Info-Mac

This is my first time posting in the infoMac forums...just signed up!

I have a G3 B&W with the following specs:

450Mhz CPU
REV. 2 LOGIC BOARD
1 GIG RAM
80 GIG HDD
16MB RAGE 128 PCI VIDEO CARD
5 PORT USB PCI CARD
TIGER 10.4.11 (fresh load)
17" APPLE B&W CRT MONITOR

Just bought a 64MB Radeon 7000 PCI video card from ebay. (applemacanix) is the seller. Item number is 270268291273

I think this is a brand new PC version that's been flashed (?) Problem is that anything video or graphics related is very choppy. When I play a dvd full screen, it's choppy when it begins to play...after the small dvd control console times out and disappears from the screen the dvd plays normally. Also, I tried to run a graphic intensive virtual aquarium as a test and all of the fish are choppy when they move. In the trouble shooting process I have tried:

Different screen resolutions
DVI LCD monitor
VGA Apple CRT monitor
Moved Radeon PCI from short PCI slot (where 16MB Rage card was installed) to next PCI slot over
Downloaded and installed 2005 update from ATI website

None of these worked. I re-installed the 16MB card and everything works great.

Any ideas?? Seller said he has never heard of this problem. I did find a post in another forum that is identical (although no solutions were posted) ...Don't hold me to this, but I think the the forum members card might have been a flashed version too.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

~Tom

It sounds like what you're basically describing is no 3D acceleration. Mac OS X comes with all the ATI drivers you need built-in, so my best guess would be a problem with the card. I myself can't say exactly what's going on, because all my Radeons always worked, even reflashed ones. I might look into returning it.

Retail Mac cards don't go for that much. I'd try to find an authentic Mac card. By the way, the Radeon 7000 has since been succeeded by the Radeon 9200 PCI. I would shoot for that.

Update on the G3 B&W Video card upgrade problem. After going through extensive troubleshooting measures I could not solve the problem. Just to be sure the video card was bad, I installed it in one of my PowerMac G4's. SAME RESULT! Choppy graphics! So...video card must be defective. I contacted the ebay seller for an exchange...stay tuned

~Tom

Yeah I figured this would be the case. Mac OS X will just recognize a working Radeon card and simply use it. Your computer clearly is not.