Making the MSI Radeon r9 280x

[WonkeyDonkey]

Done that now. It made a weird noise for half a second just before hitting the logonscreen, but it started. There's no monitor output on the gpu though. Should I change my BIOS? btw, I need to run out'n cut the grass, but i'll be back in an hour pls help me then, really nice of you

Im confused. You said it made a noise just before hitting the logon screen, but then said there was no gpu output ?

 

[lotuslander]

Ha, I just went through this yesterday after finally getting a replacement for my 6850 that I have wanted for so long (thanks miners - finally a good deal at NCIX and Never Settle to boot). I am on an older system still using AWARD BIOS with DSDT MultiBeast install so this may not work for you and I am not entirely sure what finally did the trick but hopefully you find this helpful.

Warning!!! - Anyone else trying this, ensure that you have a bootable UniBeast USB drive available - I couldn't get to the chameleon drive selection screen without it once I installed the MSI 280x.

General forum consensus seems to be Install Bootloader & Extra to EUFI partition, but I am lazy and didn't want to deal with remounting hidden partitions every time I make changes:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/401-install-bootloader-extra-efi-partition.html

Stingray454's post convinced me to take the plunge:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/user-buil...ell-uatx-4770k-ga-z87mx-d3h-dual-r9-280x.html

and the first thing I tried when I too got the boot0 gibberish was the link he referenced:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/25-boot0-error-official-guide.html

Step 1
I only tried solution 1 and it did not fix boot0 gibberish for me, but may be one of the steps that led to eventual success.

Step 2
I then tried Keintrunvu's suggestion, 4th post in that boot0 thead. Same solution referenced here:
http://quickwebgems.blogspot.ca/2013/09/hackintosh-boot0-gibberish-fix.html

I used the latest Chameleon Wizard 4.3.2 and intalled rev 2378 using the Boot0md option for my mixed disk setup. Didn't do anything else with Chameleon Wizard.

This also didn't work for me initially, but I was testing on a cloned partition that I had done some other experimenting on as well so it may be all you need.

Step 3
After this, I tried changing my system def from iMac 13,2 to MacPro 5.1 after deleting S/L/E-AppleTyMCEDriver kext (apparently related to EEC ram in the real MacPro) based on the post from Total_Nube top of page here:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-ad...-our-hackintoshes-further-explanation-13.html

This worked, so then I tried applying MacPro 5,1 to my main drive (already applied step 1) and it would not work until I also installed the latest Chameleon with Chameleon Wizard. Same process as on clone drive but in Step 1, 3, 2 order instead of Step 1, 2, 3 order - hence the uncertainty if all 3 steps are necessary.

Added bonus, MacPro 5.1 seems to scale the i7-2600 much better than the iMac 13,2 that I was using (because Mac 3,1 used to mess up youtube videos and other things for my 6850 and I didn't want a Mac Mini def).

Some related info - haven't messed with my MultiBeast 6.2.1 generated org.chameleon.Boot.plist from what I was using for HD6850:

<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>No</string>
<key>IGPEnabler</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Kernel</key>
<string>mach_kernel</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string></string>
<key>Legacy Logo</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Instant Menu</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GenerateCStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GeneratePStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>UseKernelCache</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>"1920x1080x32"</string>


I have Award Bios set to auto detect displays with 64MB RAM allocation (some things I have read say to disable integrated graphics or leave RAM at 32MB).

I haven't edited any ATI kexts (other than for Unibeast when going from 10.6.8 to 10.8.3 and I think that was only on the unibeast drive).

Haven't had much chance to put the R9 280x through its paces, but it seems to be working fine.

One thing that may or may not have have been a result of the 280x is I now have a thin black strip between my top menu bar and the screen bezel that I don't think was there before, as if my vertical image shrank a bit - will try to figure out why/how to fix when I have the chance.

Also, my benchmark results all dropped a smidge when booting straight from SSD versus booting through Unibeast SD card through to SSD, not sure why that would be but it is very minor

Heaven 1600x900 8aa extreme 862 vs 859 - seen as AMD Radeon HD 7xxx(3072MB)
Valley 1600x900 8aa extreme 2035 vs 2020 - seen as AMD Radeon HD 7xxx(3072MB)
Luxmark OpenCL GPU 2088 vs 2090 - seen as AMD Radeon HD Tahiti XT Prototype (GPU, 32, 1020 MHz)

About this Mac sees it as AMD Radeon HD 7xxx 3072 MB, haven't looked in to having it recognized as a 7970 or D700 as some people seem to get.

I can run dual screen DVI to my Dell 2408 1920x1200 and HDMI to a 1080p TV just fine (no sound - haven't tried to fix that but there is a fix that should work). The card comes with a miniDP to DP adapter and my Dell will take DP but I can't remember where I stashed DP cable for safe keeping.

