Video card options question.

Hello guys, i'm wondering if u can configure your video options like on a PC. I'm using a 15"MPB, when i'm playing WC3 online, it seems so laggy.
I'm new to Mac computers, please help out.
Thanks in advance!

Of course, the most control will be via the in-game settings. But also, there is a tool from ATI called ATI displays. Using it, you can force games to use FSAA and Antistropic filtering (among others), or you can force them to not use those things. However, I'm not sure if this software is compatible with the Intel Macs, as I haven't tried it myself. You can try it if you like: https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folder ID=27

Similar Messages

Video card options for a new Mac Pro

My G5 recently died on me and I am getting ready to upgrade to a Mac Pro. My question is regarding the video card options. I will be using Aperture 2, Photoshop CS2, and Final Cut Studio, but, not doing HD work. I am trying to decide between the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB and the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB.
As my G5 has stopped working, I was not prepared for an upgrade and I am trying to cut corners where I can. Does anyone have any experience comparing these two cards? Am I being to nitpicky about a $150 upgrade? My gut feeling is that I should not be questioning the extra cost and go with the NVIDIA, but, just want to make sure that I am not wasting money for a difference I will not see, as I do not play games on my Mac. Any opinions and input from other users is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Very interesting, I went to that link and then followed the one for Pro Apps:
http://www.barefeats.com/harper10.html
And, it states that the Radeon with less memory will consistently outperform the Nvidia on programs like Final Cut and Aperture. Guess I AM better off saving the money. Thank you for your direction!

MB 915/G Combo MS-7058 video card options or suggestions on the new market

First off my apologies. I wasn't sure which forum to place my question under,
Retired Motherboards or Video Cards.
Quick summary I'm looking to upgrade my video card on an older mother board and have run into problems with a new board working. I think the problem is a backwards compatibility issue. I need help with a list of what video cards I can buy that are available new preferably if not a list of where to go and what to watch for. I would like to increase the speed/ram. My skill level is around, open the case swap out the item and insert the disk. With a search forums and try to find the answer/follow directions or suggestions.
In more detail,
I'm looking to upgrade my video card from NVIDIA GeForce 6 Series NX-6600 256mb card on a an MSI 915P/G combo. The install/instruction manual lists under the above combo name MS-7058 (v1.X) ATX Motherboard and below the image of the board there is also the text of G52-M7058x1.
The video card option for placement is in the sole PCI Express X16 slot (no on motherboard graphics and/or connection options I know of) and I assuming from what I've tried researching that the PCI Express x1(mentioned elsewhere but all suggestions were cards no longer for sale) is some sort of standard of limit and my motherboard is too old despite newer cards fitting into the slot and claiming backwards compatibility to the "PCI Express or Pci Express 2.0".
Part of that possible assumption of my issue comes from the fact the mother board can have ether DDR1 or DDR2 ram for memory but a video card with DDR3 ram would not work. Also the software from the included disk and from the from the website install correctly for the card to function other than the basic windows drivers leaving the card unable to run any games. For reference the video card purchased and tried was a EVGA Geforce GT 610 SC9super clocked) with 2 GB of DDR3 Memory. Which i hopefully will have returned for a refund soon. I spent most of the day trying to install the software by their program , by launching from disk directly, from downloading the most current version from the manufacturer's website and checking with Microsoft for possible system change updates.
My original invoice August 2005 lists the pre order lists the Item VGMS-NX6600/256E then under description MSI NX6600-TD256E/PCIEX/256MB for the grand price of $169.00 deleviery receipt lists the card as item VGXM-X66DHEJTZ1 Description XMEDIA 6600 256MB PCIE DVI/TV
Power Supply 630 watts installed July 2008 I can not get the full listings of voltage and amps per connectors without taking the powers supply loose from the case(which requires shutting the system off, so I hoping I won't need to but will if the information will help). I do not feel power is an issue due to the size and the power supply was unneeded upgrade, that I just wanted to replace when swapping out a motherboards damaged from a lighting hit or power surge. System was running fine for years.
General system information
Windows XP professional SP3 All updates current.
Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz
2.00 GB of Ram DDR 1
Videocard NVIDA 6600 Driver 6.14.12.9573
3 hard drives of varying sizes 500GB,1TB and 2TB Plus one external with external power supply 1.5TB drive
If more information is needed please let me know.
The best advice and help would be a list of currently for sale video cards that will work with links to places (and the actual model even better) like New Egg, or if there is such a card at the local Best Buy(outstanding advice on this non compatible/working card....I won't digress into my own mistake of buying there). I'm way out of date on information and standards about computers and hardware and need help figuring out what Video Cards to look at for purchasing. Preferably new, then re manufactured with warranty then used... The main game I play that strains my system but is playable is call of duty modern warfare 2 and would like to run 3 if possible. Although better rates with COD MW2 and COD 4 MW.

