Video Card Recomendations

unwritten_law9 · #1 04-16-2009, 06:14 AM

I'm currently running iDeneb v1.2 10.5.6 on my desktop. I got no sound and low resolution video. For video I have onboard ATI Radeon HD 3200, and sound I have onboard Realtek ALC889A. From what I have read I'm screwed for graphics, so i'm looking for a low end graphics card that will work flawlessly with OSX. Also suggestions on audio would help as well.

Here's my specs:

LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

XCLIO STABLEPOWER 460W ATX V2.2 Active PFC Power Supply

AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz Socket AM2+

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-US2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Acer 22" Monitor Connected Through DVI

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

naquaada · #2 04-16-2009, 11:03 AM

That depends on what you prefer (ATI, nVidia) and wat you want to do (gaming, working). Another issues are the price and at least the power consumption. You can buy a monster graphics card, but f.e. a Radeon HD4870 needs up to 285W power. I compared a long time and came to the ATI Radeon HD2600XT. It's fully supported, Dual-Monitor, TV-Out, and needs only 50W power. There are also various heatpipe versions out there, so no noisy fan. The version from Gigabyte is only 1 slot wide, great for microATX boards. Costs on ebay are between 30 and 50 Euro. If you want to check out other ATI Radeon HD series cards, take a look at the drivers list.

kael · #3 04-16-2009, 07:37 PM

naquaada,

I have the same question, please tell me which brand is best for ATi4870? Sapphire(http://redirectingat.com/?id=292X457...D245%26grp%3D3) supposed to be the best on the market? And after installation of the driver,what must be done?Does it need OpenCL or other packages from 10.5.7 beta?

Or XFX 9800 GTX(http://redirectingat.com/?id=292X457...3Flang%3Den-us) is better in x86?

Thanks!!

naquaada · #4 04-16-2009, 08:57 PM

A friend has an Radeon HD4870, it is not working yet. maybe in 10.5.7 it's supported, then this card will be available for the Mac Pro's. I don't have an idea about nvidia, sorry.

Ali C. · #5 04-17-2009, 12:20 AM

I encountered the same problem as you (HD 3200=LONG way from being supported if ever). If you're willing to stick to ATI, the Sapphire HD 3650 is about $50 and after a little bit of fiddling to find the right driver, it works like a charm.
The audio can easily be fixed with Taruga's patcher and dump file for the ALC889a.

unwritten_law9 · #6 04-17-2009, 02:40 AM

Still kinda lost here. It looks like the Radeon HD 3650 doesn't have AMD support. I'm looking for a card around $50. Ali C, how hard is it to get the 3650 to work? And can you send me a link for the audio fix?

Any other suggestions?

Ali C. · #7 04-17-2009, 10:26 PM

Ah, there's separate drivers for Intel and AMD for the HD 3650. I had to dig up a different set of drivers, though, because the set on InsanelyMac I ran into first (Netkas?) gave me the checkerboard instead of OS X with QE/CI. I can send you the working drivers if you decide to go with this card, though, but do remember this-different things work for different configurations and Netkas (was that even what it was) may work fine for you.
Meanwhile, check your PMs for the audio fix.

naquaada · #8 04-17-2009, 10:36 PM

The HD2600XT I'm now using I got for about 26-50 Euro. I now got an AGP version, let's see how it works.