How to increase MacBook video RAM
Once upon a time, I was very frustrated with the amount of RAM used by integrated Intel GPU on my MacBook Pro. I always was low on memory while working with graphics-intensive apps which were using Metal acceleration for computing. I believed that GPU is sharing a memory with CPU so the limits are software. After some googling and researching I’ve managed out how to increase 1.5GB to 4GB.
Here are step-by-step instructions how to do that. Use on your own risk.
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Reboot your Mac into Recovery Mode by restarting your computer and holding down ⌘+R until the Apple logo appears on your screen.
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Click Utilities > Terminal.
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Type and run:
csrutil disable
This disables System integrity protection as we need to modify/patch system files.
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Reboot your Mac.
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If you have macOS 10.15 (Catalina) and above, open Terminal and run:
sudo mount -uw /
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Get Intel graphics platform ID:
ioreg -l | grep ig-platform-id
you’ll get something like: "AAPL,ig-platform-id" = <0700260d>
Remember your ID.
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Find a "Intel framebuffer" kext in use:
kextstat | grep Framebuffer
the output will be like com.apple.driver.AppleIntelFramebufferAzul
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Open respective framebuffer kext file in hex editor: /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelFramebufferAzul.kext/Contents/MacOS/AppleIntelFramebufferAzul
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Find your Intel ID from step 6 (mine was 0700260d) and you’ll see something like:
0700260d 01030403 00000004 00002002 00005001 00000060
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Replace 00000060 (1.5Gb) with FFFFFFFF (4Gb):
0700260d 01030403 00000004 00002002 00005001 FFFFFFFF
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Refresh the kext cache and reboot:
sudo kextcache -i /sudo reboot
Done. You have 4GB of video RAM.
Once upon a time, I was very frustrated with the amount of RAM used by integrated Intel GPU on my MacBook Pro. I always was low on memory while working with graphics-intensive apps which were using Metal acceleration for computing. I believed that GPU is sharing a memory with CPU so the limits are software. After some googling and researching I’ve managed out how to increase 1.5GB to 4GB.
Here are step-by-step instructions how to do that. Use on your own risk.
-
Reboot your Mac into Recovery Mode by restarting your computer and holding down ⌘+R until the Apple logo appears on your screen.
-
Click Utilities > Terminal.
-
Type and run:
csrutil disableThis disables System integrity protection as we need to modify/patch system files.
-
Reboot your Mac.
-
If you have macOS 10.15 (Catalina) and above, open Terminal and run:
sudo mount -uw / -
Get Intel graphics platform ID:
ioreg -l | grep ig-platform-idyou’ll get something like:
"AAPL,ig-platform-id" = <0700260d>Remember your ID.
-
Find a "Intel framebuffer" kext in use:
kextstat | grep Framebufferthe output will be like
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelFramebufferAzul -
Open respective framebuffer kext file in hex editor:
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelFramebufferAzul.kext/Contents/MacOS/AppleIntelFramebufferAzul -
Find your Intel ID from step 6 (mine was 0700260d) and you’ll see something like:
0700260d 01030403 00000004 00002002 00005001 00000060 -
Replace
00000060(1.5Gb) withFFFFFFFF(4Gb):0700260d 01030403 00000004 00002002 00005001 FFFFFFFF -
Refresh the kext cache and reboot:
sudo kextcache -i /sudo reboot
Done. You have 4GB of video RAM.