[LOCKED] Guide - New ATI Kexts from iMac 10.6.7 - 5XXX/6XXX

[Stork]

Re: Guide - New ATI Kexts from MBP 10.6.7 Update - 5XXX/6XXX

Apple store claims that 10.6.4 is the minimum requirement for the 5770.

There was also that 'graphics update' at the end of last year that was for these cards too.

I am increasingly certain that the MBP kexts have nothing to do with desktop cards whatsoever.

I'm going to go out on a limb here...

The ATI drivers are only included in the 10.6.7 MBP update. That means Apple sees them as only being necessary on those models.

Apple added a new external device connector, Thunderbolt, which enables PCI-E x4 connections to an external device.

This provides the ability to add an external graphics card via Thunderbolt. Imagine a box with an ATI-chipset video card and a PCI-E x4 to Thunderbolt bridge. Adding support for a variety of desktop ATI chipsets makes sense in that context; different third-party vendors would be free to integrate whichever ATI GPU they wanted into their external graphics solution.

This makes MBPs insanely flexible. It's portable on the road, but when you get home, plug in an external GPU and have much faster graphics/OpenCL at your disposal.

Just a thought.

Best one I've heard, yet. You're probably right, if not spot on. Well, we'll see when the SB desktops are announced.

 

[cooperleeray]

Re: Guide - New ATI Kexts from MBP 10.6.7 Update - 5XXX/6XXX


Cool, thanks a bunch!! I ended up thinking to run the install disk and make a disk image before reading this, but i'll do this now!

Unfortunately, my machine will not power on as of this morning though, sort of at a loss as to what to do from here? Powered for 1 sec then cut out with a ticking from my speakers.

 

[Lerxst]

Re: Guide - New ATI Kexts from MBP 10.6.7 Update - 5XXX/6XXX

I was using the experimental ATI bootloader to enable my ATI 5850. With native drivers I would guess I dont need it. How do I get to one method? I'd like to just be using the new Apple drivers with no enabler.

Can I just change my bootloader?

 

[seanmcd72]

Re: Guide - New ATI Kexts from MBP 10.6.7 Update - 5XXX/6XXX

I was using the experimental ATI bootloader to enable my ATI 5850. With native drivers I would guess I dont need it. How do I get to one method? I'd like to just be using the new Apple drivers with no enabler.

Can I just change my bootloader?

You can keep the same bootloader, and once you have the new ATI kexts installed, just change GraphicsEnabler=No in your plist file. It's still not perfect, as certain apps will no longer function. DVD Player, Steam games, Geekbench, and several others.

So currently for those of us with working cards via the exp. bootloader it's not exactly worth doing yet.

 

[twood]

Re: Guide - New ATI Kexts from MBP 10.6.7 Update - 5XXX/6XXX

I was using the experimental ATI bootloader to enable my ATI 5850. With native drivers I would guess I dont need it. How do I get to one method? I'd like to just be using the new Apple drivers with no enabler.

Can I just change my bootloader?

You can keep the same bootloader, and once you have the new ATI kexts installed, just change GraphicsEnabler=No in your plist file. It's still not perfect, as certain apps will no longer function. DVD Player, Steam games, Geekbench, and several others.

So currently for those of us with working cards via the exp. bootloader it's not exactly worth doing yet.

I reverted back to standard 10.6.7 ATI Kexts (not the ones from MBP2011) + Kabyl's boot + GE=Yes and yet I can't get the DVD player and Geekbench apps to work!!!
This happens on both 32/64bit.
So there must be something else also causing the dreadful DVD player crash....

 

[gfarran]

Re: Guide - New ATI Kexts from MBP 10.6.7 Update - 5XXX/6XXX

Having a weird issue since the new drivers. Randomly, my Asus display sometimes won't wake up and remains in a power save state. My computer is running (playing iTunes audio) and I can Screen Share to see my mouse moving/keyboard typing. I was able to wake it up by changing my resolution in System Preferences.

Anyone else see this bug? Any fixes?

I have an XFX 5850.

I have a similar issue with a 5870, the secondary DVI output sometimes flickers and shows artifacts when entering the desktop after bootup, like if the output was not properly initialized. Changing the resolution fixes the issue. Same issue with the HDMI port (no flicker there, just artifacts). The strange thing is that it worked nicely for a time. Thinking I messed something with my installation I restored the system to a previous state with time machine and it seemed to fix the issue, then it came back after a day without a reason. The workaround is simple but it is some kind of annoying to have to change the resolution each time...

 

[beiufin]

Re: Guide - New ATI Kexts from MBP 10.6.7 Update - 5XXX/6XXX

Got mine working, GraphicsEnabler=No. Thanks!
Card:Sapphire 5870 2 GB VRAM
ID: 0x6898

Though it did not fix some of the graphics issues I've been having in various games... most notably Minecraft (Theres an issue with the clouds... <-- video) Anyone know what this could be from?

 

[tworems]

Re: Guide - New ATI Kexts from MBP 10.6.7 Update - 5XXX/6XXX

I have got mine working with GraphicsEnabler=No, but, of course, no Geekbench and no DVD Player. I'm keeping GraphicsEnabler=Yes and "arch=i386" for now. Don't know why, but I'm getting one hundred extra points on novabench by not booting the OS in 64bits.

The worse is that I didn't get my HDMI working, no matter what I do. Did not test DisplayPort yet, the cable is on its way, results in the next few days.

I'm getting 29.3fps on Cinebench and 1900 (1120 for graphics) on Novabench (no matter if GraphicsEnabler yes or no).


QuickTip: If you have a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R, do not use tonymacx86 database DSDT if your BIOS is FE version! It was limiting my video board and processor on benchmarks softwares. For example, on cinebench I was getting 22fps. FF DSDT is working fine.

MB: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
Processor: Intel i7-930 @ 2800Mhz
Video: ASUS HD 5870 Matrix 2GB

 

[notshy]

Re: Guide - New ATI Kexts from MBP 10.6.7 Update - 5XXX/6XXX

QuickTip: If you have a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R, do not use tonymacx86 database DSDT if your BIOS is FE version! It was limiting my video board and processor on benchmarks softwares. For example, on cinebench I was getting 22fps. FF DSDT is working fine.

You should MATCH the DSDT you use your your bios version

So FF DSDT with FF BIOS etc.

 

[tworems]

Re: Guide - New ATI Kexts from MBP 10.6.7 Update - 5XXX/6XXX

You should MATCH the DSDT you use your your bios version

So FF DSDT with FF BIOS etc.

Sure. Sorry I didn't express myself correctly.

What I meant was I was using FE DSDT and FE BIOS and was getting benchmarks penalty. I verified it by removing the FE DSDT, living my machine without any DSDT and I got a good bump on benchmarks. Then I upgraded to FF BIOS and installed FF DSDT, my benchmarks where the same as when no DSDT with FE BIOS.