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lpl

macrumors newbie
Aug 2, 2012
4
0
So I've accidentally increased my vRAM to 3GB (I know, it was stupid. I don't wanna talk about it.) And now, as you'd expect, my mac is running extremely slowly and the screen shudders. Is there away to revert it to it's original memory distribution? Can I replace the value (i.e. x18, x20) with a decimal to shrink it back down? Or is there an entirely separate code needed to send the memory back to it's default allocations?

Download apple COMBO for your system and install.
 

This-GUI

macrumors newbie
Mar 25, 2015
1
0
Does this work?

Hi, I've been reading through this post and I want to confirm some things.
Computer: Mac Mini (Mid 2011) 16GB RAM (upgraded from original 2gb). Intel HD Graphics 3000 (512 mb)
Reason for wanting to upgrade: increased gaming performance (basic Steam games, Team Fortress, Garry's Mod, Portal). Plus, I recently installed 16gb of RAM, and don't often use it all, so I would like to put some of it (1-2gb) to use as VRAM.
Questions:
(1) does this hack actually work? will I see an improvement in my gaming?
(2) I have 16gb or RAM. Should I allocate 1 or 2GB of my RAM to my VRAM?
(3) Do I need to use the Kext Utility from http://cvad-mac.narod.ru/index/0-4
(4) if yes to previous question, no. 2, is this site safe? Both my Sophos antivirus, and AVG's online website check reported it as malicious, carrying one or more Backdoor Trojans.

Thank you for your help.
 

vilocram

macrumors newbie
Jun 13, 2015
3
0
Hi, can somebody explain me that strange behavior, after upgrading from Intel 3000 HD Graphics 512MB to 1GB?
Check the printscreen. The MAC-Book tells me now, that i have a AMD Radeon, instead the Intel 3000 HD???? WTF :) HAHA...
I'm a absolute beginner in MAC-stuff. thanks a lot.
vilocram
bevor_vm_upgrade.png after_vm_upgrade.png
 

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
Hi, can somebody explain me that strange behavior, after upgrading from Intel 3000 HD Graphics 512MB to 1GB?
Check the printscreen. The MAC-Book tells me now, that i have a AMD Radeon, instead the Intel 3000 HD???? WTF :) HAHA...
I'm a absolute beginner in MAC-stuff. thanks a lot.
vilocram
View attachment 561014 View attachment 561015
Because your Mac has two GPUs - the integrated Intel HD 3000 and the discrete AMD Radeon card. It just happened that the AMD card was active.
 

vilocram

macrumors newbie
Jun 13, 2015
3
0
Because your Mac has two GPUs - the integrated Intel HD 3000 and the discrete AMD Radeon card. It just happened that the AMD card was active.

Hi, Thanks for the quick answer, but i'm still confused, so i have 2GPU's ok. So, if i have to GPU's in a PC, it shows me 2GPU's. Are this 2 GPU's in my MAC for different Tasks? for example one for 3Dstuff? if yes, does the system switch automaticaly to the correct GPU, are they both active, if yes, why is is only one GPU shown in the "about my MAC" menu! thanks again
 

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
Hi, Thanks for the quick answer, but i'm still confused, so i have 2GPU's ok. So, if i have to GPU's in a PC, it shows me 2GPU's. Are this 2 GPU's in my MAC for different Tasks? for example one for 3Dstuff? if yes, does the system switch automaticaly to the correct GPU, are they both active, if yes, why is is only one GPU shown in the "about my MAC" menu! thanks again
You got most of it right, it'll automatically switch according to tasks. Only one GPU can be active at any one time, so only the active one will be shown.
 

vilocram

macrumors newbie
Jun 13, 2015
3
0
Because your Mac has two GPUs - the integrated Intel HD 3000 and the discrete AMD Radeon card. It just happened that the AMD card was active.

Hi, Thanks for the quick answer, but i'm still confused, so i have 2GPU's ok. So, if i have to GPU's in a PC, it shows me 2GPU's. Are this 2 GPU's in my MAC for different Tasks? for example one for 3Dstuff? if yes, does the system switch automaticaly to the correct GPU, are they both active, if yes, why is is only one GPU shown in the "about my MAC" menu! thanks again
You got most of it right, it'll automatically switch according to tasks. Only one GPU can be active at any one time, so only the active one will be shown.

ok thank u for the quick answers..!
 

bit

macrumors newbie
Nov 14, 2014
3
1
The party is on again!

After some research I figure out how to make this tweak really works, you have to edit the Info.plist at AppleIntelHD3000Graphics.kext/C*
Have to add after VRAMOverrride the VRAMSize key, it will be like this:
<key>VRAMOverride</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>VRAMSize</key>
<integer>1024</integer>

Add these last two lines (VRAMSize integer value should match with the value you picked to edit the first kext, save it and patch and fix the extensions with Kext Utility and you are good to go!

Have fun! After several tests and benchmark I realize that 1024 vram size is the best. More then that your gpu don't use, believe me, I tried!

