Harry writes:
I've had a burning video card question for a while as well. I have a
Powerbase 180 upgraded with a Powerlogix G3 card running at 450mh and using OS9.2.2
(via OS9Forever) and 160mg ram. I have a cable modem but find surfing sorta slow
(I've confirmed with the cable company that the up/download speed is working
"normally"---they say it's my computer slowing things down). I still have
whatever graphics card was installed originally in the computer. Would I get
faster web performance if I upgraded the graphics card? If so, any recommendations?
I've tried upgrading drivers, but that didn't work.
Nice setup Harry ! It certainly can't hurt to upgrade the video capabilities to match the other upgrades you've put into the PowerBase. The ATI chipset mounted on the video riser was a snappy setup in it's day, but is limited to 2 or 4 mB of Vram and unable to take advantage of acceleration features available to full-featured 3rd party PCI cards.
Fortunately, there's plenty of older first-class video cards available these days for a pittance, although you're restricted to 7" cards.
I'll recommend the ATI Nexus GA, which came standard with 8 mB vram, and can be upgraded to 16 mB via an add-on daughtercard. I currently use one of these in my PowerTowerPro, and used it in a G3 Blue & White running OS 9 prior to picking up a Radeon card. The Nexus card great for both 2D & 3D work, and you should be able to snag one on eBay for under US $25.
Also newer cards such as the ATI Radeon 7000 (PCI/32 mB vram) are popping up well under $100, and either card can do stellar service downstream tucked into a PCI slot of a G4 to drive a second monitor.
Cheers...Michael
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