G5FX5200 into G4 MDD

Just got a 5200 I want to install in my MDD. I saw the mods required to install it in an older G4, but has anyone put one of these in an MDD? I'd like to be sure it will work before I start hacking pins off a perfectly good card.

Its just a small upgrade to get core video running. I don't do much gaming or anything.

This card is modded and works just fine in MDD G4s. This will be good to get you Core video but
really isnt that effective. The card is lowfully underpowered and I still cant figure out why Apple
ever used it. An Ati 9600 is a better card, especially in the xt version. I dont want to knock your
choice (sorry, I think I just did) as its a cheap stepping stone to higher end cards in the future.
The MDD G4s are still great powerful computers that can take advantage of better cards that will
make many apps and not just games run much better.
-maestro

I figure it'll be a little better than my 9000. Plus it was about half the price of the last 9600 I saw. Right then, where's my hacksaw......

Yes it is better than the 9000pro. Post some pics!
-maestro

OK.

I bit the bullet and got the saw out. I taped off the bloody stump and slotted the card in. MDD fired up by itself (Yes, should have unplugged it first, I know). No video signal. Monitor switched itself off. Had to pull the power plug out to shut it down. Then power button wouldn't start it again. Pulled the 5200 and it fired up spontaneously again.

Power button shut it down this time though and thankfully all is well with the 9000 bck in place.

So... What did I do wrong then? Do I need to tape some other pins apart from the ones I cut off?

OK, looks like I missed a couple of things out. Back to the bench......

Thats much better.

Boosted my xbench score from 24 up to 30. Woo!

Widgets run a bit smoother. I think it would help if I had a decent monitor. Found a killer deal on 19" widescreen LCDs (two for less than the price of a single Apple 20"!). Sadly I don't have enough cash for even one of them just now.....



I need to recharge the batteries in my camera before I can take any pics, but I will write up a short guide in the not too distant. High time I did one of those.

Do the mods on the FX5200 work on any other cards? It would be nice to get something with dual link DVI running in a G4.....

Dual link DVI cards are hit and miss on G4s. Oh wait, the 9600 has that! Well some do. As for modding other cards like the 5200, I dont know of anyone that had the balls to cut a more expensive card. LOL. Anyway, if you want to head over to http://www.strangedogs.com, people have got the 9800xt, 6800, and x800 to work in a MDD. The G4s are not powerful enough to take advantage I am sorry to say. Congrats on your newly modded card, you must do a mod guide, I demand it!;)
-maestro

Its written. I just need to sort out some pics before I post it.

I want to overclock this card with graphiccelerator. I have prepared a ROM to flash onto it, but I want to add some cooling to it.
I dug out an old heatsink and fan, probably came from an old celeron or something even older. I have cleaned it up. It looks like a 40mm 12V fan on a 40mm heatsink which is about 20mm high. Only thing is, it doesn't have any facility to mount the heatsink on the card. Should I try and just screw the fan to the existing heatsink?

I also have questions regarding wiring the fan. It has a 3 pin connector on it, red yellow and black. I would guess that black is obviously ground, and that the red and yellow are for either 12V or 5V, depending how fast I want it to run. Is this right? I only hav a molex connector available to power it. How should I hook it up?

Waragainstsleep wrote:


I believe black and red are - and + and yellow is nothing more than the RPM-signal. I've noticed that any fan will keep running without the yellow wire.

EDIT: to answer your question, connect black to black and red to red, cut off yellow as it does nothing (unless you're planning on getting a fan monitor later). Don't worry about voltage or anything as a fan can only spin in 1 direction and overvolting is quite impossible on a molex.

Post edited by: yann86, at: 2006/01/20 23:31

Nice. Many thanks.

Waragainstsleep wrote:

No problem, I've got a bit of experience on fans as I've got 9 in my MDD

And I thought the 7 in my AMD was alot! Not that it needed them. They all had molex connectors already though, so I just had to daisy chain them.
Now to salvage a molex connector from a dead HD....

Ok, so I'm largely done now. I have bolted a small fan to the 5200's heat sink, and crusely wired it to a molex using some small nails as pins. I'v overclocked it a bit, but some fine tuning and further testing will be required to refine my final settings.

Mod guide will be forthcoming, though I'm afraid the pics won't be amazing.

Good for you, success. Thanks for doing a mod guide. Im looking forward to checking it out.