Flasher's Buying Guide - 95/9700

A Flasher's Buying Guide - ATI Radeon 9500/9700 Series

All Radeon 9500/9700 cards are 8x AGP enabled, and need to have pins 3 and 11 disabled in order to work in ADC-capable G4 Macs (Gigabit Ethernet, Digital Audio, Quicksilver, Mirrored Drive Doors, FW800).

It should be mentioned that some of these cards require separate power supply. These have a connector opposite side of the VGA plug; there a PC-floppy-disk-style cable can be attached.

9700 Pro 128MB

Specifications:
Core speed: 325MHz
RAM speed: 300MHz DDR
Pipelines: 8 (full)
Memory bus: 256-bit (full)
AGP: 2x + 4x + 8x Compatible - All Tower G4s and Tower G5s with AGP slots
Ports: DVI-I, VGA, and S-Video All fully functional
G4 Cube: Not compatible.
ROM chip: Usually 128k, rarely 64k.
Full ROM: 9700 Pro 130 ROM
Reduced ROM: 9700 Pro 130 Reduced ROM
Notes: This is the best 9700 card; it's the fastest, and it's easy to flash.

9700 Non-Pro 128MB

Specifications:
Core speed: 277MHz
RAM speed: 270MHz DDR
Pipelines: 8 (full)
Memory bus: 256-bit (full)
AGP: 2x + 4x + 8x Compatible - All Tower G4s and Tower G5s with AGP slots
Ports: DVI-I, VGA, and S-Video All fully functional
G4 Cube: Not compatible.
ROM chip: Usually 128k, rarely 64k.
Full ROM: 9700 130 ROM
Reduced ROM: 9700 Pro 130 Reduced ROM (you will need to lower the speeds of this ROM with Graphiccelerator)
Notes: Same as the above card, but clocked slower.

9500 Pro 128MB

Specifications:
Core speed: 275MHz
RAM speed: 270MHz DDR
Pipelines: 8 (full)
Memory bus: 128-bit (half)
AGP: 2x + 4x + 8x Compatible - All Tower G4s and Tower G5s with AGP slots
Ports: DVI-I, VGA, and S-Video All fully functional
G4 Cube: Not compatible.
ROM chip: Usually 128k, rarely 64k.
Full ROM: 9700 Pro 130 ROM
Reduced ROM:
Notes: The 9500 Pro has the advantage of 8 pipelines, but the disadvantage of a 128-bit memory bus. This puts it between the 9500 and 9700 Non-Pro, performance-wise.

9500 Non-Pro 128MB

Specifications:
Core speed: 277MHz
RAM speed: 270MHz DDR
Pipelines: 4 (half)
Memory bus: 256-bit (full)
AGP: 2x + 4x + 8x Compatible - All Tower G4s and Tower G5s with AGP slots
Ports: DVI-I, VGA, and S-Video All fully functional
G4 Cube: Not compatible.
ROM chip: Usually 128k, rarely 64k.
Full ROM: 9700 Pro 130 ROM
Reduced ROM:
Notes: The 9500 Non-Pro is basically just a 9700 Non-Pro with half its pipelines disabled.

9500 Non-Pro 64MB

Specifications:
Core speed: 277MHz
RAM speed: 270MHz DDR
Pipelines: 4 (half)
Memory bus: 128-bit (half)
AGP: 2x + 4x + 8x Compatible - All Tower G4s and Tower G5s with AGP slots
Ports: DVI-I, VGA, and S-Video All fully functional
G4 Cube: Not compatible.
ROM chip: Usually 128k, rarely 64k.
Full ROM: 9500 Non-Pro 64MB 130 ROM
Reduced ROM:
Notes: The 64MB 9500 Non-Pro is a 9500 with half its RAM chips removed. So, the memory bus and memory size are both halved, seriously reducing performance.