The proof screenshot:

How do you get that results-screen (the driver test)?

Thanks in advance.
 
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pinkeshgjr

macrumors newbie
Sep 24, 2015
1
0
Terminal command to increase vRAM for HD3000 graphics (Mac mini 2011 or MacBook Pro 2011)

From *MB - The amount of vRAM you currently have. You can find it in System Profiler.

From 256MB to 384MB


From 256MB to 512MB


From 384MB to 1GB


From 384MB to 512MB


From 512MB to 1GB

I was incresed my vram from 384 to 1 gb but now i have want 512 mb can you please tell me how will i get 512 mb vram
 

vista980622

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 2, 2012
369
177
I was incresed my vram from 384 to 1 gb but now i have want 512 mb can you please tell me how will i get 512 mb vram

It's the same as 384MB to 512 MB, which is

cd /S*/L*/Ext*/AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB.kext/C*/M*

sudo cp AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB.backup

sudo perl -pi -e 's|\xC7\x45\xBC\x00\x00\x00\x18|\xc7\x45\xBC\x00\x00\x00\x20|g' AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB

sudo touch /S*/L*/Extensions
 

Dameatball

macrumors regular
Feb 7, 2014
148
69
San Francisco
Thanks very much for this great thread. I was wondering about this, as I've just purchased my MacBook Pro 13" early 2011 and upgraded it to Yosemite.

This evening I've tested the above terminal command for 512MB > 1024MB on Yosemite 10.10.0. Graphics were already running at 512MB VRAM due to the MacBook having 16GB RAM.

The initial result following restart: Boot was very slow, and upon login VRAM showed as 3MB. Terrible graphical performance.

Next step was to recover my backup .kext and restart; 3MB issue persisted following restart.

Then, downloaded and ran the following utility to repair kexts:
http://cvad-mac.narod.ru/index/0-4

This restored my original 512MB VRAM configuration. Next and original step was to get to 1024MB ;)

My process on Yosemite to get 1024MB:
1) Run the original terminal command in this thread for 512MB > 1024MB (and assuming you can replace this with the upgrade of your choice)
2) Run the above-linked utility in this post directly afterwards
3) Restart
4) Enjoy

Graphics now test successfully at 1024MB VRAM. Whether it will survive a software update - I'm not sure, but easy enough to repeat :)

Hey I know this is an old post but wanted to thank you nonetheless. Same thing happened to me (also on yosemite, except I got a whopping 7MB initially). Ran the repair kext and rebooted- 1024MB's from an HD 3000 (have 16GB's of ram)
 

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kochub

macrumors newbie
Sep 28, 2015
1
0
I have installed OS X El Capitan, and could not update my kext file:
kesha-mbp:MacOS kesha$ sudo perl -pi -e 's|\xC7\x45\xBC\x00\x00\x00\x20|\xc7\x45\xBC\x00\x00\x00\x40|g' AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB
Can't remove AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB: Operation not permitted, skipping file.

Could somebody help me please? I need to upgrade VRAM size to allow Final Cut use my graphics accelerator working - without it is works REEEEEALY slow with all of 3D effects.
 

Dameatball

macrumors regular
Feb 7, 2014
148
69
San Francisco
I have installed OS X El Capitan, and could not update my kext file:
kesha-mbp:MacOS kesha$ sudo perl -pi -e 's|\xC7\x45\xBC\x00\x00\x00\x20|\xc7\x45\xBC\x00\x00\x00\x40|g' AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB
Can't remove AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB: Operation not permitted, skipping file.

Could somebody help me please? I need to upgrade VRAM size to allow Final Cut use my graphics accelerator working - without it is works REEEEEALY slow with all of 3D effects.

Did you turn off the 'rootless' default in El Capitan? That would explain why it's being rejected.
 

wiguan

macrumors newbie
Oct 1, 2015
1
1
Malaysia
I have installed OS X El Capitan, and could not update my kext file:
kesha-mbp:MacOS kesha$ sudo perl -pi -e 's|\xC7\x45\xBC\x00\x00\x00\x20|\xc7\x45\xBC\x00\x00\x00\x40|g' AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB
Can't remove AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB: Operation not permitted, skipping file.

Could somebody help me please? I need to upgrade VRAM size to allow Final Cut use my graphics accelerator working - without it is works REEEEEALY slow with all of 3D effects.

First you have to disable the system integrety check "rootless".

Simply boot to your recovery manager (CMD + R)
and then open Terminal from Utilities menu.

Type;

csrutil disable

and restart.

Screen Shot 2015-10-01 at 3.14.32 PM.png
 
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Dameatball

macrumors regular
Feb 7, 2014
148
69
San Francisco
The party is on again!

After some research I figure out how to make this tweak really works, you have to edit the Info.plist at AppleIntelHD3000Graphics.kext/C*
Have to add after VRAMOverrride the VRAMSize key, it will be like this:
<key>VRAMOverride</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>VRAMSize</key>
<integer>1024</integer>

Add these last two lines (VRAMSize integer value should match with the value you picked to edit the first kext, save it and patch and fix the extensions with Kext Utility and you are good to go!

