iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

[Nick [D]vB]

Yes, that looks about right. You've got to love Apple's all black wiring schemes, very helpful! The IR module cable does unplug from its PCB so I'd solder that end straight to the DyingLight, to keep the USB run short, maybe twist the cables to. Might as well pull ground from the IR sensor to, just wrap it around the USB wires as a shield (probably not needed). You can actually get 3.3v from the PSU but the SD cable is probably a much safer idea, and it's insulation is already stripped beneath that foil grounding tape. Good luck with it, let us know how it goes!

 

[LegoNickD]

Alright I just dropped way too much money on a 2010 27 iMac for science. I have ordered a w7100 (RX 580), dying light, a 6 pin extender so I don't have to cut the backlight cable, and a mpcie to 12+6 pin to upgrade my wifi and bluetooth since I lost my card while playing with a gdc beast.
The total was $387. Not the most budget option for an iMac I previously only had $135 in total but hopefully it will give fantastic performance and make this iMac shine and stay compatible with many more macOS versions to come. I will update along the way as the parts start coming in, most by the 8th.
Oh don't worry, I won't be cutting the ir plug, I will be using the plug from an a1181 fan.

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Cool, I'd also get hold of an original 6970M 3 pipe heat-sink + X bracket because they fit the WX7100 perfectly, the original 2010 2 pipe sink might fit but won't cool as well, and using the smaller type X bracket will damage the card. Don't bother trying to drill out the bracket it comes with, it's made of tin-foil! Use the Beta2 MP6 bootrom files but try the vBios from Beta1 first, it should be a bit faster. It might also be worth upgrading to a Clarkdale CPU at some point if that's possible, you might need to do a Microcode mod first though?

I've actually got a GDC Beast connected to my 2011, you can tap 12v for it from that extension. PCIE x1 is not much use for eGPU but it works ok for USB 3.0 and NVME cards (even capped at 500MB/s they still out-perform most SATA SSDs). I thought about doing the BT/WiFi mod but I don't need HandOff etc and always use wired ethernet anyway, so I'd rather keep the Beast. There are compatible USB WiFi adapters available, so if you wanted to keep everything internal I guess you could use one together with MiniPCIE USB 3.0 or NVME adapters instead. Thunderbolt is obviously the better option for the 2011 models anyway, much more expensive though.

 

[LegoNickD]

Cool, I'd also get hold of an original 6970M 3 pipe heat-sink + X bracket because they fit the WX7100 perfectly, the original 2010 2 pipe sink might fit but won't cool as well, and using the smaller type X bracket will damage the card. Don't bother trying to drill out the bracket it comes with, it's made of tin-foil!

Oh yikes $40 for the heatsink, I might wait and see how the thermals are with the stock one. I looked and couldn't find the x bracket, where would I find one without the 6970 itself?

compatible USB WiFi cards available, and if you wanted to keep everything internal you could use MiniPCIE USB 3.0 or NVME adapter cards instead.

Oh nice usb 3 card, I saw those but not sure if the kexts are there under macOS though. Also don't really want to give up wifi since I'm upgrading it with a spare mbp 2015 card for airdrop and continuity. Maybe there's a good usb wifi card that can be slapped on the inside.

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Just keep an eye on eBay, I've seen the 6970M sink + bracket go for as little as $10.

 

[jchang7]

Hi guys,
I have successfully flashed Nick's Rom for WX4170(RX560) and then soldered it.
I have verified the flash after flashing with original, and dumped file after flash.
And I have also jumped PWM pin from backlight board from PSU SMB_SCL pin.

The problem is same as what liquidtwitch have encountered before.
LED 1 is on, and when power button is pressed, the fans starts to turn, then stops, and loops.

I've just tried a Quadro K3100M and the iMac's failing to boot at all. Fans spin for a bit and then nothing - only first LED lighting up on the logicboard.

Clamp is sitting fine and it doesn't look like anything is shorting so I'm guessing it was just DOA. Seller is refusing to exchange/refund though because the 'imac is unsupported', which is annoying but I only paid $80 Australian for it.

I have tried disconnecting the PSU/Backlight cable, and it still 'fan loops'
Tried other GPU(broken AMD 6970M) and it boots with no problem(except broken graphics).

I do not know if this problem is due to bad soldering resulting in non perfect contact of bios chip,
or others. Any idea?

 

[tsialex]

I saw that people are using VMs to run flashrom, if you install flasrom from home-brew, it runs natively and perfectly on MacOS, from 10.12 to 10.14.

@Nick [D]vB
Using the firmware of a newer iMac on a previous one causes all sort of trouble with macOS since everything uses the board-id. A better approach will be to find what exactly changed with processor support and modify the original firmware.

