It's possible that it's at an angle, I didn't pay much attention. Perhaps the thermal pads on my heatsink are acting in the same way as your shim and tilting the card. I'd check again, but both iMacs are all sealed up.
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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
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Have you checked the jumpers and the cable orientation?
Oh i tried everything but my lineup was definitivly right. Will Install Windows tommorow and do it that way. Maybe my clip was already dead on arrival. I dont know what the problem ist but doing it with nvflash and windows isnt really a big pain i think
I flash with Windows nvflash every time rather than the clip. It's a bit of a set up, but if you have a spare disk with RDP setup ahead of time and disable automatic driver installation (so it won't BSOD on audio drivers) it's fairly painless. I just kept a little 64GB SSD with a UEFI install of Windows 10 handy for this.
Just to sum up from my understanding possible ways to flash vbios:Hello there dear iMac wizards
I recently got 21.5 mid-2010 model meant for trash which just has few flaws on LCD that I'm going to fix. While making research I found this almighty way to significantly improve this machine. As I got deep into this thread there is only one thing that I am still can't figure it.
If I'll got for K2000M do I need to clamp flash vbios or I can just put it into the iMac, boot to OS and using Zeus flash it? I don't have any other MXM machine there are not really any other options for me (I guess?).
- with clamp and a programmer to make it on any laptop (but programmer is not cheap)
- put card to any MXM compatible computer (which I don't have)
- use iMac with Windows (I guess preferable)?
So i installed windows and flashed the card, was very easy. Its now flickering when using windows but in macos it seems to work.
EDIT: Just did a Mantel Bench and its worse than before flashing and sometimes it shows strange artifacts and screen goes black for a second very few minutes think i killed it :/
Edit 2: Now even more blackouts. Think i wrecked the k2100m. Still have a k2000m aroundand will try that but i would like to have the max graphicspower i can get into this 21.5 mac. Really annoying
EDIT: Just did a Mantel Bench and its worse than before flashing and sometimes it shows strange artifacts and screen goes black for a second very few minutes think i killed it :/
Edit 2: Now even more blackouts. Think i wrecked the k2100m. Still have a k2000m aroundand will try that but i would like to have the max graphicspower i can get into this 21.5 mac. Really annoying
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Yes, glad Windows worked for you for the card flash. Flickering and artifacting sounds like the card is having physical issues. You may have gotten a damaged card, far too common from my experiences. Not sure how we arrived in a society where "Tested Working" on a listing means "It doesn't look TOO destroyed?"
Your list of flashing methods is correct, but the programmer is quite cheap, relatively speaking. I picked one up for less than $10 US, but if you have the ability to flash in Windows there's a lot less that can go wrong or be finicky since you don't have to deal with the clamp.
hello all,
want to thank everyone for all of the work that’s been done
i have a 770m on the way and i’m wondering if it is possible to flash it from a linux live usb instead of trying to install windows (assuming i can blindly boot in to linux)
thanks
want to thank everyone for all of the work that’s been done
i have a 770m on the way and i’m wondering if it is possible to flash it from a linux live usb instead of trying to install windows (assuming i can blindly boot in to linux)
thanks
The k2100m is nearly dead. Sucks. But i cant get my Money Back. Got the k2000m to Work but in some benchmarks i only got 30 instead of 43 FPS or even worse. Im considering to Order a new k2100m but then its a ****ing expensive imac 2011 :/Yes, glad Windows worked for you for the card flash. Flickering and artifacting sounds like the card is having physical issues. You may have gotten a damaged card, far too common from my experiences. Not sure how we arrived in a society where "Tested Working" on a listing means "It doesn't look TOO destroyed?"
Your list of flashing methods is correct, but the programmer is quite cheap, relatively speaking. I picked one up for less than $10 US, but if you have the ability to flash in Windows there's a lot less that can go wrong or be finicky since you don't have to deal with the clamp.
I flashed my 765m using linux Ubuntu not live but in my linux external ssd .. it's so easy no need to external monitor like windows..
About refind it will be blind. You can not see to choose a booting drive
May I ask how your K2100m is nearly dead? I have 3 of them now and I find them excellent for a 6770m/6750m replacement. If you think you are only finding expensive results here is the listing I have bought mine from K2100m eBay
Oh, I see now, artifacting and screen blanking out, here is how I do up my k2100m with k5 pro, hope is just a fluke.