Have fun! After several tests and benchmark I realize that 1024 vram size is the best. More then that your gpu don't use, believe me, I tried!

The proof screenshot:
I missed this part originally. Thanks very much. The opportunity to double the video memory in my old mini (2011) is fantastic.
 

souroots

macrumors newbie
Oct 6, 2015
1
0
now i can't find AppleIntelHD3000Graphics.kext at 10.11. just the last step.....
 

panmacbook2008

macrumors newbie
Oct 9, 2015
3
3
Hello, This is all very helpful.

I have a macbook 13-inch, aluminium, late 2008 with processor 2,4 intel core 2 duo with 2 gb ram and a Nvidia Geforce 9400 256mb. I was thinking to buy a newer macbook pro, but i would like to try to regenerate this one. Actually when running snow leopard was going very fast, even without having an ssd drive, but i had to pass on yosomite because almost every application now requires newer os. So i have to manage with everything going much slower. So i thought to get an ssd drive and 8gb ram.
But am i going to see some difference? Will it work much smoother? And is the graphics card going to work better?
I was also thinking if increasing gram on my geforce 9400m is possible. Thanks
 
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Dameatball

macrumors regular
Feb 7, 2014
148
69
San Francisco
Hello, This is all very helpful.

I have a macbook 13-inch, aluminium, late 2008 with processor 2,4 intel core 2 duo with 2 gb ram and a Nvidia Geforce 9400 256mb. I was thinking to buy a newer macbook pro, but i would like to try to regenerate this one. Actually when running snow leopard was going very fast, even without having an ssd drive, but i had to pass on yosomite because almost every application now requires newer os. So i have to manage with everything going much slower. So i thought to get an ssd drive and 8gb ram.
But am i going to see some difference? Will it work much smoother? And is the graphics card going to work better?
I was also thinking if increasing gram on my geforce 9400m is possible. Thanks
 

Dameatball

macrumors regular
Feb 7, 2014
148
69
San Francisco
I'd hold off On the vram tweak and upgrade your mac to the max recommended ram on the machine (it's either 8 or 16g). That in itself will make an enormous difference in your macs performance. 8 gigs is basically the minimum needed to run modern applications. It's also a relatively cheap and would recommend doing that before investing in an SSD.
 
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panmacbook2008

macrumors newbie
Oct 9, 2015
3
3
I'd hold off On the vram tweak and upgrade your mac to the max recommended ram on the machine (it's either 8 or 16g). That in itself will make an enormous difference in your macs performance. 8 gigs is basically the minimum needed to run modern applications. It's also a relatively cheap and would recommend doing that before investing in an SSD.
 

GusMacRumor

macrumors newbie
Oct 10, 2015
1
1
Hello, This is all very helpful.

I have a macbook 13-inch, aluminium, late 2008 with processor 2,4 intel core 2 duo with 2 gb ram and a Nvidia Geforce 9400 256mb. I was thinking to buy a newer macbook pro, but i would like to try to regenerate this one. Actually when running snow leopard was going very fast, even without having an ssd drive, but i had to pass on yosomite because almost every application now requires newer os. So i have to manage with everything going much slower. So i thought to get an ssd drive and 8gb ram.
Will it work much smoother? And is the graphics card going to work better?
I was also thinking if increasing gram on my geforce 9400m is possible. Thanks

Hola desde Argentina, donde cada dolar vale ORO... Tengo una MacBook Pro Early 2011, ahora con 1024 Mb VRAM gracias a MAcRumors y su Team de gente que colabora y aporta excelentes tips para que nuestros equipos duren mas y funcionen mejor.

Siguiendo los pasos de este post, pude elevar de 512Mb a 1024 Mb VRAM sin mayores tropiezos.
panmacbook2008, si bien nuestros macbooks no son identicos, pero me siento identificado contigo, tenía las mismas preguntas y los mismos inconvenientes, obligado a actualizar hacia Yosemite (ahora estoy corriendo "El Capitan"), sobre un SSD Samsung Evo 350 120Gb para el sistema y el HDD original (320 Gb) para archivos de documento, fotos, video. Annnd... actualicé mi RAM desde 4Gb a 8Gb

Tú pregunta:
But am i going to see some difference?
Yes, a little bit more
Mi ingles es terrible :) YES! vas a notar diferencia, todo suma un poco al resultado final. Pero como te decía al principio, en Argentina cada u$s cuesta mucho y el balance para mi puede no amortizar el resultado. Pero a quienes estas actiualizaciones no les son muy costosas, vale la pena hacerlo. Asi que Hazlo! Anímate

Soy fotógrafo y estas actualizaciones me han permitido seguir trabajando con mi monitor adicional de 24' y Photoshop CS6 (no CC !! ) sin mayores problemas.

Gracias a todos por la enorme ayuda que brindan. Nos vemos!
 
Last edited:
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