>Thanks for all the replies. I assume that the Voodoo 5 requires a >power >supply tap (in order to run a fan?) I think I'll pass on >that...I don't >even know if I'll keep the Zip drive. I don't >trust 'em...
Voodoo 5s were the first video cards (that I know of) that needed to draw more power than the pci/agp slot provided. So they added a plug to pull the extra juice from the power supply. For PCs that shouldn't be a big problem, but Mac's power supplies don't usually leave much leeway. The Voodoo is drawing all the extra power, so there is not enough left for the Zip to operate. The new ATI Radeon 9700 also has an additional power plug. There is even a screen that shows up on boot telling you that you forgot to plug in external power if you boot without plugging it in. >I was wondering if anybody had anything to comment about this >paragraph >from MacAddict's 1997 review of the machine, at ><http://www.macaddict.com/issues/0697/rev.powermac6500.html>: > ><< The 6500 line is intended for home and education markets, but a > graphics professional could get very good use out of the > Studio >configuration. The biggest problem with this configuration is that >you can't expand the VRAM past the included 2MB, which gives you >millions of colors at a maximum of 800-x-600-pixel > resolution. Apple has said that adding another graphics card to > the PCI bus will not be compatible with the built-in ATI > Technologies chipset, so the only option is to buy a PCI card > from >ATI to get more VRAM and/or an extra monitor. This seems a > bit >silly to have to purchase what is essentially the same chipset that's >already on the motherboard just to get extra VRAM. >>> I think the operative line here is where they say that adding a new card to the PCI bus will not be compatible with the built-in, only buying a card from ATI will get you more VRAM. As is common with non-tech newspeople writing about computers, they seem to have muddled the info. Remember that before this, in most cases, the video ram on the mobo was expandable. What they mean to say is that the only way to get more VRAM is to add another PCI video card. But that doesn't expand the VRAM for the video chipset on the mobo. So you will then have two video cards, even if you just wanted one card that supported higher resolutions. I think the thing about the only option being buying from ATI is meant to be more of a at-purchase option thing. Of course the machine is compatible with other brands of PCI video cards. That is the entire idea behind using a standard expansion interface like PCI. But if you wanted to buy the machine with more resolutions available, an ATI card was probably the only expansion card available from Apple. Just like how if you want to buy a G4 now, you only have a choice of ATI or nVidia from the start. It doesn't mean that the AGP slot is incompatible with other cards, just that Apple doesn't sell them. _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