100% correct on the mother board
The card I had tried was EVGA---GeForce-GT-610 2GB DDR3 I can't post external links but it was from Best Buy. The box claimed requirements are that it needs PCI Express or PCI Express 2.0 compliant motherboards with one open graphic slot. The best I could get out of it was slightly working with Windows XP basic driver which no games would run. No selecting drivers helped from the Add Hardware program.
So I should make sure it lists "PCI Express X16" and " version 1 " "1MB(in reference to what part?)" or words to that effect? I was mislead by the box above for capability and "NVIDIA" on it, am I correct in assuming it was a generic whore knock off which bought the rights to stick NVIDIA name on the outside for a standard or software? Especially since the actual video card says EVGA and not NVIDIA on it.... I won't make that mistake hopefully again.
Due to age I was buying a cheap fill in card,(old one was working fine but I figured a good training/practice exercise and to see how much better the games looked to encourage me going forward on my first build) until I can start ordering and building to the current upgradeable standards. I'm trying to catch up on standards and not have a firewire or zipdrive experience. Although I might put a 5 1/4 disk drive in unused bay for show I would prefer not to buy another per-assembled option and decent computer part stores near me are lacking. Or I lack knowledge of their locations. If it matters I'm in Charlotte, NC USA
My budget is up to about $200 although I would like to stay around $100.00 (usa dollars) if possible. I think that gives me realistic options even with places like Best Buy. If I'm not, please correct me. I'm aware best Buy will give me a special 30-50% price increase but my local options for shops are hurting, the "best place for reputation" is a story of shame.

New Member / Video Card Choice Question

New CS4 Production Premium User Here.
I am building a computer system specifically for Video Editing and production for use with Premier CS4 & Sony Vegas.. Have been doing my usual amount of Over Research here and other places but have a series of issues I am having a little trouble coming to grips with.
I have been into computer editing game for a long time but strictly in the Audio Recording /Mixing area /..
Video is a new interest which has me hooked / Im also a Gear Junkie so I have to watch it. 
I will probably be back with a couple more topics but to keep this thread simple /
My first post question is the topic of Video cards: Adobes Hardware compatibility list seems a little out dated. ?
The system does not have to be an ultimate gaming rig as I am not into that / just SD & HD Video editing & 3d effects.. I need a card which will do what is needed / works well with Premier CS4 / Is not too loud fan wise / can run 24/5 and not overheat.
I also will need the ability to monitor on a HD TV with a good sound monitoring system / Midas / Bryston / Dynaudio etc;
I was considering either of the following / from lowest price to highest.
ASUS GeForce 9600GT Silent 650MHZ 512MB 1.8GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out
ASUS GeForce 9800GT Matrix 612MHZ 512MB 1.8GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out
ASUS GeForce 9800GTX+ Dk 740MHZ 512MB 2.3GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out
Questions:
Is a 512mb card sufficient?
Will all of the above do what is needed for my purpose?
What about noise of heat issues.
My system could be running close to 24/5 at times.
Have not made a final decision on all components but will probably basically start of like this.
Vista 64 Bit/OS
Core I7 940
Asus Rampage 2 Extreme or a plain P6T
Antec 1200 Case / For now I will leave out the hard drives and other things on my list.
My builder suggests to stick with ASUS Video Cards because he has the fastest warranty replacement service on his end for ASUS products / plus I am a total ASUS Motherboard guy with years satisfied experiences.. (in Audio setups).
Any feedback or comments on the above will be appreciated.
Thanks / Orion

