G4 PowerMac Mirror Door Upgrade of ATI 9000 Pro to a 9600?

I am considering upgrading my G4 PowerMac Mirror Door mac. Specifically the graphics card in hopes of better performance. I was considering the ATI Radeon 9600 XT or Pro. However, I have noticed that some cards work only in the G5. Anyone have any idea what card, if any, is the fastest, best performing card I can place into this machine? I should mention that currently, I have the stock ATI Radeon 9000 Pro, that came with the machine. The procs are twin 1.25 Ghz Power PC, 1 MB L3 Cache per Proc. 2 GB DDR SDRAM. Thanks in advance for any help on this topic!
PowerMac G4 Mirror Door Mac OS X (10.4.6)
PowerMac G4 Mirror Door Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hello.
I am running a nearly identical MDD as yours and would highly recommend the 9800 Pro. It supports all there is to offer with Tiger, and is the best card you can buy for your current model.
I've read some problems with the 9600, and the 9800 is considerably faster, of course at a price, but if your looking for the best, there really is no other option.
Good Luck.
G4 MDD 1.25GHz DP FW800-ATI 9800 128MB-2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.3.9) G4 Gigabit Ethernet 1.5GHz OWC-ATI 9000 OEM 64MB-1.5GB RAM

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Need new card for 30". Advice for upgrade from ATI R9000 Pro?

hey guys. i need to upgrade my video card to accomodate the 30" cinema display. im pretty sure my current graphics card is the ATI R9000 Pro.
can someone PLEASE tell me which current card is the BEST out there for my computer? im having a really hard time distinguishing the best...
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Hi,
Welcome to the Apple Discussion Forums!
There is currently only one BEST solution for your situation available for a Mac G5 2.0 AGP. It is the The RADEON X800 XT Mac Edition with ADC and DVI Dual Link connectors. As seen here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI%20Technologies/100435317/
This gives you a Dual Link DVI connector for the 30" ACD.
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Belkin F2E9142 Apple Monitor Adapter (ADC to DVI)
As seen here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Belkin-ADC-to-DVI-monitor-adapter-for-G4-Cube-New_W0QQitemZ2 20048517639QQihZ012QQcategoryZ80063QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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Problems after Leopard upgrade with ATI 9800 Pro 256MB

I don't know if this is related.. but I've been battling multiple problems ever since I upgraded my G5 to Leopard a week ago. Everything was perfect under Tiger.
The problem that only occurred directly after upgrading to Leopard... is that my graphics now get corrupted and garbled. I've got two video cards running two LCD monitors. The card giving me problems is the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (256MB). What happens is.. first all the window shadows and top menu bar start getting checkerboard patterns.. then the whole screen starts getting variants of different colors and checkerboard patterns. After awhile and refreshing the screen a few times... the problem goes away for a bit. Then comes back.
Again, this card and my entire system and drives were working fine under Tiger. Now, I don't know if I have a bad card? Is there something wrong with Leopard on my G5 2Ghz DP? Did my Maxtor 750GB triple interface drive just go bad with the upgrade?
I don't know where else to look, I'm guessing the "geniuses" at the Apple store won't help me since this machine is out of warranty. Any help would be HUGELY appreciated. I've been battling all these problems ever since I started the Leopard upgrade 4 days ago and have not got much sleep.

I've already reset PRAM with the option,command,P,R keys... letting it chime a couple times... and have already done this many times over the last few days. Doesn't seem to help. I don't know how to reset NVRAM via open firmware and the instructions are vague. But, supposedly a PRAM reset is all you have to do.
If it is a heat problem, why would it only have presented itself directly after a Leopard upgrade? It also does it when I boot off the Leopard disk. Actually does it worse. I'd just get a new card if I wasn't suspicious about the Leopard upgrade... not convinced it's a hardware problem yet. Though the card is mounted on the bottom slot above the CPUs. It has a fan on top that appears to be working but it doesn't look like much clearance between the card and the top of the CPUs case.
I could move it up a slot to give it more air... but it still doesn't explain why until last Monday, it worked fine under Tiger.

ATI Radeon 9000 PRO Mac Edition supported under Tiger ?

