Most affordable Metal Graphics Card?

[Reverb6L6]

Hi All! I have a few questions about updating my Hack from Sierra to Catalina - I am new to this process so please go easy on me and excuse any questions that may seem super obvious to you.

My build is 10 years old and still works great - but as most of my apps are phasing out on Sierra I want to upgrade to Catalina. I read I need a 'Metal' graphics card for newer Mac operating systems. I use my Hack for music production so I do not need a particularly fancy graphics card, just something solid and reliable and cost efficient that can run 2 monitors!

I have a Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7 Mainboard and would want the new graphics card to plug into that without issue! I currently have a AMD Radeon HD 6870 1024 MB graphics card.

Grateful for all tips and advice! Thank you for your time and knowledge!

 

[trs96]

I read I need a 'Metal' graphics card for newer Mac operating systems. I use my Hack for music production so I do not need a particularly fancy graphics card, just something solid and reliable and cost efficient that can run 2 monitors!

These are the best deal on a supported Polaris based AMD card. Has native support all the way through to Ventura.

HP AMD Rx460 2gb Video Graphics Card 910486-002 for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for HP AMD Rx460 2gb Video Graphics Card 910486-002 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[FLP]

These are the best deal on a supported Polaris based AMD card. Has native support all the way through to Ventura.

HP AMD Rx460 2gb Video Graphics Card 910486-002 for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for HP AMD Rx460 2gb Video Graphics Card 910486-002 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Have you actually purchased one of these specific HP cards and confirmed it works?

 

[trs96]

Have you actually purchased one of these specific HP cards and confirmed it works?

Moderator @UtterDisbelief has bought the Dell RX560 version of this and has used it long term with excellent results. The HP RX460 version is nearly exactly the same card and has full support too. It's a Baffin GPU very similar to the Polaris 21 GPU in the RX560. You can be certain it works with Catalina. Dell and HP don't manufacture these, they just put their name brand on the finished product.

If you need more than anecdotal evidence, you can see in this listing they work in a 2012 Mac Pro.

 

[FLP]

Moderator @UtterDisbelief has bought the Dell RX560 version of this and has used it long term with excellent results. The HP RX460 version is nearly exactly the same card and has full support too. It's a Baffin GPU very similar the Polaris 21 GPU in the RX560. You can be certain it works with Catalina. Dell and HP don't manufacture these, they just put their name brand on the finished product.

If you need more than anecdotal evidence, you can see in this listing they work in a 2012 Mac Pro.

View attachment 554722
View attachment 554723

Thanks

 

[Reverb6L6]

These are the best deal on a supported Polaris based AMD card. Has native support all the way through to Ventura.

HP AMD Rx460 2gb Video Graphics Card 910486-002 for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for HP AMD Rx460 2gb Video Graphics Card 910486-002 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Thank you very much for your reply! What is a 'supported Polaris based AMD card?' Sorry, new to this! This card will plug and play in my Mainboard, correct? Thanks!

 

[etorix]

Long answer:

AMD GPUs | GPU Buyers Guide

Short answer: Radeon RX 460-480, 560-590 (avoid 550!); Radeon Pro WX 4100-7100.

 

[Reverb6L6]

Long answer:

AMD GPUs | GPU Buyers Guide

Short answer: Radeon RX 460-480, 560-590 (avoid 550!); Radeon Pro WX 4100-7100.

Thank you for your reply! On a side note - if I install this card but want to keep running Sierra for a time until upgrading to Catalina will that work - I mean will Sierra still boot and run with this GPU? Thanks

 

[etorix]

Yes.

 

[trs96]

I mean will Sierra still boot and run with this GPU?

Some say they've gotten one to work with the 10.12.6 update of Sierra. So it will probably work, but not with 12.5 or older.

Make sure you're using build 16G29 or newer to get support.

June 2017 Update: With the release of mid-2017 iMacs, Apple has officially used Polaris Ellesmere GPUs in its lineup. The wonderful news is 10.12.6 will include drivers for RX 470, RX 480, RX 570, and RX 580. This means starting with 10.12.6 and future macOS versions, these AMD cards have native support.