UPDATE: a couple things I have discovered since posting this:

- Audio once again takes a dirt nap after sleep until next reboot. I had this issue when upgrading from 10.9.1->2, but solved it running MultiBeast again. I think installing latest Chameleon in Step 2 breaks the audio fix in Chimera. Will experiment a bit

- Just tried installing the latest Chimera 3.0.1 and it brings back Boot0 gibberish.

Hope some find this helpful.

Big shout out to the hackintosh community for sharing the knowledge and making this possible - as a lover of MacOS and upgradeable hardware you folks are invaluable. I am in awe of the tech knowledge some of you possess.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Ha, I just went through this yesterday after finally getting a replacement for my 6850 that I have wanted for so long (thanks miners - finally a good deal at NCIX and Never Settle to boot). I am on an older system still using AWARD BIOS with DSDT MultiBeast install so this may not work for you and I am not entirely sure what finally did the trick but hopefully you find this helpful.

Warning!!! - Anyone else trying this, ensure that you have a bootable UniBeast USB drive available - I couldn't get to the chameleon drive selection screen without it once I installed the MSI 280x.

General forum consensus seems to be Install Bootloader & Extra to EUFI partition, but I am lazy and didn't want to deal with remounting hidden partitions every time I make changes:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/401-install-bootloader-extra-efi-partition.html

Stingray454's post convinced me to take the plunge:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/user-buil...ell-uatx-4770k-ga-z87mx-d3h-dual-r9-280x.html

and the first thing I tried when I too got the boot0 gibberish was the link he referenced:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/25-boot0-error-official-guide.html

Step 1
I only tried solution 1 and it did not fix boot0 gibberish for me, but may be one of the steps that led to eventual success.

Step 2
I then tried Keintrunvu's suggestion, 4th post in that boot0 thead. Same solution referenced here:
http://quickwebgems.blogspot.ca/2013/09/hackintosh-boot0-gibberish-fix.html

I used the latest Chameleon Wizard 4.3.2 and intalled rev 2378 using the Boot0md option for my mixed disk setup. Didn't do anything else with Chameleon Wizard.

This also didn't work for me initially, but I was testing on a cloned partition that I had done some other experimenting on as well so it may be all you need.

Step 3
After this, I tried changing my system def from iMac 13,2 to MacPro 5.1 after deleting S/L/E-AppleTyMCEDriver kext (apparently related to EEC ram in the real MacPro) based on the post from Total_Nube top of page here:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-ad...-our-hackintoshes-further-explanation-13.html

This worked, so then I tried applying MacPro 5,1 to my main drive (already applied step 1) and it would not work until I also installed the latest Chameleon with Chameleon Wizard. Same process as on clone drive but in Step 1, 3, 2 order instead of Step 1, 2, 3 order - hence the uncertainty if all 3 steps are necessary.

Added bonus, MacPro 5.1 seems to scale the i7-2600 much better than the iMac 13,2 that I was using (because Mac 3,1 used to mess up youtube videos and other things for my 6850 and I didn't want a Mac Mini def).

Some related info - haven't messed with my MultiBeast 6.2.1 generated org.chameleon.Boot.plist from what I was using for HD6850:

<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>No</string>
<key>IGPEnabler</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Kernel</key>
<string>mach_kernel</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string></string>
<key>Legacy Logo</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Instant Menu</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GenerateCStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GeneratePStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>UseKernelCache</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>"1920x1080x32"</string>


I have Award Bios set to auto detect displays with 64MB RAM allocation (some things I have read say to disable integrated graphics or leave RAM at 32MB).

I haven't edited any ATI kexts (other than for Unibeast when going from 10.6.8 to 10.8.3 and I think that was only on the unibeast drive).

Haven't had much chance to put the R9 280x through its paces, but it seems to be working fine.

One thing that may or may not have have been a result of the 280x is I now have a thin black strip between my top menu bar and the screen bezel that I don't think was there before, as if my vertical image shrank a bit - will try to figure out why/how to fix when I have the chance.

Also, my benchmark results all dropped a smidge when booting straight from SSD versus booting through Unibeast SD card through to SSD, not sure why that would be but it is very minor

Heaven 1600x900 8aa extreme 862 vs 859 - seen as AMD Radeon HD 7xxx(3072MB)
Valley 1600x900 8aa extreme 2035 vs 2020 - seen as AMD Radeon HD 7xxx(3072MB)
Luxmark OpenCL GPU 2088 vs 2090 - seen as AMD Radeon HD Tahiti XT Prototype (GPU, 32, 1020 MHz)

About this Mac sees it as AMD Radeon HD 7xxx 3072 MB, haven't looked in to having it recognized as a 7970 or D700 as some people seem to get.

