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

[hrutkaymods]

Wow this guys content is great, i'm subscribing. I still want to see results in Windows so everything can be monitored with GPU-Z. At 31:30 you can see the huge result gain. It really depends if @Alex227831 is up for the modifications. And knows I personally haven't tried the 765m.

Well a year later knowing that there is a BIOS flash, I'll be following up with the videos I never actually filmed because of how much of a pain it was to get Mojave running

 

[highvoltage12v]

Well a year later knowing that there is a BIOS flash, I'll be following up with the videos I never actually filmed because of how much of a pain it was to get Mojave running

Yes a lot has improved since your video. In the background we (@Nick [D]vB ) are working on a bootloader that brings back brightness and Target Display mode. I'm just having issues with the 27" iMac and 2010 iMacs.

 

[rodolfo.araujo]

You will have to modify your X bracket. I like to use a small Torx Screw drivers to push on one of the 4 rivet nuts from the front of the card to free the x bracket. Then drill out the rivet nuts from the back of the X-bracket.
Yeah one of my 21.5" 2011 iMacs also have been upgraded to a 2600s and a k2100m. The machine performs great, better than it ever did. I have 2 SSDs by buying a cheap cable off Amazon that accesses the 2nd 6GB/s Sata connector, for Windows 10.

Hi! I've been reading this post (entirely) time after time for the last 12 months or so. Finally have decided to upgrade the GPU and install newer OS on my mid-2011 21"iMac. Thing is, I'm having some difficulties finding the right K2100m. By right I mean the one I should have less hacking to do. Would you point or recommend something? Thanks in advance

 

[spwnrpe]

My k2100m looks like this, if it helps:

 

[highvoltage12v]

Hi! I've been reading this post (entirely) time after time for the last 12 months or so. Finally have decided to upgrade the GPU and install newer OS on my mid-2011 21"iMac. Thing is, I'm having some difficulties finding the right K2100m. By right I mean the one I should have less hacking to do. Would you point or recommend something? Thanks in advance

All K2100m are configured the same. They have the X bracket on the back and need to have the ROM flashed.

My k2100m looks like this, if it helps:

View attachment 888088

Yes that's a Dell card. You can tell by the bios sticker. I recommend everyone to buy Dell cards. I see there are HP cards. But I personally never got to test that version of the card.

Here is an example listing of what to buy @rodolfo.araujo https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Preci...-Quadro-K2100M-2GB-0G4FN0-Tested/133289183942

 

[spwnrpe]

All K2100m are configured the same. They have the X bracket on the back and need to have the ROM flashed.

Yes that's a Dell card. You can tell by the bios sticker. I recommend everyone to buy Dell cards. I see there are HP cards. But I personally never got to test that version of the card.

Here is an example listing of what to buy @rodolfo.araujo https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Preci...-Quadro-K2100M-2GB-0G4FN0-Tested/133289183942

And we need to drill out the rivet nuts from the k2100m x-bracket and re-use it? We cannot use the x-bracket from the ati/amd/iMac?

 

[FlorisVN]

Well a year later knowing that there is a BIOS flash, I'll be following up with the videos I never actually filmed because of how much of a pain it was to get Mojave running

great !
even cheaper and smaller quadro cards have a EFI beta vbios now these days
All thx to nick !

of course other Nvidia cards like GTX765/770/780m all also have an EFI beta vbios
So you can give your GTX765M an EFI bootscreen now, should make installing a patched mojave/catalina a little easier..

 

[Ausdauersportler]

And we need to drill out the rivet nuts from the k2100m x-bracket and re-use it? We cannot use the x-bracket from the ati/amd/iMac?

If the original one has exactly the same shape you may use this. It is all about avoiding shortcuts and leave the card intact when reconnecting the screws. If you already got the new bracket off the K2100m it takes some minutes to drive the rivets out. I went both ways an both worked well. Read post one and take a look at the pictures added there.