Hi all,
we are still using OS X 10.3.x for our venerable G4 AGP mac. Back in 2005 when Tiger was the new OS, we were told that our ATI Radeon™ 9000 PRO Mac Edition graphics would not be supported under 10.4.x. Has this changed? I don't want to upgrade to Leopard yet, but would like to use some Tiger features as Mail 2.0 or improved iSync.
Thanks for any input ...
Asbjoern

So is this why all my fonts are screwed on my G4 MDD dual 1.25 using a ATI 9000 Pro?
Seems as tho it works perfectly fine when i had 10.4.10 but when 10.4.11 was released all my fonts are screwed. Even when booting from a OSX CD. I installed 10.5 and still doesnt work.
looks like i need a 9600.

Problem using dual monitors with Radeon 9000 Pro and 2 x Samsung SM223BW

Hello all
I really need an expert opinion here:
I am using quite a lot my MDD 1.25Ghz that is still equipped with the OEM ATI 9000 Pro Mac Edition with 64MBs of Video RAM and as most if not all Mac-specific cards it has an ADC and a DVI port. I recently purchased a couple of Samsung monitors; the afore mention in the subject SM223BW. The monitors have two inputs, both DVI and D-SUB (Analog VGA or otherwise plain old RGB).
I have purchased a Formac ADC to DVI converter and connected this output to the DVI input of the first monitor. It works like a charm and the picture quality it is quite good (not as with an Apple Display but I couldn't afford them at this stage). For the second monitor I used a DVI to VGA cable (going from the DVI output of the card to the VGA In of the monitor).
Now here is the problem: The monitor that is connected ADC to DVI has all the available 16:10 ratio option that are suitable for this monitor. The DVI to VGA one gives me only a 1680x1050 and all the rest are 4x3 resolutions.
Would anyone know why this happens? Could it be a monitor issue? Could it be that perhaps TFT monitors offer different resolutions according to the input used. Or could it be the graphics card? Or even perhaps the cable?
Under OS X, same settings and same computer I am given more resolution options. Would that mean that it might be as well my beloved OS 9 in combination with the card?
Or am I stressing this too far?
Please any ideas are more than welcome
PS: I have a dual 2.0Ghz G5 connected to the rest of the DVI and VGA inputs to be able to run both without having to repatch. Otherwise a DVI to DVI connection would have made more sense and solved the problem

Hey Simon
I bought these monitors for their dual input functionality. The reason that I have the G4 connected to VGA is because I have another G5 connected the other way around in order to be able to use both computers, at any given time, with two screens.
Perhaps to make clear the connections I've done (if of course anyone is interested :)) ...
The G4 connects via ADC to DVI to the DVI input of Monitor No.1
The G5 connects via VGA to VGA to Monitor No.1
The G4 connects via DVI to VGA to Monitor No.2
The G5 connects via DVI to DVI to Monitor No.2
Another question would be why simply one mac isn't connected solely via DVI and the other one via VGA? The reason is that the VGA input looks awful on these screens for whatever reason. The image is seriously not sharp, the fonts looks horrendous and even with a lot of tweaking from the monitor settings, still I'd say the image is minging. If anyone knows why a VGA input can look that bad and still a monitor being in the market please let me know. It could be that this monitor is aimed to PC users and with the accompanying PC-only drivers all such are non-existent...Anyway I decided to go with the half DVI-half VGA solution to get the best out of the situation.
But on the question asked, I decided to use a 2 DVI input Avocent KVM that I've got with interesting results. I am pretty sure it is boring to read but if anyone has spare time here it goes:
The G4 connects via ADC to DVI to Monitor 1.
Monitor 2 DVI output connects to DVI KVM Input
The G4 connects via DVI to DVI to KVM Output 1
The G5 connects via DVI to DVI to KVM Output 2
The G5 still connects via VGA to VGA to Monitor 2
In this manner I am guaranteed to utilize the DVI inputs for both monitors, at least on my G4 and the G5 be forced to utilize one VGA. The plus side of the situation is that I can use both systems with the flick of a button without having to get up to change the Source on the monitors plus of course one keyboard and a mouse. Now here is the interesting bit:
Under OS 9, with the resolution 1280x800 on Monitor No.1 (the one connected via ADC to DVI) flips to - I think - 1680x1050 - it could be higher than that - with a thick black frame around the Desktop occupying a good chunk of the screen and the actual OS 9 looking minuscule at the center of it.
Monitor No.2 (the DVI to DVI connected one) looks just fine.
Now on top of that, when the G5 is switched on but the KVM is outputting the G4 desktop on Monitor No.2, whenever the mouse cursor slides on this monitor, it goes black! Just simply black and when I move the mouse cursor back on Monitor No.1 goes Desktop again.
Under OS X, none of the afore mentioned problems exist. Everything runs fine and I am give more 16:10 resolutions as well.
Confused? I am

PowerMac G4 (Mirror door drive) shuts down automatically when starting up.