Thanks Members for the Feedback:
I am trying to stick just to the Video Card Issues so the topic does not get all over the map / Raid issues have already been researched & I might have a question about that later in another thread.
Witha the video card issue I am just trying to see if I can get a reply which the majority of users agree upon / not an easy task & that is were my confused state of topic started.
b Keith
It seems what you have said about QUADRO cards is the most agreed upon overall from my last three months of research at various locations / The cost is extreme for these cards & I was just trying to determime if I realy needed to go that far : >$2,000.00 and up.
just for the Graphics card..
Perhaps I should start of with one of the cards I first mentioned which are dirt cheep compared to the Quadro series and replace it when I have arrived at the point where my shills are beyond my hardware limitations.
b Charles & Jim.
Thanks for the reference to the . >ASUS GeForce 9800GTX+ Dk 740MHZ 512MB 2.3GHZ DDR3< I was thinking this might be the best to start with / except for the reported could be problems of / Noise / card size and Heat issues if running 24/5?
Other issues you have stated also seem to be agreed upon from mny sources as well / which is why I am considering perhaps not going Raid "o" from the start / perhaps Raid 5.. / or No Raid until I see If realy need it for my own personal use level.
b conclusion to this point in the game:
Looks like If I do a top notch system following all the higher end recomendations it will cost me over $10,000.00 (if I include a capture card / raid card (Areca 1220 or 1240(don't want to get into that topic just yet)& all the extras... This is about double the investment I had planned as this is basically a serious hobby not a business venture. Plus we have not included another $6,000.00 for a half decent peosumer HD camera with a few extras. I was trying to keep the entire setup to 8 to 10 grand total.. Not including the software / so this looks like wishfull thinking at best / Ho Ho.
b remember / unfortunately my pricing reflects Canadian $$ which includes a 25% hike in pricing because our government wants the loonie (Good Name) low valued so businesses can export our products at built in 25% Sale Pricing.
Perhaps,we wont get into that topic/please, but I just couldn't resist / when I start thinking about government issues (anywhere in this world) I tend to go off the deep end as part of why I am going into this video thing is to document the destruction of our environment & the entire democratic process, which is a total farce in my neck of the woods. Nuff Said..
Again Thanks for the input and I will keep watching and perhaps cover another topic later / my goal is to place an order for a build within the next 10 days of so.
B Orion

New Video Card options

I have a first generation MacPro with the ATI Radeon X1900 and I have been experiencing some issues. First, my computer has been making a lot of noise from a fan, and I have read in several places that this has often been the ATI video cards. Also, recently I have been experiencing some issues with rendering in my applications. I play World of Warcraft, and lately when it rains in the game, it starts looking fuzzy. It could be a problem with the software, but with the fan issue I am more inclined to just replace the card and hopefully fix both issues.
About two months ago the signal from my Mac to my monitor gave out entirely. When that happened, I called the Apple Store and they told me any PCI-Express video card would be compatible, so I picked up an Nvidea GeForce 8800 GT. It did not fix the problem and I brought it into the Apple Store and they determined it was the video controller on the motherboard that caused the issue. However, they were not able to get the Nvidea card to work with my computer, so I just went back to the ATI card after that.
So, after all that, my question is what Video cards are compatible with the first generation Mac Pro on OS X version 10.4.11, and are there extra steps I have to do to get the hardware to work? Are there drivers or software I need to download before swapping out the cards?
Thank you,
Tim

Your choices are:
X1900 for $399 if you stay with 10.4.11
Radeon 3870 requires 10.5.4 retail $215
8800GT requires 10.5.3 direct from Nvidia or Apple, two models, one for EFI64 (2008) and the one you want for 2006/7 EFI32 models.
http://store.nvidia.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayPage&Env=BASE&Lo cale=en_US&SiteID=nvidia&id=ProductDetailsPage&productID=104059500

