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Complications
Different hardware configurations lead to different complications. The following hardware charts provide a complete overview of Mac system configurations and their expected compatibility. Be sure to look over your specific configuration to ensure there aren't any significant problems. If you are having trouble with terminology, first check out the nifty glossary.
It is recommended to use one of the AMD GPUs listed on Apple's support document. Some older AMD GPUs such as the R9 Fury may work, but compatibility is not guaranteed.
Support for Nvidia GPUs varies based on a number of factors. The following table lists compatibility based on NVIDIA's GPU architectures:
| NVIDIA Architecture | GPU Series | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|
| Fermi | GTX 6xx | macOS 10.13.4-10.14.6, with partial support on 10.15+. |
| Kepler | GTX 7xx | macOS 10.13.4-10.14.6, with partial support on 10.15+. |
| Maxwell | GTX 9xx, 750 Ti | macOS 10.13.4-10.13.6 only. |
| Pascal | GTX 10xx | macOS 10.13.4-10.13.6 only. |
| Turing | RTX 20xx | Not supported. |
| Ampere | RTX 30xx | Not supported. |
Partial support indicates that GPUs may not always work as expected - such as some video outputs not functioning appropriately. Additionally, Maxwell and newer NVIDIA GPUs require drivers that are unavailable on macOS by default. Thus compatibility depends on driver availability.
Depending on your Mac, you may encounter different types of issues.
| Integrated GPU | Discrete GPU | External GPU | Dependency | Complications |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel | None | AMD | macOS Drivers | 2015 model may require plugging in the eGPU after boot. |
| Intel | None | NVIDIA | NVIDIA Web Drivers | Drivers need to be available for the running macOS version. |
| None | NVIDIA | AMD | macOS Drivers | Only internal monitor can be used. Apps can be accelerated using set-eGPU.sh. |
| None | NVIDIA | NVIDIA | NVIDIA Web Drivers | OpenCL/GL compute capabilities may be lost due to NVIDIA Web Drivers. |
| None | AMD | AMD | macOS Drivers | Native or like-native support without any significant complications. |
| None | AMD | NVIDIA | NVIDIA Web Drivers | Conflicting framebuffers may require hot-plugging eGPU and then logging out and in. |
| Intel | NVIDIA | AMD | macOS Drivers | Use purge-nvda.sh if you need external monitors over eGPU. |
| Intel | NVIDIA | NVIDIA | NVIDIA Web Drivers | Use purge-nvda.sh to resolve OpenCL/GL compute loss, and use this boot procedure. |
| Intel | AMD | AMD | macOS Drivers | Native or native-like support without any significant complications. |
| Intel | AMD | NVIDIA | NVIDIA Web Drivers | Slow/black screens which may require switching mux to the iGPU or logging out and in after hot-plugging. |