Usable Graphics Cards

Hi - Wondering if theres any other graphics cards that can be used with Catalyst, apart from the 9800, not for content playback of output, but just for remote monitoring and remote commands of other servers

Scenario is:
I have a G4 500 dual processor mac with its original ATIRage128Pro(AGP) and 512 RAM - so its not really good enough to playback content - but I have used it to monitor the G5 catalyst servers via ethernet (situated away from the production desk) to send remote commands, move content etc. However, it does crash out sometimes (due to the graphics card)

I dont want to splash out hundreds on a 9800, because the mac isn't really fast enough for content use - but is there a compromise, where I could get a cheaper card, that wouldnt crash out the mac so often when using catalyst as a remote tool?

(for content playback, I have use of decent G5 macs, but its a bit of a waste using one for remote monitoring etc)

any suggestions welcome.....

thats quite an old mac. 3-4 years.

the connector technology has changed several times in that timeframe.

from pci to agp and so forth.

the graphics cards that ati currently sells are listed here:

http://shop.ati.com/searchresults.asp?dept_id=31

you might be able to use the radeon 9000 for mac g4 only - this is an agp card.
or you might be able to use a straight pci card- the 9200- i have never tested with this card.

you might email or call ati and ask them which card is compatible with your old g4. its such a long time ago - i cant remember.

you cannot buy any nvidia graphics card - retail, all nvidia cards so far have been only available from apple as oem cards.

some guys modded a 9600 to fit in a g4....

this is quite a crazy idea.

http://www.techseekers.net/modules.p...wcontent&id=71

The radeon 8500 card would probably have been the best card to put into your g4.
these are no longer sold.

i used these cards a lot last year.
they were the recommended card.

Thanks for the info Richard - looked at the 9600 modification idea - simple and quite an idea (if i had a spare 9600 laying arround).... - is the PC version the same as the MAC version - or does it address the hardware in a different way?

I;ve managed to find a cheap 8500 for a G4, so will let you know the results - thanks for all the suggestions tho

Cheers

go for the 8500 if you can get it.

they were good cards.

PC cards do not work in macs.

Hi Richard,

Got my 2nd hand ebay radeon 8500 card today, and with all the driver updates it works like a dream in real 2 output display mode.

By putting it in the startup items and selecting full screen startup, it started correctly with no finder bar left visible :) (other thread)

However, it did once startup and give me the grey crashout screen as soon as catalyst had started. Also has crashed out once while attempting to maximise an output screen too. (but I am running on an old mac.. and with no dongle)

About to figure out all the new preset stuff, so will let you know how it goes... any suggestions otherwise to avoid grey 'crash' screens?

cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr_P

Hi Richard,

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which os are you using?

OS 10.3.6 on a Dual 500MHz PowerPC G4 with 512MB SDRAM
testing v3.3 g21 without a dongle
AGP Radeon8500 64M running 2 monitors all updated rom and drivers v4.4.2
Basically everything is up to date with Software Update.

However, its been opn for about 20 hours now, doing some test stuff with presets running and it hasn't crashed yet - only seems to be just after startup at the moment

sounds like something not being initialised correctly either by me or the os.

doesnt seem to do it every time...

1st time it loaded with a cat-settings file I was working with and it crashed straight away - reset the msc and re-named the cat settings file before starting catalyst again ad it was fine.

Then closed catalyst, swapped back to the cat settings file i was working on, and catalyst opened fine. Will try some other things to see if I can esablish a pattern.... seems a bit random at the moment....

settings often change between versions.

its possible a setting from a previous version did something wierd?

R

Cat settings files are all from the new version 3.3g21 - doesn't seem to make a difference with old ones either

Have tried old 3.2f29 files and all settings seem to be ported across - with the exception of all the DMX In device selection/address boxes - all blank, no addresses/devices configured... - sync id's and rs232 codes, naming, remote setup all ok.

Its interesting that the presets that i was experimenting with from another cat-settings file, also seem to have incorporated themselves in to this one too - even though the cat-settings file is a version before presets! - That said, i've just moved the catalyst-preset.txt file. and they're gone.... (obvious!)


Have just done some tests... Using a Cat settings file that has some files on an external firewire drive.

If the drive is not connected when the mac starts up and then Catalyst is started - it brings up all the screens, but then crashed just before it starts to scan files.

However, if the external firewire drive is present (powered on) when the mac boots up - and catalst starts - there's no problem.

Although, It does seem a bit random as to whether it crashes first time or not... so not really sure if it is an external drive issue

Just re-booted and restarted 4 times and it only crashed out 1st and 2nd time - although i did nothing different... It only seems to crash at catalyst startup - never had a problem once running. Will let you know anything I work out...

could be a missing folder bug.

if it crashes when the drive is turned off.

i generally dont use removable firewire drives to hold media files.

The grey 'crash' screens on start up are kernel panics. Usually this means the Mac is not happy with a particular hardware configuration. You can fault find this by removing suspect hardware devices (including graphics cards - just replace it with one you know works), until it stops doing a kernel panic.

It's useful to make sure that you have all the latest drivers appropriate for your OS.

Hugh

i think the problem in this thread is a catalyst preferences crash - rather than a kernel panic.

we seem to be seeing an issue when a firewire disc has content, and the disc is not present when the application is started.

i havent had a chance to look at this yet.

I would favor the missing links/drive theory -

I have with other cat-settings files that were created on a HES catalyst with an internal secondary drive, and when loaded on to my system, the drive obviously isnt there... (hense the copy on my firewire drive) So once the correct folder path is selected, it works - Although, it doesnt crash every time before the correct folder path is selected... luckily intermittent..!

However, I do have a M-audio Detta Dio 2496 card in the mac that i use with SAMSC - so i'll remove it to see if it makes a difference and make sure i;ve got the up to date drivers. I noticed a lot of log entries in the system logs when i was trying to find out what might be causing the crash... But I dont think it will make a lot of diference - it's only loading catalyst that seems to crash it. (intermittently...)

Will let you know the outcomes (thanks so far....)

S

(PS is there a spell check in this forum?)

i dont think there is a spell check.