Early 2008 Video Card Replacement Question

BACKGROUND
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:                       Mac Pro
Model Identifier:                  MacPro3,1
Processor Name:                  Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed:                  2.8 GHz
Number of Processors:         2
Total Number of Cores:        8
L2 Cache (per Processor):     12 MB
Memory:                               10 GB
Bus Speed:                            1.6 GHz
Boot ROM Version:                MP31.006C.B05
SMC Version (system):          1.25f4
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT:part number 630-9898
Chipset Model:        NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Type:                       GPU
Bus:                         PCIe
Slot:                         Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width:      x16
VRAM (Total):           512 MB
Vendor:                    NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID:                 0x0611
Revision ID:              0x00a2
ROM Revision:          3233
Displays:
SyncMaster:
Resolution:                       1920x 1200 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth:                      32-BitColor (ARGB8888)
SyncMaster:
Resolution:                       1920x 1080 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth:                      32-BitColor (ARGB8888)
I run one XP drive for games (primarily Flight Simulators) and music/video (CD/DVD) conversion (Danisoft/SlyFox). Mostly stuff that I have yet to find an equivalent that will run on Mac OS. I run one drive with Lion: MSOffice for Mac, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, etc (main use drive). I run one drive with Snow Leopard: still have some stuff that requires Rosetta but is little used. (Thinking about creating a Snow Leopard partition on my Lion drive and using my current Snow Leopard drive for additional storage.) I run one drive thatis purely storage. Everything is backedup to a 2TB Time Capsule using Time Machine. Op systems also backed up to Hitachi 2TB G-Drive using Carbon CopyCloner as well as all important files backed up there as well.
Video card failed. Ifixed it using the ‘bake it in the oven’ trick. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7um_hZYom4) However, still thinking about replacing the card. There are three Apple part numbers foravailable/comparable video cards.
630-9898 – This is the part number ofthe card currently installed. Best pricefound is $586.37
661-4642 – This card is listed as newwith no choke. Best price found is$242.00.
661-4854 – This card is listed as new‘with Choke’. Best price found is$246.00.
Then, I see where some are replacingthe NVIDIA cards with ATI’s.
5770 – $249.00 from Apple.
5870 – $449.00 from Apple.
QUESTION
Based on my current gaming on the XPdrive and the primary use of the Mac OS drives being general purpose (with moreand more getting into iPhoto and iMovie), what are the feelings of the community on which replacement vid card to purchase? (Note: To date I have not had any issues with noise or smoothness using the 8800. But who knows what I might want to do in the future and I want to be prepared as best Ican without spending the $1500 on that really high end card.)
TIA

You should look at those Apple version of the ATI Radeon 5770 and 5780 video cards. They are the current mac pro cards but will work in 2008's.
The 5770 requires one aux power cable and the 5870 requires two. Both have two mini-displayports and a dual link DVI port.

24" iMac--latest models. Which video card option to choose?

I am going to buy a new iMac 24" with 4 GB RAM. There is a $300 difference between two of the models, based mainly, so far as I can tell, on a processor speed difference of 2.6 to 2.9 Ghz, but mainly on the video card.
The lower priced iMac has a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
The higher priced iMac has NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
I use my current iMac (mid-2007 version, 4 GB, Radeon 2600 HD with 256 MB VRAM) for all the usual things like email, word processing and web surfing, but also for watching movies, high def streamed TV, including sports events. I do not do video editing nor do I play games on the computer. I am using approx 1 GB of RAM all the time for Fusion to run Windows, since I have a couple of programs that have no Mac equivalent.
Am I losing 256 MB of system RAM with the GeForce 9400M since it doesn't have its own memory like the Radeon 2600 HD, and will I miss the memory? Is the GeForce still a better video card than the Radeon, even with the shared memory?
The only real question is, should I spend the extra $300 to get the video card with its own memory, assuming I don't need the faster processor speed?

_+The only real question is, should I spend the extra $300 to get the video card with its own memory, assuming I don't need the faster processor speed?+_
I see from your new thread today that you have not yet made this purchase.
To get the upgraded hardware you really want, and for only $50 (not $300) above the cost you're willing to pay for the new 2.66, you can buy the refurbished 2.93 current 4GB RAM model direct from Apple, and it will have exact same warranty (and be treated by Apple) as a new one.
While it is not in today's list of refurbs at the online Store, it was there Monday - simply call now and they will put you on the waiting list for a refurbed MB419LL/A @ $1,549 w/ free shipping, and you will have it in a week or two. Just a few days extra wait for the model of your dreams, and yes it will come with Snow Leopard:D

K330 Video card upgrade question.

New to forum and was just about to pull the trigger on a new K330-77471CU (from BB). However, I read a customers comment saying that this unit only had an AGP port, no PCI express slots for upgrading the video card, can this be true??? Does'nt seem possible today. The desktop overall will fit my needs, but I want to make sure that if I elected to upgrade the video card someday, I could with the latest generation cards.

thanks for the reply Duck3. The above desktop is a new release for BB stores and features i3-2100 / 8mgs memory / 1 T HD. Not a high end unit by any means but one that you would think would allow the user to upgrade the integrated vid. card to a dedicated ........ hmmmm , I'm hoping perhaps a rep from Lenovo will jump in and clear this up so I can make a decision on this particular desktop. I highly doubt our local BB sales rep is going to know the answer to this. These things just hit the shelves here. And yes, the customer was giving his review of the above mentioned model he just purchased.

