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eMac Video Upgrade
Bri3D writes "I've got an eMac G4/700, with a GeForce2 220 32MB video card. The video card is great for everyday use, but woefully slow for gaming. I looked for a method to replace the video card, and found these pages about eMac disassembly, but no information on if the video is upgradeable or even seperate from the motherboard. Does anyone have information on replacing the video card on an eMac?"
did you look at the pictures of the disassembly? there is no way you're replacing it, it's almost surely integrated on the mainboard.
if you didn't want such a slow video card then don't buy an emac, and if you want to game don't buy an apple computer period.
I'm looking right now, and short of a soldering iron and God's good graces, it is definitely a no go.
Upgrade
Unfortunately this is the easiest path. BTW What games? I play NWN on my iBook 900 w/32MB FX card and it runs great, not to mention Quake III.
Apple Discussion Board says the only mac you can replace the video card on is a tower.
Short answer: No
Long answer: No
In summary: No
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
I think the article was a PC troll trying to point out that all-in-one Macs of the past 5 years are not video-upgradable.
Spec's don't list PCI or AGP slot so doesn't look like upgrading is an option. Have you tried changing settings??? Often there are some compatability controls that can make things better. The graphics processor is realatively recent so it should be decent but not great at games, often more memory is more of a issue try increasing ram, it makes everything faster and so even if it doesn't improve game play the machine will be more fun to use.
looking carborator
He has a little blog about being on the open source project(click on byline)......? hmmm. a little perplexing? Is this why open source seems so hobbyist?
Chris, do you really contribute? No offense, but 'cummon.
The E in eMac was for education because of the low pricetag/G4 w/altivec.
The latest games will be wasted on anything less capable than the G5 from now on.
Before everyone gets pissy note: latest......from now on. Who would have it any other way?
oh yeah...
http://www.pudge.net
read his last blog on 6-4-03
what can I say? What is X.
What games are you playing where your computer is "woefully slow"? I game regularly on my Cube (450 MHz G4 with a stock Rage 128 and 1 GB RAM), and I'm still able to play everything, save UT2k3 which is just a little too slow. Ghost Recon, Jedi Knight II, and Warcraft 3 run just fine on it. Admittedly, it is not a speed demon, but it gets the job done with low settings.
If you bought an eMac you shouldn't have expected that it would be awesome for gaming or upgradeable. Try upping your RAM, as I noticed a nice speed burst when I brought my Cube up to 1 GB. Other than that, you are more likely to harm your eMac by opening it then you are likely to help it by soldering on a new video card (if that is even possible).
http://www.lowendmac.com/imac/upgrades.html
g4 even...
The writer of this comment was not informed, as Slashdot does not pull stories. Additionaly, I do own an eMac G4 and am very happy with it besides its unacceptable Warcraft III performance. There are games for the mac(LOTS!). As a note, newer eMacs have a better graphics card (ATI Radeon 7500) anyway.
http://www.mcetech.com/sdimacsl.htmlt echnowarehousellc.com/g4upforslloi.htm l
http://www.
http://www.powerlogix.com/products2/index.html
Give them some time...
If it is an old game like quake 3, your emac should be ok. My PowerBook does a decent job with ati rage 128. However, for anything recent , you will have to look to spend more than what the emac costs. For gaming, I decided against the mac and went with a Dell for $1500. Its ok but even this doesn't do the games I play justice not to mention it crashes alot. Forget about emac, save your pennies for a G5 or high end PC.
You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
Just get an Xbox
You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
it's monolithic.
Ba-dum *bum*
Step 1) Unplug all peripherals
Step 2) Replace eMac
I have done this before, and it is a proven and time-tested method that works.
You may be able to replace the video card, depending on which eMac generation you have. The eMac LAN that I manage is what I would call first-generation, because when Apple released the eMac, they first fulfilled all the orders to educational institutions. Not until this was complete did they start shipping to the public. There is only one problem with this: The first-generation eMacs actually had on-board video acceleration, which made it impossible to replace. This was something that was on the original iMac, until Apple realized that it caused display problems and such, and moved this off-board. Of course, they brought this back on the first-generation eMacs, (arg!). You may not have the option. The only way to find out is to actually open up the eMac and look.
- - - - - - -
Orppf urp mf y.ppcxn. yflcbi otcnnov C am yflcbi yr n.apb Ekrpatv (Dvorak -> Qwerty)
+1, Insightful
This is more often than not overlooked, and needs to be said more often.
Informatus Technologicus
lol
___________________________
I'm not a geek, but I play one on TV.