 

[spwnrpe]

If the original one has exactly the same shape you may use this. It is all about avoiding shortcuts and leave the card intact when reconnecting the screws. If you already got the new bracket off the K2100m it takes some minutes to drive the rivets out. I went both ways an both worked well. Read post one and take a look at the pictures added there.

Yes, I’ll do just that

 

[Kouiderdream]

Can you post a Valley score with that card?

Hi and happy new year
one question my amd 6970 is deading
I would like to uprade my 2011 27 imac to use a wx 7100 i think its better than the gtx 780 (can you confirm)
Ny question is ther only the one from dell and only one model or the other ones like hp are ok too , because are cheaper and i have a programer i can also flash the card
So i need help before to buy

 

[bratling]

And we need to drill out the rivet nuts from the k2100m x-bracket and re-use it? We cannot use the x-bracket from the ati/amd/iMac?

I re-used the stock ATI-iMac X-bracket. It's coated in plastic on the bottom, so it won't make any electrical connections, and there were no large electronics underneath it on the GTX 770M I installed.

I've only been running for a week this way but it seems to be fine. Your mileage may vary.

EDIT: Please note this is totally contrary to the recommendations given by the thread author. You can damage your card if your replacement card isn't as friendly as mine was.

"…or grind away Apple’s X-Clamp so no capacitors or components touch the X-Clamp or sit under it. Skipping this step can fry or damage your card."

(Emphasis added.)

 

[spwnrpe]

I re-used the stock ATI-iMac X-bracket. It's coated in plastic on the bottom, so it won't make any electrical connections, and there were no large electronics underneath it on the GTX 770M I installed.

I've only been running for a week this way but it seems to be fine. Your mileage may vary.

EDIT: Please note this is totally contrary to the recommendations given by the thread author. You can damage your card if your replacement card isn't as friendly as mine was.

"…or grind away Apple’s X-Clamp so no capacitors or components touch the X-Clamp or sit under it. Skipping this step can fry or damage your card."

(Emphasis added.)

Yes, I understand (; I’ll try to use some ”common sense” and post back with some pictures!

 

[Dr med Wurscht]

Hello,

first thanks to all of you investing so much of you time and work in this topic.
I recently bought a GTX 780M on ebay and tried to install it according to the wiki post. The first problem was the extremly tiny BIOS chip on my card, making it impossible to attach the EEPROM reader clamp. So I decided to to install it anyway maybe caring about this Problem later on, e.g. with nvram.
After install the mac wont start up, the fans went for about two seconds and then: Silence. So I teared the mac down again, doublechecking if i missed a wire, with the old Card it is running again. I modified my EEPROM Clamp by filing down the plastic now i think i can attach it ( in a very crappy tesa supportet setup). When alligend i get only „F“ as output in the CH341A when read. Writing is not possible due to a „timeout“ failure, besides the bar never goes over 0%.
Does anyone have another Suggestion? Thank You in advance!

 

[passatgt]

Hello,

first thanks to all of you investing so much of you time and work in this topic.
I recently bought a GTX 780M on ebay and tried to install it according to the wiki post. The first problem was the extremly tiny BIOS chip on my card, making it impossible to attach the EEPROM reader clamp. So I decided to to install it anyway maybe caring about this Problem later on, e.g. with nvram.
After install the mac wont start up, the fans went for about two seconds and then: Silence. So I teared the mac down again, doublechecking if i missed a wire, with the old Card it is running again. I modified my EEPROM Clamp by filing down the plastic now i think i can attach it ( in a very crappy tesa supportet setup). When alligend i get only „F“ as output in the CH341A when read. Writing is not possible due to a „timeout“ failure, besides the bar never goes over 0%.
Does anyone have another Suggestion? Thank You in advance!

can you post a photo of the card?

 

[jborko]

Just to share a little bit of experience with the WX7100 and the brackets/rivets (applies to any card that gets delivered with an x-bracket). I recommend not to try to drill the rivets out while the bracket is on the card... Slowly, very slowly pry the x-bracket out then drill out the rivets then reuse the same bracket. Some are very stuck and difficult to take out, but it is always possible and the risk of damage is minor in comparison to drilling.

