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AMD W8100 in a Mac Pro 2010

I have an AMD W8100. Can it work in a Mac Pro 2010, 12 Core, 64Gb Memory, AVCH 512 M.2 boot drive. High Sierra 10.13.6 . Can the drivers be insatalled

Mac Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6), AMD W8100, M.2 AVCH 512 boot Drive

Posted on Sep 20, 2018 7:07 PM

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5 replies

Sep 21, 2018 2:48 AM in response to vlopezphoto

Ok, I have not been able to find a definitive article showing anyone has done this successfully but I did find a couple suggesting how it might be done.


This particular card is not one that is officially supported in the classic Mac Pro i.e. 2010. It is these days also not a particularly powerful card. There are as good or better cards which are going to be easier to get working. However As per your post you already have this card so trying is only going to cost you some time.


It would be safest to try this first on a separate fresh copy of Hugh Sierra so if things go wrong you can switch back to your normal working system. You will either need to do this with both the W8100 and a different working video card fitted or before fitting the W8100 make sure screen sharing is enabled and remotely control the Mac from another Mac.


  • You will need to modify one of the standard Apple/AMD kernel extensions, this is to add this cards ID number to the driver so it might be loaded
  • You will need to disable SIP support so that your modified kernel extension will be loaded


See this article - AMD FirePro W7100 and 2010 mac pro possible ?. | MacRumors Forums

but mostly this article - Firepro W8100 compatible with latest Sierra? | MacRumors Forums


Regarding disabling SIP - https://support.studionetworksolutions.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003839246-How-to -disable-Systems-Integrity-Protection-SI…

and - About System Integrity Protection on your Mac - Apple Support

Sep 21, 2018 4:48 AM in response to vlopezphoto

Arguably a 2010 Mac Pro is no longer ideal for 4K video editing. You will have in addition to a slower less powerful video card slower storage unless you look in to various upgrades on that front as well.


In terms of possible better choices of video card - Adobe software works best with Nvidia cards but Apple's Final Cut Pro would work best with AMD cards.


So if we look at AMD cards then there are three possible choices to consider.


  1. The AMD Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition was the last official card to have as standard proper Mac firmware meaning it will also work at the boot screen before the Mac operating system has loaded
  2. The AMD R280x can be 'flashed' to have Mac firmware, this is an unofficial process but possible, see - Flashing R9 280X for boot screens/PCI System Information | MacRumors Forums this is best done via Windows via Boot Camp
  3. Or according to this article - Get Ready for macOS Mojave - Official Apple Support Apple recommend an R560 or R580 card for Mojave in the Mac Pro, these will not show a boot screen and probably will not work in High Sierra

Sep 28, 2018 8:24 AM in response to vlopezphoto

vlopezphoto wrote:


I Got the W8100 to boot from with log . this issue am having is, its not reading the hardware graphics to open Final cut. 10.4.3. and runs bit slow. I changed the kext file in the extensions for W8000 and W4100 kext.

An did upgrade to Mojave as well. so running ok.


how to get tit to read the Hware of the card

I am not quite clear on what you mean by the above.


If you mean that whilst you can boot the Mac and login and use it with the W8100 but that Final Cut Pro rejects the card then it would seem Final Cut Pro is looking for particular models of card or it is looking for particular capabilities of video card.


Getting Mojave working is interesting, this card is not listed on Apple's list for the Mac Pro 2010 but of course when one thinks about it the Mac Pro 2013 is listed so the fact it is very similar to the Mac Pro 2013 video cards explains it. To confirm things open System Report and have a look at the Graphics/Displays entry and see what it shows - it should include Metal support.


Have you been able to spoof it being recognised as an AMD FirePro D500 or similar? (By editing the Kext.) I believe the W8100 is nearest to the D500.


Perhaps a similar modification of the Final Cut Pro app might work. If you right click on the App and show the package contents and look at the various plists you might find a similar list.


If you upgraded to Mojave after modifying the Kexts then your changes will likely have been overwritten.

AMD W8100 in a Mac Pro 2010

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