Upgrading GPU in older build

[Olli73]

Hello Guys,

I´ve been absent from this forum for some years now, and so has my hack. I have a GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 and use a ASUS EN210 as GPU. I still run Mavericks, but more and more it´s becoming apparent that i have to upgrade.
I would like to up-date to Catalina. For that i would flash the BIOS of the MB to UEFI and put in a new GPU, as i read online that running Catalina with the 210 is not impossible, but it seems to work for some and not for others...
Is this the right way to proceed, and what GPU would You suggest?
I mainly use my rig for the internet, working with Handbrake and occasionally for low-end gaming, so i won´t need any high end perfomance GPUs.

Input very much appreciated

What i forgot: I thought that the MSI RX 550 4GT LP from the buyers guide might work.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Hello Guys,

I´ve been absent from this forum for some years now, and so has my hack. I have a GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 and use a ASUS EN210 as GPU. I still run Mavericks, but more and more it´s becoming apparent that i have to upgrade.
I would like to up-date to Catalina. For that i would flash the BIOS of the MB to UEFI and put in a new GPU, as i read online that running Catalina with the 210 is not impossible, but it seems to work for some and not for others...
Is this the right way to proceed, and what GPU would You suggest?
I mainly use my rig for the internet, working with Handbrake and occasionally for low-end gaming, so i won´t need any high end perfomance GPUs.

Input very much appreciated

What i forgot: I thought that the MSI RX 550 4GT LP from the buyers guide might work.

The GT 210 is not supported on MacOS Catalina due to lack of Metal support, Apple's graphics framework. It may be able to force it to work somehow under a modern MacOS like Catalina but you won't like it.

That MSI RX 550 is also not supported on MacOS Catalina. Only RX 560 and higher works.

A cheap way is to get a Nvidia GT 710 which should work with MacOS Catalina. But as Apple is likely to phased out remaining Nvidia support it may not continue to work in later versions. It is better to get a supported AMD card like the RX 560 (not XFX though) / RX 570 / RX 580.

 

[Olli73]

Thanks for Your reply and suggestions!
So, something like the MSI Radeon RX 580 Armor from the list should do the trick.
Do You see any potential problems with the MoBo or my 2500k?

 

[Jamesbond007]

Thanks for Your reply and suggestions!
So, something like the MSI Radeon RX 580 Armor from the list should do the trick.
Do You see any potential problems with the MoBo or my 2500k?

I don't think you should have significant issues with MacOS Catalina as long as you use a suitable SMBIOS.

 

[Olli73]

Thanks for Your thoughts! Will come back with my results.

 

[Olli73]

Finally came around to buying a new card, havn´t installed it yet. This is it:

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B093PZLNGK/?tag=tonymacx8603-21

I hope it is good enough, RX560, no XFX as far as i can see and it says Polaris 21 Core in one of the pictures (This is important as far as i found out, right?).

 

[scottkendall]

Finally came around to buying a new card, havn´t installed it yet. This is it:

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B093PZLNGK/?tag=tonymacx8603-21

I hope it is good enough, RX560, no XFX as far as i can see and it says Polaris 21 Core in one of the pictures (This is important as far as i found out, right?).

Should be fine, even the XFX cards can be made to work if you flash the V Bios with another brands V Bios.

 

[Olli73]

Card is on it´s way from China... Doing research now for the installation. I´d like to install Catalina and Clover, one of the first questions that came up for me: I´m still on Award BIOS on my GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3, should i flash an UEFI- BIOS? Advantages & potential pit-falls? Thanks!!

 

[Jamesbond007]

Card is on it´s way from China... Doing research now for the installation. I´d like to install Catalina and Clover, one of the first questions that came up for me: I´m still on Award BIOS on my GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3, should i flash an UEFI- BIOS? Advantages & potential pit-falls? Thanks!!

Yes, I think you should flash your motherboard with the available UEFI BIOS from Gigabyte. It will work better with operating systems like MacOS which by default boot in EFI / UEFI mode.

Make sure you know the correct procedure for doing this as you cannot do this from the BIOS menu. You have to make a bootable DOS USB stick with the UEFI BIOS file on it and upgrade from there.

 

[Olli73]

Thanks James! So it really is better to take the plunge. I already read up some posts about flashing BIOS, sounds like a project, while the card is on its way.