I managed to drill out 3 brackets previously successfully but the last one went terribly wrong. My drill bit broke and it damaged the PCB and ripped out 2 capacitors, which opens up a lot of other work and waiting time. I learned the hard way that drilling was unnecessary for the WX7100 because you can reuse the same x-bracket from the original card without mods. (Thanks @Nick [D]vB )

@Dr med Wurscht will be good to see a photo, although I had one bad experience with 780M (I needed to return it because something was not right with the card from the start. Also, the symptoms you specify might mean that the card hardware is somehow damaged (that is what is happening with my WX7100 now). You might want to inspect it under a magnifying glass to see if there is something torn out, or damaged.

@highvoltage12v thanks a lot for the latest Airplay video kexts, it works flawlessly! I asked the question some time ago, but I haven't seen an answer yet... Apparently it is possible to enable HEVC and full Hardware acceleration on the AMD cards. Is that possible with nVidias?

 

[Dr med Wurscht]

can you post a photo of the card?

https://imgur.com/a/AInbrKP

Sorry for the thermal paste

 

[highvoltage12v]

https://imgur.com/a/AInbrKP

Sorry for the thermal paste

That version will be hard to flash because you can't get a clip on that type of EEPROM.

 

[spwnrpe]

Just to share a little bit of experience with the WX7100 and the brackets/rivets (applies to any card that gets delivered with an x-bracket). I recommend not to try to drill the rivets out while the bracket is on the card... Slowly, very slowly pry the x-bracket out then drill out the rivets then reuse the same bracket. Some are very stuck and difficult to take out, but it is always possible and the risk of damage is minor in comparison to drilling.

I managed to drill out 3 brackets previously successfully but the last one went terribly wrong. My drill bit broke and it damaged the PCB and ripped out 2 capacitors, which opens up a lot of other work and waiting time. I learned the hard way that drilling was unnecessary for the WX7100 because you can reuse the same x-bracket from the original card without mods. (Thanks @Nick [D]vB )

@Dr med Wurscht will be good to see a photo, although I had one bad experience with 780M (I needed to return it because something was not right with the card from the start. Also, the symptoms you specify might mean that the card hardware is somehow damaged (that is what is happening with my WX7100 now). You might want to inspect it under a magnifying glass to see if there is something torn out, or damaged.

@highvoltage12v thanks a lot for the latest Airplay video kexts, it works flawlessly! I asked the question some time ago, but I haven't seen an answer yet... Apparently it is possible to enable HEVC and full Hardware acceleration on the AMD cards. Is that possible with nVidias?

Hearing about drilling whilst the x-bracket is still attached to the card sends chills down my spine dude and I’m the guy people around me call crazy (;

 

[Dr med Wurscht]

That version will be hard to flash because you can't get a clip on that type of EEPROM.

I think i modified the clip, so i am able to attach it, but i cant write on the chip as Said in my posting before. Or do you think it is impossible in General?

 

[highvoltage12v]

Hello,

first thanks to all of you investing so much of you time and work in this topic.
I recently bought a GTX 780M on ebay and tried to install it according to the wiki post. The first problem was the extremly tiny BIOS chip on my card, making it impossible to attach the EEPROM reader clamp. So I decided to to install it anyway maybe caring about this Problem later on, e.g. with nvram.
After install the mac wont start up, the fans went for about two seconds and then: Silence. So I teared the mac down again, doublechecking if i missed a wire, with the old Card it is running again. I modified my EEPROM Clamp by filing down the plastic now i think i can attach it ( in a very crappy tesa supportet setup). When alligend i get only „F“ as output in the CH341A when read. Writing is not possible due to a „timeout“ failure, besides the bar never goes over 0%.
Does anyone have another Suggestion? Thank You in advance!

