Apple G5 manual Installing a PCI Expansion Card or Replacing the AGP Card, About AGP Cards

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Installing a PCI Expansion Card or Replacing the AGP Card

You can expand the capabilities of your Power Mac G5 by installing cards in its expansion slots. Your Power Mac G5 has four expansion card slots, three of which accommodate Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) cards and one that accepts an advanced graphics port (AGP) card.

AGP cards and PCI cards have different connectors, so you cannot insert a PCI card into the AGP slot.

About AGP Cards

Your AGP card, installed in slot 1, contains the graphics processor unit (GPU) and provides the computer’s display ports. Slot 1 is designed specifically to accept AGP cards. This 533-megahertz (MHz) slot accommodates 1.5-volt (V) AGP cards (see the illustration on page 67).

You can replace the card that came with the computer with an AGP 8X or AGP 8X Pro card. A replacement AGP card must have driver software compatible with Mac OS X.

About PCI Expansion Cards

Your Macintosh has three expansion slots, labeled 2, 3, and 4, which can accommodate expansion cards up to 12 inches long. Depending upon the model of your Power Mac G5, you can install either PCI or PCI-X cards.

Card type supported	Slot	Card speed
PCI1	slots 2, 3, and 4	64-bit, 33 MHz
PCI-X	slots 2 and 3	64-bit, 100 MHz
PCI-X	slot 4	64-bit, 133 MHz

1The PCI slots can accommodate mixed-voltage (5.0 V, 12 V, or 3.3 V) cards, but only at 3.3 V signaling, with 32-bit or 64-bit data widths and a 33 MHz frequency. You can add a 66 MHz card to a 33 MHz PCI slot if the card can operate at the lower 33 MHz rate.

Warning: Do not use PCI cards that function only at 66 MHz in the 33 MHz PCI slots. Damage to your equipment could result. If you have a 66 MHz PCI card, check with the card’s manufacturer to see if it also works at 33 MHz.

Maximum power consumption for all four expansion slots (the three PCI expansion cards and the AGP card) should not exceed 90 watts (W).

Chapter 3 Working Inside Your Computer