"For PowerMac G4 AGP Graphics (Sawtooth), Gigabit Ethernet, Digital Audio & QuickSilver 2001 Only. 3 Year Warranty."
So not being entirely clear what I have, I went to Apple to help me figure it out. Apparantly I have a Quicksilver introduced after 2001 but it's not a 2002. So it's a 2002 that is not called a 2002. HUH!! If anybody can explaine this to me, please help me out.
Okay, I would guess you have a 2001 model. It may have been built in 2002, but is not a 2002 model. This is because of the CPU you have. You could go with the Fast Mac. I cant tell you if that is a good choice though. Buzz over to XLR8 your mac and check their CPU upgrades to see how well received they are. -maestro
Re. Processor Upgrades: It seems that from within the inner circle of Modders, the FastMac processor is your choice.
Re. Graphics Cards: No one has really addressed my issues, so I will recap in hopes of a parting shot before I consider other alternatives. I'd like to run Motion on OS X but also continue to run legacy apps which I haven't upgraded on OS9. Is there any card which will work with both OS9 and OSX but is also capable of working with Motion. Apple lists minimum graphic card requirements for Motion which do not state compatibility for OS9. Perhaps cards which are compatible for both OS9 and OSX will work with Motion. Slower is okay for me. If someone can clear that up it would be nice. Maybe that's all I need. So to conclude, the cost of upgrading all my OS9 apps and buying a new Motion compatible video card is greater than the cost of buying a new G5 simply to run Motion.
You can run Motion on a slower processor, its just how effective it will be. A dual processor will be up to %60 faster than a single. I have seen tests where a dual 533 killed a 867 single on video tests. Go with a Radeon 9000 128mb if you want to go cheap and spring for a 9800 if you can. Video memory is critical for motion (and video in general). I just CANT say to buy a single processor for video, I am sorry to say you would probably regret that. My overclocked 1.25G4 dual(now 1.42) beats the sh!t ouf of all single processor g5s. That says ALOT. Good Luck and keep us posted. -maestro
Maestro: Yep, as I messaged personally I'll let this end with your comment.
The only thing I have to add is what I learned at the ATI site. To wit:
The Radeon 9200 (price at about $130) is the last or numerically highest card which will support both Mac OS 9.x and OS 10.x for a machine like mine (Quicksilver). The 9800 (price at about $350) is for OS 10.x only. But . . . ATI will let you trade in the 9200 and purchase the 9800 for about $100 less, or $250 after a $50 credit when you give them your old 9200.
So once you don't need to run OS 9 for legacy applications anymore, you can make a reasonable trade up. The only caveat I would add is; who knows the how long the trade-in pricing for those items will last.
Brainman, I had to reply one more time to clear ati's claims. A 9200 is PCI only (your QS is AGP. You can run a 9000 128mb with both OSs as far as I know-I run a 9000 64mb and I run both OSs on my MDD 2003 (the last dual boot Mac). You can now get the Mac edition 9800 for $250 at OWC. I would check around and see for sure that the 9000 128mb is not dual boot. Hope this is helpful. -maestro
I'm not sure if anyone cares, but I have jsut installed a ati 9800 in my dual 800 quicksilver and it appears to run os 9.2.2 just fine. So I don't know if it's just a support thing or if I have a magic computer but it would appear the best graphics card you can get to run both would be the ati 9800 (then you don't have to worry about trading in!)
Karma; that's very interesting. I care. I spent about a couple hours on their site, reading and comparing cards. And trying to get definetive responses from the forum. Nothing was stated on the 9800 giving any indication that it would work with OS 9.x Whereas the 9000 and the 9200 said it would work with both.
On the other hand nothing was specifically stated that it would not. So either you are lucky, or I can't read. Or maybe there is some legal agreement between third party developers and Apple that requires the third party developers to "ixnay on the OS nineay" after a certain point in the OS product marketing cycle. Geeze, listen to me. Before you know it I'll be spouting off theories about JFK and multiple gunmen.
Your information was the very thing I was trying to illicit from the peanut gallery. Now what am I going to do about that 9000 that is in a delivery truck headed to my house.
The software came with an OS9 patch (in the box) so maybe the very first 9800's weren't os9 compatible and then someone took care of it. TO be completely honest I don't think you need anything more then a 9000 on a quicksilver CPU. I'm looking forward to upgrading my proccessor (after I get my taxes paid off, and get out of debt) because I believe that will make a bigger difference in the whole production suite bundle, but I won't know for sure until I get past the fater proccessor.