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ATI Radeon 9600 Pro and 9600 XT

Physical Specs and Compatibility

The Apple branded Radeon 9600 Pro is an AGP 8x card compatible with AGP 4x and 8x slots and first shipped with the top-end 2.0 GHz dual Power Mac G5 in mid-2003. The 9600 XT version shipped with the top-end 2.5 GHz dual Power Mac G5, and the 2005 dual 2.0 and 2.3 GHz Power Mac G5 shipped with a card simply marked Radeon 9600.

The ATI version, the Radeon 9600 Pro PC & Mac Edition, is an AGP 4x card that supports both Macs (with 4x and 8x AGP) and PCs.

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.

This video card requires more power than the AGP slot provides, so you will need to tap power from your Power Mac's power supply, which may require a power splitter.

Details

GPU speed: 400 MHz
Video memory: 256 MB
Memory speed: 540 MHz
Memory bus: 256 bits
Resolutions: 640 x 480 to 2048 x 1536
Ports: DVI-I and ADC on Apple version; Dual-link DVI-I on ATI version (includes one DVI-to-VGA adapter)
Dual monitor support: yes
Cooling fan: yes
Minimum OS: Mac OS X 10.3.6
Compatible with: Mirror Drive Door and FireWire 800, and Power Mac G5 models with AGP (excludes Power Mac G5 Dual and G5 Quad, which use PCIe). Some 9600s may be compatible with Digital Audio, Quicksilver, and Quicksilver 2002, but some are not and ATI does not support the card on these Macs.

Online Resources

ATI Radeon 9600 Pro PC and Mac Edition, ATI
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro Mac & PC Edition: One Card for All, Anand Tech, 2005.08.19
ATI Radeon 9600 Mac/PC Edition Compatibility Notes , Accelerate Your Mac, last updated 2006.05.23

Benchmarks

Review: ATI's New Retail Radeon 9600 Pro Dual-Link Card for Mac (and PC), Bare Feats, 2005.08.19. The Radeon 9600 Pro with AGP 4x benchmarks slower than the Apple-branded 9600 XP with AGP 8x.
The ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Special 256MB Mac Edition versus Other Radeon Graphics Cards, Bare Feats, 2004.06.09. Various versions of 9800 vs. Radeon 9600 and GeForce 5200.
Shootout: Five Graphics Cards on One G5/2.7, Bare Feats, 2005.05.05. The Radeon 9600 XT benchmarks a bit better than the 9650, but well behind the 9800 SE.
Question: Can You Upgrade a G4 Power Mac To Go as Fast as a G5 Power Mac?, Bare Feats, 2005.09.22. Short answer: No, and with dual 800 MHz G4 CPUs, there's little difference between the Radeon 9600 and 9800. But put in dual 2.0 GHz CPUs, and the 9800 easily runs ahead of the 9600.

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