Supported flat panel displays for an ATI Rage 128 Pro/G4 500

Question

I originally was using an Apple 21" CRT display with my G4/500 until the display's picture tube failed. I am now looking to purchase a flat panel w/DVI, using my G4's DVI video port and the Rage 128 Pro card. I have found conflicting information on resolutions supported by the ATI card. I am looking at a Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1-inch Wide Aspect Flat Panel LCD, and the requirements indicate that my system must be able to support WSXGA+ resolution (1680 x 1050). A 24" version of the Dell monitor requires the support of WUXGA resolution (1920x1200). WIll either of these flat panel monitors work with my G4? If not, what specs do I need to look at to determine compatibility? Thanks.
Apple G4 500   Mac OS X (10.3.1)   ATI Rage 128 Pro Graphics Card

Answer 1

Hi JBernstein,
Karl,
I greatly appreciate your efforts to resolve my
question.
No worries, Mate!
To address a question you posed earlier, no, my G4
did not come with a ADC port. I have both VGA and
DVI-D ports on my G4/500 (Graphite) with the Rage 128
Pro ADP card, which is 16 mb and 2x.
From that, I would infer that you computer is not ADC enabled.
It was the Genius at
the Apple Store who mentioned the Radeon 9000 card as
a replacement. but he also suggested that the current
20" Apple display would work with my G4 ... we tried
that today, and the OS would not launch and power the
display. SO, we must replace the card, or live with
small displays.
Yes, the ATY 128 Pro generally does not have enough grunt to power the larger displays.
I did find a number of Radeon 9600 Pro Mac Edition
video cards on eBay, but most had a published spec of
4X, and the response to whether it was backwards
compatible with the 2x capability in my G4/500 is
that it will not work. Is that true?
All the information I have (via the ATI website) does not specifically state that the 9600 card will support AGP 2X. Other ATI cards that do support 2X have this specifically stated in the information. Therefore, there is no garauntee that the 9600 card will support 2X. Until I receive information that someone has used this card in an AGP 2X computer with success, I cannot advise trying to use it.
I have not
confirmed the Radeon 8500 as yet, but as you might
imagine, it is frustrating to get conflicting
responses.
The ATI Radeon 8500 will work in your computer (as, partially, will the 9000 - refer to my earlier posting).
Perhaps you might address a different question ... is
there any place within Apple that I can go, even with
paying a fee for services, that would definitively
provide an absolute solution to an upgrade type
question, complete with exact part number AND
guarantee that the information is quite accurate? Why
wouldn't Apple provide some type of infomration on
replacement/upgrade path for older products (geez ---
the G4/500 Graphite isn't even on the legacy products
list yet) so that the customer can invest and upgrade
without going through a challenging process to get
the right information? The information I've turned up
is vague and not geared towards solutions like this.
Apple, for all sorts of reasons (legal and commercial), is loath to provide "official" advice on the use of any third party upgrade hardware on their products. Moreover, discussions on the morality of this is probably against the terms and conditions of this discussion forum.
I'm all ears as to how to move forward with this G4
with a replacement card, if that is possible.
The way I see it, you need either an ATI 8500/9000 if your only desired upgrade is the capacity to run larger displays, or an ATI 9800 is you wish to do gaming, graphics and be able to make full use of all the new Tiger graphics facilities.
Cheers!
Karl