I use a PowerMac G4 (Mirror door drive) 1.25 Ghz processor with1.25 GB ram, 80GB HDD. OS 10.2.7
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What is the possible cause for it? Upgrading the OS (10.5.8) could solve it? Or suggestions from exparts like you? Plz Help.

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G4 PowerMac with Mirror Doors - NEEDS INTERNAL DVD DRIVE

Greetings,
I have been trying to purchase an internal DVD drive for my Mac G4 with mirrored doors. All the DVD drives I've tried all have 5.125" wide doors and will not work on my Mac. The CD drive in the Mac now is 4.875". MacMall has nothing that will fit this Mac and they told me my size is not standard. Does anyone have any ideas, suggestions please??
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Hi-
Compare the following two drives:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/DVR109AB/
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Pioneer/DVR112DBK/
Note that the 109 has no front bezel, and slips in with no modification. The 112 has a front bezel, but, as noted by Flycast, can easily be removed, and will fit into your computer.
Whomever told you your computer is "non-standard" knows little of Mac's......
G4AGP(450)Sawtooth, 2ghz PowerLogix, 2gbRAM, 300gbSATA+160gbATA, ATI Radeon 9800 Mac OS X (10.4.8) Pioneer DVR-109, ExtHD 160gb x2, 23"Cinema Display, Ratoc USB2.0, Nikon Coolscan

Highest OS upgrade for G4 Mirror door-1.25Mhz?

Hi Mac friends...
Up to what Mac OS can support my old G4 Mirror door-1.25Mhz, 1.25GB ram and 80GB HDD? Is it 10.5.6? Plz help me knowing that.

Welcome,
Part of how well Leopard performs on your MDD depends on whether the video card supports Core Image. Run System Profiler (in Applications > Utilities) and select "Graphics/Displays" from the left-hand pane and your video card info including which video technologies are supported will appear in the main pane.
Sounds like plenty of people are running Leo without Core Image support, so that's not a show-stopper. It would be nice to have.

PowerMac G4 (Mirror Doors) won't startup

My g4 wont startup. I get the Power LED to light up while pressing it, but then it fades off after releasing. I have followed advice as per other posts about the same issue. Those who had success seemed to be a result of PMU and logic board resets, but these have not worked for me. I have gone as far as replacing the front panel board, but the machine is still not starting up. I tested the power supply voltage and it seems to be working, but I can not get this thing to work. I suppose it could be a dead logic board. Does anyone else have any suggestions before I pitch this thing?
G4 mirror doors

I understadn you have tried advice in 'all the other posts' but that can cover a lot of ground, so to be a bit more specific....
Do you hear the HD spin up?
Have you added any hardware recently?
Although you have tested the voltage on the power supply, have you also checked the individual cables going to both the MB and the HD?
If you have 3rd party cards, USB hubs, etc, remove them, then do the PMU resets, etc)
Since you have been inside the machine, verify all connectors, ram, et al are firmly seated, and the cables are not cut or insulation scraped away.
If you have anything in the front drive bays, make sure the ribbon cable is not pinched or cut. (that happened on mine, grounded out the system, and had the same problem you are now experiencing - new ribbon cable fixed it.)

G4 Mirror Door Video card

We have an older G4 Power Mac that we use for Video editing. Recently upgraded to FC Studio, Motion 3 wil not run on this machine due to Video card not supporting open GL. Our IT depart purchased a ATI Radeon 9600 Pro PC/Mac edition, they were told it would work.
The machine will boot, but ther is no display visable.
Is this machine capable of running this software? IF so which Video card do we need to purchase?
Info:
G4 1.42 mhz Mirror door
OSX 10.4.10
Motion 3
Curent vid card AGP ATI Radeon 9000 pro
New Vid card ATI Radeon 9600 PC/Mac (no display)
TIA
Bob

ATI does have a 256 meg VRam 9800 card built specifically for the 2x/4x agp PowerMac G4's like yours and I bought mine through OWC, although I don't see it currently listed for sale. It would be a better choice than the 128 meg vram card, if you can find it.
That being said, I wouldn't bother to even load FC Studio 2 on this powermac of yours. Motion 3 will barely operate and FCP will launch and then laugh in your face. It's not a pleasant experience; I know firsthand as I loaded Studio 2 on my Quicksilver G4 dualie as a test while awaiting delivery of my Mac Pro last summer. You desperately need to update/upgrade your hardware.

