Hey guys and girls, is there any way to make this work on Sierra? I've tried kexbeast and the terminal commands but after each restart I'm still stuck with 512MB (8GB RAM)
Z.
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Other How to increase vRAM for HD3000 graphics
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It works with the pre-patched files, but you will be stuck with the older versions of the files that way.
I've read through the whole thread, initially tried the terminal approach, that didn't work, then I tried the patched files, ran KextBeast, but after restart I'm still on 512MB (I have 8GB system memory).
Has anyone else tried this lately on 10.12.x?
Cheers,
Z.
[doublepost=1485351729][/doublepost]OK guys, my bad, I didn't pay enough attention on placing the patched files on the desktop. I was running it from my downloads directory. I can now confirm it worked on my system, after placing the files on Desktop (~/Desktop/KextBeast)
Thanks!
Z.
Has anyone else tried this lately on 10.12.x?
Cheers,
Z.
[doublepost=1485351729][/doublepost]OK guys, my bad, I didn't pay enough attention on placing the patched files on the desktop. I was running it from my downloads directory. I can now confirm it worked on my system, after placing the files on Desktop (~/Desktop/KextBeast)
Thanks!
Z.
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Is this worth doing on my early-2011 MacBook Pro?
Would I see any benefit for, say, Final Cut Pro X?
Would I see any benefit for, say, Final Cut Pro X?
Wow, just tried this on my early 2011 MBP with Sierra 10.12.4 (beta), it actually worked! Intel Graphics 3000 @ 2048 MB now 
BIG THANK YOU to the guys who came up with this workaround!
BIG THANK YOU to the guys who came up with this workaround!
I tried to go from 512 MB to 1024 MB on EL Capitan 10.11.1 with 8GB of RAM, but my vRAM decreased to 384 MB and my RAM to 4GB after typing the code. Is there any reason why this would have happened? Is there a way to change it back? I tried replacing the file with the backup I made, but that did not work. Please help.
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[doublepost=1491583427][/doublepost]Tried this on my MacMini Mid-2011 (Sierra) and no go. Tried several times and it still shows as 512 - although it did kernel panic once during a reboot. Any suggestions?
Hi guys, I need your help I don't if I have messed up or not I was trying to upgrade VRAM from 512 to 1024.
I have a Macbook pro laptop (15-inch, late 2011) running OS X Yosemite.It used to have 4Gb ram and I have upgraded to 16Gb Ram.
My Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB. CPU 2.2 Ghz Intel i7.......
First I downloaded and executed the Ketx program and showed all was a success. I rebooted and using the terminal and running the code:... I still have 512 MB but the HD Graphics have changed from Intel HD 3000 512 MB to AMD Radeon 6750 512 MB as shown here: http://prntscr.com/etrh59
What have I done wrong? How can I make 512 MB to 1024 MB? Can I reverse this process and start over again?
Please help, thanks in advance...
I have a Macbook pro laptop (15-inch, late 2011) running OS X Yosemite.It used to have 4Gb ram and I have upgraded to 16Gb Ram.
My Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB. CPU 2.2 Ghz Intel i7.......
First I downloaded and executed the Ketx program and showed all was a success. I rebooted and using the terminal and running the code:... I still have 512 MB but the HD Graphics have changed from Intel HD 3000 512 MB to AMD Radeon 6750 512 MB as shown here: http://prntscr.com/etrh59
What have I done wrong? How can I make 512 MB to 1024 MB? Can I reverse this process and start over again?
Please help, thanks in advance...
The guy who did it and made it work, seems to have disappeared. The only others who seem to have got it to work, have used the pre-patched files found somewhere in this thread. If you don't mind really old versions of the Kext files, on top of your newer installation of OS X, then you can do that, and it seems to work. There are some that say that is not actually working, but you are just making your computer think that it is working. Others might tell you that it is working, but the benefits are negligible or even detrimental in some regards.
Yes, I agree with mikecwest. To go further, fiddling with these files could help a little but one thing is certain. This process is a great way to break your computer.
