Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 AGP

The GeForce FX 5200 is an AGP 8x card compatible with AGP 2x, 4x, and 8x slots. It's short enough and runs cool enough to work in the Power Mac G4 Cube, and it is the oldest, least powerful card with full Core Image and Core Animation support. It was the standard video card for the Power Mac G5/1.6 GHz single and 1.8 GHz dual (2003), 1.8 GHz single, and 1.8 GHz and 2.0 GHz dual (2004). It will work with all AGP Power Macs.

Apple also used the GeForce 5200 GPU in the 17" iMac G4/1.25 GHz, 20" iMac G4/1.25 GHz, and the 2004 iMac G5.

Flashed AGP 8x video cards are not compatible with the Mystic/Gigabit Ethernet, Digital Audio, Cube, Quicksilver, and Mirror Drive Door Power Mac G4 without modification. As explained by The Mac Elite, Apple uses pins 3 and 11 on the back of the card to power ADC monitors. These pins must be disabled or your Mac will not boot with the card installed. Full details and instructions are on the Mac Elite website.

Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) boot times for Power Mac with the GeForce 6200 fall into the 4-5 minute range, and it's suggested that you install Leopard with the Mac's original video card to avoid slowing down the process.

The GeForce FX 5200 can be used on a Mac running OS 9, but with no acceleration and with limited resolution settings.

Based on recent pricing, we recommend the Radeon 9600 Pro, whcih also has full Core Image and Core Animation support, over the GeForce FX 5200, especially for those running Leopard. The Radeon is both more powerful and generally less expensive.