ps. I wonder if I can just transfer the MDD 2003 OS9 boot disk with all installed sw to the Quicksilver and expect it to work? Or is there some machine specific installed? Would save few hours if I would not need to reinstall all.