 

[Nick [D]vB]

I have tried disconnecting the PSU/Backlight cable, and it still 'fan loops'
Tried other GPU(broken AMD 6970M) and it boots with no problem(except broken graphics).

Hi, did you test the WX4170 card before soldering on the EEPROM, was it detected? (using TeamViewer etc)

I guess you already tried removing AC power, and re-seating the card in the MXM slot?

Have you done the bootrom mod already? Did you use the Beta2 MP6 files?


With the back-light mod wire connected does the screen turn on with no GPU / 6970M (how broken is it?)

It might be better to remove the PWM pin from the plug into the back-light PCB (or just cut that wire)


I have not tested soldering a chip to that specific card yet, it is possible some other changes are needed,

can you test with a meter if the empty pads for R1342 are connected to any of the EEPROM pins?


PS - To get smooth joints you need to use some flux liquid when soldering the chip!

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Using the firmware of a newer iMac on a previous one causes all sort of trouble with macOS since everything uses the board-id. A better approach will be to find what exactly changed with processor support and modify the original firmware.

Yes, I'd expect all kinds of problems with the board-id, and the missing Gmux hardware etc, I just thought it might be worth fighting through these problems to get "official" Mojave support etc, probably not though!

 

[jchang7]

First of all, I really need to thank you Nick, for all these guides, ROMs, mods, and infos.
also big thanks to you for helping!!!

Hi, did you test the WX4170 card before soldering on the EEPROM, was it detected? (use TeamViewer etc)

I guess you already tried removing AC power, NVRAM reset, and re-seating the card in the MXM slot?

Have you done the bootrom mod already? Did you use the Beta2 MP6 files?

With the back-light mod wire connected does the screen turn on with the 6970M (how broken is it?)

I have not tested soldering a chip to that specific card yet, it is possible some other changes are needed,

can you test with a meter if the empty pads for R1342 are connected to any of the EEPROM pins?

PS - To get smooth joints you need to use more flux when soldering the chip!

Pin 4(far right pin on pin 1 side) of flash chip is connected with R1342 pad.

I have not tested the card before soldiering flash chip, since I believed it would do anything without flash chip.
I used flashrom on ubuntu 'Live disk', and seemed to work fine, as checksum is correct.
I haven't done bootrom yet. Beta2 MP6? I only have downloaded your files from your post #2,233.
My 6970M will shut down my imac and restart. Most of times it will just keep restart while booting(apple loading logo)

With the 6970M, and mooded backlight cable, the LCD backlight flashes. Maybe 3.3v is not consistent?

 

[Nick [D]vB]

No problem, nice to have someone else try the RX560 card!

The card will not work without an EEPROM, but MacOS might see its PCI IDs etc

Maybe cut the original PWM wire in the photo above to fix the back-light mod.

That resistor pad / pin 4 is connected to ground? (you can test from a screw hole)

 

[jchang7]

With the original PWM cable cut, it 'flickers' less but still does flicker. hm........
I have added little more solder to pads, and soldered it with heatgun, before finishing off with iron tip.
Would bootrom mod makes it boot? also, what kind of more changes would be needed to card?
I wonder how other people with WX4170 successful finished the mod. ㅠㅠ

 

[Nick [D]vB]

I think the screen flicker is normal, because there is no video input signal yet.

The card should already work in MacOS without a the bootrom mod (but no bootscreen etc)

The bootrom mod is helpful because if the vbios+GOP is loaded from EEPROM then debug LED3 turns on.

The XW4170 cards I tested already had an EEPROM chip, I have not tested your exact card type yet.

If you can send me good photos of both sides of the card I will try and check how to fix it.

It is also possible these cards might need a different vbios version, I will check that to.

 

[jchang7]

I think the screen flicker is normal, because there is no video input signal yet.

The card should already work in MacOS without a the bootrom mod (with no bootscreen etc)

The boot-rom mod is helpful because if the vbios/EFI is loaded from EEPROM then debug LED3 turns on.

The XW4170 cards I have already had an EEPROM chip, I have not tested your exact card type yet.

If you can send me good photos of both sides of the card I will try and check how to fix it.

It is also possible these cards might need a different vbios version, I will check that to.

The 'flicker' happens with 6970M. with WX4170, it does not boot at all. T.T
Yes, the R1342 pad is grounded. (Tested with screw hole)
I should be able to dump/flash the Bootrom. Is there other option to mod Bootrom without mac, or should I find a way to lend a mac from friend.
The attached images is from Ebay listing I bought from, mine has all the thermal paste on ram and chip. lol
Again thanks for your help! really!

