Forums | MacLife

You might get better help from Apple History

As far as I remember the original G5's came in several different versions which ranged from only having 4 ram-slots and PCI to 8 ram-slots and PCIx. Check this out.

Apple History wrote:

The single 1.8 GHz and dual 2.0 GHz models had four RAM slots for a maximum of 4 GB of RAM, and three 33 MHz, 64-bit PCI slots. The 1.8 GHz model had a 64 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra card with a single-link DVI and ADC ports, an 8x SuperDrive, a standard 56 kbps modem, and weighed 38 lbs. The Dual 2.0 and 2.3 models had a 128 MB ATI Radeon 9600 card with two single-link DVI ports.

Last edited by Mymac4ever (2006-10-15 9:04 am)

So I have the "higher end" model which renders my old PCI cards useless.  Thanks for the head's up!

Try putting it in a different slot. IIRC, one of them was faster, which may cause a compatibility issue.

To find out what you have select the menu item "Apple -> About This Mac"

Then in the resulting dialog click the "more info..." button.  this will start Apple System Profiler where you can get all the important details of your machine.

One of the virtues of PCI-X is that it's backwards compatible. If it doesn't even fit, something is wrong. (are you sure it's a PCI card? )

According to Wikipedia's page:

Wikipedia wrote:

PCI-X is a parallel interface that is directly backward compatible with all but the oldest (5 volt) PCI devices.

If it has PCI-E, then there's no way you could have had AGP or a Radeon 9600. Could you be mistaken about that? (according to the specs, if you have the dual core 2 GHz G5 with PCI-E, it would come with a NVidia GeForce 6600, and it had BTO options for a GeForce 7800 or Quadro 4500) If you were mistaken about the video card, then that could confirm that you have PCI-E. Otherwise... everything's messed up.

I'll try to make enough room on my desk to open up my G5 and take a look at the slots, as well.

Zaimejs wrote:

SEE!!! Now you know where I'm coming from.  I definitely have the AGP card, as I've replaced my 9600 with the X800 AGP.  I'm pretty sure I got the right on in there, since it works.  I'll take a photo of my config for you later.  I think I have some messed up machine:)

But that doesn't explain why they claim backward compatibiltiy when it obviously isn't.

Sorry to burst your bubble but you have PCI-X slots and you have 1 example of a SCSI card that isn't backward compatible for whatever reason.

How about a model number on your SCSI card or some shots of the PCI section of System Profiler with it plugged in?

Bit more info actually, ATTO UL2D is the reference card for Apple's AGP G4's BTO SCSI-2 cards. According to XLR8yourmac.com there is only one example of someone using that card in a G5 based machine, and that machine was a 1.6 original which had regular ol' PCI.

Last edited by car121_007 (2006-10-18 11:43 pm)

NO, as you can see, the pins don't line up.  I tried explaining that... thought a picture would make more sense.  Can you see how there is no possible way to even seat this card in those slots?

There is some perspective there, so I can't really be 100% sure how they line up from that slot. (such as just how far that gap would go when inserted into the computer) Unfortunately, it's not really possible to take a picture with the card held up right next to the pins so the perspective matches. I guess you'll just have to ask somebody who has more experience on PCI cards. (perhaps somebody who uses regular 32 bit PCI cards with a G5 that has PCI-X)

PCI-X

I'm looking here and I don't see how any of those could be compatible.