OK, I get that the "can I upgrade video" question is dead, but I thought I'd ask another somewhat related question.
Just what is gaming like on either eMac (the GeForce 2 and Radeon versions) ? I have a CRT iMac (600 Mhz G3 with the ATI Rage Pro) and I wonder if the upgrade would be worthwhile.. On the iMac, you can play Ghost Recon, Quake 3, Myth 2, with reasonable frame rates but UT (the original) is brutal and UT2K3 is a slide show.
Anybody want to share their eMac gaming experiences?
I have an eMac 800 with 1GB RAM, and Warcraft III is only just OK single player... if you try to play against multiple human opponents it will lag badly during battle (just when you need to select your hero you can't!).
I have seen the same effect with a Duron or Athlon systems (Duron 900, Athlon 1000/133), so I suspect it's just that the game needs more CPU power.
When you say excellent performance, do you mean single player, or multi player? If multi player, how did you achieve this???
I just got an ATI 9800 Pro for a PC and thought I'd give it a shot on a G4 tower.
No dice - machine refused to boot. What gives?
Just because they both have PCI doesn't mean that i386 and PPC are the same in every respect. This is obvious to anybody who has sat down and thought about this for a minute.
Help us build a better map!
The original eMac has an nVidia NV11 soldered on the motherboard. This is pin compatible with the nVidia NV17b. If you can get one of these chips and don't mind working with surface mount components you should be OK as far the hardware is concerned.
One problem, the Apple ROM on the eMac contains the Open Firmware driver for the NV11 which definitely will not work with an NV17 - it wasn't in production when the eMac ROMs were first released. However, current Apple motherboard ROMs still support the eMac and also have support for the NV17.
Go to Apple's gaming web site and there they have a low-end to high-end minimum suggestions for gaming. Their minimum hardware to run games, as Apple suggests, is 900 Mhz. These machines come with a better gfx card too. I am afraid you bought the lowest-end Mac, and you expect it to work on all levels...
Dear Apple:
I bought an Apple computer because of its native support for teledildonics. I bought a USB FUFME and MacOS immediately recognized it and installed drivers instantly! As a gay Catholic priest who often can't be at the altar all the time, you can understand how the ability to have sex with children whilst on the airplane with my Powerbook and wireless internet service is a lifesaver.
I just have a single question, will Apple be releasing a firewire version of the FUFME anytime soon?
With much gayness,
Father Michael "Arminass" Sims
Dear Father Sims
Thank you for your kind letter! Being a former Catholic priest myself, I know exactly what you are talking about! It has been our dream at Apple Computers ever since we began in the 80's to shape the homosexual experience with the ultimate computer.
I can answer your letter by saying that YES we will indeed be making a firewire version of the FUFME. With the additional bandwidth offered by the firewire bus, we will be able to more accurately record and deliver more minute and subtle movements that the USB FUFME simply couldnt support due to lack of bandwidth. You will be able to recognize our firewire FUFME in stores by the fancy holographic logo of a cock entering an Apple.
We are glad to help loyal customers such as yourself. If you ever have any more questions, feel free to drop a line (or connect to my teledildonic FUFME server on fufme://cockman.apple.com).
Hugh G. Cockman
President
Homosexual Liaison Services
Apple Computer, Inc.
The only reason I bought an emac over the cheap fp imac so long ago was I thought I would be able to get up to
1280 x 1024 pixels to display.
Instead It flickers at anything above 1024x768.
First and last new apple I will buy.
What about hacking the connector from the video card to the CRT? Can a KVM switch be grafted into works?
I'm thinking you'd mount two monitor plugs in the case, and then wire them to the KVM. Even slicker would be to install the KVM inside the emac case and mount a switch and a VGA port... but there isn't much room in there...
I own a cube and would love to upgrade the video. However, no-one sells officially sanctioned cards for the cube anymore. Sure, you can get a normal card and shoehorn it in, but this often involves moving the power PCB and taking a dremel to the chassis. Another problem is the heat build-up, as the cube is cooled passively. Still, it is a great quiet computer and fast enough for most things.
Apparently one company did make a Voodoo2 card that had a pass-through, so it did work on the internal monitor.
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
Gateway is no upgrade. They will be selling blenders and other appliances before you know it... sorta like those junk mail catalogs people put out, selling other companies crap with their name on it.
As for Dell, well Michael Dell has done very well for himself, but what has he ever contributed? It's certainly not quality. Ever heard of W.C. Fields? Remember his best quote?
There is a simple rule of thumb for Power Macs: if it has a built in monitor, its built in video cannot be upgraded.