If you have all F's then it's not reading the chip. What's more concerning is the iMac not starting, did you check and modify your X-Clamp to prevent shorting on the back of card? There could be hope to flash the card in Windows, if you can get the iMac to boot.

You don't happen to own an EGPU by chance. It will also make flashing in Windows easier.
[automerge]1578944433[/automerge]

Just to share a little bit of experience with the WX7100 and the brackets/rivets (applies to any card that gets delivered with an x-bracket). I recommend not to try to drill the rivets out while the bracket is on the card... Slowly, very slowly pry the x-bracket out then drill out the rivets then reuse the same bracket. Some are very stuck and difficult to take out, but it is always possible and the risk of damage is minor in comparison to drilling.

I managed to drill out 3 brackets previously successfully but the last one went terribly wrong. My drill bit broke and it damaged the PCB and ripped out 2 capacitors, which opens up a lot of other work and waiting time. I learned the hard way that drilling was unnecessary for the WX7100 because you can reuse the same x-bracket from the original card without mods. (Thanks @Nick [D]vB )

@Dr med Wurscht will be good to see a photo, although I had one bad experience with 780M (I needed to return it because something was not right with the card from the start. Also, the symptoms you specify might mean that the card hardware is somehow damaged (that is what is happening with my WX7100 now). You might want to inspect it under a magnifying glass to see if there is something torn out, or damaged.

@highvoltage12v thanks a lot for the latest Airplay video kexts, it works flawlessly! I asked the question some time ago, but I haven't seen an answer yet... Apparently it is possible to enable HEVC and full Hardware acceleration on the AMD cards. Is that possible with nVidias?

I really need to demonstrate how I push the X-bracket off these cards, and drilling them. I have a spare k2000m I can do this too, but need the time.

I have been experimenting with Open Core and trying to get HEVC working by using the shikiGVA commands but I still haven't succeeded with it. Been messing around with DSDT trying to get backlight to do something on the 27", but still haven't succeeded either

 

[highvoltage12v]

Hi and happy new year
one question my amd 6970 is deading
I would like to uprade my 2011 27 imac to use a wx 7100 i think its better than the gtx 780 (can you confirm)
Ny question is ther only the one from dell and only one model or the other ones like hp are ok too , because are cheaper and i have a programer i can also flash the card
So i need help before to buy

If you can find a wx7100 a hardware backlight mod is needed where you tap into the PWM signal. It's done using a "DyingLight" module from dosdude1, basically you tap power/data off the SD-Card reader and send the PWM signal to the inverter, a program is then installed to give you brightness in the menubar. It's a more future proof method than NVidia cards because Apple, but I don't think Native brightness control could be achieved.

 

[Allistah]

Yes a lot has improved since your video. In the background we (@Nick [D]vB ) are working on a bootloader that brings back brightness and Target Display mode. I'm just having issues with the 27" iMac and 2010 iMacs.

Once this happens, I think I'll be fully onboard to trying his out. I use target display mode all the time with my 27" 2011 iMac. I just wish I could use it with Catalina. It's already a 3.4 GHz machine w/16 gigs, such a waste to not be able to install Catalina. In the meantime, it's just a "display" from my MacBook Pro. Thanks for your efforts in getting this to work!

 

[denizkoekden]

At the moment this will require using the OpenCore boot-loader
to do some ACPI injection, and maybe load some additional Kexts.

I’m working on a plug-n-play version that runs from a USB stick,
but there are still some things to fix so that may be a few weeks out.

So thanks to @Nick [D]vB for all the Work. I have an iMac 2011 27" here and I guess the K2100M or K1100M will be the GPU of choice. I want to upgrade that iMac to Catalina, so my little Sister can play Sims 4 again.

As I do Hackintosh for years I also know OpenCore. But how to install OpenCore on the iMac 2011 27" and what ACPI Injections are needed?

Regards

 

[MrViking]

So about my 780..

Screen black, internal external... I boot into windows also black.

