Upgrading my Mac's memory and video card

January 28, 2005 7:27 AM

I recently returned to Macintosh after a long stint with Windows. I'd like to upgrade the memory and video card in my 1.8ghz g5. It used to be, long ago, that Macs and PCs did not share the same hardware. Is this still the case? What do I need to know about shopping for RAM and video cards? Can I go out and buy any 400mhz PC3200 RAM for my g5, or does it have to be a special kind? Will the g5 take any video card, or does it have to be Mac-specific? What other pitfalls will I encounter?

I'm fairly adept at mucking around inside a PC, having built several Windows/Linux machines for friends. A Mac, however, scares me. It's all so, well, proprietary.

The Apple web site has basic information, but nothing more informative than what's in the manual. And nothing that tells me, "Hey, you can use the same RAM (or video card) as you would for any PC." Or, if the opposite is the case, "Hey, you have to make certain you're buying a specific type of RAM (or video card)."

I'd rather not pay Apple-premium prices for components if better prices could be had through Fry's (or my local computer store).

posted by jdroth to computers & internet (13 comments total)

The RAM shouldn't be a problem, as long as it's good, high-quality ram, be it Mushkin, Crucial, Corsair, etc. You still have to buy a Mac-specific video card, though. Video cards have a BIOS onboard that assists with the boot process of the computer, and a PC one won't work in a PowerMac. I've seen people that have flashed the BIOS to a Mac one, but all the ones I've seen are limited to bottom-of-the-barrel cards like the Radeon 7000 and GeForce 2MX. ATI does sell "Mac Edition" cards but they're very expensive.
posted by zsazsa at 7:34 AM on January 28, 2005

Use Crucial's "Memory Advisor" to find out what kind of RAM you can use.
posted by cmonkey at 8:17 AM on January 28, 2005

Regarding Crucial memory, this Slashdot comment I read yesterday is worth looking at. I don't know if his complaint is correct, but my initial inclination is that there should be no reason for "Mac-specific" DDR RAM.
posted by knave at 8:25 AM on January 28, 2005

I found this thread on the Apple site with a discussion about various RAM issues, but can't distill any hard-and-fast rules from all the noise.

I think I'm just going to bite the bullet: buy the RAM and take my chances.
posted by jdroth at 8:29 AM on January 28, 2005

xlr8yourmac.com is a great place to look for reviews and info on all sorts of upgrades, including graphics cards.
posted by nathan_teske at 8:38 AM on January 28, 2005

DealRAM is a good place to comparison-shop. You can pick your computer model, the size of RAM you want, and it lists what's available, from whom, and for how much.
posted by Mo Nickels at 8:56 AM on January 28, 2005

I *think* that the 1.8's motherboard is different from the dual 2.0 machines and higher -- my machine requires PCI-X cards; yours may be able to take regular PCI cards. Check this apple doc.
posted by omnidrew at 9:07 AM on January 28, 2005

Any PC3200 should work, but remember it has to be installed in pairs of same-size modules.

(The comment above about PCI is slightly misleading, as is Apple's article. A PCI-X mac can take most PCI cards, but not all. It's mostly older ones that might cause problems)
posted by cillit bang at 9:38 AM on January 28, 2005

Video cards are *not* interchangable. What a shame. You'll pay a bit more and see less choice.

If you do any "pro" apps work...get at least 128mb on your video card.
posted by filmgeek at 11:02 AM on January 28, 2005

Any PC3200 should work, but remember it has to be installed in pairs of same-size modules.

If you want to take advantage of a 128-bit memory bit yes, but google some more on it and you'll see that the speed gains aren't mindblowing. Otherwise, you don't need to match the sticks More here. Apple sells iMacs with only a single stick.
posted by trillion at 11:55 AM on January 28, 2005

Video cards are *not* interchangable. What a shame. You'll pay a bit more and see less choice.

You can flash some of the PC ones with Mac firmware, but you need to stick it in a PC to do it.
posted by hyperizer at 1:30 PM on January 28, 2005

That's iMacs. In the equivalent Power Mac developer note, that verbiage is missing. Can you point me to an example of someone using unmatched DIMMs in a Power Mac?
posted by cillit bang at 1:32 PM on January 28, 2005

My bad. I saw G5 and assumed iMac (since I just bought one).
posted by trillion at 1:35 PM on January 28, 2005