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[DieHard]

ASUS V8460 Ultra 128M Rev 1.00 with VGA DVI TV-out PC Card FLASHED for Mac

This is a New Thread Based on the TI 4600 Thread
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=2016.msg11471#msg11471

The Story Begins....

So MacTron Posts this great info from Mac Elite...
http://themacelite.wikidot.com/

And one really cool card AGP Video Card is mentioned...
http://themacelite.wikidot.com/asus-v8460

The Mac elite site basically has a ton of links to "ROM" files which are intended to be used to load and re-program or  "Flash" the EPROMS of PC Video Cards and turn them into Mac Video Cards that will work in G4s or G5s.  This is interesting from an economic standpoint, since PC cards are dirt cheap on eBay and other sources. 

So Chris, kept bugging me (in a nice way) to buy an Asus V8460 on ebay...and it was good that he did, since it was one great deal

OK, the card was only $19.99 (with free shipping) while all the Apple TI-4600 cards are all $60, $80, and even $99.  While some PC to Mac AGP card conversions also involve "Taping" to Disable Pins 3 and 11 on AGP 8x cards (read more here) http://themacelite.wikidot.com/pins-3-and-11 , this one (a 4X AGP Card) required ONLY FLASHING, which is a big plus.

So the victim...




Looking pretty fuckin' sweet for $19.99 with free shipping; like brand new, so i buy it.  I have flashed many logic boards and other devices in the past, but I did not know how hard/easy this project would be.

I also noticed the Fan on this card (usually round) looked different and much better; I really think it is a stock fan (maybe a later model) since there was a white outline on the board itself that matched the outline on the fan/cooler (Notice "SUNON" on the cooler itself).



Step One: Get the ROM file needed from Mac elite for the Asus V8460
http://themacelite.wikidot.com/wikidownloads2

I downloaded the modified ROM (for Mac) from wiki PC GeForce 4 Ti4600, Arti 1105

Step Two: Get the nvflash program needed from Mactron or the web
https://www.adrive.com/public/2R24mZ/nvflash446.zip

Step Three: Put AGP card in a PC, Boot to DOS (with no high memory drivers) and run flash command
a:\>nvflash -5 -6 file.rom (replace file.rom with the name of your file)[Enter]

The -5 -6 parameters are important as they tell the flash program to ignore checking specifics of the card and flash it, otherwise it will error out and say the board ID is a mismatch... here is a picture right after the flash


Step Four: Install in Mac G4 under OS 9 and be amazed, works as good as an Apple original TI-4600 and is shorter

[MacTron]

Great!.
And very good explanation. 

The "TV-out"  works?

Did you tested this V8460 against the standard Radeon 9000 PRO?

... may be some day we can flash those Dual DVIs Ti4600 ...

[supernova777]

heres what they look like with the asus cooler

[supernova777]

hey diehard.. can u confirm if sleep works with this card installed?

[supernova777]

... may be some day we can flash those Dual DVIs Ti4600 ...

one day very soon

[DieHard]

All my macs have any type of sleep disabled and the G4 with this card is not up at the moment, but I will hook it up any try sleep as soon as I can;  I can tell you that I ran this card extensively after flashing and it works as good (if not better) than my stock apple TI-4600

[supernova777]

my idea was to have u check the actual GPU of the card (under the fan)
to see if it matches that of the gainward, but mactrons already ordered it.. so we can just wait to see how he makes out with that.

im betting its a success because the gpu is a nv25, wheras the gpu was a nv28 before with his last attempt (quadro 900 xgl)

[supernova777]

just got this card in the mail..
WOW it weighs a ton!!! with this copper heatsink

[supernova777]

just got this card in the mail..
WOW it weighs a ton!!! with this copper heatsink



even the fan is made out of copper!

[mrhappy]

that's some fancy fan assembly you've got there!!

[supernova777]

great news.. + bad news

i got the card.. its flashed..and the mac sees it fine.. but it appears to be damaged
looks like the ram is bad on the card or its been burned out due to overheating?

oh well.. i guess im off to open a ebay dispute!!

[devils_advisor]

great news.. + bad news

i got the card.. its flashed..and the mac sees it fine.. but it appears to be damaged
looks like the ram is bad on the card or its been burned out due to overheating?

oh well.. i guess im off to open a ebay dispute!!   <--- really ? are you out of your mind ? you flashed the card and want a refund ?

[supernova777]

the artefacts were present on the pc aswell before the flash
the flashing of the card is not responsible for the artefacts in this case
this card flashes 100% - ask diehard

the card is going in the trash because its damaged from overheating
and yes i got my refund already after providing screenshots

[DieHard]

I think many eBay sellers sell know bad crap in the hopes that you will...
A) Never get a chance to use it
B) Be too stupid to know it is defective (and then ruin your own stuff troubleshooting)
or C) Hope you will not contact them and just count it as a loss

Glad you got your money back

I love eBay, but it is challenging finding the "Gold" and weeding out the "eWaste"

[supernova777]

totally.
i like to think theres a special place in hell for people who sell broken shit on ebay.
 

[DieHard]

I doubt the MB has anything to do with flashing at all; the trick when flashing is to NOT load any high memory DOS drivers at all; if you boot dos in "Protected mode" (highmem.sys loaded or emm386 loaded) many times cards/BIOS will NOT flash. loading with a limited config.sys (files and buffers only) will make most MBs act identical.

As stated above

Step Three: Put AGP card in a PC, Boot to DOS (with no high memory drivers) and run flash command
a:\>nvflash -5 -6 file.rom (replace file.rom with the name of your file)[Enter]

[Protools5LEGuy]

On eBay now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-V8460ULTRA-DELUXE-N-128M-A-AGP-DVI-VGA-TV-Rev-1-00-128MB-Gamers-Video-Card-/331922181022?ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:ES:3160

[kwiatki75]

Hi
I have only MDD and G5 powermacs , and PCI and AGP cards.
Is this possibility to flash Gf4ti 4600 directly on MAC?

[DieHard]

Hi
I have only MDD and G5 powermacs , and PCI and AGP cards.
Is this possibility to flash Gf4ti 4600 directly on MAC?

Luke, this is a question for Vader since he has the flash force...

[kwiatki75]

any help?