UtterDisbelief
Moderator
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2012
- Messages
- 9,182
- Motherboard
- NUC10i5FNH
- CPU
- i5-10210u
- Graphics
- UHD 630
- Mac
-
- Classic Mac
-
- Mobile Phone
-
This has become a very long thread for just one problem and it's easy to feel sorry for someone who comes here hoping to solve the issue.
Before anyone gives up and is resigned to staying with an older version of macOS it is a good idea to experiment with different system-definitions. It's usually the last thing people think of changing but is one that has significant effect. It doesn't get much traction here.
Remember the original GTX660 was a native GPU for macOS, which means it didn't need the Nvidia drivers. Of course it is true some manufacturers modify the OEM design and cause incompatibilities that require the web-drivers. Commonly this can be memory chips or the VBIOS.
The GTX660(M) first appeared around 2012 in the iMac 13,2 system definition. As luck would have it this is one of the earliest still supported by Catalina so should still work with it.
There can still be problems though, as many have explained in this thread.
Your first step in resolving this is to test a different system definition. As we all know iMac14,2 is one of the most stable since MacPro3,1, even though it doesn't "fit" everyone's hardware totally. The trouble is people get too fixated on this and will tell you they lose performance. Frame-rates are down ten-percent in such-an-such application etc,. etc. Okay, but that might be better than glitchy graphics that break-up and go blocky all the time. Remember the chances are your Hackintosh probably out-performs a real Mac many times over anyway.
When testing a different system-definition remember to make a note of all the serial-numbers and UUIDs in your SMBIOS. Keep them safe somewhere. Next, disconnect from the Internet while you test so that your change of definition and serial-number (because this will get changed to match the new one) doesn't get sent to Apple and confuse your account and potentially cause a lock-out. If you find a definition that works well you can always reuse your original SMBIOS serial-numbers and UUIDs.
If this really does not work and you simply can't find a system-definition that helps, then it might well be you have updated so far with macOS updates, that it is a good idea to consider upgrading your GPU. To AMD.

Before anyone gives up and is resigned to staying with an older version of macOS it is a good idea to experiment with different system-definitions. It's usually the last thing people think of changing but is one that has significant effect. It doesn't get much traction here.
Remember the original GTX660 was a native GPU for macOS, which means it didn't need the Nvidia drivers. Of course it is true some manufacturers modify the OEM design and cause incompatibilities that require the web-drivers. Commonly this can be memory chips or the VBIOS.
The GTX660(M) first appeared around 2012 in the iMac 13,2 system definition. As luck would have it this is one of the earliest still supported by Catalina so should still work with it.
There can still be problems though, as many have explained in this thread.
Your first step in resolving this is to test a different system definition. As we all know iMac14,2 is one of the most stable since MacPro3,1, even though it doesn't "fit" everyone's hardware totally. The trouble is people get too fixated on this and will tell you they lose performance. Frame-rates are down ten-percent in such-an-such application etc,. etc. Okay, but that might be better than glitchy graphics that break-up and go blocky all the time. Remember the chances are your Hackintosh probably out-performs a real Mac many times over anyway.
When testing a different system-definition remember to make a note of all the serial-numbers and UUIDs in your SMBIOS. Keep them safe somewhere. Next, disconnect from the Internet while you test so that your change of definition and serial-number (because this will get changed to match the new one) doesn't get sent to Apple and confuse your account and potentially cause a lock-out. If you find a definition that works well you can always reuse your original SMBIOS serial-numbers and UUIDs.
If this really does not work and you simply can't find a system-definition that helps, then it might well be you have updated so far with macOS updates, that it is a good idea to consider upgrading your GPU. To AMD.
Last edited: