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

[MacVidCards]

Just to let you guys know, my upgraded GPU had no problems with new OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) but still have no initial bootscreen. Cheers

Hi, are you still using this? Could you do a screenshot of the Graphics page of System Profiler? I am curious if it is device id of 119f. Also if you ram shows up as 4095 or 4096.

I succeed too. No startup screen and no brightness control as expected.

Dell 780m 4gb, device id 10DE-119F.



I did install Nvidia Web Drive as suggested. But now my iMac won't identify any external display including Apple Thunderbolt Display.

I have reboot iMac many times, and still worried it can't startup like the first time.

Thanks all of you guys. Especially mhafeez and MacVidCards !

Is this still working? Can you have a look at the first "About this mac" screen and see how much RAM it sees?

The reason I am asking this is that usually the self-init cards lose 1 MG of VRAM, and you guys are showing what I think is same card with different results.

Is there anyone in LA/Hollywood area with an iMac with MXM slot or someone in US who could send me the card? Would need to be one with 119F as device id as we know that the driver exists. Warning: may very well not work with 1st, 2nd, or 3rd try, but MVC has had better results than anyone else, so odds are good we could come up with a winning solution.

 

[mhafeez]

Hi, are you still using this? Could you do a screenshot of the Graphics page of System Profiler? I am curious if it is device id of 119f. Also if you ram shows up as 4095 or 4096.

Yup still using it. Previously on ElCap 10.11 the RAM shows 4096MB but after 10.11.1 updates it shows 4095MB instead with device id of 0x119f.

 

[madeirabhoy]

6970m 2gb it is. Your best choice.

I choose 780m because I don't mind putting 6970m back when it's needed.

For most people, I think, the huge performance improvement is always the priority.

can i ask why do you sometimes need to put back the 6970m? also how much approx does a 780m cost, and is there more involved in installing it? sorry if thats covered in a previous post, ive tried to read them all but its a big thread.

a 2gb 6970m looks like being about €350 which is a lot of cash but probably worth it to take my mac to todays game level, just cause 3 and fallout 4, but a 4gb card would give me a few years more than that. however if the 6970m slots straight in and just works, then maybe best with that.

 

[ivoruest]

Yup still using it. Previously on ElCap 10.11 the RAM shows 4096MB but after 10.11.1 updates it shows 4095MB instead with device id of 0x119f.

How is it going with temps? Are your fans loud? I believe the 780M runs cooler than 395X (for example) but not sure how it performs in your iMacs chassis.

 

[mhafeez]

How is it going with temps? Are your fans loud? I believe the 780M runs cooler than 395X (for example) but not sure how it performs in your iMacs chassis.

Here's my system temps and fans (idle mode)

 

[gourryx]

Hi, I just registered to thank all people in here helping, especially mhafeez and MacVidCards.

The card I got was the GTX 780M for Alienware, as expected no boot screen and no brightness control, but it worked without installing any Nvidia Web Drivers, no need to access OSX through screen sharing at first. The first, second and fourth diagnostic leds were on. Also, the System Profiler was showing 4096 MB VRAM on OSX El Capitan v.10.11.1.

After that, I got into my Windows system using Remote Desktop because the display was not showing anything, and installed the Nvidia Drivers for windows; but everything went wrong after that, I lost the display for OSX as well and was not able to get into OSX using screen sharing, neither Windows. Only the first and second diagnostics were on.

I knew that the system was booting because I had access to my files in OSX. I reinstalled the old AMD video card, enable the ssh access, reinstalled the Nvidia card and get into OSX using ssh and installed the Nvidia Web Drivers.

Right now, my iMac is working well using the Nvidia Web Drivers, No Bootcamp and the system profile shows the same info as mhafeez.

Sorry, for my english, is not my first language.

 

[tears2040]

Hi, I just registered to thank all people in here helping, especially mhafeez and MacVidCards.

The card I got was the GTX 780M for Alienware, as expected no boot screen and no brightness control, but it worked without installing any Nvidia Web Drivers, no need to access OSX through screen sharing at first. The first, second and fourth diagnostic leds were on. Also, the System Profiler was showing 4096 MB VRAM on OSX El Capitan v.10.11.1.