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Hi, I have an old Mac Mini Mid 2011 with AMD Radeon HD6630M 256 MB of VRAM. Can i extend the VRAM size to at least 512MB or 1GB would be great. Please let me know. Thanks!
Ugh!
These "Increase Your vRAM" threads are like flypaper!
I hope that some of you little beasties notice your brethren stuck in plain sight! After their Macs are blinded by this compulsion to fiddle with Terminal commands they often end up back on these same threads with their little wings beating out "help me! Help Me!".
These "Increase Your vRAM" threads are like flypaper!
I hope that some of you little beasties notice your brethren stuck in plain sight! After their Macs are blinded by this compulsion to fiddle with Terminal commands they often end up back on these same threads with their little wings beating out "help me! Help Me!".
Sorry for not showing myself for so long in this post. I'm now running an AMD RX 460 eGPU
This is the method that I used. Before doing that, you must enter in recovery mode (restart and keep pressing CMD+R until the Apple logo appears), open the terminal there and enter the command [csrutil disable] (of course it'll ask for administrator password). After disabling SIP, restart normally and go to your terminal to enter [sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"]
Then go for the procedure he meant on his post.
It worked for me, before the 12.3 update because from that after I'm using an eGPU as I said previously. I don't know if this trick still work, there's only one way to find out
This is the method that I used. Before doing that, you must enter in recovery mode (restart and keep pressing CMD+R until the Apple logo appears), open the terminal there and enter the command [csrutil disable] (of course it'll ask for administrator password). After disabling SIP, restart normally and go to your terminal to enter [sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"]
Then go for the procedure he meant on his post.
Ugh!
These "Increase Your vRAM" threads are like flypaper!
I hope that some of you little beasties notice your brethren stuck in plain sight! After their Macs are blinded by this compulsion to fiddle with Terminal commands they often end up back on these same threads with their little wings beating out "help me! Help Me!".
It worked for me, before the 12.3 update because from that after I'm using an eGPU as I said previously. I don't know if this trick still work, there's only one way to find out
...
It worked for me, before the 12.3 update because from that after I'm using an eGPU as I said previously. I don't know if this trick still work, there's only one way to find out
Yes, it works for a lot of folks!
But that still does not mean that it is always a good idea for people to start poking around OS X with Terminal commands. Like many users, I have been playing with MS DOS, Apple, Windows, Unix, and OS X configuration commands for ages. We know the cost of a typographical error. This is one way to learn how computers work.
However, I don't know if these video RAM experimenters always know what they are signing up for. When we tell them things like, "Be careful with your typing", "This command is for an HD 3000 equipped mini", or "This command has worked with Mavericks, it has not been tested with any other version of OS X" some folks understand and others don't.
To me, the best way to increase your video RAM on a Mac mini with an integrated video solution is to cram all the RAM that you can on the motherboard. Then these modern operating systems will automatically increase the RAM designated for use by the display system. This feature took my 2012 HD 4000 from 512MB to 1536MB without me pressing one keystroke. All I had to do was raise my memory from the original 4GB to 16GB.
Does this automatic method enable the HD 4000 to compare with an eGPU? No way! But neither does playing around with Terminal commands. (...and this way is considerably safer!)
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Bit of an odd question; I'm actually looking to decrease the amount of VRAM on my 2011 MacBook Air; it's currently at its default 288MB, and I'd like to knock it down to 128MB. I don't do anything graphically intensive on it at all, and it only has 2GB of RAM. I'd just like to free up a little more RAM for other tasks; any ideas?
It may be possible to halve your video RAM allocation and still have a working computer and this action might yield a performance increase but...
You seem to have outgrown that 2011 2GB MBA. Perhaps an upgrade is the way to go.
You seem to have outgrown that 2011 2GB MBA. Perhaps an upgrade is the way to go.
I'm just looking for a way to make this little guy a bit more pleasant to use in the coming years. I mostly just use it for writing and schoolwork in my classroom (I'm a teacher), and it works quite well for those needs still!It may be possible to halve your video RAM allocation and still have a working computer and this action might yield a performance increase but...