I can run dual screen DVI to my Dell 2408 1920x1200 and HDMI to a 1080p TV just fine (no sound - haven't tried to fix that but there is a fix that should work). The card comes with a miniDP to DP adapter and my Dell will take DP but I can't remember where I stashed DP cable for safe keeping.

Hope some find this helpful.

Big shout out to the hackintosh community for sharing the knowledge and making this possible - as a lover of MacOS and upgradeable hardware you folks are invaluable. I am in awe of the tech knowledge some of you possess.

Thankyou for this detailed post; I'm sure it will help other users. Im pondering the very same 280X from MSI for myself too, since it has 2 x mini displayport connectors. Great for large screen Apple Cinema DIsplays.

A couple of points:

AppleTyMCEDriver.kext is indeed related to ECC ram in a real mac. It serves no purpose to us hackintoshers and can safely be deleted if you use MacPro5,1 (Possibly for MacPro4,1 too although I have never tried that one). If you are not using those definitions, then it just sits there and does absolutely nothing. I always delete it from my installs, just in case I decide to switch to 5,1 at any point in future.

Rgearding the thin black strip at the top of your screen; you mention your monitor runs at 1920x1200, but the default settings in Multibeast are set at 1920x1080, so there is a small difference there, with Multibeast defining your screen size smaller than it is. If you change that in org.chameleon.boot.plist, from 1080 to 1200 you might find you will go back to full screen again. You can, for completeness, also set the same desired resolution in your theme .plist file.

Also consider that if you have 2 monitors with different resolutions, I *think* you can only set one resolution per se, so you may have one at 100% resolution, and the other slightly off. The difference between 1080 and 1200 isnt huge though. Im not 100% sure on this setting though, feel free to correct if I am wrong.

You mention that you used Chameleon rather than Chimera; this may have something to do with the setup working, since Chameleon is updated a bit more frequently, so will have some newer code. Chimera should catch up eventually since they share code.

Finally, can you confirm that you have full graphics acceleration ?

A few basic checks for this are to open and play a few moves on the chess game, open dashboard and add a few widgets to the desktop to see if you get the ripple, and also use the 'Notification' icon in the top right side of the screen that moves the entire screen to the left so you can see the notifications list.

If you get smooth fluid movements with all of these features then chances are you have full acceleration.

Once again, a nicely detailed post; very good work indeed!

 

[lotuslander]

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions Wonkey.

Another thing I remembered after my post is I had updated HWMoniter/FakeSMC/FakeSMC plugins - not sure if this helps or not, but the latest have seen a number of revisions since what is bundled with MultiBeast.

AppleTyMCEDriver.kext is indeed related to ECC ram in a real mac. It serves no purpose to us hackintoshers and can safely be deleted if you use MacPro5,1 (Possibly for MacPro4,1 too although I have never tried that one). If you are not using those definitions, then it just sits there and does absolutely nothing. I always delete it from my installs, just in case I decide to switch to 5,1 at any point in future.

Good to have further confirmation.

Rgearding the thin black strip at the top of your screen; you mention your monitor runs at 1920x1200, but the default settings in Multibeast are set at 1920x1080, so there is a small difference there, with Multibeast defining your screen size smaller than it is. If you change that in org.chameleon.boot.plist, from 1080 to 1200 you might find you will go back to full screen again. You can, for completeness, also set the same desired resolution in your theme .plist file.

I'm pretty sure the Multibeast/Chameleon resolution setting is only used for the bootloader/splash screen and what you have in set for resolution in your monitors system preference is picked up once OSX boots. Unplugging HDMI to TV and just running DVI to the Dell doesn't fix it. The thin black strip is really small (maybe 1/5 the height of the menu bar) and could well have been like that for a while and I just noticed it - now I see it it bugs me, I used to always fill the screen with pixels on old CRTs that would let you.

Also consider that if you have 2 monitors with different resolutions, I *think* you can only set one resolution per se, so you may have one at 100% resolution, and the other slightly off. The difference between 1080 and 1200 isnt huge though. Im not 100% sure on this setting though, feel free to correct if I am wrong.

Both my old HD 6850 and my new R9 280X handle 1920x1200 on the Dell and 1080p on the TV simultaneously with aplomb and can even use different calibration sets. I wish the OS would ignore a display when powered off though, I mostly just use the TV connection to watch movies and am constantly losing windows I shuffle to the side of the screen to the powered down TV. Is there a way to get OSX to ignore the second monitor when it is powered down/on a different input?

You mention that you used Chameleon rather than Chimera; this may have something to do with the setup working, since Chameleon is updated a bit more frequently, so will have some newer code. Chimera should catch up eventually since they share code.

