Accelerate Your Mac! - FAQ on ATI Mac Rage128 Cards

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Mac Rage128 Graphics Card Status
Ship Dates and Answers to Common Questions
Last Updated: 8/24/99

Update 8/24/99: If you're having problems with a Rage128 retail card make sure you're using the latest updates from ATI's Mac driver page. Fixes for the Rage128 problems with 44-6500, Starmax and other Mac clones were recently addressed with a patch listed there. One G3 upgrade Starmax owner still reported problems but I welcome more feedback. (Note: the 603e system patch should be part of the Universal 4.2 installer update available there as well.)
See the related links at the bottom of this page for a review of the Rage128 Orion and a Mac 3D card roundup article from Nov. 1999 comparing performance of many Mac graphics cards.

Orion Comments: I recently received an ATI Rage 128 Orion (16MB) card from ATI, retail boxed, with $30 off coupon on the box (there are other offers like the $50 loyalty program available to owners of previous retail ATI Card owners (this may be a limited time offer however).
Here are some comments that I wanted to note that might be important to some buyers or of general interest. (For the full review and performance details, see my Rage128 vs. Game Rocket review.):

DVD Note: To those wondering if you can put Apple's MPEG Daughtercard from the OEM Rage128 (with DVD option) on the Retail Orion card - the answer is no. The connector pins for the 'piggyback' daughtercard are not on the retail card. The holes/pads for the connector are in the pwb (printed wiring board, or circuit card), but they are filled in with solder only. I'm very familiar with soldering and could go to a electronics parts store and get some berg sticks or similar pin headers and solder them in, but that's not something that I'd suggest others do.

Quake3: If you want to run max texture quality in Quake3, ATI says you'll need a card with more than 16MB of RAM. That means the Nexus128 card. I think Q3Ttest looks fine at the default settings on the Rage128 (see my Screenshots page) but wanted to make this public since in the past 32MB cards offered no real advantage for existing games. ATI says some textures in Quake3 are 1024x1024, larger than the 256x256 limit of all current 3dfx cards (even the voodoo3).

Bundle: The Orion comes with a 4-level version of Tomb Raider II, FutureCOP LAPD, and a demo of Myth II.

The retail cards have the ATI Control panel that allows changing some 3D settings like texture compression, filtering, etc. and lets you see how much video ram is being used.

The Orion (16MB) cards should be shipping to dealers now and the Nexus128 (32MB) shortly thereafter. The Rage128 VR will not be available until end of July/first of August based on best estimates at this time. [End of 6//26/99 update]

I've gotten tons of email asking for ship dates and other questions on compatability, options, etc. for ATI's Rage128 line of Mac Graphics Cards. The following is an exclusive (as of this date) update direct from ATI:

" We appreciate your patience in waiting for the launch of the ATI RAGE 128 products for Mac OS which were to be available by the end of March. Our March ship dates were based on using the drivers we created for the blue G3. In meeting the needs of our retail customers, who have many different system configurations, we have encountered issues we felt needed to be addressed before the products could be shipped. Unfortunately, these additional efforts have resulted in the delay of shipment of the RAGE 128 products until May.
We received many inquiries regarding the products since the announcement. The most common inquiries are:

Will the cards work in the PCI 66 slot of the new Blue and White G3?
Will the DVD module work with the retail cards?
Which ATI card is in the Blue G3?

All of the ATI branded cards will work in either a PCI 33 or PCI 66 slot without any jumpers or switches needed to be set.
The DVD module has been designed and certified by Apple to work in the Blue G3 with the card that is installed and thus will not work with any of the ATI branded products.
Rage Orion offers equivalent functionality to the card that is included in the Blue G3 (except for support of the Apple DVD module), Nexus 128 offers the same functionality with the addition of 32MB support for 3D designers who require multiple 3D accelerated windows or high resolution 3D. Xclaim VR 128 offers equivalent functionality to the card in the G3 with the addition of support for video capture, video out and TV tuner functionality. "

More Reader Questions: Jeff Smith also wrote with some common questions about the ATI Rage128 cards:

" Does the RAGE VR 128 have the same game acceleration as the RAGE ORION? Will I be giving up anything gaming wise if I buy the VR for the video in/out?
Answer: As noted above the Rage128 cards should all have the same graphics chip game performance (despite some potentially confusing references). The VR card adds video capture and free TV Tuner and is my pick for the best overall value. I suspect that other than capture specific extensions, they will all use the same driver set. See the links below for more information on the cards at ATI's site (you may have missed these)
Does the Nexus 128 offer any gaming acceleration at all? If it does will its 32 megs of VRAM (vs. 16 on the other cards) give a better gaming experience.
Answer: Yes, as it uses the same chip/drivers as the other cards as noted above. the 32MB benefit would be larger buffers for very, very high res 3D (most will never need more than the 1600x1200 or so 3D Modes offered by the standard 16MB Cards - as CPUs are not fast enough for games at that resolution on the mac).
The 32MB might help if games use a lot of textures, as Macs have no AGP-like capability to go direct to memory for them, but I don't expect to see any MacBench, etc. boost or any more speed in current games from the extra 16MB.
I'm hoping the retail cards will be run at a faster card clock rate than the original OEM Rage128 in the BW G3, but you can get some idea for game performance at my B&W Game Performance page linked in the sidebar. (Note - in spring 1999 the revision 2 B&W G3s had a slightly faster clock speed Rage128 card as part of the changes.) Remember that results shown were from a G3/400 but it will show you how it compared to the Voodoo2 in the same machine. (For more up to date info - see the main www.xlr8yourmac.com video cards page articles/reviews - or search the Mac Game/Video Card Performance Database.) "

Also remember to check the FAQ (topics on Video cards), Graphics Cards page and the Game Related articles page for detailed information on graphics cards, performance, features and more.

Related Links:

For more details on the Mac Rage128 line, see ATI's Mac products page
(Note: I had individual links to their Rage128 Orion, Nexus128, and VR128 but ATI apparently moved/deleted the pages, so it's best to check their main site for the latest info/links.)

Mac 3D card Roundup (Performance comparions of Rage128 and 3Dfx cards)

Rage128 Orion Review

Mac Game/Video Card Performance Database - seachable database of video card performance in various macs. Over 1,500 entries and growing.

VR128 Owner Feedback (comments and problem reports/Tips from VR128 owners)

Rage128 Driver Update Feedback

B&W G3/Rage128 Game Performance page.

Falcon 4: Rage128/Rave vs 3Dfdx/Glide image quality

Quake3 Test: Tips, Screenshots and Performance

Back to G3-ZONE for more Apple G3 Info
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Back to XLR8YOURMAC.COM

Copyright ©, 1999.

No part of this sites content is to be reproduced in any form without written permission.
All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.
Users of this web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.


