How to Enable AMD RX 6700, RX 6700 XT, RX 6750, RX 6400 and RX 6500XT
This guide describes how to enable AMD RX 6700, RX 6700 XT, RX 6750, RX 6400, and RX 6500 XT on macOS and is applicable to both, i.e. Clover and OpenCore. By following this guide, you'll be able to achieve full QE/CI on your AMD Navi 21, 22, 23, and 24 series GPU.
Overview
Apple has been using a wide range of AMD GPUs in their Macs for a long time. With the release of macOS Big Sur (11.4), includes the drivers for AMD Navi RDNA 2 architecture lineups, which include AMD RX 6800, RX 6800XT, and 6900XT GPU variants. This means from macOS Big Sur 11.4 and future macOS versions, we can have the GPU working, as long as macOS supports it. Later with macOS Monterey (12.1), support for AMD RX 6600 and RX 6600 XT was also supported.
As always, Apple has been picky in terms of hardware support. It can support hardware in a limited way, even from the same family. With the release of AMD Navi, Apple started to support these GPUs, but not all the models were supported in the lineup. This means the rest of the GPUs were simply not supported on the macOS side. Over the period of time, we thought Apple might introduce the support in a latter version of macOS but Sonoma is already released and still no support added rendering the other cards useless on macOS. There are also a few models such as RX 6950XT, and 6650XT which do not work OOTB but can spoofed to a closer model and made to work. However, cards such as RX 6700, RX 6700 XT, RX 6750 XT, RX 6500 XT, and RX 6400 are simply not supported. See Spoofing GPU for more information.
It has not been so long when NootedRed came into the highlight and it is still one of the major developments in this community. Since then, it has been really possible now to use the AMD APUs. We also have a dedicated thread for the AMD APUs. With the efforts of developers in the community and with the recent development, there is a new driver NootedRX and it is now possible to use the Navi21 and later series on macOS, and that too with full Graphics Acceleration.
Please note that this is an early stage of development for AMD Navi 21 series unsupported GPUs on macOS and as of now, this could be a limited experience. Certain features may not be available, bugs are expected and there can be issues across different systems, but an official version has to be released yet.
Requirements
Following are the requirements for enabling AMD APU on macOS. Please ensure you meet the requirements before proceeding with this guide.
Motherboard |
- macOS Compatible UEFI Motherboard.
|
CPU |
- macOS Compatible Intel/AMD CPU. See CPU Compatibility for more information.
|
GPU | |
Boot Mode |
- UEFI.
- Legacy Boot Mode isn't supported yet. CSM must remain disabled.
|
macOS |
- Pre-installed macOS Big Sur 11.x or Later
|
SMBIOS |
- The SMBIOS requirement remains the same as usual.
|
Monitor |
- Any monitor/TV with DP/HDMI/DVI display connection.
- DVI users can use DVI to HDMI adapter/cable.
- DP users can use DP to HDMI adapter/cable.
|
Bootloader | |
Kexts |
- Vanilla Graphics Kexts in S/L/E
- Lilu 1.6.4 or newer
- NootRx
|
Compatibility
For more information on APU compatibility, refer to the thread linked below.
AMD APU Compatibility List for macOS Limitations Only supports Metal 2 and Metal 3 compatible APUs. Supports macOS Big Sur 11.x to macOS Sonoma. Only supports UEFI Motherboards. DP/HDMI Audio isn't supported at the moment. VGA isn't supported at the moment. Sleep/Wake is broken at the moment...
elitemacx86.com
STEP 1: Setup BIOS
The very first step is to set up BIOS to have the AMD APU Enabled on your System. If you have followed the
BIOS Setup Guide, you will not require this step. However, If you haven't, follow the steps below to set up your BIOS for AMD Graphics Card.
1. On your target computer, boot to BIOS. Refer to your user manual for the BIOS Key
2. Set the following parameters as shown.
Settings | Value | Notes |
---|
Initial PCIe Output Display | PCIe/Auto/Enabled | Depending on your System's BIOS, use one of the Values available |
Intel Processor Graphics | Disabled | This is usually found under Advanced>PCI Configuration. |
Resizable BAR/Clever Memory Access (C.A.M) | Disabled | This is usually found under Advanced>PCI Configuration. |
Integrated Graphics Controller | Disabled | Found on AMD Systems
This is usually found under Advanced>AMD CBS>NBIO Common Options>GFX Configuration. |
CSM (Compatibility Support Module) | Disabled | This is usually found under Boot |
3. Save & Exit Setup
NOTES:
- If your Laptop has AMD dGPU, it is recommended to set the Graphics Mode to Switchable Graphics.
- If your system does not have any of the settings as mentioned above, you can simply skip those settings.
- The above settings are for Graphics only. See BIOS Settings for more information.
- If there is no option to disable IGPU and IGPU loads under macOS, disable it using -wegnoigpu boot arg.
- If your system does not have any of the above settings in BIOS, ignore such settings.
STEP 2: Add Required Kexts
The next step is to add the required kexts to enable AMD Graphics. NootRX doesn't work standalone. Lilu and NootRX are needed together to work in conjunction. To install the kexts, follow the steps below.
1. Download NootRX.
2.
Mount your ESP.
3. Depending on your bootloader,
For Clover:
1. Copy
NootRX.kext
to the
EFI/Clover/Kext/Others
directory.
For OpenCore:
1. Copy
NootRX.kext
to the
EFI/OC/Kexts
directory.
2. Open your config.plist and add
NootRX.kext
entry in the
Kernel>Add
section of your config.plist.
NOTES:
Your kext list and entries may differ as each system is different and will have different requirements.
Do not use WhateverGreen or NootedRed with NootRX.kext.
4. Save config.plist
STEP 4: Boot using the new Configuration
Once you're done with the above steps, you'll need to boot with the updated configuration. Simply restart your system. It is recommended to
reset NVRAM twice at least. After performing all the above steps, restart your system for the applied changes to take effect. It is recommended to
reset NVRAM twice at least.
Verifying Graphics Acceleration
The next step is to verify whether the graphics acceleration is working or not. Follow the steps below to verify the Graphics acceleration.
Low Geekbench Scores
If you're using an AMD system and getting low Geekbench scores, all you have to do is disable the default Algrey patch and enable the Shanee patch (Fix PAT).