minimum setup for Jaguar to run well (1 Viewer)

[Josh Lowe]

what are the minimum specs on a Mac system that will run Jaguar at a crisp speed? i was thinking of getting a used G3 or early G4 tower and a cinema display. I have a radeon 8500 video card in my PC that i'm preparing to replace w/ a 9700, so i can re-flash this old card for use in a mac as well.

 

[Mark Larson]

Well, Jag runs fairly well on iBooks too, but i'd say get atleast a G4. This would have Altivec, which gives everything an appreciable boost. Somewhere in the region of 533 Mhz and up would be great. If you can get your hands on a dual-G4, that would be pretty damn good. Atleast 512MB of RAM is good, and PC133 is so cheap these days i'd just slap 1GB in there and not worry about it any more.
The 8500 is a good step - get a fast HDD and you'll be golden.

 

[Michael*K]

I'd agree that a G4 runs Jaguar very well, assuming you have a decent video card in it. The first generation G4's used PCI graphics, so make sure you get a later one with AGP. You don't say what the machine would be used for, but I'd say 256MB RAM is the bare minimum with 512MB or higher ideal. That said, I also run Jaguar on my G3 Pismo PowerBook that I refuse to give up. It runs fine, though not as "crisply" as on my G4. In fact, I'm giving serious consideration to upgrading it to the PowerLogix G4 chip to take advantage of Altivec.

 

[Kelley_B]

Even on my DP 867 G4 with 512MB RAM Jag can still be slow at times.

 

[Joseph S]

Dual G4 500 + 768MB of RAM + Radeon AGP.
I normally upgrade every two years, but I've been more than happy with the performance well into my 3rd year of use. Runs Jaguar perfectly. I'm waiting for the G5 or whatever the next generation ends up as because this machine will easily get me there without any problem whatsoever.
You'll have to buy a AGP->DVI+USB+Power Adapter if you plan to use the flashed 8500 with a cinema display. (approx $150) It's still a better deal than the ATI Mac version.

 

[Mark Larson]

Better still, buy a Dell 2000FP for the price of a frikkin' 17" Apple LCD and use DVI. 1600x1200 owns 1280x1024 and old tech.

 

[Josh Lowe]

the dell 2000fp is not widescreen.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Here's the scoop. If you really want to run Jaguar optimally, you need a G4 - a new one. Most of the speed advantage Jaguar provides comes through Quartz Extreme. QE only works with newer video boards:

While other operating systems hope to introduce comparable technology in late 2004, Jaguar has it now. Quartz Extreme uses a supported* graphics card built into your Mac to relieve the main PowerPC chip of on screen calculations. This dramatically improves system performance, making Jaguar much more responsive.
Requirements:
Quartz Extreme functionality is supported by the following video GPUs: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX, GeForce3, GeForce4 MX, or GeForce4 Ti or any AGP-based ATI RADEON GPU. A minimum of 16MB VRAM is required.
Note that only the AGP Radeon boards work. QE off loads all graphics work to the video card freeing up your main CPU.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/jaguar/quartzextreme.html
Also, I wouldn't run Jaguar with less than 512MB of RAM even though I use 384 on my Powerbook and it still runs well.

 

[Scott L]

If anyone is interested I have an official "Built by ATI" Radeon 7500 I'm trying to sell. It has vga, s-video, and DVI outputs. Comes in the original box with all documentation and extras. Looking to get around $45-$50 shipped.
lmk- [email protected]

 

[Christian Behrens]

I also have a Pismo running Jaguar. Will the upgrade to the G4 really make a difference in 10.2? I know it will speed up things in iTunes, Final Cut Pro and the like, but will it have an effect on everyday tasks?

Or maybe there is a higher clocked upgrade in the making, anyone know?

Oh, and I saw on a website that it is possible to enable QE even with a lower graphics card (haven't tried it yet though).

-Christian

 

[Joseph S]

Oh, and I saw on a website that it is possible to enable QE even with a lower graphics card (haven't tried it yet though).

Yeah, there's a hack to enable Quartz Extreme on PCI bus cards. The Radeon AGP cards are 3 years old too. Flashing the PC Radeon 8500 makes it a Mac 8500 AGP so that's not a problem.

 

[Derek Williams]

I have zero problem on my iBook with 600MHz & 384MB.