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Supported/unsupported GPUs / graphics cards


Hervé

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Last updated: 17th Mar 2023

 

We still get recurring questions about some well-known and older unsupported GPUs and graphics cards, so let's try and make a quick recap here. The list can be completed as required and necessary. The list will only apply to SL 10.6 and beyond, not before.

 

Intel

  • ----- Gen3 -----
  • GMA 900: unsupported since SL.
  • GMA 950: supported in SL and Lion in 32bit kernel mode only; unsupported since ML.
  • GMA 3100/3150: unsupported.
  • -----
  • ----- Gen4 -----
  • GMA 3000/X3000: unsupported
  • GMA X3100: supported in SL and Lion in 32bit kernel mode only; unsupported since ML.
  • GMA 4500/4500M/4500MHD/4700MHD: unsupported.
  • -----
  • ----- Gen5 -----
  • GMA HD/GMA 5700MHD/1st gen Intel HD (i.e. Ironlake of Clarkdale & Arrandale CPUs): partially (CI (i.e. screen resolution) only) or fully (full QE/CI) supported on laptops from SL 10.6.4 to High Sierra depending on built-in LCD connector (LVDS=full support, eDP=partial support); unsupported since Mojave. Refer to bible thread on the matter. Partial graphics support usually means platform is more or less unusable and therefore unsuitable as a Hackintosh. Special patches required for OpenGL-only support in Mojave and Catalina (and later?).
  • -----
  • ----- Gen6 -----
  • Sandy Bridge Intel HD (GT1): unsupported.
  • Sandy Bridge Intel HD 2000 (GT1): unsupported.
  • Sandy Bridge Intel HD 3000 (GT2): supported from SL to High Sierra; unsupported since Mojave. Special patches required for OpenGL-only support in Mojave and Catalina (works very poorly in Big Sur/Monterey so best avoided).
  • -----
  • ----- Gen7 -----
  • Ivy Bridge Intel HD (GT1): unsupported.
  • Ivy Bridge Intel HD 2500 (GT1): unsupported; some unconfirmed reports of apparent support in ML from 10.8.3 and partial support (CI only) in El Capitan.
  • Ivy Bridge Intel HD 4000 (GT2): supported from Lion to Big Sur; unsupported since Monterey but patch exists (see footnote).
  • Bay Trail Intel HD (GT1): unsupported.
  • Haswell Intel HD (GT1): unsupported.
  • Haswell Intel HD 4x00/5000/Iris 5x00 (GT2/GT3): supported from ML 10.8.5 to Monterey. Unsupported since Ventura but patch exists (see footnote).
  • -----
  • ----- Gen8 -----
  • Cherry Trail Intel HD/HD 4xx (GT1): unsupported.
  • Braswell Intel HD/HD 4xx (GT1): unsupported.
  • Broadwell Intel HD (GT1): unsupported.
  • Broadwell Intel HD 5x00/6000/Iris 6x00 (GT2/GT3): supported from Yosemite 10.10.3 to Monterey. Unsupported since Ventura but patch exists (see footnote).
  • -----
  • ----- Gen9 -----
  • Apollo Lake Intel HD 5xx (GT1): unsupported.
  • Skylake Intel HD 510 (GT1): unsupported.
  • Skylake Intel HD 515/520/530/Iris 5x0 (GT2/GT3/GT4): supported from El Capitan 10.11.4 to Monterey. Unsupported since Ventura but patch exists (see footnote).
  • -----
  • ----- Gen9.5 -----
  • Kaby Lake Intel HD 610 (GT1): unsupported.
  • Kaby Lake Intel HD 615/620/630/Iris+ 6x0 (GT2/GT3): supported from Sierra 10.12.6 to Ventura.
  • Kaby Lake R Intel UHD 620 (GT2): supported as per Kaby Lake with KBL framebuffer 0x59160000 and faking KBL iGPU id 0x5916.
  • 8th gen Amber Lake Y Intel UHD 617 (GT2): supported from Mojave 10.14.1 to Ventura (with KBL settings).
  • -----
  • Coffee Lake Intel UHD 610 (GT1): unsupported.
  • Coffee Lake Intel UHD 630/Iris+ 6x5 (GT2/GT3): basic support in High Sierra 10.13.6 from 1st Security Update build 17G2208 (iGPU ids 0x3E92/0x3E9B/0x3EA5); extended support from Mojave to Ventura.
  • Coffee Lake R Intel UHD 610 (GT1): unsupported.
  • Coffee Lake R Intel UHD 630/Iris+ 6x5 (GT2/GT3): supported as per Coffee Lake with faking CFL id 0x3E92 up to Mojave 10.14.3; natively supported from Mojave 10.14.4 to Ventura.
  • Whiskey Lake Intel UHD 610 (GT1): unsupported.
  • Whiskey Lake Intel UHD 620 (GT2): supported as per Coffee Lake with CFL framebuffer and faking CFL id 0x3EA5.
  • Comet Lake/Comet Lake R Intel UHD Graphics for 10th gen. processor (GT1/GT2): supported from Catalina 10.15.4 to Ventura with CFL settings. Caution must be exercised though given that Intel somehow recycled Coffee Lake UHD6x0 (itself a refresh of Kaby Lake R graphics).
    • for desktop CPUs, Intel reused the UHD6x0 naming convention:
      • Comet Lake UHD 610 (GT1): unsupported
      • Comet Lake UHD 630 (GT2) supported as per Coffee Lake
    • things differ quite a lot for mobile CPUs:
      • generally speaking, UHD Graphics of mobile Comet Lake i3/i5/i7/i9 "U" CPUs is equivalent to UHD 620 (GT2); those have 23 (i3) to 24xEUs (i5/i7/i9) and are expected to be supported (not necessarily OOB).
      • generally speaking, UHD Graphics of mobile Comet Lake i3/i5/i7/i9 "H" CPUs is equivalent to UHD 630 (GT2); those have 23 (i3) to 24xEUs (i5/i7/i9) and are expected to be supported (not necessarily OOB).
      • as an exception to those rules, some mobile "U" and/or "H" CPUs (eg: i5-10200H) have an iGPU with 12xEUs only which is equivalent to UHD 610 (GT1) -> unsupported.
      • all mobile Celeron and Pentium have a 12xEUs UHD Graphics, i.e. equivalent to UHD 610 (GT1) -> unsupported.
      • known ids of CML iGPU with 12xEUs only: 0x9B21, 0x9BAA, 0x9BA4, 0x9BAC (+ desktop id 0x9BA8) -> unsupported.
      • known ids of CML iGPU ids with 23 to 24xEUs: 0x9B41, 0x9BC4, 0x9BCA, 0x9BCC (+ desktop ids 0x9BC5, 0x9BC8) -> expected to be supported (not necessarily OOB).
      • a recap of CML iGPUs is available in the following Intel document: Intel UHD Graphics Open Source. Programmer's Reference Manual.pdf.zip
  • -----
  • ----- Note about GT1 iGPUs -----
  • Basically, from Gen6 HD 3000 to Gen9.5 UHD 6xx iGPUs, there is no support for low-end/entry-level GT1-based Intel HD/UHD graphics.
  • -----
  • ----- Gen11 -----
  • Ice Lake Intel UHD (G1): apparently supported from Catalina 10.15.4 to Monterey by faking id of G4/G7 counterparts as stated here.
  • Ice Lake Intel Iris Plus (G4/G7): supported from Catalina 10.15.4 to Ventura.
  • -----
  • ----- Later generations (Gen12 and beyond) -----
  • No support for subsequent iGPU generations to be expected, Apple having switched to M1 silicon after Ice Lake generation.

