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macOS 15 Sequoia on Unsupported Macs Thread

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Neon Ball said:
Well I was going based on the 2015 15" MacBook Pro which has an R9 M370X which is also GCN, neither of these AMD GPUs have decode support and Safari is limited to 1080p h264 (AVC) here on native Monterey.

I don't really know what else to say at this point.
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Oh, it's OK, I wasn't seeking answers, was just wanting to provide info and feedback that might help the developers improve performance.
 
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Neon Ball said:
Well I was going based on the 2015 15" MacBook Pro which has an R9 M370X which is also GCN, neither of these AMD GPUs have decode support and Safari is limited to 1080p h264 (AVC) here on native Monterey.

I don't really know what else to say at this point.
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If you compare the specs of both graphics cores (R9 M370X, R9 M395) then you'll notice that the M395 is GCN3.0 while the M370X is GCN1.0.
GCN3.0 is much closer to the Polaris core which is GCN4.0, which includes video decoding support.
 
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internetzel said:
If you compare the specs of both graphics cores (R9 M370X, R9 M395) then you'll notice that the M395 is GCN3.0 while the M370X is GCN1.0.
GCN3.0 is much closer to the Polaris core which is GCN4.0, which includes video decoding support.
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They still don't have VP9 decoding in them even when they're newer, it was added in Video Core Next 1.0 with Raven and Picasso (Vega mobile/"GCN 5.0"), then Navi 1x (RX 5000) for desktops with VCN 2.0.

These GPUs would only be capable of AVC on YouTube since YouTube doesn't do HEVC. AVC is limited to 1080p (YouTube's limitation) and Safari usually only chooses a codec that the GPU is capable of decoding, it usually doesn't do software decode. Macinman is however clearly having VP9 decode going there, this is why I find the situation weird.
 
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I'm posting this just to clarify the need for OCLP modifications for Sequoia post-install patches on platforms that require non-metal NVidia patches (maybe other platforms) ...

I just re-applied post-install patches to Sequoia 15.6.1 on my MBP6,2 with OCLP 2.4.0 Release (not modified). Non-metal NVidia root patches were applied with KDK 24F74 (15.5) WITHOUT having to modify OCLP.

When attempting to patch Sequoia 15.7 Beta on my MBP6,2, OCLP 2.4.0 Release fails with "KDK download failed: No KDKs found ..."

Note that this OCLP modification for Sequoia 15.7 is necessary only because Apple has not published an updated KDK for Sequoia at the time of this post. The OCLP modification will no longer be necessary after Apple publishes the new Sequoia KDK.

EDIT: Credit to hvds for this OCLP modification here.
 
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Neon Ball said:
They still don't have VP9 decoding in them even when they're newer, it was added in Video Core Next 1.0 with Raven and Picasso (Vega mobile/"GCN 5.0"), then Navi 1x (RX 5000) for desktops with VCN 2.0.

These GPUs would only be capable of AVC on YouTube since YouTube doesn't do HEVC. AVC is limited to 1080p (YouTube's limitation) and Safari usually only chooses a codec that the GPU is capable of decoding, it usually doesn't do software decode. Macinman is however clearly having VP9 decode going there, this is why I find the situation weird.
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So I tested the same video on my iMac late 2009 with Core i5-750 CPU and RX480 upgrade GPU on Sonoma and Safari 26 - I'm getting the "4K" version as well, with VP9 codec.
From to the CPU and GPU load statistics I get the impression that it's doing the decoding in software (as Polaris doesn't have VP9 decoding in hardware yet, only HVEC).
And no matter which resolution I choose, it's always using the VP9 decoder - that video might be VP9 exclusively?
1755893710344.png
 
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internetzel said:
So I tested the same video on my iMac late 2009 with Core i5-750 CPU and RX480 upgrade GPU on Sonoma and Safari 26 - I'm getting the "4K" version as well, with VP9 codec.
From to the CPU and GPU load statistics I get the impression that it's doing the decoding in software (as Polaris doesn't have VP9 decoding in hardware yet, only HVEC).
And no matter which resolution I choose, it's always using the VP9 decoder - that video might be VP9 exclusively?
View attachment 2539959
Click to expand...
This gets even weirder then because on the 2015 15" it's definitely using the GPU which limits it. 3rd party browsers can do CPU decode which allows it to do 4k on VP9 but Safari is 1080p and AVC. I wonder why is the software decoding selectively applied based on model.
 
