(Note: this is a reader submitted article. Although
the mods worked for him, any mods you do to your card are at your own risk of course.)
Hi Mike,
Maybe this will be interesting for some G4 owners around, trying to get
core-video support out of tiger (requires a 9600 or later ATI card, or
FX5200 or later Nvidia card. There were some easily modified OEM G5 9600 (non-XT) cards for 4x AGP
G4 system use, sold for around $100-Mike) ... I'm not sure, if I'm the first one, being insane enough, to do what I
did, but here it is:
I took a G5's Nvidia FX5200 and my Dremel tool and removed the first
connectors (C1-C10 & D1-D10) from the card. Then I widened the gap
between A65/ B65 and the E/F connectors, for make the card fit better
in my 4x AGP-slot.
Just remove the first line of connectors (and other pin mods) and plug it in: works great!!!
NOTE: I strongly recommend, that after sawing, one should inspect the "wound"
for possible short between the back and front of the board and then insulate it with some tape, to prevent any connection with the
mobos adc-connector...
The connectors I removed don't connect with the 4x AGP-slot
in the G4s, only connect additional Power (12V & 3,3V) to the
graphic-card, the data-lines are the same in AGP-pro and AGP 4. (Note -
the ADC power (24/28V DC) stub doesn't mate in G4s IIRC, so the ADC power will no longer
power ADC monitors. (Using adapters and a DVI/ADC adapter w/Pwr Supply is
an option but those adapters cost up to $100)-Mike)
And I had to modify the A3 and A11 pins like you can see in the picture below, for the card being
used in the 4x AGP-slot.
I put it in my G4 Digital Audio (4x AGP slot) w/G4 867MHz , (overclocked to 933MHz) and powered
it up. Everything worked!!! Worked great!!!
Up to 4 times faster than my flashed Geforce2MX 400 with 64MB!!!
After some while I added a 8 Euros Titan VGA-Cooler and overclocked it to
350/300 using Graficcelerator, and it still runs for hours without any
problems. (original speed was 300/275)
I think this is a great opportunity for every G4 owner to add cheap
core-vidio support to his computer! No flashing required!
Here's the Apple system profiler report for the card in the Digital Audio G4:
Here's Xbench info (showing G4 w/FX5200 installed):
I've done a rough benchmark for those interested:
Cinebench 2003 shading (OpenGL Hardware Lighting):
- ATI Rage 128: 130
- Geforce 2MX: 147 (flashed Elsa Gladiac 511 with 64MB)
- FX5200: 644 (kind of a difference?!!!)
All in a G4 Digital Audio with 1GB RAM and 933MHz CPU under 10.3.9
A detailed, pictured instruction howto may follow, if requested.
(maybe someone is interested in how I converted a MDD powersupply for
working in DAs and Quicksilvers too? (these are 10 times cheaper than
the original ones!))
Great site, learned a lot from it already, maybe I can give something
back this way... (Excuse my english, I'm from germany...)
-Jan
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