Product ReviewsGraphics cards
ATI's Radeon has been around for a while now, but this is the first time it's available as a PCI card (the original versions required an AGP slot). This means that it can be used to boost the graphics performance of the machines that really need it - all the pre-G4 models that only have PCI slots, including blue-and-white G3 models and all the older machines left over from when Apple still made beige Macs. However, don't expect miracles. The Radeon graphics processor on this card does provide very good 3D and 2D performance, helped by its 32Mb of high-speed DDR (double-data rate) memory. But the weak spot in older Mac models is the Mac's main processor. If your Mac runs at anything less than 300MHz, it's simply not going to have the raw horsepower it needs to take advantage of the Radeon. The card also needs Mac OS 9.0, so owners of older machines may need to upgrade their system software. Life in the fast lane We found a prime candidate for a graphics upgrade sitting in a dusty corner of the MacUser Labs - a beige G3 model with a 300MHz processor. We dusted it off and slotted the Radeon into place. Unfortunately, we ran into trouble when we attempted to install the driver software supplied with the Radeon. The G3 regularly crashed on start-up, throwing out an error message that blamed one of the ATI graphics extensions. The same problem occurred when we tried to install the card on a more recent blue-and-white G3. The Radeon's manual didn't offer any help, but tucked away on ATI's Web site was a troubleshooting note said that there might be a conflict between the Radeon's software and the drivers for the RAGE Pro graphics chip originally supplied with the G3. Only after a fair amount of rooting
However, once up and running, the Radeon did give our old G3 a definite boost. The card is primarily intended as a 3D accelerator, so we installed Quake III to really give it something to chew on. Before the upgrade, the G3's RAGE Pro graphics chip could only manage a feeble 10 frames per second (fps) when running Quake III at 640 x 480 pixel resolution. This dropped to a mere 7.5fps at 800 x 600, and when we stepped up to 1024 x 768 the Mac ran so slowly that we didn't even bother to wait for the test to finish. The machine doubled its performance with the Radeon card installed, running at 20fps at 640 x 480 and and 18fps at 800 x 600. It even managed 12fps at 1024 x 768. These speeds aren't exactly frag-tastic, but they're enough to play a decent game with. You can certainly squeeze out even more performance if you experiment with the game's graphics settings. The improvement in 2D performance was less marked, averaging around 40% across a range of tests. However, this is partly because the G3 processor already provides quite good 2D performance and doesn't need that much of an upgrade for 2D work. And there's more... There are a couple of other useful features on the Radeon. As well as a standard VGA connector, it also sports a DVI interface that allows you to connect a digital flat-panel monitor. Remember, though, that Apple's latest monitors use its non-industry-standard ADC connector rather than the more common DVI interface, so it won't work with the new Studio Displays. You can hook up the Radeon to a TV screen, as it has a video-out port on it, and there are adaptors for both composite and S-Video out included in the box. This may appeal to video editors, who want to use a TV screen as a preview monitor, so the Radeon is not limited to merely playing games. It won't turn an old Mac into a shiny new G4, but the Radeon offers a healthy boost to 3D performance for the casual gamer, as well as 2D graphics and video work. But ATI needs to sort out its installer. By Cliff Joseph
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