Compatibility

macOS hardware support is limited to what hardware Apple supports and community-created patches.

CPU support

AMD Bulldozer (15h) and newer CPUs are supported with the AMD Vanilla patches.

The patches support only macOS 10.13 and newer, older versions require a custom Kernel. This is unsupported by this guide.
AMD Laptop CPUs are the same as AMD Desktop CPUs
A few things in macOS don't work properly with an AMD CPU, see below

CPU requirements

Architecture requirements

  • x86_64/AMD64 (64-bit) CPUs are supported since Mac OS X 10.4.1

SSE requirements

  • SSE3 is required for all Intel versions of macOS
  • SSSE3 is required for all 64-bit versions of macOS
  • SSE4 is required for macOS 10.12 up to, not including, macOS 10.14
  • SSE4.2 is required for macOS 10.14+ and newer AMD GPU drivers. Avoid SSE4.1-only CPUs if possible. May work with some hacks; see Gathering Files > Kexts

AMD CPU incompatibilities

Unfortunately some things in macOS are broken with AMD.

Virtual Machines that utilise AppleHV

Examples include:

  • VirtualBox version >6
  • VMWare version >10
  • Parallels version >13.1
  • Docker
  • Android Studio
Older VirtualBox, VMware, and Parallels versions than the ones AppleHV usage was introduced in do use own hypervisor, but outdated VM are likely large security threats, amongst other issues.

Compatibility issues with some apps

Apps utilising Intel MKL will require a patch with a tool such as AMDFriend.

Some examples include:

  • Krisp
  • Logic Pro Waves Plug-In
  • Adobe software

In addition, the AMD Vanilla patches don't support 32-bit apps running in WINE, including CrossOver. However, it somehow works on Threadripper (TRX40).

GPU support

GPU support is highly complicated due to the amount of graphics cards.

AMD GPUs

  • GCN and RDNA GPUs are supported in the latest versions of macOS
  • RDNA 3 GPUs are unsupported
  • Raven-based (Ryzen 3000 series and older, GCN 5, aka Vega10) and Renoir-based (Ryzen 4000 series and newer, GCN 5.1, aka Vega20) AMD APUs are supported with NootedRed; see Gathering Files > Kexts. Works from macOS 11 up to macOS 14. macOS 10.15 in progress.
  • Other iGPU generations (GCN <5, RDNA) are not supported at all yet.
  • Lexa-based (GCN 4, aka Polaris) are supported with a device ID spoof

Special note for MSI Navi users: Installer not working with 5700XT #901, resolved since macOS 11.

NVIDIA GPUs

  • Maxwell (9XX) and Pascal (10XX) GPUs are limited to macOS 10.13
  • Turing (20XX, 16XX) GPUs are not supported in any version of macOS
  • Ampere (30XX) GPUs are not supported in any version of macOS
  • Kepler (6XX, 7XX) GPUs are supported up to macOS 11

With that out of the way, let's start with gathering the required files.

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