Video Card Upgrade question

I want to run Apple's new Apature program on my iMac. I currently do not have a video card that will allow me to run this program. Does anyone have any suggestions on the most versitile cost effective card for the G5. I also do a bit of editing and Photoshop.
iMac G5 1.8 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Hi,
The iMac's videocard is soldered onto the mainboard and cannot be removed. Therefor, it can also not be upgraded.
Sorry to bring you the bad news

600 watt power supply questions and video card upgrade questions

I am looking to upgrade to a Xfx Radeon 7970 Double D graphics card but i was wondering if the HP 600w psu that came with my Hp Envy Phoenix H9-1350 has a 8 pin and 6 pin Pci-e connector because that is what the Radeon 7970 needs. Also I am wondering if it will fit into the Hp Envy Phoenix H9-1350 because the case seems small but the card is only 9.3" long. I currently have an Amd Radeon 7670 but I think it is time for an upgrade but I am just not sure if the power supply has the correct power connections needed for the Radeon 7970.
This is the card I am looking to get:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150665
This is the computer I have:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+ENVY+Phoenix+Desktop+-+12GB+Memory+-+2TB+Hard+Drive/6890832.p?id=12...

I understand you want to know if the power supply will have the necessary connectors for the desired video card.
According to the specifications, it lists the case as a mini-tower which is on the small side. You may need to use a tape measure to find out exactly how much room the system has in regards to length. It has become much better, but other components (such as the HDD) were at the end of the PCIe slot limiting the length of a video card. Sorry I couldn't provide anything more specific. The manuals are somewhat vague as far as the internal dimensions and I don't have access to one to verify the dimensions.
Ordinarily, I can find more information regarding the power supply not that seems not to be the case here. According to this thread, the PSU has two 6 pin PCIe connectors. You would need something like this to convert one of the 6pin connectors to 8pin. As long as the PSU is capable of pushing enough watts, it shouldn't be an issue. The card needs up to a 500W power supply, so the 600W power supply should be just enough to cover it.
↙-----------How do I give Kudos?| How do I mark a post as Solved? ----------------↓

[SOLVED] video card support question

Hi Everyone,
I need to get my dad a new pc with a simple (newbee) linux distro on it and I was thinking of something like mint. He has been using Ubuntu the last 2 years but for some reasons we want to switch. I'm a very satisfied arch user but this is way over his head.
I'm looking for a system without windows and found something with the following specs:
Cardreaders 3,5" Spire 51-in-1 zwart
Processor AM3 AMD Athlon2 X2 255 65W 3.10GHz / BOX
Motherboard Biostar AM3 N68S3+ V/S/L/µATX/DDR3
RAM    2048MB DDR3/1333 Kingston CL9
Graphics 5450 ATI HIS HD 5450 Silence VGA/DVI/HDMI/GDDR3 1024MB
HDD    500GB Samsung HD502HJ SATA/16MB/7200rpm
Housing    Codegen P6232-A11 460 Watt / zwart-zilver
DVD-Burner Samsung SH-222AB 22x SATA / bulk / zwart
DVD-player Sony Optiarc 18x/48x SATA / bulk / zwart
I'm somewhat worried about the graphics card and after browsing the forums I can't get a satisfying answer whether the card will work with or without problems if at all. Can anyone help out or give some advise?
Thanx a bunch.
Last edited by billy-bones (2011-06-10 22:30:53)

billy-bones wrote:
karol wrote:
billy-bones wrote:He is not going to do any heavy gaming and such.
So why do you need 1 GB RAM card?
He want's do edit video's and work more intensively with multimedia.
I would suggest getting some more RAM.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 97#p934697
Maybe you can ask mhertz some specific questions as he seems to have a 5450 too. Judging from this one post the situation doesn't seem bad.

Dual Video Cards Setup Question & where is MRQ?

