Switching video cards...the first of several noob questions over several topics.

[revel8or]

I have "inherited" a G4 450 DP that has a cd rom drive, a zip drive, an ATI 16mb AGP card, and two hard drives.  One hard drive has an installation of OS X, 10.1.? - it's probably a 20gb drive - and the second is probably around an 80gb drive that has a separate install of OS 9.2.2.  It boots fine from the second drive and seems to run 9.2.2 as the actual o/s, as opposed to an emulation.  At least, it doesn't have the lag that it had when OS X was running it as a emulation...

So, because it has the ATI 16mb card, is it possible to upgrade the card to the ATI 9000 with 64mb without much difficulty?  Is this a plug-and play option, or will there be a process of updating the drivers before installing the card?

Thanks a lot!

[Mat]

No problem at all. It is a quick operation: opening the Mac switching the cards, booting, updating the driver, booting again.

Every Video card that I know is offering at least some unaccelearted 2D video signal, even without drivers. So you can run your mac without the latest drivers for the update.

A fast video card makes sense. But do not expect too much from the Finder. The 16MB is a quite good card, and you will need some taxing video stuff or 3D game to reall recognise the difference.

[Protools5LEGuy]

There is an G4 AGP that can't support ADC monitors. I think Sawtooth are AGPx2 only. And can't feed ADC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Display_Connector

ADC came on Gigabit Ethernet or Digital Audio G4s.



I am not sure on the behavoir of ADC AGP cards(as the Radeon 9000Pro) on pre ADC G4s. Maybe only doesn't send the 24-30 volts to power up the monitor or it could not work. Most probably, with an ADC to DVI adapter it should work, but don't take my word on this.

[Mat]

I am confused. Is every Radeon 9000 for Mac a ADC one? Is it really an important matter?

[GaryN]

Not every 9000 was ADC…BUT…every Radeon 9000 for Mac was.
They were the stock card on MDDs and all had 1 ADC and 1 DVI output.
The ADC was the Mac display connector scheme of the day. If you went in a bought a new MDD, chances were you got the cool ADC-equipped Studio Display or Cinema Display to go with it. Lot of G5's went out the door that way as well. I think there were Radeon 9700's with that connector pair for those.

[revel8or]

I have an Apple Studio display, which has the ADC - in use currently with the native 16mb ATI card.  When I install the 64mb card (Radeon 9000), do the driver(s) need to be loaded before the card is installed, or will the Mac run on native drivers (like an IBM) until the proper drivers are loaded?

[Mat]

As I said in my first post, you can run your mac in unaccelerated 2d until the proper driivers are installed.
No problem!

About the ADC, so your G4 has an additional power connector for the graphic cards?

Thanks GaryN for the clearance of the ATI Mac 9000s.

[GaryN]

In the OS9 extensions there are a set of drivers/extensions for ATI and a set for Nvidia. You enable the ones for ATI and disable the Nvidias.

[GaryN]

Further, fascinating info is available HERE:   http://www.jcsenterprises.com/Japamacs_Page/Blog/8923D90A-7AD8-41F1-BD1A-FEA5E1780B95.html

[revel8or]

I opened it up and it has an extra connector at the front of the card that is somewhat unlike any other AGP card that I've seen, so if that's the power connector, then it does!

And thanks for the reminder about the 2d.  I'm brainless after work.  And sometimes at work, too.

Thanks, Gary for the additional reading.  Love info, I do!