WTB: GeForce 7800 based AGP card & PCI SATA controller

[MacJunky]

As the title says I am looking for the following items.

Geforce 7800GS (BFG, eVGA, etc)
This sucker must be a GS (because I need AGP).
Also, another thing. It must have a G70 GPU. Look on the back for the BIOS sticker, if it is 5.70.xx.whatever it has a G70. If it is 5.71.xx.whatever it has a G71 and is of no use to me.
Be good if it was a reference design board as well.. like this GS here http://themacelite.wikidot.com/local...e-7800/bfg.jpg

I guess I should be able to use reference design 6800GS/GT as well but I would prefer 7800GS.
Could probably get away with a FireGL X3 or something but again, I would very much prefer a 7800GS in this case.

I know the 7800 is getting pretty old but my mobo is old and I guess I am just hoping that someone has one kicking around and not in use somewhere or something. I did see one or two on NCIX a while ago but I hesitate to buy certain items unless I can get certain information about them and they seemed to be gone when I checked yesterday.


Anyway, moving on.

The other thing I am seeking is a PCI SATA card.
I am looking for one with a Silicon Image 3124 chipset. There are other usable chipsets but this is probably more common.
It has to have at least one internal connector.
Now, there are some of these on NCIX but I am mentioning it here just to keep my options open.


Keep in mind that I am still going to keep an eye open at local PC shops so if you end up all hyped up that someone actually wants some of your old junk don't be too disappointed if I end up buying local instead of from you. Also, don't be surprised if I ask for a picture or two to ensure that the item is actually what I am looking for and is in decent condition as well as to ensure that you actually have it.
Aside from that please don't tell me to go look on ebay, I am not very fond of it and the site is often pretty brutal on dialup. However, I think I would possibly be open to online Canadian stores so long as I can verify chipset information and such.


*Edit 2008.02.09
Updated thread title.
Cleaned up post.

[JD]

Any reason why your stuck on a 7800GS with a G70 core? Because there is the 7900GS as well, although that's out of stock at major places.

Found a 7800GS:
Future Shop: Computer Add-Ons: Sound & Video: EVGA e-GeForce 7800GS 256MB AGP8X Superclocked Video Card

You can pickup a 6800XT brand new:
Biostar GeForce 6800 XT 256MB GDDR2 AGP 8x DVI VGA TV Out Video Card V6802XA21 in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

And a rather good deal on the 7600GT:
Future Shop: Computer Add-Ons: Sound & Video: EVGA e-GeForce 7600GT AGP8X Superclocked 512MB Video Card

[MacJunky]

The reason I need a G70 7800 card is because on the later ones changing to the G71(making it basically a 7900 unless I am mistaken) also required them to change the ROM for the card as well. Making a ROM for the G70 play nice with a G71 would be a significant amount of work and could quite easily result in a pile of fried cards while testing it. Well, that and possibly a pile of EEPROMs that traditional gfx card flashers might refuse to flash in a PC because of buggered up ROM..
Those could probably be dealt with using a separate flashy/programmy device that the name of eludes me at the moment though.

Also, I fully intend to stay as far away from 5200 and 6200 cards as possible. To be quite honest I can use some 6600 cards as well but as with the 6800, I am just not sure if I should bother if I could potentially get my hands on a 7800.

Will keep that 7800 at future shop in mind if I cannot find a different one with more information available though. After all, if I cannot use it in my Mac I can always just return it, sell it or toss it in a PC or something.

[JD]

Ah it's for your Mac. Well if you drop by a Future Shop that has the card instock, the box might have a little window on it so you can see the sticker on the card. Thus you should be able to determine if it's the one you want or not.

[DaBruuzer]

I have a BFG 6800GS AGP that will be available once I do my son's new build in a few weeks. Will that work for you? I am not at home to look at any stickers or anything. Let me know what info you need.

[MacJunky]

Well, It would be good to know if it is reference design(being a BFG 6800GS it probably is though).
The following two are reference design. Having a reference design board is not mandatory unless I am mistaken but it greatly increases the possibility of the card being usable as chances are there is nothing extremely out of the ordinary on it.(something that would require a custom ROM)
Picture of two 6800 cards here (picture taken by "OriginalMacnut", original thread here. )
Got some more reference design boards here as well.
Another thing is that it cannot be one of the later ones with a HSI bridge chip integrated into it because if I remember correctly those used NV42 GPUs instead of the normal NV40. If my information is correct the ones with a bridge chip needed that bridge because they were actually PCIe hardware on a board with an AGP connector using the bridge to go from PCIe to AGP.

Again, unless I am mistaken a 6800GS AGP is just a 6800GT AGP but the 6800GS AGP has four pixel pipes and one vertex pipe disabled.
Someone by the name of hamstrings on another forum has previously said the following.

Originally Posted by hamstrings

Have a look at the 6800 GT AGP reference design pictures with Google. If the cooler matches the original design, then you might have a NV40 core for the 6800 GS AGP. There would be no room for the PCIe-AGP bridge.

And on the topic of pipelines:

Originally Posted by hamstrings

They can be tested using RivaTuner and then reenabled by editing the Mac ROM. They are not always usable though: my 6800 GS AGP has a defective quad that causes severe artifact on screen.

RivaTuner *should* also be able to report GPU version as well.

So, in the end it seems NV40 GPU and no PCIe-AGP bridge. At the moment there is no 128MB 6800 ROM available (only 256) but editing ROMs of the 6600 and 6800 are somewhat documented so it should be possible without too much bloodloss.

[DaBruuzer]

Yes, through RivaTuner I was able to enable all the pipelines, but enabling the shader caused artifacts, so I turned it back off. I will try to take a look this weekend, since I have to pull out my son's computer from below his desk and open it, etc. No time during the week, unfortunately.