Mac Rage128 Graphics Card Status Ship Dates and Answers to Common Questions Last Updated: 8/24/99
Update 8/24/99: If you're having problems with a Rage128 retail card make sure you're using the latest updates from ATI's Mac driver page. Fixes for the Rage128 problems with 44-6500, Starmax and other Mac clones were recently addressed with a patch listed there. One G3 upgrade Starmax owner still reported problems but I welcome more feedback. (Note: the 603e system patch should be part of the Universal 4.2 installer update available there as well.) See the related links at the bottom of this page for a review of the Rage128 Orion and a Mac 3D card roundup article from Nov. 1999 comparing performance of many Mac graphics cards. Orion Comments: I recently received an ATI Rage 128 Orion (16MB) card from ATI, retail boxed, with $30 off coupon on the box (there are other offers like the $50 loyalty program available to owners of previous retail ATI Card owners (this may be a limited time offer however). Here are some comments that I wanted to note that might be important to some buyers or of general interest. (For the full review and performance details, see my Rage128 vs. Game Rocket review.): DVD Note: To those wondering if you can put Apple's MPEG Daughtercard from the OEM Rage128 (with DVD option) on the Retail Orion card - the answer is no. The connector pins for the 'piggyback' daughtercard are not on the retail card. The holes/pads for the connector are in the pwb (printed wiring board, or circuit card), but they are filled in with solder only. I'm very familiar with soldering and could go to a electronics parts store and get some berg sticks or similar pin headers and solder them in, but that's not something that I'd suggest others do. Quake3: If you want to run max texture quality in Quake3, ATI says you'll need a card with more than 16MB of RAM. That means the Nexus128 card. I think Q3Ttest looks fine at the default settings on the Rage128 (see my Screenshots page) but wanted to make this public since in the past 32MB cards offered no real advantage for existing games. ATI says some textures in Quake3 are 1024x1024, larger than the 256x256 limit of all current 3dfx cards (even the voodoo3). Bundle: The Orion comes with a 4-level version of Tomb Raider II, FutureCOP LAPD, and a demo of Myth II. The retail cards have the ATI Control panel that allows changing some 3D settings like texture compression, filtering, etc. and lets you see how much video ram is being used. The Orion (16MB) cards should be shipping to dealers now and the Nexus128 (32MB) shortly thereafter. The Rage128 VR will not be available until end of July/first of August based on best estimates at this time. [End of 6//26/99 update] I've gotten tons of email asking for ship dates and other questions on compatability, options, etc. for ATI's Rage128 line of Mac Graphics Cards. The following is an exclusive (as of this date) update direct from ATI:
" We appreciate your patience in waiting for the launch of the ATI RAGE 128 products for Mac OS which were to be available by the end of March. Our March ship dates were based on using the drivers we created for the blue G3. In meeting the needs of our retail customers, who have many different system configurations, we have encountered issues we felt needed to be addressed before the products could be shipped. Unfortunately, these additional efforts have resulted in the delay of shipment of the RAGE 128 products until May. We received many inquiries regarding the products since the announcement. The most common inquiries are: Will the cards work in the PCI 66 slot of the new Blue and White G3? Will the DVD module work with the retail cards? Which ATI card is in the Blue G3? All of the ATI branded cards will work in either a PCI 33 or PCI 66 slot without any jumpers or switches needed to be set. The DVD module has been designed and certified by Apple to work in the Blue G3 with the card that is installed and thus will not work with any of the ATI branded products. Rage Orion offers equivalent functionality to the card that is included in the Blue G3 (except for support of the Apple DVD module), Nexus 128 offers the same functionality with the addition of 32MB support for 3D designers who require multiple 3D accelerated windows or high resolution 3D. Xclaim VR 128 offers equivalent functionality to the card in the G3 with the addition of support for video capture, video out and TV tuner functionality. " More Reader Questions: Jeff Smith also wrote with some common questions about the ATI Rage128 cards: " Does the RAGE VR 128 have the same game acceleration as the RAGE ORION? Will I be giving up anything gaming wise if I buy the VR for the video in/out? Answer: As noted above the Rage128 cards should all have the same graphics chip game performance (despite some potentially confusing references). The VR card adds video capture and free TV Tuner and is my pick for the best overall value. I suspect that other than capture specific extensions, they will all use the same driver set. See the links below for more information on the cards at ATI's site (you may have missed these) Does the Nexus 128 offer any gaming acceleration at all? If it does will its 32 megs of VRAM (vs. 16 on the other cards) give a better gaming experience. Answer: Yes, as it uses the same chip/drivers as the other cards as noted above. the 32MB benefit would be larger buffers for very, very high res 3D (most will never need more than the 1600x1200 or so 3D Modes offered by the standard 16MB Cards - as CPUs are not fast enough for games at that resolution on the mac). The 32MB might help if games use a lot of textures, as Macs have no AGP-like capability to go direct to memory for them, but I don't expect to see any MacBench, etc. boost or any more speed in current games from the extra 16MB. I'm hoping the retail cards will be run at a faster card clock rate than the original OEM Rage128 in the BW G3, but you can get some idea for game performance at my B&W Game Performance page linked in the sidebar. (Note - in spring 1999 the revision 2 B&W G3s had a slightly faster clock speed Rage128 card as part of the changes.) Remember that results shown were from a G3/400 but it will show you how it compared to the Voodoo2 in the same machine. (For more up to date info - see the main www.xlr8yourmac.com video cards page articles/reviews - or search the Mac Game/Video Card Performance Database.) " Also remember to check the FAQ (topics on Video cards), Graphics Cards page and the Game Related articles page for detailed information on graphics cards, performance, features and more.
Related Links: For more details on the Mac Rage128 line, see ATI's Mac products page (Note: I had individual links to their Rage128 Orion, Nexus128, and VR128 but ATI apparently moved/deleted the pages, so it's best to check their main site for the latest info/links.) Mac 3D card Roundup (Performance comparions of Rage128 and 3Dfx cards) Rage128 Orion Review Mac Game/Video Card Performance Database - seachable database of video card performance in various macs. Over 1,500 entries and growing. VR128 Owner Feedback (comments and problem reports/Tips from VR128 owners) Rage128 Driver Update Feedback B&W G3/Rage128 Game Performance page. Falcon 4: Rage128/Rave vs 3Dfdx/Glide image quality Quake3 Test: Tips, Screenshots and Performance
Back to G3-ZONE for more Apple G3 Info or Back to XLR8YOURMAC.COM
Copyright ©, 1999. No part of this sites content is to be reproduced in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies. Users of this web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.