busboy Posted February 18, 2001 Share Posted February 18, 2001 Hello all, I have just incresed my RAM on my Mac G3 300 mhz tower to 192 Megs. I now need to get my new 3d card. I admit now that I know little about this stuff. Anyway, I need a card that'll plug into a PCI slot. So... what do I need? What's the difference between RAVE and OpenGL? I know OpenGL is the way Macs are going, so should I be getting a card with that in mind? What online store can I find a good deal on a card? Any advice is greatly appreciated. And for God's sake, no one make an anti-mac crack, even "in fun." It pisses off Mac users. If you don't have anything constructive to add, don't add anything. ------------------ busboy CO, 99th Dragons A Warbirds Squadron 'We will heat you up' "It is well that war is so terrible, else we would grow too fond of it." -Robert E. Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berlichtingen Posted February 18, 2001 Share Posted February 18, 2001 Originally posted by busboy: So... what do I need? What's the difference between RAVE and OpenGL? I know OpenGL is the way Macs are going, so should I be getting a card with that in mind? What online store can I find a good deal on a card? Forget RAVE... it never was all that good anyway. As to which card to get, it sort of depends on how much you want to spend. You can pick up a Voodoo fairly inexpensively Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fate Posted February 18, 2001 Share Posted February 18, 2001 Voodoo's are nice, but you'll need a 4 or 5. Support for the voodoo's are now over due to the sad demise of 3dfx. You will be stuck with the latest drivers. I have a voodoo3 which is ok but still has a few bugs and can't do really large battles. The voodoo 4/5 apparently work well with the latest drivers. I'm planning on getting an ATI Radeon pci, that's probably a good choice for you as well. I saw your post in WWIIOnline forums as well and the Radeon is probably a good card for that too. You should look into getting a faster cpu as well, they're getting cheaper and cheaper. Check www.dealmac.com for good price on all the above. Fate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Aitken Posted February 18, 2001 Share Posted February 18, 2001 I picked up a Voodoo 5500 for peanuts – before 3Dfx went bust, that was like the most powerful card available for Mac. I tried it for a bit, and then went back to my ATI RAGE Nexus 128. The RAGE 128 is a generation earlier than the Voodoo 5500 (The ATI Radeon is equivalent), but the Nexus just works a lot better, and more importantly, 3Dfx's RAVE support seems pretty poor. This wouldn't matter, since Apple discontinued RAVE a while ago, but many recent games, CM included, are written for RAVE and I think Apple is continuing to support it (I think they'd have to). ATI has a compatibility advantage, since up until recently they supplied all the graphics chips/cards for Apple. Apple has now effectively switched to nVidia, but GeForce cards are only currently available in new G4s. So, an ATI card would be your best bet. If your "G3 300MHz" is a blue-and-white model, go for a Radeon. If it's an older beige model, like mine, this means the system architecture is slower, and you won't be able to make full use of a Radeon. Technically there's no reason why you shouldn't get one, but I think a Nexus is a better match for the system (or an Orion, which is the same but with half the RAM). You should be able to pick one up pretty cheaply. Disclaimer: This advice makes sense to the best of my knowledge, but I could potentially be talking rubbish without realising it. =) David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarmo Posted February 18, 2001 Share Posted February 18, 2001 Radeon's a good choise for now. If you can find a Rage 128 Nexus cheaply, it might be worth considering. Depends on if you're a serious gamer or not. Anyway, go for a 32MB card, that's where we are heading. (actually we've been there for a while already) Geforce would be a better pick, but there's no PCI version availlable, at least yet. ATI has been a real stingy about updating their drivers, and it'll brobably be getting worse now that they're no longer the main supplier.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffsmith Posted February 18, 2001 Share Posted February 18, 2001 I also have a 300 MHZ G3 Tower / Beige (actually 266 overclocked) I upgraded to a Rage 128 (VR) I am very happy with it While I like the Radeon I'm not sure the Upgrade would be worth it for this processor. If I had to upgrade now I would still get the Rage 128, saving my money for the eventual full computer upgrade (which will have a Radeon or Nvidia card) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cueball Posted February 18, 2001 Share Posted February 18, 2001 I have a B&W G3/350, and a few days ago replaced the Rage 128 with a PCI Radeon. I'm extremely pleased with it. The new 1.1.1 drivers work well. One of the side benefits was the improved clarity of the text. However, I do agree with a previous post. If you have a Beige G3, a Radeon may be overkill. BTW - CM uses RAVE for it's 3D rendering on the Mac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busboy Posted February 19, 2001 Author Share Posted February 19, 2001 Thanks for the help all, I'll take this all into consideration. Any advice on where I could buy a card online? ------------------ busboy CO, 99th Dragons A Warbirds Squadron 'We will heat you up' "It is well that war is so terrible, else we would grow too fond of it." -Robert E. Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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