IMovie 08 Requirements. Can't install iMovie 08! Please help!

Question

I have a G5 Dual 2.0 Ghz PPC with 2gb of memory.
I am trying to install iLife 08.
The requirements say:
iLife ’08 requirements
Hardware: Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 processor
• iMovie requires a Mac computer with an Intel processor, a Power Mac G5 (dual 2.0GHz or faster), or an iMac G5 (1.9GHz or faster)
• iDVD requires 733MHz or faster processor
512MB of RAM; 1GB recommended; high-definition video requires at least 1GB of RAM
I have the minimum.
Why can't I install iMovie if i have the minimum requirements?
Please help! I bought iLife 08 just to run the new iMovie. Don't tell me i have to purchase a new computer now?!?
Thanks!

Answer 1

As Ben says, solved, it is.
Here's my little saga:
Upon detaching the 24" from the ATI 9200 and restarting, the installation, including iMovie, went without a hitch. Again, this is with the 9200 still seated comfortably in its PCI slot.
After reattaching the display and restarting, iMovie '08 would not even launch. I was greeted with a small dialog box:
"*Quartz Extreme Required*
iMovie requires a graphics card that is compatible with Quartz Extreme. One or more of your graphics cards does not support Quartz Extreme."
The only button was Quit. As a comparison, I then launched iMovie '06. I was greeted with this:
"*Your computer contains a graphics card which may not support iMovie.*
iMovie requires a “Quartz Extreme Compatible” graphics card. Certain iMovie features such as Themes, Ken Burns Photos, and Video FX may not work properly with your graphics card."
In this instance, however, my options were "Quit" and "Launch iMovie." Selecting "Launch iMovie" allowed me to use the application, but without the Quartz animations.
Definitely a "kinder, gentler" iMovie.
Whenever I wish to use either version of iMovie, I'll have to unplug the third display, and restart before I can get down to business.
Two things of interest to me are:
1) What would happen if I had unplugged the third display and restarted, launched iMovie (either version, but '08 especially), and then hot-attached the third display to the 9200? I'm curious to see what would happen. Naturally, attaching and un-attaching displays to a running Mac is not recommended, but it's been fairly common practice in the Mac repair shops at which I've worked. *I definitely do not recommend it, as you may end up frying something.*
That being said, I'm still curious to see if iMovie would still run properly, freeze, or quit.
2) Remember a few generations of Mac OS X back there was a little software hack called "PCI Extreme?" It's purpose was to fool an application into thinking you were Quartz enabled. There were many caveats, most notably that it could not perform magic on older cards, but many folks had success with it in Jaguar and Panther. Now, it seems, a few Tiger users are playing with it. The developer’s notes mention the following:
"Unfortunately, because Apple hardcoded the setting into CoreGraphics, I'm not aware of a way to enable both AGP and PCI graphics quartz acceleration at the same time. If you know a way, please let me know."
Therein, as the Bard tells us, lies the rub. Still, this avenue remains interesting. If I knew the first thing about coding, I'd delve into this to see if there was a method by which an application like iMovie would at least "ignore" the 9200 (as in this particular case) and just let the X850 XT do its thing.
For the adventurous among you, PCI Extreme is still available and does, to some extent, function in Tiger. You can get a it at http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/8979#descContainer_link
I agree that this issue is solved insofar as the boundaries of the initial question posted by Marc. It's the geeky can of worms that follows that will nag at me for a while.
This is ironic, as I use iMovie so infrequently I shouldn’t be concerned by this, especially seeing as there is a work-around if at least one of your installed cards is, indeed, capable of baring the brunt.
The biggest lingering issue, to me, is why can't we have a better, more powerful PCI option than the 9200? I suppose the answer is; "There is. It's called a Mac Pro."
This has been a fun one. Good work, everyone!
As always, I remain your humble crooner.
crooner