ATI Radeon 9800 XT
PowerMac G5 Compatible
Dual VGA Output
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ATI Radeon 9800 XT |
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The ATI FireGL X2-256 is a high performing workstation graphics accelerator, delivering fast 3D performance and superior quality graphics for professional applications. Based on the FGL 9800XT Graphic Processing Unit (GPU), featuring four geometry engines and eight parallel rendering pipelines, the ATI FireGL X2 takes the leading computer-aided design (CAD) and digital content creation (DCC) applications to a new level of interactivity. With 256MB of graphics memory and hardware accelerated rendering using OpenGL Shading Language and DirectX 9 HLSL, the ATI FireGL X2 empowers 3D professionals to realize a dramatic increase in productivity and a reduction in design cycle times, without sacrificing quality. All ATI FireGL boards are certified for the leading OpenGL and DirectX applications. |
| The FireGL X2 is a high end ATI 9800 XT based Wintel (Windows/Intel) Video Workstation card. The card has been converted to Mac use, by reprogramming the ROM chip with modified Mac 9800 XT firmware. Once modified the cards fan controls work properly and dual VGA monitors are supported. This firmware mod fully supports OSX Core Image Hardware Acceleration, Quartz Extreme, and Rotation. These cards can also be modified using Mac 9800 Pro firmware. When used with these cards, the 9800 Pro firmware supports dual ports, one full DVI (digital and analog) and one VGA only port, but the fan runs at full speed all the time, and is a bit loud. I do not normally use the 9800 Pro firmware for these cards, not so much for the loudness issue, but more due to fear that the fan will wear out prematurely from constant full speed operation, but if you need the digital output, the 9800 Pro firmware can be installed for you.
Using the best parts available at the time of manufacture, these cards are superior in quality to the regular Mac and Wintel 9800 XT cards. FireGL X2s were mostly sold OEM in high end workstations, and if found retail were usually $500 or more per card. Before the ATI X800 cards came out, this was the PC Gamers card to have. A large front heatsink/fan combination is linked to a large rear heat spreader. The front heatsink covers both the GPU and memory located on the front of the card, while the rear heat spreader covers the memory on the back of the card. This enables the fan/heatsinks to cool the GPU, as well as the front and back memory. While the stock speeds for the Mac 9800 XT were 400mhz for the GPU, and 360mhz for Memory, these cards came stock setup at 412mhz GPU, and 365mhz memory speeds, and could usually be clocked by about 3-5% higher with original cooling, or even higher with aftermarket cooling. Since i'm pretty conservative (for an old hippie) these cards are set to the stock Mac 9800 XT speeds, which should give them a nice dependable life span. They are still plenty fast, the only faster stock ATI cards for Mac being the X800 XT, and X850 XT cards. Regular Wintel 9800-XT cards, are frequently modified (using the 9800 Pro Firmware) and sold on eBay as Mac G4 G5 9800-XT/Pro cards, with prices ranging anywhere from $150 $225 per card (usually just under $200). This is interesting considering that NO 8X AGP card can operate in a PowerMac G4s 4X AGP slot. This is because when Apple came up with the ADC Monitors, they utilized a couple of the "unused" pins in the 4X AGP slot definition to operate the G4s "power on" function with the ADC Monitors, later when the 8X AGP standard came out, these same "unused" pins were the exact pins chosen in the 8X AGP slot definition to enable a cards 8X function. The simple result, if you put ANY 8X AGP card in a PowerMac G4s 4X AGP slot, the machine will NOT even be able to power on. For an 8X card to work in a G4, the card must have these pins disabled, and of course disabling them means disabling the cards 8X functions, hobbling the card into 4X instead of 8X operation. Of course none of this is mentioned anyplace in the eBay adds, since these sellers hope most potential buyers will assume the cards operate as 4X cards in a 4X slot and as 8X cards in an 8X slot (as they originally did in Wintel Systems). | |
| DO NOT USE THIS CARD WITHOUT INSTALLING THE POWER CABLE! These cards need Lots of Power, and since they have regular PC-Clone AGP card slot connectors, they can NOT get power from the G5s ADC power connector (the little extra slot connector located in front of the G5s AGP Pro slot). You MUST remember to hook up the card to the G5s drive power (Use the Y connector to split power from the G5s optical drive. Disconnect the power cable from the optical drive. Connect the female end of the Y cable to the male power cable that you just disconnected from the optical drive. Then use one male end of the Y cable to reconnect power to the optical drive, and the other male end to connect to the video card). ATI made a PDF file on how to do this for their Mac Edition 9800 Cards G5_molex.pdf. Failure to hook up drive power can damage the video card, and possibly even hurt your Mac as the card would try and draw the needed power thru the AGP slot, which simply is not built to deliver that amount of power. Cards are currently setup for full 8X AGP operation in G5 PowerMacs with 8X AGP slots, and were burn-in tested as such. Other Sellers of these cards sell them already disabled to 4X AGP, using this as part of their "sales pitch" saying the cards are G4 and G5 compatible, discreetly not mentioning that in order for the cards to work in the G4, they must be disabled to 4X AGP, which means that if put in a G5 they will still only be running as 4X AGP rather than 8X AGP. The G5s 8X AGP slot can use 4X or 8X AGP cards, so there is no obvious problem using a modded 4X AGP card in a G5, I just prefer to leave the cards working as 8X cards allowing them to perform to their full potential in a G5 machine. It is Fairly easy to disable the card to 4X AGP, you can do this on your own, at your own risk. The cards can be hobbled down to 4X AGP operation if you want to use them in a G4 4X AGP slot. There are directions and pictures, showing how to disable 8X AGP cards to operate as 4X AGP cards in PowerMac G4s on The Mac Elite Site. This is done by disabling Pins 3 and 11 on the backside of the AGP slot connector. There are several ways disable these pins, such as putting tape over the connectors, or cutting the traces, on some cards you can even remove resistors located somewhere along the trace. The link above is to a Mac Elite page with lots of info and pictures on how to disable 8X cards to operate as 4X cards for use in G4 PowerMacs. | |
