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[Success] AMD RX6000 Series working in macOS

I'm confused, maybe someone can help clarify...

I am running an AMD RX 5700 XT under Big Sur 11.2. I have a RX 6800 sitting in a box, waiting.

Obviously, we know that there are 5000 series kexts present:

/System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX5000HWServices.kext
/System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX5000.kext


And we know that there are 6000 series kexts present:

/System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX6000HWServices.kext
/System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX6000Framebuffer.kext


But why in the world is my system showing only 6000 series kexts loaded, and not 5000 series?

$ kextstat -l | grep kext | grep AMD
Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil showloaded --list-only
No variant specified, falling back to release
122 0 0xffffff7f93894000 0x3000 0x3000 com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX6000HWServices (4.0.2) FC3B89E9-C339-35BC-B688-09A8D8AF41F8
124 0 0xffffff7f9ec7d000 0x11a000 0x11a000 com.apple.kext.AMDSupport (4.0.2) 1F344D10-5EEE-3A67-9541-C7CACA8E84F3
133 0 0xffffff7f9356b000 0x26f000 0x26f000 com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX6000Framebuffer (4.0.2) EF0AE92F-0FA8-35D2-9ADD-57A98B3E0031
149 0 0xffffff7f9389a000 0x42f000 0x42f000 com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX6000HWLibs (1.0) 4EA59DF2-D391-33F6-9E72-3C852E5DAEB3
154 0 0xffffff7f81b55000 0x3000 0x3000 com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonServiceManager (4.0.2) BDD0535C-3136-3EC8-B391-94DE579D92B8
156 0 0xffffff7f93403000 0x138000 0x138000 com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX6000 (4.0.2) 90AA06F1-9663-3AA5-A70B-8F8C5BBA41BB


Edit: Note my system runs fine, acceleration seems fine, Steam games run at full framerates.
 
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I'm confused, maybe someone can help clarify...

I am running an AMD RX 5700 XT under Big Sur 11.2. I have a RX 6800 sitting in a box, waiting.

Obviously, we know that there are 5000 series kexts present:

/System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX5000HWServices.kext
/System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX5000.kext


And we know that there are 6000 series kexts present:

/System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX6000HWServices.kext
/System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX6000Framebuffer.kext


But why in the world is my system showing only 6000 series kexts loaded, and not 5000 series?

$ kextstat -l | grep kext | grep AMD
Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil showloaded --list-only
No variant specified, falling back to release
122 0 0xffffff7f93894000 0x3000 0x3000 com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX6000HWServices (4.0.2) FC3B89E9-C339-35BC-B688-09A8D8AF41F8
124 0 0xffffff7f9ec7d000 0x11a000 0x11a000 com.apple.kext.AMDSupport (4.0.2) 1F344D10-5EEE-3A67-9541-C7CACA8E84F3
133 0 0xffffff7f9356b000 0x26f000 0x26f000 com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX6000Framebuffer (4.0.2) EF0AE92F-0FA8-35D2-9ADD-57A98B3E0031
149 0 0xffffff7f9389a000 0x42f000 0x42f000 com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX6000HWLibs (1.0) 4EA59DF2-D391-33F6-9E72-3C852E5DAEB3
154 0 0xffffff7f81b55000 0x3000 0x3000 com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonServiceManager (4.0.2) BDD0535C-3136-3EC8-B391-94DE579D92B8
156 0 0xffffff7f93403000 0x138000 0x138000 com.apple.kext.AMDRadeonX6000 (4.0.2) 90AA06F1-9663-3AA5-A70B-8F8C5BBA41BB


Edit: Note my system runs fine, acceleration seems fine, Steam games run at full framerates.
Are those loaded on latest beta? In Public 4 the kext HWLibs wasn't loaded. Oh, sorry, I thought you have 6800 in system..
 
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But why in the world is my system showing only 6000 series kexts loaded, and not 5000 series?
Apple's kext naming doesn't match the AMD series in the way you're thinking:
  • My AMD R9 280X uses AMDRadeonX4000*.kext
  • My AMD Vega 64 uses AMDRadeonX5000*.kext
  • Your 5700XT uses AMDRadeonX6000*.kext
  • The 6800, if it's ever supported, may also use AMD6000*.kext - some AMD6000 kexts currently do load if you boot with a 6800XT/6900XT installed - or maybe it will use a new AMD7000*.kext. We don't know.
 
Up to and including 11.2.3, you get a GUI and can proceed unaccelerated, which is pretty unpleasant but technically usable. At least you did with the 6800/6800XT/6900XT - I don't know for certain if the same applies to the 6700XT.

Since the first beta of 11.3, the (temporary/incomplete) framebuffer definitions were removed. Some kexts load - like AMDRadeonX6000Framebuffer.kext, but with no FB definitions you get no picture on the monitor or GUI (unless you have a second GPU installed.)
Hold on, in this case, can I used Intel iGPU as framebuffer for my RX 6800? Sound crazy to me tho, nice if it's works.
 
Hold on, in this case, can I used Intel iGPU as framebuffer for my RX 6800? Sound crazy to me tho, nice if it's works.
In 11.3, a 6000-series GPU can not be used for anything. It won't give a picture, it won't show up as a Metal or OpenCL GPU, it can't be used for any computing tasks.

In 11.2, a 6000-series GPU will give a basic unaccelerated picture - meaning you can see macOS and move the mouse cursor around. It'll be choppy and slow, but it does provide a way to access the OS. But it still won't show up as a Metal or OpenCL GPU, so it can't be useful for any computing task.

If you already have another GPU, like an iGPU, then there's currently no reason to have the 6000-series GPU active in macOS at all; it's not going to do anything useful for you, and it will break sleep.
 
In 11.3, a 6000-series GPU can not be used for anything. It won't give a picture, it won't show up as a Metal or OpenCL GPU, it can't be used for any computing tasks.

In 11.2, a 6000-series GPU will give a basic unaccelerated picture - meaning you can see macOS and move the mouse cursor around. It'll be choppy and slow, but it does provide a way to access the OS. But it still won't show up as a Metal or OpenCL GPU, so it can't be useful for any computing task.

If you already have another GPU, like an iGPU, then there's currently no reason to have the 6000-series GPU active in macOS at all; it's not going to do anything useful for you, and it will break sleep.
The reason I have to use dGPU because Intel iGPU only output HDMI 1.4, I could not get to 4k60 at all. I was hopeful for a hackjob to fully used HDMI 2.1 4k120.
 
I just hope that *if* we get drives for the 6000 series, they are more stable than the 5000 series cards. I'm still having issues with my 5700xt. I recently considered trying to find a RX580, but they are too expensive for how old they are for me to justify buying one, and I have doubts that a 580 could run my 49" ultra wide very well.
People have a lot of issues with Windows drivers on the newest cards so not sure they would be much better if ever released for macOS.

I believe the rx580 would likely be able to run your monitor just fine. Now, how well would depend on your need and expectation. I had my rx580 as both a hack and an eGPU for my MBP 16 and ran a 4k monitor plus a separate 1080p just fine with high refresh and very good performance in everything I threw at it.

Not saying it would be worth buying something right now but just mentioning my experience. I chose not to pursue higher-end cards in favor of buying an M1 MacBook Pro. No regrets.
 
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