I disconnected the screens and tried logging in via another computer over teamviewer, this is the result:

Very choppy loading, feels like windows 98.. Graphic card fried?

 

[man1sshhh]

Guys, I'm unable to figure out this sleep wake failure I've been receiving for months on High Sierra and now on Catalina (Thanks @highvoltage12v for the sleep kexts ). At this point I think I've tired everything. Tried different RAM sticks, switching to original 7200 RPM hard drive, clean installing HS, my old GPU is pretty much dead so no luck in diagnosing that (current GPU GTX 765M) and many PRAM and SMC resets.

To make matters worse, sometimes my 27" 2011 iMac would refuse to boot up until PRAM reset is performed by removing the PRAM battery, and occasionally it takes multiple tries to boot it up. I feel its a hardware problem, specifically the logic board. Do let me know what you guys thinks. Below is the Sleep Wake failure error log.


Recent error log:

Sleep Wake failure in EFI

Failure code:: 0xffffffff 0x0000001f


Please IGNORE the below stackshot


================================================================


Date/Time: 2020-01-14 03:55:41 +0530


OS Version: ??? ??? (Build ???)


Architecture: x86_64


Report Version: 29



Data Source: Stackshots


Shared Cache: 0xda09000 60459E07-527A-3E1D-82F0-90D8F6CECF1E




Event: Sleep Wake Failure


Duration: 0.00s


Steps: 1


Boot args: -no_compat_check


Time Awake Since Boot: 12s


Process: swd [261]


Architecture: x86_64


Footprint: 356 KB


Start time: 2020-01-14 03:55:41 +0530


End time: 2020-01-14 03:55:41 +0530


Num samples: 1 (1)


Thread 0x776 1 sample (1) priority 4 (base 4)


<thread QoS background (requested background), thread darwinbg, process darwinbg, IO tier 2>


1 start + 1 (libdyld.dylib + 108541) [0x7fff70c527fd] 1


1 ??? [0x10e52e454] 1


1 ??? [0x10e52e1dd] 1


1 __stack_snapshot_with_config + 10 (libsystem_kernel.dylib + 136138) [0x7fff70db33ca] 1


*1 ??? [0xffffff80002e3206] 1


*1 ??? [0xffffff800099acba] 1


*1 ??? [0xffffff80008b3bc1] 1


*1 ??? [0xffffff8000306467] (running) 1



Binary Images:


0x7fff70c38000 - 0x7fff70c6dfff libdyld.dylib (733.8) <8E2D3DED-0756-37A0-9D55-B9264CA020B4> /usr/lib/system/libdyld.dylib


0x7fff70d92000 - 0x7fff70dbefff libsystem_kernel.dylib (6153.61.1) <90F8650F-D3A9-38B3-BB8C-B5D3686393BC> /usr/lib/system/libsystem_kernel.dylib


Model: iMac12,2, BootROM 87.0.0.0.0, 4 processors, Quad-Core Intel Core i5, 2.7 GHz, 16 GB, SMC 1.72f2


Graphics: GeForce GTX 765M by Nick[D]vB, GeForce GTX 765M by Nick[D]vB, spdisplays_pcie_device, 2 GB


Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 8 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x89C2, 0x4B52452D443353313333334D2F3847202020


Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 8 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x89C2, 0x4B52452D443353313333334D2F3847202020


AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x168C, 0x9A), Atheros 9380: 4.0.74.0-P2P


Bluetooth: Version 7.0.2f4, 3 services, 27 devices, 1 incoming serial ports


Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en1


Serial ATA Device: ST31000528AS, 1 TB


Serial ATA Device: Samsung SSD 850 EVO 120GB, 120.03 GB


Serial ATA Device: WDC WD3200BEVT-75A23T0, 320.07 GB


USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus


USB Device: FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)


USB Device: Hub


USB Device: BRCM2046 Hub


USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller


USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus


USB Device: Hub


USB Device: Internal Memory Card Reader


Thunderbolt Bus: iMac, Apple Inc., 25.1