I have only ever used MultiBeast (Chimera 2.2.1 currently), I just used Chameleon to install the latest boot loader to try and alleviate the Boot0 junk I got when I first installed the 280x. Chameleon does look interesting though, would love to learn more about it (and clover and uefi bios on z68 boards but I am fairly timid with experimenting since this is my only computer and if I bugger it up I will be using an iPod touch to try and find the solution). I did make a clover boot USB SD card to get my apple ID sorted out with the upgrade to Mavricks but never when any further with it.

Finally, can you confirm that you have full graphics acceleration ?

A few basic checks for this are to open and play a few moves on the chess game, open dashboard and add a few widgets to the desktop to see if you get the ripple, and also use the 'Notification' icon in the top right side of the screen that moves the entire screen to the left so you can see the notifications list.

If you get smooth fluid movements with all of these features then chances are you have full acceleration.

Yes Quartz Extreme seems to be working, I pass the famous widget ripple test, quick look, notifications drawer, etc

Since I posted and went and checked my bios and realized I had integrated graphics disabled contrary to what I posted. I reenabled it and reran some benchmarks with slight improvement:

Luxmark 2088->2136
Heaven 859->901
Valley 2020->2074

I don't have the Intel HD3000 show up in system preferences or luxmark hardware descriptions like IrisPro shows up with 4770 owners so maybe it isn't doing anything and a fresh boot was all it took to goose the numbers a bit. Not to worried, as lack of HD3000 is no great loss.

Now if I could only figure out a way to get USB3 ports to live through a sleep cycle I would be a happy boy, but considering sleep never worked for me properly until Mavricks I won't complain too much.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Well my quote regarding resolution was in regard to Chameleon/Chimera, not OSX itself. But since we only need one screen for that part, its not a big issue.

Regarding your USB3, I have the Z68MX-UD2H-B3 here; it uses the old school bios and has the etron chip, just like yours. I got that working just fine using the 3rd party drivers available in the latest Multibeast.

Did you try those ?

 

[lotuslander]

Don't want to derail a graphics thread with USB stuff, but would love to solve this. I have 2 seagate expansion USB3 external drives, an older curved case model and a newer squared off version. Prior to GenericUSBXHCI 1.2.7 beta driver, they would not work at all over USB3 (but would over USB2). MultiBeast 6.2.1 now installs GenericUSBXHCI 1.2.7 (non beta) driver, same as the newest version at sourceforge, which is what I am running and the drives work great until the computer sleeps - I then get an improper ejection notification on wake and the drives are no longer seen. Unplugging and replugging them does nothing - only a reboot will bring the USB3 ports back. Plugged into USB2 they work, give improper ejection notification upon wake after sleep, but will remount and continue to work at USB2 speeds. I even tried an OWC usb3/esata PCI card driver: MXPCIEL2ESU3_Mac_106_109_v1.2.0_14_03_18 just for the heck of it - no love. I don't have any other USB3 devices to try other than the Seagate drives. Not a show stopper by any means, but a minor annoyance to my otherwise pleasant hack experience.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Don't want to derail a graphics thread with USB stuff, but would love to solve this. I have 2 seagate expansion USB3 external drives, an older curved case model and a newer squared off version. Prior to GenericUSBXHCI 1.2.7 beta driver, they would not work at all over USB3 (but would over USB2). MultiBeast 6.2.1 now installs GenericUSBXHCI 1.2.7 (non beta) driver, same as the newest version at sourceforge, which is what I am running and the drives work great until the computer sleeps - I then get an improper ejection notification on wake and the drives are no longer seen. Unplugging and replugging them does nothing - only a reboot will bring the USB3 ports back. Plugged into USB2 they work, give improper ejection notification upon wake after sleep, but will remount and continue to work at USB2 speeds. I even tried an OWC usb3/esata PCI card driver: MXPCIEL2ESU3_Mac_106_109_v1.2.0_14_03_18 just for the heck of it - no love. I don't have any other USB3 devices to try other than the Seagate drives. Not a show stopper by any means, but a minor annoyance to my otherwise pleasant hack experience.

How about adding the usb power patch to your DSDT ? Not guaranteed to work but worth a shot maybe.

 

[Mulder]

Ha, I just went through this yesterday after finally getting a replacement for my 6850 that I have wanted for so long (thanks miners - finally a good deal at NCIX and Never Settle to boot). I am on an older system still using AWARD BIOS with DSDT MultiBeast install so this may not work for you and I am not entirely sure what finally did the trick but hopefully you find this helpful.

Big shout out to the hackintosh community for sharing the knowledge and making this possible - as a lover of MacOS and upgradeable hardware you folks are invaluable. I am in awe of the tech knowledge some of you possess.

Hi lotuslander. Thanks for your in depth guide. It looks like you got the 280x running pretty nicely. I was wondering if the system is stable running two monitors from the same card. If it is able to do this, do you know if all 280x cards are capable of this?
Thanks a bunch!