Buying a Dedicated GPU for your Monterey, Ventura or Sonoma Hackintosh

[trs96]

AMD Graphics For Your Hackintosh​

If your Intel CPU's iGPU is not supported by the macOS version you want to install or you just need stronger graphics, an AMD GPU is the way to go. All 11th, 12th and 13th Gen Intel based hackintosh builds need a dedicated GPU. AMD Ryzen CPU based builds will also. If you want to edit video and/or run 3+ monitors a dGPU is a good idea.

AMD Polaris, Vega and Navi based cards are the best graphics choice for a new build. I don't recommend trying to patch Nvidia Kepler cards for use with Monterey or newer macOS versions. Too many disadvantages in doing that. There are many affordable AMD cards you can use. Find a list of 36 macOS compatible AMD cards attached below as a PDF.

Here's a slightly smaller list compiled by the BarTech TV Youtube channel. I'd suggest you check out the whole video for more important details. See the tonymacx86 GPU Buyer's Guide for links to buy a card for your specific system.

Don't forget the boot-arg needed when using the Navi Cards by AMD.

These Navi cards also require a CPU with AVX 2.0 instruction support when running the three latest macOS versions. That means your CPU should be Haswell or newer. If not, then use a Polaris based graphics card and required patches.

If you are looking for very old pre-2016 AMD cards that work with OS X Mt. Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitan, see the AMD graphics card guide by Dortania.

AMD GPUs | GPU Buyers Guide

 

[trs96]

The creator of this video produced it before Sonoma was released. All the cards shown in the video will also work with Sonoma. MacOS 15 may be another story. We'll see what happens in June of 2024 at WWDC.

NOTE: The video guide says to avoid XFX branded cards. That should be further specified to say the XFX RX560. If you want to use newer Navi based XFX cards like the RX 6600(XT) there will be no Vbios issues. I've never seen any reported.

Q: Out of the 36 potential choices of AMD cards, which low cost card will work in any scenario ?

A: I'd suggest the Radeon Pro WX4100 (see it at Amazon.com)

The WX4100 will fit in any ITX or larger form factor case. It has the option of either a LP or full height PCIe bracket. It will work with nearly any wattage PSU. Gets all it's power from the PCIe slot it's installed to. Brand new 4100s may cost over $120 but you can sometimes find good condition, used refurbished versions, for under $60.

Current best price new on Amazon.com

Ebay.com

No special boot flags are needed. Will work OOB. Has 4 mini-DP outputs so you can connect 4 monitors. Has support with High Sierra 13.4+ through to macOS Sonoma. An incredibly versatile card. It's just not good at gaming. Get an RX570 or 580 if you want to play video games at high frame rates at 1080p resolution.

Q: How do I tell if an RX550 is Lexa or Baffin based ?

A: In Windows, run the GPU-Z app and look at the specs.

This chart below tells you what to look for:

Some RX550 cards will have 640SP in the title. Most will not. So at least check the GPU-Z results.
If you see 640 shading units (cores) 40 TMUs and 10 compute units, it will work with macOS.

 

[Bustycat]

Metal Benchmarks - Geekbench Browser

Edited: At 208183 of Geekbench 6 Metal Benchmark, M2 Ultra runs on a par with Radeon Pro W6900X (210846).

 

[etorix]

BarTech TV forgot a few Radeon Pro cards: Pro Duo (dual Polaris), WX 8200 (Vega 56), Pro VII, W6600, W6800. And the RX 6900 XTXH, which needs a fake ID just like the RX 6950 XT

WX 4100, WX 5100, WX 7100, W5500 and W6600 are single slot. As noted, WX 4100 is half-height and fits really anywhere—but make sure to get the right bracket when buying second-hand.

 

[trs96]

WX 8200 (Vega 56), Pro VII, W6600, W6800. And the RX 6900 XTXH, which needs a fake ID just like the RX 6950 XT

It may be that he left out the WX 8200 and W6600/6800 cards because they're not in the Dortania guide. Most people don't use those models in their hack because they cost more than the non-workstation versions. He still should have added them to complete the list.

The W6600 sells for about $370 more than the average price of an RX6600 on Newegg or Amazon. The W6800 about $1000 more.

At 3:31 he did mention that XTXH does need the fake ID.

 

[etorix]

Price is indeed a fair complaint against all Radeon Pro cards. But the WX 9100 is the worst offender here, and it is in the list… Polaris Radeon Pro (WX 4100 and WX 5100, occasionally WX 7100) have now come down to fairly reasonable prices on eBay. I very much like these cards for their compatibility, the single-slot design and the blower fan which takes heat straight out of the case.

The W6600 is the most powerful single-slot GPU one can put in a Hackintosh, so it may have its use (if size is more important than price).

 

[trs96]

But the WX 9100 is the worst offender here, and it is in the list…

Is it the specialized drivers and professional application certifications that make it so expensive ?
What is the AMD consumer equivalent to this card ? Is it the RX Vega 64 ?

The W6600 is the most powerful single-slot GPU one can put in a Hackintosh, so it may have its use

I would love to have a new W6600 but my Polaris RX 570 still works well enough that I can't justify the upgrade yet.

The main reason for this thread is to show readers that there are many AMD choices that they can use with the latest 3 supported macOS versions. No need for anyone to be stuck with just their iGPU or an unsupported Nvidia card. Maybe we could come up with a more complete list too.

 

[etorix]

Is it the specialized drivers and professional application certifications that make it so expensive ?
What is the AMD consumer equivalent to this card ? Is it the RX Vega 64 ?

Yes. WX 8200 = Vega 56; WX 9100 = Vega 64
As for justifying the price… (but officially, yes, it's for the drivers and certifications for AutoCAD and the like)

The main reason for this thread is to show readers that there are many AMD choices that they can use with the latest 3 supported macOS versions. No need for anyone to be stuck with just their iGPU or an unsupported Nvidia card. Maybe we could come up with a more complete list too.

I very much appreciate the purpose, and with these few additions the list should be complete—unless we go into detailing by manufacturers or try to sort out the Polarix RX 550 from the Lexa RX 550 (short advice: avoid RX 550).

 

[VioletDragon]

One thing to note, what about H.265 (HEVC) encoding with these cards? I've noticed it's not enabled by default not only that only 3 video outputs work on my card, the 3 DP ports only work and HDMI and DVI doesn't. I've searched around but can't find much.

Regards

 

[wstrohm]

If MacOS supported the AMD Radeon RX 6400 card, I would have used that on my Mini-ITX Hacks, but no go. In fact I wanted to play Cyan's "Firmament" so badly (after backing its Kickstarter 4 years ago), I converted "Mini-ITX 2" (below) to Windows 11, just so I could install that card. BTW, it works great on Firmament using AMD's "Adrenalin" driver software on Win 11.