John Kettler Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 No, I still don't have a new rig (long, ugly story), but I have noticed several of the mail order Mac outfits are offering dual OS 1.25 GHz towers at low prices ($1299). This seemed promising, until I happened to notice that the video cards were ATI 9000. As I recall, these are known nonstarters for CMBB/CMAK aren't they? Wasn't the cutoff ATI card a 7600 or some such? Could someone please review the known Mac solutions by major category? I know Apple has really screwed things up by yet again gutting OS 9 in even previously dual OS rigs, such as the eMac and iBook. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarmo Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 They are still the same "compatibility models" as before. You can buy one at applestore. Those are dual boot, the only macs still having the ability to boot in OS9. Radeon 9000 is the standard choice, but they can be custom ordered with GF4Titanium. GF4 has been reported to work with CM, although not perfectly (downsamples like a 16MB card or so). Dont know if anyone has tried GF4 with a 1,25Ghz G4, so there could still be some new glitch there. I've been thinking about getting a used previous generation OS9 booting 12" iBook with 32MB Radeon 7500... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Bonz Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 "…dual OS 1.25 GHz towers at low prices ($1299)…." Good price! Where is this offered John? You can email me if you prefer. DawgBonz3@cox.net From what I have read, I think Jarmo is right on re: video cards. I have had no CMBO, CMBB or CMAK demo problems with my ATI Radeon PCI 32MB version. You DUAL 1.25 GHz G4s should give you blazing 900MHz ‘blue bar’ turn calc speeds. Option #1: If you can purchase the new dual OS 1.25 GHz tower & a used ATI Radeon PCI 32MB card I would think you would have a good Mac/CM PCI card avoid down sample problems for CM games. Now I am not sure about multiple video monitoring preferences on the dual OS 1.25 GHz tower Mac model. I have dual monitors (8500) and CM runs fine on my NEC FP912 - 1280x1024-85.02Hz. My max 1600x1200-85Hz looks fine with ‘extreme’ graphic settings. Option #2: "I've been thinking about getting a used previous generation OS9 booting 12" iBook with 32MB Radeon 7500... I think Jarmo’s "OS9 booting 12" iBook" suggestion is a cost effective route as well. A 900MHz ‘blue bar’ speed and CMBO / BB / AK portable Mac ‘game boy’. The iBook should mirror to a larger monitor as well. Option #3: I think Wicky also suggested looking at older / used G4 systems that could be upgraded at a reasonable cost. (Nice Italian icon mods.) While writing this my email CMAK shipped notification from "Gail" arrived! I better get cracking as next week I may be on a "Virtual Vacation" in NA & Italy…. Best of luck with your decisions and purchase. Robert 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted December 11, 2003 Author Share Posted December 11, 2003 Troops, Here's the link for the dual OS 1.25 GHz G4 tower deal (with many additional goodies). The video board is an ATI Radeon 9000 Pro. No idea whether the MacMall people would put in a different board if asked. Many thanks for the help. http://www.macmall.com/macmall/families/powermac/ Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 Did anyone else here get the e-mail that notified you of a possible NEW ATI driver for the 9000 card that might solve the CM pyschedelic colours problem in some dual boot machines. I don't have a dual boot computer "handy" to test it on but there is a rumour of a NEW ATI driver that will work in the latest dual boot macs and "fix" the graphics problem the old driver was causing. Any one else heard of this?? I am wondering if MadMatt would like to post any thing further here?? -tom w 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmead Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 Matt was kind enough to post it in the Psychedelic display thread. I have a Geforce 4MX so I am not affected (by anything more than downsampled graphics) and cannot test. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 I have the GF4 Ti 4600 with 128MB and I have to say that AK looks quite a bit better than BB did, especially the vehicles. I haven't intensively inspected other graphics, but I have the impression that buildings are a bit more hi-rez as well. It's nice that I'm finally getting some use out of this blasted card after spending the earth for it. :mad: Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted December 13, 2003 Author Share Posted December 13, 2003 It looks as though I am (at last!) on the verge of finally getting the new rig. Best available info indicates that it'll be a 1.25 GHz dual OS tower, like what we're discussing, with at least a 17". flat panel display. BTW, www.clubmac.com has a similar deal to the one I listed above. Given the apparent positive turn of events, I now need detailed info on CMAK/CMBB functionality on the ATI Radeon Pro 9000 video card. Do I need to start hunting for another video card, and if so, which one will provide all the visual bells and whistles designed into the games? Thanks in advance for any and all help! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 Are you likely to regularly use OSX or Photoshop? as OSX will use the twin processors and Photoshop 6 onwards in OS9 is also dual prrocessor aware. CM in OS9 wouldn't use the other processor so you might want to consider the slightly lower priced single processor model which will still dash through CM number crunching. But the dual would probably be a machine that'll handle CMX2 running in OSX in the future (2 years?) and the dual processors would come into their own then. Watch the Psychadelic thread for news on how the 9000 card works with the new beta driver. Originally posted by John Kettler: It looks as though I am (at last!) on the verge of finally getting the new rig. Best available info indicates that it'll be a 1.25 GHz dual OS tower, like what we're discussing, with at least a 17". flat panel display. BTW, www.clubmac.com has a similar deal to the one I listed above. Given the apparent positive turn of events, I now need detailed info on CMAK/CMBB functionality on the ATI Radeon Pro 9000 video card. Do I need to start hunting for another video card, and if so, which one will provide all the visual bells and whistles designed into the games? Thanks in advance for any and all help! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Bonz Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 Congratulations John. A new Mac & display are a great way to ring in the Holidays. My old ATI Radeon PCI 32MB card is no longer sold retail. I do not know what the old ATI Radeon PCI 32MB sells for used (or what tests to run to purchase a used video card) but as previously noted, the card works fine in CMBO, CMBB and CMAK. Just installed CMAK last PM and graphics, including dust & fog are fine in this game as well. With the reports of new ATI Radeon Pro 9000 video card drivers you may do fine with his card if fog & dust are not an issue for you. I would follow that thread closely as the psychedelic display problems may be corrected to make the game playable but it sounds like fog may still be an issue? Don't Panic Junior Member Member # 5491 posted December 12, 2003 08:24 PM ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Good News !! It works on my 1 Mhz G4 TiBook with Radeon 9000 card. The graphics are now normal and playable. The only downside is smoke and dust looks low res and even my G3 400Mhz Pbook with 8 Mb VRAM has much better smoke/dust graphics. I have tested it on CMAK and CMBB but not CMBO yet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BFC makes such great games. Too bad other folks can’t support driver updates for their equipment. Best of luck with your decisions and purchase. Robert 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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