Mac OS 9 Discussion > Video Cards, Monitors & Displays

Is the GeForce FX 5200 64MB or GeForce MX440 64MB better for OS 9?

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wesvasher:
Appreciate any help on this. I just got a G4 FW800 off Ebay and love it and thanks to this forum getting OS 9 installed was super easy!

It came with a 5200 graphics card. I also have an MX440 from my previous G4. I'd love to know which card is better, especially in OS 9? Graphics performance doesn't seem great in OS 9 so I wonder if the 5200 came out after OS 9 and doesn't have good drivers.

Bonus question, what's the best AGP card that works in OS 9 for this machine. I'm using it for 3D, using the old programs I used when I was younger.

Thanks for any help!

GaryN:
Interesting questions…

Neither the 5200 or the 440 cards were Apple equipment. They've been re-flashed from Windows.
That said, here are some facts:

The 5200 is a 128Mb card @ 8x AGP as opposed to the 440 64Mb @ 4x AGP.
The 5200 has evidently been neutered by cutting traces to make it run at 4x AGP or it wouldn't be working in the MDD at all.
AFAIK, the only 3D acceleration extension for OS9 was an ATI for use with the Radeon 9000.

So, it would seem that although your 5200 should work pretty darn well in the MDD overall, there may be no way to optimize it for 3D.
So So, an original equipment ATI Radeon 9000, despite being "only" a 64Mb card, may work better/faster since there are OS9 3D drivers for it.
So so so, maybe someone else more into this area knows a hack or such that I don't, but this is where you're starting from. You may just have to trial-and-error your way to the best 3D you can get.

wesvasher:
That's so interesting. I'll post pictures and part numbers of the actual cards, because I googled them and just assumed that I knew which cards they were but I might be mistaken. After all of these years, I have no idea where I original got my MX card from. I'd assume the 5200 card is OEM because the FW800 machine I bought looks like it's never had a screwdriver anywhere near it. So I might be mistaken with what these cards actually are. The card that came with the FW800 works awesome in Leopard, but OS 9 it's has the screen tearing problem.

IIO:
like gary says, no 3D in GF5 and above, and that includes mac models of these cards.

however, if you only make music or program, later GF´s will give you resolutions which are much higher than GF4s, which is why you can sometimes find them in such machines.

dont plug it in out and in again (yet); if you destroy the tape for the x4 operation, it will stop working.

DieHard:
OK... this one Mactron has discussed many times...


--- Quote ---The nVidia Geforce4 Titanium 4600 is by far the fastest video card available for Mac Os 9. This card is based on the NV25 engine @300 Mhz with 128MB of of Samsung @325 Mhz DDR (2.8ns) Video RAM. The Mac version comes with a DVI port and a ADC (Apple Display Connector).
--- End quote ---

You can read all the details here: (Photos, burning PC cards, etc)
Unfortunately without acceleration drivers (extensions), the FX5200 will suck under OS9 :(

http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2016.0.html

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