After that, I got into my Windows system using Remote Desktop because the display was not showing anything, and installed the Nvidia Drivers for windows; but everything went wrong after that, I lost the display for OSX as well and was not able to get into OSX using screen sharing, neither Windows. Only the first and second diagnostics were on.

I knew that the system was booting because I had access to my files in OSX. I reinstalled the old AMD video card, enable the ssh access, reinstalled the Nvidia card and get into OSX using ssh and installed the Nvidia Web Drivers.

Right now, my iMac is working well using the Nvidia Web Drivers, No Bootcamp and the system profile shows the same info as mhafeez.

Sorry, for my english, is not my first language.

View attachment 602775View attachment 602776

What is my option for upgrading graphics card in late 2012 iMac, currently have the factory installed
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2048 MB

 

[gourryx]

What is my option for upgrading graphics card in late 2012 iMac, currently have the factory installed
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2048 MB

As far as I know the iMac 2012 has the graphic card soldered into the logic board.

 

[pgleesonuk]

As far as I know the iMac 2012 has the graphic card soldered into the logic board.

Would a Dell MXM HD 6970M 2GB card work?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/172014545561

Apart from the additional connector (top right) on the Dell card, I can't see any differences.
But of course the firmware might be the issue

anyone used a Dell card?

thanks

 

[yifuhood]

Would a Dell MXM HD 6970M 2GB card work?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/172014545561

Apart from the additional connector (top right) on the Dell card, I can't see any differences.
But of course the firmware might be the issue

anyone used a Dell card?

thanks

it is better to get a 6970m pull out from a iMac 2011 with apples id, the firmware is the biggest problem I guess.Please correct me， I am a amateur.

 

[madeirabhoy]

it is better to get a 6970m pull out from a iMac 2011 with apples id, the firmware is the biggest problem I guess.Please correct me， I am a amateur.

be good to know how difficult it is to use a non apple one, as the apple one is about €350 and that dell one is €130.

 

[yifuhood]

Hi, I just registered to thank all people in here helping, especially mhafeez and MacVidCards.

The card I got was the GTX 780M for Alienware, as expected no boot screen and no brightness control, but it worked without installing any Nvidia Web Drivers, no need to access OSX through screen sharing at first. The first, second and fourth diagnostic leds were on. Also, the System Profiler was showing 4096 MB VRAM on OSX El Capitan v.10.11.1.

After that, I got into my Windows system using Remote Desktop because the display was not showing anything, and installed the Nvidia Drivers for windows; but everything went wrong after that, I lost the display for OSX as well and was not able to get into OSX using screen sharing, neither Windows. Only the first and second diagnostics were on.

I knew that the system was booting because I had access to my files in OSX. I reinstalled the old AMD video card, enable the ssh access, reinstalled the Nvidia card and get into OSX using ssh and installed the Nvidia Web Drivers.

Right now, my iMac is working well using the Nvidia Web Drivers, No Bootcamp and the system profile shows the same info as mhafeez.

Sorry, for my english, is not my first language.

View attachment 602775View attachment 602776

dose it means that GTX 780M for Alienware works better then gtx 780 from Dell if I donot need windows? alienware is the same as dell? right?

 

[Meleeman777]

Sooooo can anyone help me? I'm trying to upgrade my card cuz it just died and I am going to try to use a dell Quadro FX 880M card, will that work? I have a Quadro K3000M on the way that I was going to test, do u think those will work?

 

[Kamionist]

Hi guys,

unfortunatelly I have to point out that ATI R9 m290x 4GB does not work with 27" iMac mid 2011.

Just spent couple days trying to make it work without any luck. Screen does not turn on, no LCD backlight, computer boots up normally, I'm able to control it over TeamViewer, no graphic card is recognized.

I should have gone for the verified choice GTX 780.

 

[yifuhood]

Hi guys,

unfortunatelly I have to point out that ATI R9 m290x 4GB does not work with 27" iMac mid 2011.

