Discrete graphics on Mojave — confused about current situation

[vyiciu]

I have a hackintosh running Mojave built using the Gigabyte Z370M DS3H motherboard and i7-8700k. Everything runs perfectly fine, and I only use my machine for word processing, media server, and occasional Final Cut Pro editing, so frankly the built-in graphics is enough for me, however I've always been trying to follow the graphics situation on Mojave just in case I might need/want to upgrade, and I'm quite confused. To break down my questions:

1. I'm aware that Mojave currently lacks Nvidia drivers, and support whether from Apple or Nvidia doesn't seem to be coming any time soon, but what does this mean practically? If I do put an Nvidia card in my Mojave machine, do the High Sierra drivers not work or not install at all? If High Sierra drivers refuse to install on Mojave, then does the graphics card work at all, or will macOS simply refuse to output through the graphics card, and I'll need to plug my monitor into the output on my motherboard to get any kind of signal?

2. I've been looking all around both brick-and-mortar and online computer parts shops here (I live in Taiwan), and AMD-based graphics cards are very hard to find. Of the graphics cards recommended by the current version of the Buyer's Guide, nothing from Sapphire, XFX or AMD themselves is available here, and Vega cards are also unavailable. The only card on the Buyer's Guide that I was able to find here is the MSI RX 580 Armor, and even then only the 4GB version is available here (not the 8GB on the Guide). Other than that, the only other AMD card that's available and doesn't break the bank is the MSI RX 570 Armor, but although the Guide lists three RX 570 cards, the MSI one is not one of them. So if I do pick up a card that's on the Buyer's Guide, will it work out-of-the-box or with some minor patching, or is the process much more involved?

Again, I don't need to upgrade to discrete graphics right now, but I'm just a bit confused trying to follow the graphics situation on Mojave. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help with some answers.

 

[Jamesbond007]

I have a hackintosh running Mojave built using the Gigabyte Z370M DS3H motherboard and i7-8700k. Everything runs perfectly fine, and I only use my machine for word processing, media server, and occasional Final Cut Pro editing, so frankly the built-in graphics is enough for me, however I've always been trying to follow the graphics situation on Mojave just in case I might need/want to upgrade, and I'm quite confused. To break down my questions:

1. I'm aware that Mojave currently lacks Nvidia drivers, and support whether from Apple or Nvidia doesn't seem to be coming any time soon, but what does this mean practically? If I do put an Nvidia card in my Mojave machine, do the High Sierra drivers not work or not install at all? If High Sierra drivers refuse to install on Mojave, then does the graphics card work at all, or will macOS simply refuse to output through the graphics card, and I'll need to plug my monitor into the output on my motherboard to get any kind of signal?

2. I've been looking all around both brick-and-mortar and online computer parts shops here (I live in Taiwan), and AMD-based graphics cards are very hard to find. Of the graphics cards recommended by the current version of the Buyer's Guide, nothing from Sapphire, XFX or AMD themselves is available here, and Vega cards are also unavailable. The only card on the Buyer's Guide that I was able to find here is the MSI RX 580 Armor, and even then only the 4GB version is available here (not the 8GB on the Guide). Other than that, the only other AMD card that's available and doesn't break the bank is the MSI RX 570 Armor, but although the Guide lists three RX 570 cards, the MSI one is not one of them. So if I do pick up a card that's on the Buyer's Guide, will it work out-of-the-box or with some minor patching, or is the process much more involved?

Again, I don't need to upgrade to discrete graphics right now, but I'm just a bit confused trying to follow the graphics situation on Mojave. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help with some answers.

(1) The High Sierra Nvidia web drivers will NOT work with Mojave. If you put a recent Nvidia card in your Mojave machine, you may still be able to get a signal, but you won't be able to change the resolution and will be stuck with a low resolution (e.g. 1024x768) and you won't have graphics acceleration.

(2) MSI RX cards should still work with Mojave with little or no problems. The cards listed in the Buyer's Guide are those listed by Apple as supported either as an internal card or in an external Thunderbolt enclosure as eGPUs.

 

[vyiciu]

(1) The High Sierra Nvidia web drivers will NOT work with Mojave. If you put a recent Nvidia card in your Mojave machine, you may still be able to get a signal, but you won't be able to change the resolution and will be stuck with a low resolution (e.g. 1024x768) and you won't have graphics acceleration.

(2) MSI RX cards should still work with Mojave with little or no problems. The cards listed in the Buyer's Guide are those listed by Apple as supported either as an internal card or in an external Thunderbolt enclosure as eGPUs.

Thanks for clearing that up! Regarding Nvidia cards, so this basically means anyone who has one in their machine is stuck on High Sierra for now, right?

 

[Jamesbond007]

Thanks for clearing that up! Regarding Nvidia cards, so this basically means anyone who has one in their machine is stuck on High Sierra for now, right?

For recent Nvidia cards like Maxwell / Pascal cards (Turing cards are not supported), yes, they are stuck on High Sierra for now.

However, if you have an older Nvidia card like the GTX 760 I have, which is based on the Kepler architecture, then you can use it with Mojave.

 

[vyiciu]

For recent Nvidia cards like Maxwell / Pascal / Turing cards, yes, they are stuck on High Sierra for now.

However, if you have an older Nvidia card like the GTX 760 I have, which is based on the Kepler architecture, then you can use it with Mojave.

So Mojave does support older Nvidia cards? Is that native support, or does it require additional drivers?

 

[trs96]

So Mojave does support older Nvidia cards? Is that native support, or does it require additional drivers?

Native support for the Kepler cards. When those came out back in 2013-14 Apple was still using Nvidia graphics, not AMD. Since most 2012-2014 Macs are still Mojave eligible the drivers are in macOS.