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Thanks, I will try and look at it over the weekend. Before then maybe you can read all the posts on how to do the bootrom mod, but I would not actually do the mod yet, until we know the card is working. It might be good to test reading the EEPROM from the card using the clip, but try to make sure all the joints are "smooth" or you can damage the clip easily. Also be careful using the heat gun, it is easy to over-heat and damage the card!

 

[jchang7]

Thanks, I will try and look at it over the weekend. Before then maybe you can read my posts on how to do the bootrom mod, but I would not actually do the mod it until we know the card is working. It might be good to test reading the EEPROM from the card using the clip, but try to make sure all the joints are "smooth" or you can damage the clip easily. Also be careful using the heat gun, it is easy to over-heat and damage the card!

Sorry I meant Bootrom instead of EEPROM. I flashed vBIOS on chip first, before soldering to card. haha

 

[Nick [D]vB]

You can do the bootrom mod from another computer using MacOS, Windows or Linux,
because UEFI Tool & Flashrom are available for all these OS, no Virtual Machines needed!
We might need to update the vBIOS EEPROM when it is now soldered to the card,
if we can not boot we must use the clip, so the solder joints must be good to avoid damage.

 

[jchang7]

You can do the bootrom mod from another computer using MacOS, Windows or Linux,
because UEFI Tool & Flashrom are available for all these OS, no Virtual Machines needed!
We might need to update the vBIOS EEPROM when it is now soldered to the card,
if we can not boot we must use the clip, so the solder joints must be good to avoid damage.

OK. I will try to dump, mod, verify, and flash the MOBO BootRom, using my CH341A.
What do you mean by a need to update the vBIOS EEPROM?

 

[Nick [D]vB]

We might need to flash a different vBIOS to the EEPROM chip on the graphics card, my cards have Samsung memory instead of Micron memory on your card so maybe that is the problem, I will check it. Also I forgot to say, you should not use the metal X bracket from the 6970M on the back of the card, it is the wrong shape for the WX4170. Can you remove it to check for damaged SMDs, and post a photo of the back of the card.

 

[jchang7]

We might need to flash a different vBIOS to the EEPROM chip on the graphics card, my cards have Samsung memory instead of Micron memory on your card so maybe that is the problem, I will check it. Also I forgot to say, you should not use the metal X bracket from the 6970M on the back of the card, it is the wrong shape for the WX4170. Can you remove it to check for damaged SMDs, and post a photo of the back of the card.

Oh... Different RAM. Yea, mine has Micron. That may definitely make problem.
For the rear X bracket I used the one with I think 5750M?, and it does not seems to interfere with capacitors. I also have 2010 iMAC 27" someone gave me with broken LVSD jack on mobo (Yea it's fxxed lol)
Here are pictures of the X bracket.

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Thanks, that X bracket from the 5750 is ok, the correct size for the XW4170.
As a test I would try putting some insulation tape over the back of the X bracket,
sometimes it can short-circuit some small SMDs on the logic-board above the MXM slot.

EDIT - Sadly it looks like your card might have been damaged!
It is missing capacitor C708 (next to the triangle heat symbol)
that component is on the eBay photo so I think it should be there!
Luckily it looks like a bypass / decap so it might be ok without it??

I have checked and my vBios works with Micron memory so I don't think that is the problem.

 

[jchang7]

Thanks, that X bracket from the 5750 is ok, the correct size for the XW4170.
As a test I would try putting some insulation tape over the back of the X bracket,
sometimes it can short-circuit some small SMDs on the logic-board above the MXM slot.

It is hard to see from these photos but it looks like an SMD is missing?
(in the bottom-left corner next to black square IC near the label R2)
but these cards have many missing parts from the factory (by PCB design)
so it is very hard to know if it is really missing / damaged or not!

I have checked and my vBios works with Micron memory so I don't think that is the problem.

Oh. Didnt know different manufacture ram is compatible over one vBios.
Yea, that SMD is missing.

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Yes, I forgot is was Hynix memory this vBIOS does not support, but I have another one that does.

Please try adding the tape shown in the photos above, it can really fix the start-up problem!

 

[jchang7]

Yes, I forgot my vBIOS does not support Hynix memory, but I have another one that does.

Please try adding the tape shown in the photos above, it can really fix the start-up problem!

OK.
I will put a tape there and try again. And I guess no need to flash another vBIOS?
Also what would happen if I were to try the card before putting the flash chip?

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Even without an EEPROM MacOS should detect the PCI Device ID,
but it will not show anything on screen so you must have set up
remote access first with a working card (VNC, TeamViewer etc)
You can try erasing the chip using the clip instead of removing it,
but I would try the tape fix first and see if the iMac can start.