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OldMacPro2

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2022
169
92
The Mac Pro 3,1 that I recently acquired has been upgraded to High Sierra (dosdude1 patch).

I happened to have a Radeon RX460 (2gb) laying around. This is the generic PC, non-Mac flashed, version.

If I wanted to replace the Radeon HD 2600XT in the MP (or add the RX460) what would be the best way to go about it?

Thank you in advance!
 

OldMacPro2

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2022
169
92
To answer my own post above, I've decided to do a "trial and error" on this install. And apparently had some success. (limited but nonetheless)

For reference, the RX460 that I am using is a "generic HP" card, purchased off eBay for around $70. As I said in the first post, it's 2GB. Nothing fancy.

Here is how I managed to get it to work in my MP 3,1:

1) Installed the RX460 along side the HD 2600XT (installed by itself, it did not boot for me).

2) The HD2600Xt had to be in PCIe Slot 1. The RX460 is in PCIe Slot 2.

3) Had to do the PRAM reset before I could move forward (is it required? Don't know, but I did it.)

4) Used the dosdude1 process to reinstall High Sierra from a patched USB to a new partition that I created on a spare hard drive.

5) I had to select the option to include the updated AMD graphic driver, although the dosdude1 installer didn't recommend it. Tried to install without it, but was not successful at first.

6) After a complete reinstall, reboot, I seem to have two display adapters working. I can see two displays and two desktops.

Just posting in case it helps some 3,1 user who does a web search someday. Even me, if I forget how I did it. 😊

Update mode *on*
After some further investigation, apparently High Sierra doesn't enable hardware acceleration for the newer AMD cards on a Mac Pro 3,1. I read a thread on this forum (which I can't find now) about some missing instructions in this generation of Xeon CPUs. I think if you have a Mac Pro 4,1 or higher, this is not an issue? Think that's what I read.

Anyway, the procedure listed above does let you install an RX460 card and boot into High Sierra on a Mac Pro 3,1.

But now, then you need to find a software patch for Mac 3,1, which will give you GPU acceleration. I've read a thread describing that patch. Did I bookmark it? No. If you want to go this route, do some searching and you should find a separate patch to emulate the missing instructions.
Update mode *off*
 
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OldMacPro2

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 23, 2022
169
92
I am giving up on putting the RX 460 in the MP 3,1.

From what I’ve read, it should be possible, but requires a few more software patches/hacks than I want to mess with. Many people are using a GTX680 in their MP 3,1 and that may be the way to go if you don’t want to mess around with software emulation.

I’m not giving up on the RX 460 completely.

Instead, I found a very low cost MP 4,1.

It’s missing a few key pieces that are on order.

Seems like the best path forward and there are clearer ways to move it to the more modern graphics.
 
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