This thread is not a guide, its purpose is to keep some updated informations about ATI cards.
People who have the skills may find interesting infos. It\\\'s not complete and if you know how to fill the holes, it\\\'s very welcome.


Support of ATI cards is made by 2 kexts :
- A framebuffer, located in /System/Library/Extensions/ATINDRV.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ATY_Somefile.kext
This one is responsible of 2D support, including resolution change, output signal handle, and refresh rate.

- An acceleration driver located in /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonXXXX.kext
This one brings hardware acceleration allowing use of QE (Quartz Exterme) and usually CI (Core Image) too, except on some older models
which only support QE.




List of the available framebuffers :


The framebuffer controls the basic functions like resolution, refresh rate, and output type.
Each framebuffer is designed to run on a particular model of mac, and only supports the features it\\\'s designed for.
examples :
-The Sphyrna framebuffer is designed for Xserve which has no primary output, but only an external one, as secondary. As a consequence, this driver may be used to run a board with RV516 or close GPU, but will never be able to output something on the primary output.
-The Iago framebuffer is designed for iMacs with RV610 GPUs with an internal display using LVDS signal. It\\\'s then impossible to use a DVI or VGA display on the primary output. However the secondary output supports DVI + VGA, since the iMac have an external output that supports this kind of displays.
The 1st wave of framebuffer codenames are sharks (Alopias, Sphyrna, Iago, Hyproprion, Lamna, Megalodon, Triakis, Prionace, Caretta) later are birds (Franklin, Motmot, Quail, Raven).

To choose your framebuffer, you have to modify a key inside your injecter :

Replace with the codename that you want to try.




List of the available acceleration kexts :

The advantage of this file is that it\\\'s generic and supports the whole family at once. No need to have a specific file for each card.
Eg : ATIRadeonX1000.kext will work fine with any X1000 series (the card still has to be a \\\"real\\\" X1000 and not an older revamped model, see note below).




List of the officially supported cards, following the list of present device IDs in the kexts :

ATIRadeon8500.kext from 10.4.7 :


ATIRadeon9700.kext from 10.4.7 :


ATIRadeonX1000.kext from 10.4.11 :



ATIRadeonX1000.kext from 10.5.7 :


ATIRadeonX2000.kext from 10.5.7 :


ATIRadeonX2000.kext from 10.6.3 :


That means if you have one of the boards above, it should be supported, however that support will be limited by the outputs that the framebuffer is designed to support.
To enable the use of a kext for your card, you have to insert your dev ID inside the plist of the chosen kext, if it\\\'s not already there.
GPUs prior to R500 are only supported up to Tiger 10.4.7 with OpenGL.framework from the same version (support has been dropped with later versions). No way to get one of those working with Leopard. You still could load the kexts but the framework would panic. Those GPUs also never got any intel framebuffer.

Note about board numbers and generations :
Better rely on the GPU model than the board name, those are confusing and don\\\'t really mean a thing, ATI do what they want with them. Two cards with a very close number, can be very different, and on the opposite, two cards with a very different number can be very close if not identical.
Example : there are three X1300 models, different enough to use different kexts, and be supported or not.
A marketing trick consists in rebranding some models that use chips from older generation with up to date names so that they don\\\'t feel old.
This is the case of the X2500 which is actually a X1000 series card, hence its support by the X1000 kext, instead of the X2000 one, as the card name would suggest. Same with X1050, it\\\'s not a X1000 but would use the 9700 kext.
To get a detailed list of board names and their GPUs, you can check this database.


Missing so far :
- Some framebuffers missing/unknown.
- Some device IDs unkown.


PS : This thread is not for support. People seeking for help about their card will have their post deleted.

I want to say something about acceleration. The driver ATIRadeonXXXX.kext has internal check for DeviceID so it needs for binary patch.
For R300 family in Tiger it was performed by koverg.patch. There are many successful reports with it.
I investigated R200-R400 and found more information.
For R200 we must to patch ATIRadeon8500


For example, if you have DeviceID=514e then your sample=514c
Open ATIRadeon8500.kext/Contents/MacOS/ATIRadeon8500 with HexEdit (freeware)
Search 3d4c51 replace to 3d4e51 (you see bytes 4e and 51 in reverse order).

For R300

The same but with ATIRadeon9700.
The last sample 5b60 is the same patch as koverg did.

For R400 you have two samples 4a48 and 4a4e


For example you have DeviceID=5e49
Open ATIRadeon9700.kext/Contents/MacOS/ATIRadeon9700 with HexEdit
Search 3d484a replace to 3d495e
Search 3d4e4a replace to 3d495e
Yes, replace both sample! In two or three places!


ATIRadeonX1000.kext has hardcoded DeviceID!



The driver uses cmp edx, 7187h which coded as
81fa87710000
But the driver has many places to check. What is the best to replace? Needs investigations.
I think the first check would be best so
Open ATIRadeonX1000 with HexEdit
Search 81fa87710000
Replace to 81faXXYY0000 where XXYY is your deviceID in reverse order.
For example if your DeviceID=71cd then XXYY=cd71

In these codes we see that DevID=71c2 & 71ce are internally supported by ATIRadeonX1000 while they absent in info.plist.
The same investigations needed for ATIRadeonX2000.

Some interesting info can most likely be found in the ATi Section of our Hardware Database: http://projectosx.com/hardware/browse.php?...=3&hwMa=ATi

DeviceID database
http://www.pcidatabase.com/vendor_details.php?id=240

Catalyst™ PC VENDOR ID (1002) LIST

http://developer.amd.com/drivers/pc_vendor...es/default.aspx

For example ATI Radeon X700SE DeviceID=5e4f
1. Koverg patch is not fully correct for the card. It is better you use HexEdit to patch ATIRadeon9700 manually. Copy to desktop.
Open ATIRadeon9700.kext/Contents/MacOS/ATIRadeon9700
Search 3d484a replace to 3d4f5e
Search 3d4e4a replace to 3d4f5e
in all places!
Save and install back to /System/Library/Extensions/
2. Open ATIRadeon9700GA.plugin/Contents/Info.plist and edit

3. Replace 9700GL to X1000GL with renaming to 9700
sudo cp -v /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX1000GLDriver.bundle/Contents/MacOS/ATIRadeonX1000GLDriver /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeon9700GLDriver.bundle/Contents/MacOS/ATIRadeon9700GLDriver
4. Check that OK and reboot
5. Enjoy