Just spent couple days trying to make it work without any luck. Screen does not turn on, no LCD backlight, computer boots up normally, I'm able to control it over TeamViewer, no graphic card is recognized.

I should have gone for the verified choice GTX 780.

but still , thank you for your brave adventure！！！！respect！！！！

 

[Kamionist]

Cheers, it was definitely not worth the £280 and 20+ hours

 

[Fl0r!an]

Did you try it in Windows, too? Which OS X were you running?
If you can SSH/ScreenShare into your iMac with the R9 card installed, an ioreg dump might be interesting.

 

[Kamionist]

Did you try it in Windows, too? Which OS X were you running?
If you can SSH/ScreenShare into your iMac with the R9 card installed, an ioreg dump might be interesting.

Yes I did with the same outcome.
I've also already installed the drivers on Windows before changing graphics card. Unfortunately I forgot to install TeamViewer also on Windows so no screencap awailable. I probably won't be testing that R9 again as the procedure is very difficult and time consuming.
OS X is the latest El Capitan with all updates.

 

[Fl0r!an]

Okay.

I guess the protocol just doesn't match (LVDS vs. DP?), or the outputs are physically mismatched. In both cases there's not much you can do, but it would still be interesting to verify.

 

[Meleeman777]

Alright guys so I got no help from this forum and I have to say this: I got a cheaper card working in Yosemite and it's a DDR5 MXM-A video card. It's the Dell Quadro K3000M 2GB DDR5 vRAM that I picked up for $50 on eBay. It works perfectly, no additional drivers needed (web drivers might make it more badass cuz it's the Quadro Series) and it's solid! Installation was standard and I need to put a bit more thermal paste before I run games on this bad boy but other than that, she's solid. Thanks for no help but I'll help everyone with that i can.

 

[Meleeman777]

Alright guys so I got no help from this forum and I have to say this: I got a cheaper card working in Yosemite and it's a DDR5 MXM-A video card. It's the Dell Quadro K3000M 2GB DDR5 vRAM that I picked up for $50 on eBay. It works perfectly, no additional drivers needed (web drivers might make it more badass cuz it's the Quadro Series) and it's solid! Installation was standard and I need to put a bit more thermal paste before I run games on this bad boy but other than that, she's solid. Thanks for no help but I'll help everyone with that i can.

 

[madeirabhoy]

Alright guys so I got no help from this forum and I have to say this: I got a cheaper card working in Yosemite and it's a DDR5 MXM-A video card. It's the Dell Quadro K3000M 2GB DDR5 vRAM that I picked up for $50 on eBay. It works perfectly, no additional drivers needed (web drivers might make it more badass cuz it's the Quadro Series) and it's solid! Installation was standard and I need to put a bit more thermal paste before I run games on this bad boy but other than that, she's solid. Thanks for no help but I'll help everyone with that i can.

very interesting. few questions?
was it as simple as just opening the mac, taking out the 6970m and sticking in the new one?
would it then be easy to put back the 6970m?
was it easy to do? any difficulties?
does it work in bootcamp?
was it just random or did you choose that card for a reason?
how much of a difference does it give to games?

 

[Kamionist]

Did you try it in Windows, too? Which OS X were you running?
If you can SSH/ScreenShare into your iMac with the R9 card installed, an ioreg dump might be interesting.

Hi, it looks like that I will have some more time to play with this card before sending it back to seller for a refund. I will install TeamViewer on OSX and Windows and also connect it to MacBook Pro to use it as second monitor.

Do you please have any more ideas what else can I do to make it work properly?

Flashing or upgrading BIOS / firmware / bootloader to non-standard ones etc?

 

[havokalien]

Have you tried El cap or mavericks with it? I am getting ready to try this card was just wondering if the newer ones will see it.

 

[Kamionist]

I do believe I've got the latest software versions available for iMac 27" mid 2011.

El Capitan 10.11.1
iMac EFI Firmware Update 1.9
iMac SMC Firmware Update 1.1
Mac EFI Security Update 2015-001


Any suggestions?