Beefing Up a Dual 867 Mirrored Door

Hi Gang
I just picked up a used G4 Dual 867 Mirrored Door. I'd like to have it around as a backup for my G5 Single 1.8 - I'm about to get a new Hard Drive for it. Was wondering about the Seagate 500 Gig below. After I successfully install the new drive, was wondering if I should add some other features?
Think it might make sense to get the OWC Processor upgrade? With this upgrade, even though it might be faster than my old G5 single, it still can't go above 2 Gigs of RAM.
G4 Dual Specifications;
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP63
500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 Ultra ATA/100
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/ST3500630A/
Sonnet Encore/MDX G4 Duet Dual 1.8GHz Processor Upgrade
http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?sort=pop&model=169&type=Processor&T I=3140&shoupgrds=Show+Upgrades
ATI Technologies RADEON 9800 PRO MAC EDITION
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI%20Technologies/100435068/
Thanx for your opinions
Mike

Hey Kenichi - ole wise one
Restraint is a great idea especially when your're broke. I really didn't want that processor upgrade when I saw how much it was. I will however pick up that Seagate 500 Gig HD, and maybe I'll spring for the Radeon 9200. That's a reasonable upgrade for still under $200.
I also have a G4 733 Quicksilver with this upgraded processor;
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEG42M1200/
It works great, but I think the Dual 867 I just picked up may still beat out the Quicksilver even in it's current configuration?
I never cared for the iMac design, (with it's hardware built into the screen housing)
Thanx
Mike

Need recommendations on improving my G4 mirror door

Machine has been running great since I bought it, but I've about cleaned up all I can to my original 80GB HD and now am running about 6GB free space. Things aren't as snappy as it was before as booting I get the blank desktop for awhile while the beachball spins till all the icons show up. Rather annoying having to wait for a simple system really...sooo, I want to do what I can to speed it up.
1. I'd like a larger HD. I haven't shopped in ages, so I'm a bit rusty on my technologies like SATA and such. I know this is pre-SATA, so am I still able to find a compatible drive for this machine? If so, which one is a recommended fast one? I've never been able to really play with Final Cut Express so I want something that would be fast and better. Can I get SATA on this if possible?
2. I have a WD external "Book" drive. It takes a good few minutes before the d%mn thing shows up on my desktop, which is another annoyance. My work PowerMac G5 externals are always on right away. Is it just the age of my machine? It shouldn't take more than a minute but sometimes, it doesn't even show up even after connecting/disconnecting the USB 2 cable. I am using a USB 2 PCI card (got it at the now defunct CompUSA, but mac dude at the store said this was compatible w/ all the macs he sold...CompUSA brand though). I notice my System Profiler will beachball for a long time then when it stops, then I am able to view my "Contents > Hardware > USB" and see the ports.
3. The beachballs are driving me nuts. The machine is old so I don't want to really spend too much more money, but I want to be able to survive wait times and speed things up till I can afford a new machine. Is it better just to get a Core Duo 2 Mini and forget this one? I find I use external drives now anyways, but I can't really stretch the $1K mark for a low end iMac. But the speed difference is much better on the base iMac than a Mini, but then again, if I'm "getting by" with this old G4, a Mini is light years ahead right? Any advice? $799 is a big stretch, so I'm looking at these cheap tweaks for my machine now. My main thing is to get a bigger HD and stop the beachball spinning.
Let me know which hardware I need, as I don't know what is still "compatible" with this older box.
Also, are there any good hardware upgrades for this? I notice for the older PMG4s but mirrored door seems to have no CPU upgrades. I only own a single one, is there a dual one for this, or even an Intel for it?
Thanks for any help offered!
Message was edited by: applrob

How much RAM do you have? You should max it out.
*How Big a Hard Drive Can I Put in My iMac, eMac, or Power Mac?*
http://lowendmac.com/macdan/05/1024.html
Look at these links
Mac Tune-up: 34 Software Speedups
http://www.macworld.com/article/49489/2006/02/softwarespeed.html
52 Ways to Speed Up OS X
http://www.imafish.co.uk/articles/post/articles/130/52-ways-to-speed-up-os-x/
Tuning Mac OS X Performance
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/performance.html
11 Ways to Optimize Your Mac's Performance
http://lowendmac.com/eubanks/07/0312.html
The Top 7 Free Utilities To Maintain A Mac.
http://mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/thetop_7_free_utilities_to_maintain_amac/
Mac OS X: System maintenance
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=607640
 Cheers, Tom

ATI Radeon 9000 Pro Mac AGP (driver needed for OS 9.2?)