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All Items are shipped via the US Postal Service. The Mail Carrier stops by Week Day Mornings (Not Sundays/Holidays), so I can just leave things downstairs for Daily Pickup. The post office only insures Items (NOT including the postage). This results in them effectively Being Paid to loose/damage an item. Since it seems terribly unethical/unfair that they should be paid for loosing/damaging an item, insured items are "Marked-Up" enough to cover the postage fees, so that if they do Loose/Smash something, it is insured for the Full Amount. For USPS Shipping US Military Bases & Protectorates, Guam, Puerto-Rico, American Samoa, Micronesia, Palau and (US Virgin, Marshal & Northern Mariana Islands) are All Considered Part Of the US. Given all the time spent pre-testing video cards in Windows, converting them to Mac, and then extensively testing in Macs, it seems counter productive to pack cards poorly so they're easily damaged in shipping. The cards are put in anti-static bags, wrapped in bubblewrap, then placed in a small box, reinforced with rigid foam, so it 's hard to crush. A larger outer box (a bit smaller than the US Postal Service Medium Flat Rate Box), is lined with rigid foam and a layer of foam peanuts put in the bottom. The smaller box is then put inside the larger box, and any extra goodies like adapters (video or power) cables are wrapped in bubblewrap and placed above the smaller box. This uses about $4 in materials, and takes around 20 minutes to pack a card, Priority Mail w Delivery Confirmation, Insurance and packing materials is about $15-16. This may seem like overkill, but it greatly decreases the chances of you getting a damaged card, which would not only be frustrating for you, but a complete waste of all the time put into making sure you got a rock solid Mac video card. PayPal Addresses & BUGsPayPal, Payments are ONLY Accepted if transaction is fully eligible for Seller Protection. This SHOULD mean the Buyers shipping address must be PayPal CONFIRMED. HOWEVER a Recent PayPal Bug/Error has been making it so many payments made with Cash-In/Credit-Card Linked-To PayPal Account show-up as "Not Eligible" for Seller Protection. If payment Cred-Card based it MAY show up properly, and if Bank-Account based it USUALLY shows up properly. A way around This-Bug is to Select that you DO NOT HAVE a PayPal account at checkout, then you MUST give them a Credit-Card and an email address that ARE NOT associated with Your PayPal account. AND the shipping address you provide MUST match the billing address on the credit card. If either (email or cred card) is associated with a PayPal account they will refuse to process the transaction saying you must login to your PayPal Account. If you login to paypal, they will then process the payment sending me an email that says the transaction is "Not Eligible" for seller protection.I Do Not Sell or Ship in Washington State, and don't want to process refunds when folks from Washington place orders. People often Have/Leave Old/Out-of-Date/Incorrect Shipping Info in PayPal, which causes problems when things get Lost in the Mail. Sometimes People from other countries use Friends/Relatives address in the US so they have PayPal Confirmed shipping info. Standard PayPal settings can't deal with any of these things. Because of this, ALL Payments are put on Hold/Review, so I can Verify that Buyers are NOT in Washington, The shipping info is Good/Current, and hopefully avoid any other problems/issues/questions by communicating BEFORE Accepting Payment. I would like to put a contact link in here, but don't want the spam-bots getting info off web pages, and flooding my in-box with garbage. So You'll have to do a bit of cut/paste, sorry for the trouble. Name is christian_g then there is that little round symbol with the "a" inside, and provider is fastmail. net (remove the space before net). |
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OUT Of Stock
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 Video Cards $100 and Over INCLUDE Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation and Insurance (Canada Adds $15).Memory INCLUDES Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation and Insurance (Canada Adds $25). |
| (Canadian Buyers Please eMail Me for shipping quote on Sub Close-To $100 Items.)(Shipping with tracking to Canada is about $33-$35 minus any "Included" US-Shipping) |
| PLEASE DO NOT Click Buy-Now if You are in WA; I DO NOT Sell or Ship Within Washington State. |
I'm REALLY busy working on the items I sell. I do the most thorough testing and best packing reasonably possible to make sure You get a great product. Taking time from what's important to the end result, in order to work as an unpaid Tax Collector seems counter-productive. Don't get me wrong, I can't think of anyplace I would rather live, but spending time working on the actual business seems more reasonable than spending it filling out complicated forms. With this in mind, I WILL-NOT sell or ship anything in Washington. The paperwork is much less time consuming if it's mostly a bunch of zeros. |
