Radeon Compatibility Guide - ATI/AMD Graphics Cards

[Fl0r!an]

When iGPU is primary it shows a blinking cursor and that is it.?

With your display connected to your motherboard? Or to the Radeon?

I know this guide it a Radeon guide but you suggested when you get this high up to use Nvidia, how easy would it be to get the Nvidia equivalent working on 10.11.5?

My Skylake build currently contains a GTX 780 (my R9 didn't provide enough power for Doom ). It was just a matter of "plug it in & you're done". No drivers, no configuration, nothing.
Newer Nvidia cards (-> Maxwell) need the additional Web Drivers. That's no issue though, Nvidia provides a nice installer package.

I wouldn't invest in a new GPU right now though, I'm confident that Nvidia Pascal and AMD Polaris support will arrive soon.

 

[yacob841]

The display plugged into motherboard gives blinking cursor, while the display plugged into Radeon gives nothing.

I was looking at 980, 970, or 960 but hmm... the issue with not getting it now is this isn't for me, this is for my friend who doesn't know anything about computers. He's in the military and is visiting on leave so I only have 5 days to get this working for him before he has to leave lol.

 

[yacob841]

Ended up returning the R9 380 and getting the GTX 980. It works OOB besides the driver you were talking about lol. Thanks for your advice!!!

 

[LmnLm3]

It still exists, might be hidden though.

You need to edit the config.plist located at <EFI-Partition>/EFI/Clover/boot.plist. Once the EFI Partition is mounted, Clover Configurator should be able to edit the file.
Otherwise you can do it with a simple text editor, it's a plain plist.

I did a direct upgrade from Yosemite, and when I open a finder and do CMD+Shift+G (go to _____) and type in /System it says "The folder can't be found." but when I use a terminal command "open /System" it does indeed exist, but it is empty. It knows to put the X on the folder icon (the normal System folder icon) but even [[SUDO defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES; killall Finder]] shows the folder to be empty.

Did I broke it?

I will try to figure out how to mount the EFI partition (doesn't show in Disk Utility when I boot from my UniBeast USB, and I can only boot from my UniBeast USB... is that why it's not mounting?)

[[EDIT]]

Used EFI Mounter V3 to find the EFI partition. I've never used Clover before, sorry for my tedium!!

 

[LmnLm3]

You'll need to spoof your device ID to match a supported GPU, e.g. HD 6870 (-> 0x6738). This can be done with Clover, no Need to touch any kext files (AMD6000Controller is located in/S/L/E btw).

Ok, so updated my mobo BIOS to UEFI (6 series Gigabyte, so not sure if legacy or 7/8/9+ rules apply). Got OS X to boot without UniBeast, and I can mount the EFI partition with Clover Configurator. Right now I can only boot verbose, so I might have some other issues, but whether I inject ATI or not, About This Mac seems to know I have a 6850x2 but only thinks it has 5MB of ram (or sometimes 3MB on some boots...)

I ran MultiBeast for UEFI, installed normal kexts and called it an iMac 13,1. Now I just can't get graphics to work. Tried injected ATI, non injected, framebuffer, no fb, typed in the vram, nothing seems to make a difference.

This was an OOB for 10.8, and I think 10.9, I might upgrade to an NVidia if it will be easier (I know this is not a VS thread, but if a GTX 960 will be easier to get to work, I am willing to pay the 170 for it...)


Thanks for all your help so far, Fl0rian, and thanks for making this guide!!!

 

[Fl0r!an]

@LmnLm3: Did you spoof your device ID as I suggested? A short description on how to do this is in the first post of this thread.

 

[LmnLm3]

@LmnLm3: Did you spoof your device ID as I suggested? A short description on how to do this is in the first post of this thread.

Yes, sorry I forgot to mention that. I used the ID from the chart on the first page for 6850 (I'm on my phone now, or I'd copy paste). I did it with the 1002 extension, without it, and without an ID and saw no difference.


Also, after upgrading to UEFI and that version of Clover, there are 3 config files, one normal, one in an OEM folder and another in another folder. (Not at computer, sorry for odd description) so which was I supposed to edit?

 

[Fl0r!an]

@LmnLm3: Verify that the device ID actually changes when doing this (e.g. in System Profiler -> Graphics). If it doesn't, go to the beginning of this thread and make sure you've done everything right.

@ftmx: Yep, they're located in /System/Library/Extensions.

 

[fminus]

Fl0rian: Have you heard of anyone using a FirePro successfully in their setup? I was looking to get the w4300/w5100. Upon research I can see it's based on the Bonaire chipset. Would these cards work?

 

[fminus]

@fminus: FirePro cards are usually as good (or bad) supported as their consumer sibilings. Bonaire support is still "beta", so I'd stay away.
Btw, it's pointless to get a FirePro for OS X usage, they have no real-world benefit at all. So unless you need it for Windows dual boot, I'd go for a consumer GPU.

Thanks. I will try and find another card. The reason these cards were interesting were the low TDP for a small form factor build I am doing.