Neon Ball said:
This gets even weirder then because on the 2015 15" it's definitely using the GPU which limits it. 3rd party browsers can do CPU decode which allows it to do 4k on VP9 but Safari is 1080p and AVC. I wonder why is the software decoding selectively applied based on model.
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I don't have any real facts regarding this statement currently, but I wonder if it's related to desktop vs Laptop. Desktops are typically more powerful. So, I am curious if the laptop limitation is a power saving measure. Although, on Sequoia, the iMac gets limited as well, but only in Safari.
 
I have a 2013 "trash can" Mac Pro on Sequoia 15.5/OCLP 2.4.0. Do I dare risk the OTA 15.6.1 update, or do I fall back to the tried-and-sorta-true install-from-a-full-OS-installer-USB-stick method? 🤷‍♂️
 
Finding available software
Software Update found the following new or updated software:
* Label: macOS Sequoia 15.7-24G217
macOS 15.7 RC 4
 
Can any of you who have Apple TV 4k gen3 mirror your Mac screen to it? When I start mirroring from my 2017 Macbook Pro to it, it goes black. Mirroring only works from iPhone to Apple TV.

I didn't get to test using the Ventura, the last supported system on Mac, to find out if the problem is due to the use of OCLP.
 
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Adora said:
15.7 RC4 (24G217) full installer:



Safari 26 Beta 5 installer (15.4 or newer):


Compact view bug still not fixed.
Click to expand...

Another like 600 mb on my mid 2014 after reverting patches , went without issue upgrading again using OCLP 3.0 nightly.
 
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mib01 said:
Can any of you who have Apple TV 4k gen3 mirror your Mac screen to it? When I start mirroring from my 2017 Macbook Pro to it, it goes black. Mirroring only works from iPhone to Apple TV.

I didn't get to test using the Ventura, the last supported system on Mac, to find out if the problem is due to the use of OCLP.
Click to expand...
I just tested from this late 2015 iMac to a Gen 3 ATV 4k running Sonoma 14.7.8 and OCLP 2.4.0, and it worked without issues.

BTW, what content did you mirror? I mirrored this thread in Firefox.
 
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I usually do updates through settings, but my last attempt to upgrade to 15.6 ended in disaster and reinstallation. I have a MacPro6.1 with D700 and I admit that I am a bit tired of these OCLP tricks. I have had situations where the computer did not start up after the installation time and I just had to turn it off and only then did the Mac finish it. How do you guys update to 15.6, 15.6.1 or even 15.7? Is it better to do it with a USB stick? I have OCLP 3.0.0.
 
Coselmann said:
I usually do updates through settings, but my last attempt to upgrade to 15.6 ended in disaster and reinstallation. I have a MacPro6.1 with D700 and I admit that I am a bit tired of these OCLP tricks. I have had situations where the computer did not start up after the installation time and I just had to turn it off and only then did the Mac finish it. How do you guys update to 15.6, 15.6.1 or even 15.7? Is it better to do it with a USB stick? I have OCLP 3.0.0.
Click to expand...
Use OCLP 2.4.0.
 
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Coselmann said:
I usually do updates through settings, but my last attempt to upgrade to 15.6 ended in disaster and reinstallation. I have a MacPro6.1 with D700 and I admit that I am a bit tired of these OCLP tricks. I have had situations where the computer did not start up after the installation time and I just had to turn it off and only then did the Mac finish it. How do you guys update to 15.6, 15.6.1 or even 15.7? Is it better to do it with a USB stick? I have OCLP 3.0.0.
Click to expand...
Install oclp in macOS. I've always updated via OTA. Sometimes it gives an error right after it finishes downloading and tries to update. In that case, I delete everything from the /Library/Updates folder and try again with softwareupdate -ia. I wait for it to restart (sometimes it takes a while, I don't know why), it reboots, and then it finishes the installation. As soon as I log in, I reboot again in safe mode and apply the patch. I used 2.4.0 for 15.7RC4
 
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