Let's Solve HD3000 Artifacts

[saintmac]

I have seen a bunch of HD3000 graphics artifacts threads that either have no resolution or go on for pages and pages. Let's try to sum this up.

The Problem
The Gigabyte motherboard only allows you to allocate 480MB VRAM in BIOS. If you have more than 4GB RAM (like 8GB) Mac OS allocates 512MB VRAM. There appears to be an overflow issue where, over time, the buffer fills and you start noticing artifacts.

Not the Problem
If you have only 4GB RAM, the OS sets VRAM to 384GB, and so there's no problem.

Potential solutions

• Downgrade to 4GB RAM. This should fix the issue, but isn't a good solution.[/*:m:1qj1n3zv]
• When the buffer gets full, empty it, and the problem should go away. It's been suggested that opening Launchpad will clear the VRAM and basically stop the issue temporarily. Not really a great solution, either.[/*:m:1qj1n3zv]
• External video card and don't use HD3000. I normally am in favor of adding inexpensive hardware to avoid troublesome KEXT issues. For example, a $6 USB audio dongle to avoid HDA KEXT issues.[/*:m:1qj1n3zv]
• Change motherboard BIOS to use 512MB RAM. I haven't seen any way to do this, but this seems it would address the real issue. The hardware should be able to support it, as Macs do. The question is if it's a Gigabyte BIOS limitation, can we fix it.[/*:m:1qj1n3zv]
• Change the HD3000 driver. Use the RevoGirl approach to patch the OS to only use 480MB. It looks like this might work, but brings up issues around OS updates, KEXT problems, etc. Is there a plan to improve on this method or incorporate it, much like for the HDA KEXTs?[/*:m:1qj1n3zv]
• SMBIOS plist change. I am running the MacPro SMBIOS and have only a few issues. Oddly, this system never shipped with HD3000. The MacMini SMBIOS caused a crash and the iMac SMBIOS caused an increase in artifacts (these models should support HD3000). Obviously this is somehow affecting the issue, but not clear if this can fix it.[/*:m:1qj1n3zv]

Is this an accurate description of the problem and resolutions? If so, I would recommend changing the first two CustoMac builds to clearly reflect that you need either 4GB RAM and onboard, or 8GB+ RAM and a card. A lot of people that don't game but do heavy computing probably want 8GB RAM and don't need a graphics card, which seems to be the issue.

 

[saintmac]

Some possible link to FakeSMC
viewtopic.php?p=323998#p323998

Possible link to UseKernelCache
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=42907&start=60

These appear to be workarounds. Any solutions?

 

[cverri]

how do I do this:


SMBIOS plist change. I am running the MacPro SMBIOS and have only a few issues. Oddly, this system never shipped with HD3000. The MacMini SMBIOS caused a crash and the iMac SMBIOS caused an increase in artifacts (these models should support HD3000). Obviously this is somehow affecting the issue, but not clear if this can fix it.

I still have artefacts and I want to try this solution

 

[saintmac]

Use Multibeast and select the system you want in Customization > System Definitions.

 

[13r]

Why not contact Gigabyte's support and ask them if they could add support for more shared memory in bios?. I am sure if many people complains about this they will fix it. For them its not something really difficult to fix in future Bios firmware updates.

 

[cverri]

Use Multibeast and select the system you want in Customization > System Definitions.

So, I need to set the SMBIOS at MacPro, change do Macmini, and change back to MacPro?

or i got lost in the way?

tks anyway

 

[saintmac]

Use Multibeast and select the system you want in Customization > System Definitions.

So, I need to set the SMBIOS at MacPro, change do Macmini, and change back to MacPro?

or i got lost in the way?

tks anyway

Pick one or the other and install. You can try and see which works best. Some will not boot, so have an rBoot disk handy.

 

[Inspector42]

I had issues with the artifacts as well.

I have run several combinations of suggested solutions and recorded my results in this thread http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?p=339543#p339543.

I still experience artifacts from time to time, but they seem to be coming every time I change something on system level, e.g. install new drivers etc. So my theory is still that the issue lies with the kext-cache. After two or three reboots everything goes back to normal.

Just for the record, I have seen lines as well as rectangular areas filled with squares in different shades of grey. They usually stick at a certain position, which suggests they are created when the rendering results are stored in the graphics memory. I appears they disappear when many other windows are opened and the memory is overwritten/reused for a new window. They usually change colors when moving the mouse pointer.

 

[io[ ]]

I'm new to all this, first build. It would be great to see some clarity brought to the HD3000 graphics issues. All the various fixes and threads become overwhelming. Gets confusing when applying one fix and then undoing to trying another fix.

I still can't play chess. Can you?

edit: Ok chess issue was audio related, now i'm with all you guys, just small artifacts running well otherwise.

 

[saintmac]

The UseKernelCache flag does not fix the problem. It might make it better, but I still had a graphics artifact. I am going to try the FakeSMC fix.