Low End GPUs
Low End natively supported dedicated GPUs for a Low End Hackintosh
Last updated
Low End natively supported dedicated GPUs for a Low End Hackintosh
Last updated
Update 2023: as graphics card prices have normalized, currently the cards with the best price performance ratio and widest availability for a low end Hackintosh would be the RX 570 and RX 580 cards.
Sometimes people need a dedicated GPU for a really low-end system which is CPU compatible, but may not have a compatible iGPU (Nehalem to Sandy Bridge for example) for recent macOS versions.
The following can be found on eBay which are listed as compatible in the GPU Buyers Guide:
If you have Haswell (Intel 4th Gen) HD Graphics or newer, just use the iGPU, as these Nvidia cards are actually slower. These cards will only work up to Big Sur, unless additional patches are installed with OCLP. Also certain kinds of DRM, which depend on hardware acceleration, will not be available.
GT 730 in Computer Graphics and Video Cards : Search Result | eBay (must be GK 208)
GT 710 in Computer Graphics and Video Cards : Search Result | eBay (must be GK 208)
These cards should work up to Monterey. Certain kinds of DRM, which depend on hardware acceleration, will not be available. The R7 cards , which will need a Fake ID, have not been used as commonly in hackintosh systems and may therefore have unforeseen issues.
Each of these cheaper cards have some advantages and potential drawbacks. Many countries outside of the US do not have such a thriving second hand market and choices might be much more limited at even higher prices.
Personally I prefer something more performant than the ones above, as some of these cards can barely keep up with iGPU performance as seen in the benchmarks below. I think for systems with a slightly higher budget or a more recent CPU, one of the cards below would be a better choice. Also certain kinds of DRM require a Polaris or newer card as explained in the DRM section of the OpenCore Post-Install guide. I noticed, that a lot of these cards on eBay are from XFX which are not recommended.
A correct Baffin-core RX 550 can be tricky to find, as often it is not easy to ascertain if a model is using an incompatible Lexa core or not.
Here are some models which are Baffin (source):
MSI - Looks like all are Lexa.
Prices for the RX 560 have become much more attractive which makes them the best overall choice for low cost cards.
RX 550 in Computer Graphics and Video Cards : Search Result | eBay (must be Baffin)
Prices for RX 570/580 have also come down to more attractive levels providing about twice the performance of the RX 560
The Apple M1 GPU is shown as a baseline of modern GPU performance as supplied by Apple since 2020/21. The Polaris cards have comparable performance.
44601 - AMD Radeon RX 580
43881 - Radeon HD 7970 / R9 280X
40200 - AMD Radeon RX 570
39758 - Apple M1 Pro
21066 - Apple M1
21073 - AMD Radeon RX 560
19154 - AMD Radeon RX 550
17883 - AMD Radeon RX 460
14714 - AMD Radeon HD 7700 Verde XT
6862 - Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655
4550 - Intel UHD Graphics 630
4041 - Intel HD Graphics 530
1931 NVIDIA GeForce GT 730
1108 - NVIDIA GeForce GT 710
1060 - NVIDIA Quadro K600
Source: Metal Benchmarks
49182 - AMD Radeon RX 580 Series
41214 - Radeon HD 7970 / R9 280X
41087 - Radeon RX 570 Series
35724 - Apple M1 Pro
21066 - Radeon RX 560 Series
19398 - AMD Radeon RX460
18178 - Apple M1
13812 - AMD Radeon HD 7700 Verde XT
12616 - AMD Radeon RX 550
8878 - AMD Radeon R7 250 Series
7434 - IntelIris Plus Graphics 655
5326 - AMD Radeon R7 240 Series
5097 - Intel UHD Graphics 630
3682 - NVIDIA GeForce GT 730
3075 - Intel HD Graphics 4600
2028 - GeForce GT 710
1578 - Quadro K600
401 - Intel HD Graphics 2500
Source: OpenCL Benchmarks
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