Hi guys!
How's everybody doin?
I just picked up a used ATI 9000 AGP 128 MB (as an upgrade for my G4 Quicksilver 800 MHZ).
I'm using 2 HD's (one with OS9), the other (with OSX)
I think OS 9.2 will do ok without the need for a driver, but I just wanna make sure ...
Thanx
Everyone is very helpful around here
Mike

Hello again Carl, and Dave
I know it's been a while since we last talked about this issue. Well apparently, I do have OS freezing problems
with 9.2 and the ATI 9000 Mac Pro - take a look:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4289264#4289264
Wonder if your driver would solve this?
But can I put your driver in the system while it's still functioning with the older OEM video card back in?
(that's the only way I can get the system not to freeze)
Thanks
Mike

G4 Mirror Door Wont Power back on

Hi,
I was using my Mirror Door G4 when all of a sudden it just shut down, as if someone had pulled out the power cable. Everything else was on and working.
When I pushed the power button it would light for a brief second and then nothing. No start up chimes or anything. The LED's on the cards light up briefly as well when I looked inside as I pressed the power button. The fan on the logic board does about a half a turn. I have replaced the power cable, tried 3 different batteries from 3 similar G4's, swapped the power supply from a known working G4, followed the instructions to resetting the PMU switch, all with the same behavior. Is there away to see if there is something wrong with the logic board or is there something else I can try? Thank you your time and help with this matter.

Hi-
Don't know how to test it, but the power button board could have a problem. I know there is a fuse in older G4's- not sure of the inner workings of this particular beast.
http://www.welovemacs.com/9225246.html
Having said that, I'm not really sure it would cause a "pulled the plug" like shutdown. That's more like PSU (eliminated), logic board (?), and processor (?).
When you pulled the processor, did you notice any burnt tracings/chips? When the initial shutdown occurred were there any sounds/smells out of the ordinary?
Do you have a known working MDD processor that you can swap/test with?
You could try to unplug the machine, remove the battery, and leave the machine for 24 hours in that state. This has "cured" machines in the past, for whatever reason.......
G4AGP(450)Sawtooth, 2ghz PowerLogix, 2gbRAM, 300gbSATA+160gbATA, ATI Radeon 9800 Mac OS X (10.4.8) Pioneer DVR-109, ExtHD 160gb x2, 23"Cinema Display, Ratoc USB2.0, Nikon Coolscan

Mirrored doors G4/ great computer, but some questions --- keep or retire?

Would appreciate anyone who could give me some advice here. I still have the Power Mac Mirrored Door G4/1.0 GHz Dual Processor running (purchased in 2002). It's not my only mac, but I still use this one for some tasks. It's running 10.2.9. As is, will leopard make this run even slower than necessary? (512K ram)
Just saw a warning notice that I'm about to have a drive failure. (the one hard drive/ ata). The warning (either from tech tools pro or disk warrior) may be true-- don't know. The computer still runs great.. no signs of failure, except that I probably need to get rid of 10.2.9.
If/when the drive does fail, is it worth replacing the hard drive? If yes, what's the maximum size to replace it with? Can you tell me the exact specs to look for? The original is a seagate...use that brand again?
I only have 512K ram in there. Upgrade at the same time I do the hard drive?
As is, 512K RAM, if I install leopard is it going to be VERY VERY slow?

Hi! Your machine can handle large ata drives probably up to 750gb without any problems. It has 4 ram slots so sticking 4 512mb sticks of ram brings you to 2 gigs and it won't be too slow on Leopard. It won't be as fast a a G5 or MacPro but it will run Leo just fine. 4 sticks of RAM will cost about 65 bucks and a new 500 gig hard drive will cost 80 bucks or so. So for about 150 bucks you can move up in the world. I often buy new hard drives off eBay for less money for projects myself. Tom

G4 PowerMac Mirror Door Upgrade of ATI 9000 Pro to a 9600?

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