 

Lots of iGPU info available here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Graphics_Technology

 

 

nVidia

  • GeForce 6x00 and similar (Curie NV4x): unsupported since SL 10.6.3 at least (some cards supported in early SL versions only).
  • GeForce 7x00 and similar (Curie G7x): supported in SL and Lion in 32bit mode only; unsupported since ML.
  • Tesla generation (G8x, G9x, GT2xx): supported SL -> High Sierra; unsupported since Mojave. Special patches required for OpenGL-only support in Mojave and later (see footnote).
  • Fermi generation (GFxxx): supported Lion -> El Capitan; buggy/poorly supported in Sierra and High Sierra; unsupported since Mojave.
  • Kepler generation (GKxxx): supported from Lion 10.7.5/ML 10.8.2 to Big Sur but cards based on GK106 chip are best avoided (driver memory leak issue); unsupported since Monterey, special patches required for Monterey and later (see footnote).
  • Maxwell generation (GMxxx): supported from (late) Yosemite to High Sierra and only with the nVidia Web Driver; unsupported since Mojave (no Web Driver).
  • Pascal generation (GPxxx): supported from (late) Sierra to High Sierra and with the nVidia Web Driver; unsupported since Mojave (no Web Driver).
  • Turing generation (TUxxx) and later: unsupported.

 

Support for Kepler cards was dropped in Monterey beta7, marking the end of official support for the last nVidia cards (i.e. Kepler) that remained usable/supported in macOS until then. Special patches apply thereafter (see footnote).

 

ATI/AMD

  • Radeon X300/X600/X700: unsupported.
  • Radeon X800: apparently supported in SL and Lion; unsupported since ML.
  • Radeon X1000:
    • X1300/X1400/X15x0: supported up to SL; limited support (CI only) in Lion; unsupported since ML.
    • X1600/X1900: supported in SL and Lion; unsupported since ML.
  • -----
  • Radeon HD 2xxx: some models supported in SL up to High Sierra; unsupported since Mojave.
  • Radeon HD 3xxx: some models supported in SL up to High Sierra; unsupported since Mojave.
  • Radeon HD 4xxx: some models supported in SL up to High Sierra; unsupported since Mojave.
  • Radeon HD 5xxx: many models supported in SL up to High Sierra; unsupported since Mojave.
  • Radeon HD 6xxx: many models supported in SL up to High Sierra; unsupported since Mojave.
  • Radeon HD 7xxx: many models supported from ML to Monterey; unsupported since Ventura.
  • Radeon HD 8xxx: many models supported from ML to Monterey; unsupported since Ventura.
  • -----
  • R7/R9: many models supported from Yosemite to Monterey; unsupported since Ventura.
  • Polaris 10:
    • Lexa unsupported.
    • Baffin supported from Sierra to Ventura.
    • Ellesmere supported from Sierra too Ventura.
    • Careful with Radeon RX550 which exists in both Lexa and Baffin versions (needs to be 640SP and id 1002:67FF).
  • Polaris 20/30: most models supported from Sierra to Ventura.
  • Vega 10: many models supported from High Sierra to Ventura.
  • Vega 20: some models supported from Mojave to Ventura.
  • Navi 10: many models supported from Catalina to Ventura.
  • Navi 20: unsupported.
  • Navi 21: some models supported from Big Sur to Ventura.
  • Vavi 22: unsupported.
  • Navi 23: some models supported from Monterey to Ventura.
  • Navi 24: unsupported.
  • Navi 3x: unsupported.
  • -----
  • APUs: unsupported.
  • -----
  • Mojave and later require GCN1.0 cards minimum (i.e. HD 7000/HD 8000/ R7/ R9 Series).

 

 

An excellent recap of things is available at Dortania's GPU buyer's guide (defunct one here).

Not to be missed for detailed guidance on Intel graphics configuration: the WhatEverGreen user manual. An absolute must with complete documentation for Intel iGPUs.

 

NB:

  1. Obsolete GPUs for which Apple dropped official support after Lion 10.7.5 (e.g.: GMA950/X3100, GeForce 7x00, ATI X1600) can be supported in ML with MLPF hack (essentially, a hack that runs pseudo ML in 32bit mode with DP1 32/64bit kernel and kexts). Details are available our ML with full QE/CI guides for old unsupported Latitude laptops in our Archives section. The work is based on the original R&D stuff covered in ML on unsupported Macs available at MacRumors.com.
  2. Older Intel and nVidia GPUs for which Apple dropped official support after High Sierra 10.13.6 (e.g.: 1st gen Intel HD, SNB HD3000, nVidia Tesla GPUs) can be supported in Mojave/Catalina in OpenGL-only mode by installing drivers from High Sierra and reverting some frameworks. More details in subsequent post below..
  3. nVidia Tesla GPUs may be supported in OpenGL-only mode in Big Sur and later with OCLP patcher. See dedicated thread about Big Sur on unsupported Macs at MacRumors.com.
  4. Intel HD4000 graphics may be supported in Monterey and later with special patches.
  5. nVidia Kepler GPus may be supported in Monterey and later with special patches (official support was dropped from beta 7).
  6. Haswell, Broadwell and Skylake iGPUs were dropped in Ventura, however:
    • Skylake HD 5x0 graphics are pretty much fully supported by faking KBL iGPU, using KBL framebuffer layouts, using WEG 1.6.1 or later and KBL SMBIOS
    • Haswell and Broadwell graphics may be fully supported after patching with tools such as OCLP 0.5.1 or later.
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Last updated: 14 Nov 2020

 

Restoring support for dropped GPUs in macOS Mojave and Catalina

 

1) All Mojave and Catalina versions:

Here are copies of the requires kexts and files required to gain graphics acceleration on 1st gen Intel HD + Sandy Bridge (SNB) HD3000 + nVidia Tesla GPUs in Mojave and Catalina up to 10.15.3. For Catalina 10.15.4 and later, use dosdude1's patcher.

 

As described initially at MacRumors in the "Mojave on unsupported Mac" thread back in summer 2018:

1a) Intel 1st gen Intel HD and HD3000 drivers are non-existant in Mojave by default, so copy 10.13.6's kexts to /S/L/E, repair permissions and rebuild your cache.

 

1b) Mojave natively includes drivers for nVidia Fermi and Kepler cards only. Copy the following kexts to /S/L/E, repair permissions and rebuild your cache.

 

2) Mojave 10.14.4/5/6 and Catalina 10.15(.0)/1/2/3:

Remove the following vanilla frameworks and replace them by 10.14.3's versions. This should be done after booting in single-user mode, having previously copied those frameworks in a dedicated folder at volume/partition root.

 

3) Catalina 10.15.4 and later

The above process is no longer applicable due to significant changes in macOS. Instead, it has become mandatory to call on dosdude1's Catalina patcher to patch Catalina and get the above unsupported GPUs working again.

 

 

NB: The process of reverting to older frameworks or patching Catalina needs to be repeated after/at each macOS update.

 

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Restoring support for dropped GPUs in macOS Big Sur and Monterey

 

Best thing to do is favour Opencore Legacy Patcher (OCLP) tool against other own made tools that are mostly packaged scripts based on developpers work.

 

1) Big Sur:

macOS 11 officially dropped support for Ivy Bridge but the drivers for HD4000 graphics (i.e. Capri framebuffer kexts) remained provided. As such, Big Sur may be installed on Ivy Bridge/HD4000 Hackintosh computers with the SMBIOS of a Haswell (or later) Mac model, then booted with a regular Ivy Bridge SMBIOS as long as boot arg -no_compat_check is used.

  • for 1st gen Intel HD graphics, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select an Arrandale SMBIOS (eg: MBP6,2); no need for any other OCLP settings.

  • for HD3000 graphics, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select a Sandy Bridge SMBIOS (eg: MBP8,1); no need for any other OCLP settings.

  • for nVidia Tesla graphics, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select the SMBIOS or a Mac Model with nVidia graphics; no need for any other OCLP settings.

 

2) Monterey:

macOS 12 officially dropped support for some Haswell platform but not all and drivers for HD4200/4400/4600 and affiliated (i.e. Azul framebuffer kexts) remained provided. On the other hand, support for Ivy Bridge HD4000 and NVIDIA Kepler was totally dropped with no drivers (i.e. Capri and NVDA/GeForce framebuffers kexts) provided. 

  • or 1st gen Intel HD graphics, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select an Arrandale SMBIOS (eg: MBP6,2); no need for any other OCLP settings.

  • for HD3000 graphics, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select a Sandy Bridge SMBIOS (eg: MBP8,1); no need for any other OCLP settings.

  • for HD4000 graphics, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select an Ivy Bridge SMBIOS (eg: MPB10,2); no need for any other OCLP settings. 

  • for Haswell/HD4x00 graphics, just make sure to apply SMBIOS of MBP11,4; SMBIOS of MBP11,1 or MBA6,2 will no longer suffice SINCE these are among the Mac models dropped in Monterey.
  • for nVidia Tesla graphics, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select the SMBIOS or a Mac Model with nVidia graphics; no need for any other OCLP settings.
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Restoring support for dropped GPUs in macOS Ventura

 

For older platforms up to Broadwell, best thing to do is patch Ventura with Opencore Legacy Patcher (OCLP) tool. Minimum version is OCLP v0.5.1.

 

macOS 13 officially dropped support for all Haswell, Broadwell and Skylake iGPUs. Ventura therefore needs to be installed with SMBIOS of a supported Kaby Lake Mac model minimum.

  • for 1st gen Intel HD graphics, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select an Arrandale SMBIOS (eg: MBP6,2); no need for any other OCLP settings.
  • for HD3000 graphics, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select a Sandy Bridge SMBIOS (eg: MBP8,1); no need for any other OCLP settings.
  • for HD4000 graphics, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select an Ivy Bridge SMBIOS (eg: MPB10,2); no need for any other OCLP settings. 
  • for Haswell HD4x00 graphics and affiliated, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select a Haswell SMBIOS (eg: MBP11,1); no need for any other OCLP settings.
  • for Broadwell HD5x00 graphics and affiliated, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select a Broadwell SMBIOS (eg: MBP12,1); no need for any other OCLP settings.
  • for nVidia Tesla and Kepler graphics, apply root patches with OpenCore Patcher, making sure to disable SIP and select the SMBIOS or a Mac Model with nVidia graphics (eg: MBP7,1/iMac14,2); no need for any other OCLP settings.

 

For Skylake HD5x0 graphics, things are a little different and using Kaby Lake graphics settings works perfectly. The trick to apply consists of:

  • installing Ventura with Kaby Lake SMBIOS (eg: MBP14,1).
  • injecting KBL framebuffer layout (eg: 0x59160000 or 0x591b0000).
  • faking KBL iGPU device id (eg: 0x5916).
  • injecting WhateverGreen kext v1.6.1 minimum.
  • booting Ventura with KBL SMBIOS (eg: MBP14,1) or, alternatively, SKL SMBIOS (eg: MBP13,1) + -no_compat_check boot arg.
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