You seem to have outgrown that 2011 2GB MBA. Perhaps an upgrade is the way to go.
My main laptop is a 2015 11" Air, so I'm good on upgrades
I am a bit confused by "its default 288MB", did OS X revise the 256MB RAM allocation share up to 288MB? Either way, I don't know if that HD3000 can function with half of the original designated RAM allotment.
I have some Intel data sheets and a 2011 mini technical manual around here. Perhaps it says in there...
I have some Intel data sheets and a 2011 mini technical manual around here. Perhaps it says in there...
Apparently so, as that's what it reports. I appreciate you looking up some stuff for me!
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
Oh my lord i finally got it to work! Thanks!
Okay, so I've spent the past 12 hours researching and experimenting with everything in this thread and some things in some other threads. I'm almost an expert except I'm not.
I run Sierra OS X. I upgraded my late-2011 Mac Book Pro from 4gb RAM to 16gb RAM. Noticing that a game (Civ VI) required 1gb of VRAM I plunged into this rabbit hole. I've done hex edits, text edits, kext edits and used Kext Utility, Kextbeast, and Terminal Commands.
I ran benchmarks on my edits and you know what? Nothing I did mattered. It seems that Sierra OS allocated the most efficient amount of VRAM. I only have ONE question before I throw in the towel. In my Benchmarks it says 256mb VRAM, is this an error in the Heaven's benchmark program or has something happened limiting my VRAM to 256mb?
In my About my Mac settings it originally showed 512mb VRAM (up from the 388mb when I had 4gb RAM). After I did all the manual edits it showed 1024 mb VRAM. After I ran kextbeast it showed 1024mb VRAM. Yet, in the three benchmark tests it says 256mb VRAM is there anything to fix or am I done here?
1st photo (Base Sierra OS allocation) 2nd Photo (After manually altering all kext files) 3rd Photo (After running Kextbeast)
I run Sierra OS X. I upgraded my late-2011 Mac Book Pro from 4gb RAM to 16gb RAM. Noticing that a game (Civ VI) required 1gb of VRAM I plunged into this rabbit hole. I've done hex edits, text edits, kext edits and used Kext Utility, Kextbeast, and Terminal Commands.
I ran benchmarks on my edits and you know what? Nothing I did mattered. It seems that Sierra OS allocated the most efficient amount of VRAM. I only have ONE question before I throw in the towel. In my Benchmarks it says 256mb VRAM, is this an error in the Heaven's benchmark program or has something happened limiting my VRAM to 256mb?
In my About my Mac settings it originally showed 512mb VRAM (up from the 388mb when I had 4gb RAM). After I did all the manual edits it showed 1024 mb VRAM. After I ran kextbeast it showed 1024mb VRAM. Yet, in the three benchmark tests it says 256mb VRAM is there anything to fix or am I done here?
1st photo (Base Sierra OS allocation) 2nd Photo (After manually altering all kext files) 3rd Photo (After running Kextbeast)
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Successfully upgraded!
Thanks a lot! it worked like a charm!
Hi there - i have the exact same 2011 Mac Mini server, currently with 8GB RAM and INtel HD 3000 512MB
I've not been using this machine for intensive video editing, but I have noticed an issue with watching full screen or HD video in the browsers (Chrome & Safari) The fans come on really loud and when I touch the machine it is red hot. As soon as I close the video or browser the fans stop and temperature goes back to normal - I have noticed the exact same thing happens on the Photos application when viewing videos in Icloud - Which leads me to believe it is a GPU problem - which eventually led me to this thread.
Could you tell me if you have experienced any such issues and whether the increase in VRAM has improved the performance of your machine.
I have seen another video on youtube about using an external GPU card via thunderbolt - which would be overkill for me at the moment.
My current Version is OSX El Capitan and I am always reluctant to upgrade the OS - I was even considering installing Lion on a bootable disc to see if this resolved any issues.
Thanks