# Flashing VGA cards to mac?



## i stole this name (May 9, 2005)

I heard somewhere that this can be done. I'm looking into getting a powermac sometime soon but i found that I could get it significantly cheaper from my local retailer if i had one that didnt have any graphics card, memory or hard drive.

The standard obviously is that i'd just get a hard drive and memory, but the graphics cards (windows versions) are much much cheaper than the mac ones. I was wondering if there is a way to flash the mac BIOS onto them - Additionally - if there were any tutorials to show me how  That'd be grand!

Thanks in Advance.


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## RobTheGob (Feb 10, 2003)

Do a search here and on google. It's been discussed a few times here and some of the external sites have tons of info on this topic.


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

Yes, Google is your ally.

Just be aware that (IIRC) you do need a PC to do the flashing


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## i stole this name (May 9, 2005)

I searched google theres tons of crap coming up, can anyone just link a page?


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## Trevor... (Feb 21, 2003)

ATI Cards can be flashed in Mac OS 9,


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## Elias26 (Apr 19, 2005)

Obviously to flash a video card means to make it compatible to the system of your choice. However, what I don't understand what is the process one has to go through to achieve this and the other question is can you purchase a PowerMac without a HD, RAM or video card pre-installed? This obviously would void the warranty so why would one venture and take on such a big risk to save a few hundred dollars which can end up burning them for a lot more if they f-up...


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## gundamguy (Mar 2, 2004)

Only a few cards work when flashed, you have some old geforce 2s a handfull of geforce 3s, radeon 8500s, and the 9800. There is a problem though, most pc hards have a smaller bios than their mac counterparts so you either have to solder on a larger bios chip or use a reduced rom. The reduced rom works ok for the 9800. There are lots of people messing with other cards with not alot of luck. Read that someone flashed an agp based x800 to mac but it required alot of skill if it was legit. Youd be better off buying a mac video card if you want a good one. You also lose some featured such as no dvi (for most of the flashed cards) and no adc, so your left with one vga port.


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## i stole this name (May 9, 2005)

Elias26 said:


> Obviously to flash a video card means to make it compatible to the system of your choice. However, what I don't understand what is the process one has to go through to achieve this and the other question is can you purchase a PowerMac without a HD, RAM or video card pre-installed? This obviously would void the warranty so why would one venture and take on such a big risk to save a few hundred dollars which can end up burning them for a lot more if they f-up...


You get full store warranty, Including instant replacement for failed components free of charge throughout the year, so no problem there.


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## Trevor... (Feb 21, 2003)

The following cards can be flashed with minimal effort or risk.

Radeon 7000 (aka Radeon VE)
Radeon 8500
Radeon 9000
Radeon 9200

GeForce 2mx
GeForce 3 (non-Titanium version) 4x AGP required!
GeForce 5200
GeForce 6800

The following cards can not be flashed

Radeon 7200 (aka Radeon)
Radeon 7500

GeForce 2 GTS
GeForce 4

Most of those not listed can be flashed, but not without soldering or other hacking.
GeForce 2 GTS


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## CN (Sep 3, 2004)

I don't think flashing a card is worth the effort, I tried to flash a Geforce2 mx to put into my cube, but it didn't work, so it was a complete waste of energy and money. I ended up just paying a bit more and buying the mac version on eBay (which wasn't even that much more expensive) and therefore spent almost 2x as much, what a waste. Overall, it was a waste of time and money, and not really worth it, especially now, when there are a good number of mac video cards to choose from, most decently priced (especially on eBay).


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## Trevor... (Feb 21, 2003)

Most of the Mac videocards on eBay -ARE- flashed,


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## i stole this name (May 9, 2005)

Hmm 6800 eh. I'm always up for a good hack. I think that qould be quite a bit cheaper than the mac version too


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## picxpert (May 19, 2005)

Lots of info at strangedogs.com - click on forum.


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## i stole this name (May 9, 2005)

thanks you


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## CN (Sep 3, 2004)

Trevor

Although you are correct in saying that most of the cards on eBay are flashed, that doesn't mean that there aren't any made for mac ones. For example, even if 99% of the cards on eBay were flashed (don't think so but anyways) and there were only maybe 10 000 graphics cards for sale, there would still be 100 mac graphics cards. Also, I'm not sure if they still have them, but Compusmart was once selling quite cheap Radeon 9200, which is not the greatest card, but is good for just normal performance. And you can always buy from the US


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## Trevor... (Feb 21, 2003)

I see a grand total of SEVEN cards on eBay that are not either obviously flashed or seriously obsolete.

Let me run you through a step by step on flashing most ATI cards.

Boot into Mac OS 9, click an icon called "Radeon Mac Flasher"

It will ask you "Do you want to update firmware?"

You click Yes and when it is finished reboot your Mac and your done.

The retail videocards for the mac are pretty slim and non-existant on the nvidia side. What is the big deal?

ATI and nvidia sell more silicon.


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## i stole this name (May 9, 2005)

Well thanks y'all for the input - i think i may just order a Mac x800xt once i find it and save myself the risk. I'll leave modding to my xbox.


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## Trevor... (Feb 21, 2003)

be aware, that card requires a G5


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## i stole this name (May 9, 2005)

Yes i know. Im buying a G5 DP 2 with it


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## RobTheGob (Feb 10, 2003)

Some of the ATI cards won't re-flash on OS 9 without having the current flash corrupted first. For some cards, the OS 9 updater checks to see if the card is a Mac version and if not - no go. The easiest method is using a PC.

Flashing the cards is great fun - but it's not for everybody. If you are doing it simply to save a few bucks, it might be better to shop around instead.


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## K_OS (Dec 13, 2002)

The last thing I did on my G4-450 was add a GeForce2 to it and I followed these instructions to the letter and it worked, it should give you an idea on how to go about converting a PC video card to work on a Mac.

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/graphics/flash_PC_geforce2mx.html#storytop

Laterz


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## Trevor... (Feb 21, 2003)

RobTheGob said:


> Some of the ATI cards won't re-flash on OS 9 without having the current flash corrupted first. For some cards, the OS 9 updater checks to see if the card is a Mac version and if not - no go. The easiest method is using a PC.
> 
> Flashing the cards is great fun - but it's not for everybody. If you are doing it simply to save a few bucks, it might be better to shop around instead.


That isn't entirely true, there is a ATI fix for a ROM corruption issue that struck some early Radeon 7000's but the ATI Multiflasher as it is known will flash any ATI card.


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## RobTheGob (Feb 10, 2003)

Trevor... said:


> That isn't entirely true, there is a ATI fix for a ROM corruption issue that struck some early Radeon 7000's but the ATI Multiflasher as it is known will flash any ATI card.


That's news to me - but the last Radeon that I flashed from PC to Mac was prolly close to two years ago. 

At that time - if the card ID'd as a PC version, the Mac flasher would simply refuse to touch the card. You had to corrupt the flash so that it wouldn't return an ID and the Mac flasher would happily reflash the card. 

ATI made the changes to their flasher app since there was a corruption issue on the Mac that was due to a Kensignton (Griffin?) driver. Since the corruption made the card unable to ID properly - they had to change it so a card that was screwed up could be updated.

If a PC is no longer needed - the entire process should be very simple...


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