Ok, I have two question. First is that I have a Quadro CX and GeForce 9800 GT and was wondering if there is any special thing I need to do to have PPro CS4 take advantage from the Quadro. From my understanding it automatically picks it up and uses it but do I need to have my monitor running from the Quadro or should I have it run from the 9800 GT? Also, when I render I notice that when I do playback in PPro, the encoding pauses and resumes once I'm done previewing whatever in PPro. I would think that I should be able to preview being plugged into the 9800GT and have that drive the preview while the encoding will use the Quadro CX. Am I missing something here or is that a large programming undertaking? I would think it wouldn't be that difficult.
Second question is that I've had some pretty rough edges on my output video. The output video is 192x192 FLV On2 Vp6 and the source is 1080 HDV. I've heard that the Maximum Resolution Quality should be turned on. I've poked around and I'm unable to find this and was hoping I could get some help here on the forums. I'm pretty new to this editing thing, but my work gave me a freak'n sweet setup, and I'm just trying to optimize and get things working smoothly. I appreciate all your help in advance. I'm glad to become a part of the community.
Cheers,
Drew

New video card from ATI

Hello,
Its been a long time since I have been on the discussions board for the G4 powermacs. I have currently my G4 powermac powerPC Digital Audio 733mhz/1MB L3 cache. I have an AGP ATI 7000 radeon which is 64MB. I was wondering, because I was browsing through ATI and they have a 512MB video card option for Macs.
My question is can this card work in G4's? Not that I am into any hard core gaming, just wanting a low cost solution for seeing what core image looks like on my G4 through Tiger.
Thanks,
Nadav

Hi-
No.
The best that you can do is an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Mac (256mb).
Other options are a flashed PC version of the 9800 (128mb).
Core image:
http://guides.macrumors.com/CoreImage#Supported_graphicscards
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

Need Quartz Extreme video card

I'm planning to resurrect my of MDD for my son but the video card need charging to improve the GUI lag.
At the moment I have an ATI Radeon 9000 Pro in my dual 867Mhz MDD but the GUI is sluggish and the video card doesn't support hardware accelerated Quartz Extreme, everything is handled by the CPUs.
I am looking too replace the video card for something that will speed up the OS X GUI;
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Does the ATI 9600 Pro support this?
Also what other video card options do I have? I've seen references to the Radeon X800 and GeForce 7800 GS but I'm just not sure.

Hi,
Well the ATI 9800 Pro video card arrived yesterday morning and was easy to install. I instantly could see the GUI was smoother (but no where near my MacPro ATI Radeon HD 3870) but still choppy. And yes, the profiler said QE was supported with Core Image hardware acceleration, which is what I was looking for; less demand on the CPUs for rendering the GUI.
No drivers required, just slot the card in and away it goes. There was some ATI utilities to install but these were not required to make it work, I think.
RAM
I have 1.5gb RAM in the MDD, the memory is quite old now. Maybe its worth replacing it with some PC2700 spec RAM of today. I can't remember if the RAM is properly matched, so I'll look into that. RAM is cheap these days and four 512mb, crucial lists at $17.99 each.
Boot Hard Disk
After replacing the RAM, maybe look at replacing the boot HD, its still running on the original drive from the factory. Maybe a SATA PCI card and have two RAID 0 (striped) boot drives, something like a FirmTek SeriTek/1S2 and a couple of 10,000rpm drives.
Question: Can I boot my PowerMac from a couple of striped drives using Apples software RAID? or will this be a backward step, maybe a cheap PCI Raid card would be a better option.
Question: Can you get a PCI SATA card that supports hardware RAID 0?
Comment
Its kinda find doing all this with my old PowerMac, first time ever its received any kind of attention like this, well maybe just the Verax fans when I first I got this PowerMac in Sept 2002!

Multiple Video Cards

Hey guys,
New to Mac and looking to make the big switch. Looking at the Mac Pro I'm stumped on the multiple video card option. It looks as though most people use multiple cards for dual or more monitors.
My question is this. If I'm running only a large monitor dual or triple video cards would still be beneficial correct? I want to switch to dual monitors in the near future and I work with huge photo files and CAD type drawings that suck up a lot of memory and resources.
Would I bet better off just getting one kick a$$ card and spending the extra money on RAM? Not sure what the best route is.
Thanks guys,
Mike

A single monitor, regardless of how big it is, can only be plugged into a single video card. Adding a second card without plugging a monitor into it will only use up energy.
(48561)

Video card options question.

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