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only 27” core i models are compatible with this vbios mod from Nick !
Core 2 duo models are not supported for the bootscreen, but the card should work withouth it just fine..
2010 and 2011 iMac’s are compatible for all models as far as I know..
Programmer is $10 lol far from expensive and could come in very useful in the future! Absolutely worth it imo
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I did mine with exactly the same Paste. Im sticking with the k2000m i think. I dont want to Order another Card.
thanks for the answers
will refind be visible after it is flashed or just mac boot screen?
We will be using Open Core in the future to load a DSDT on boot and you will have boot screen Everytime.
After flashing your GPU vbios to Nick[D]vB's Beta3 you will get mac bootloader "if you press and hold Option key" also if you want you can use OpenCore EFI Bootloader Or Refind bootloader. "ALL Will be Visible"
****** highvoltage12v/Nick[D]vB ******
waiting For your hard work ;-)
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@highvoltage12v
If you have the LCD plugged in and funtional, and you have a separate monitor attached via the DP port, the boot menu screen will only show up on the LCD internal monitor, not the separate monitor. Can you confirm this? It doesn't seem to "mirror" the boot screen to the separate monitor. Just curious.
Hello Everyone,
Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I managed to upgrade my iMac 21.5" Mid-2011 from the AMD 6770 to a Quadro K1000M I had the chance to salvage from a busted DELL Precision 4700 workstation laptop.
Replacement process
The replacement was pretty smooth. I removed the old AMD and swap it with the Quadro.
The DELL Quadro had the X-clamp glued on the PCB so I heated it up and pried it out.
Used the original stock X-clamp from the AMD's iMac and it worked just fine.
After re-assembly, I landed on the macOS login screen.
I used my Windows 10 BOOTCAMP partition to flash Nick's beta 3 VBIOS via NVFlash and that went well. I got the boot screen back.
Then went into recovery to disable SIP and upgraded to Catalina 10.15.2 using the Dosdude upgrader.
"Things" to know
The first post at the beginning doesn't cover VRAM cooling very well.
My next step will be to reinstall a clean OS only on a SSD. My current setup is a custom fusion drive but I want to go 100% SSD.
And apply the K5 Pro thermal paste on the GPU VRAM.
Did anyone figured, on the 21.5" how to keep the VRAM at the back of the GPU board cooled?
I saw some people installing a custom air duck from the HDD Fan but that won't work with the 21.5".
I am thinking of putting small flat heatsink, similar to these Raspberry Pi Ram coolers.
Any experiences around?
F
Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I managed to upgrade my iMac 21.5" Mid-2011 from the AMD 6770 to a Quadro K1000M I had the chance to salvage from a busted DELL Precision 4700 workstation laptop.
Replacement process
The replacement was pretty smooth. I removed the old AMD and swap it with the Quadro.
The DELL Quadro had the X-clamp glued on the PCB so I heated it up and pried it out.
Used the original stock X-clamp from the AMD's iMac and it worked just fine.
After re-assembly, I landed on the macOS login screen.
I used my Windows 10 BOOTCAMP partition to flash Nick's beta 3 VBIOS via NVFlash and that went well. I got the boot screen back.
Then went into recovery to disable SIP and upgraded to Catalina 10.15.2 using the Dosdude upgrader.
- I checked and system information shows my GPU as metal supported.
- Another big deal for me is smoother HEVC decoding which the old GPU wasn't supporting. This is great.
- I can also use newer versions of Pages and Keynotes as the latest version on High Sierra can't keep up with the latest one on Catalina I am running on my laptop.
- I used the app from the AppStore to get some brightness control.
"Things" to know
The first post at the beginning doesn't cover VRAM cooling very well.
- I used the thermal pads from the original Quadro heatsink however they are not thick enough. Therefore I am getting some artefact so I will be putting in the next few days some viscous thermal paste instead of the pads.
My next step will be to reinstall a clean OS only on a SSD. My current setup is a custom fusion drive but I want to go 100% SSD.
And apply the K5 Pro thermal paste on the GPU VRAM.
Did anyone figured, on the 21.5" how to keep the VRAM at the back of the GPU board cooled?
I saw some people installing a custom air duck from the HDD Fan but that won't work with the 21.5".
I am thinking of putting small flat heatsink, similar to these Raspberry Pi Ram coolers.
Any experiences around?
F
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