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

[highvoltage12v]

Was just reading about that. If you have not done so already, can you use @highvoltage12v's provided patches to enable HEVC decoding on your machine? This, in combination with the sidecar patch? might be promising. Digging into the requirements a bit, it should be feasible unless the entire framework changed with Catalina for Sidecar support.

Currently building my Catalina patcher - left the speedy USBs at work, so the ol' 2.0 ones are taking a while. I'll test on my end as soon as the install finishes.

Are you working on a Catalina patcher (like Mac OS Post install, but for iMacs) that can be added to the Applications folder on the USB installer to fix all the things that dosdude1 doesn't? If so that's awesome I know you told me before you have experience developing apps.

 

[NOTNlCE]

Oh! I see... I tried it again and now it works! thank you!

BTW, what about the 'Sidecar' option? would it work too?

I also have AirPlay in Catalina using the guide. Sidecar is visible as a preference pane, but I do not own an iPad to test.

Are you working on a Catalina patcher (like Mac OS Post install, but for iMacs) that can be added to the Applications folder on the USB installer to fix all the things that dosdude1 doesn't? If so that's awesome I know you told me before you have experience developing apps.

No, just trying to assist Jake F. with his AirPlay issues. Hadn't put Catalina on one of my test beds and wanted to witness his issue firsthand. Looks like we're all good - wish I had an iPad to test SideCar.

EDIT: Uh oh, that Catalina installation was the first "fresh install" I've done on this iMac. Looks like it's still enrolled in the... University of North Dakota's Jamf server for MDM? Fantastic. Time to try and contact them...

 

[highvoltage12v]

I also have AirPlay in Catalina using the guide. Sidecar is visible as a preference pane, but I do not own an iPad to test.



No, just trying to assist Jake F. with his AirPlay issues. Hadn't put Catalina on one of my test beds and wanted to witness his issue firsthand. Looks like we're all good - wish I had an iPad to test SideCar.

EDIT: Uh oh, that Catalina installation was the first "fresh install" I've done on this iMac. Looks like it's still enrolled in the... University of North Dakota's Jamf server for MDM? Fantastic. Time to try and contact them...

You have an EFI password that needs to be removed? Dosdude1 has a video on how to do this, you do have a CH341a. "$SVS" LOL.

 

[SKYNET-1]

I finally got my DyingLight module installed. I had to load the WinUSB driver for it to work, but I now have full backlight control in Windows. Side victory, I also got my bluray drive installed.

its a 9.5mm or a 12.7mm drive? google is so and so, so im unsure because i would like to upgrade the DVD to a BD too...

 

[NOTNlCE]

You have an EFI password that needs to be removed? Dosdude1 has a video on how to do this, you do have a CH341a. "$SVS" LOL.

No, EFI works great. Just an auto-enrollment in an MDM profile when an OS is installed or updated. I actually cloned my HS/Mojave drive from my other iMac over to this one, so this was the first time I'd actually installed an OS. This one is eventually destined for my mother-in-law, so The University of North Dakota having full rights to wipe the device at any moment is a bit of a drag. 😥😛

 

[HighSierraCosworth]

its a 9.5mm or a 12.7mm drive? google is so and so, so im unsure because i would like to upgrade the DVD to a BD too...

2011 iMacs are 12.7 drives. The MacBooks are 9.5. In the US you can get a brand new slot loading blu ray drive for $28.95. I opted to get a used one for $20 and use it externally. I opted to rip my blu rays anyway.

 

[SKYNET-1]

2011 iMacs are 12.7 drives. The MacBooks are 9.5. In the US you can get a brand new slot losing blu ray drive for $28.95. I opted to get a used one for $20 and use it externally. I opted to rip my blu rays anyway

thx, because the 12.7 much more cheap n second a huuuuuge amount on drives

n my i7 2600 arrived today 🥳

 

[MMFC378]

Holy hell. I figured id never find an active community on 2011 imacs!

Theres a local 27" with a dead gpu in my area. Im thinking this can still be fixed pretty cheap but ill start reading. The HP Zbook15 NVIDIA Quadro K2100M looks cheap enough and (from what ive read so far) can do 4k60? How difficult is all the modding that needs to be done?

 

[passatgt]

Holy hell. I figured id never find an active community on 2011 imacs!

Theres a local 27" with a dead gpu in my area. Im thinking this can still be fixed pretty cheap but ill start reading. The HP Zbook15 NVIDIA Quadro K2100M looks cheap enough and (from what ive read so far) can do 4k60? How difficult is all the modding that needs to be done?

The first mod you need to do is to drill out the holes on the bracket of the K2100M. Second, you need some small washers or plastic things to put under the holes when you mount the GPU, because otherwise it would sit slightly at an angle. And basically thats it, you just need to swap the cards. Also put in an SSD of course, its pretty cheap and the difference is night and day in performance.

 

[MMFC378]

The first mod you need to do is to drill out the holes on the bracket of the K2100M. Second, you need some small washers or plastic things to put under the holes when you mount the GPU, because otherwise it would sit slightly at an angle. And basically thats it, you just need to swap the cards. Also put in an SSD of course, its pretty cheap and the difference is night and day in performance.

Awesome. Thanks for you help. It looks like these quatros are the cheapest option?

I dont need 4k but i do have a 3440x1440 if thats possible on any of these cards

 

[HighSierraCosworth]

The first mod you need to do is to drill out the holes on the bracket of the K2100M. Second, you need some small washers or plastic things to put under the holes when you mount the GPU, because otherwise it would sit slightly at an angle. And basically thats it, you just need to swap the cards. Also put in an SSD of course, its pretty cheap and the difference is night and day in performance.

I never understood what people meant by "drill out the holes". When I did the swap with a Dell K1100M, I held the card in my hand, used a phillips screwdriver bit, and just pushed the x-clamp out. After that, I threw the Apple X-clamp on there, and it screwed right back into the heatsink and sat fine, no issues.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I never understood what people meant by "drill out the holes". When I did the swap with a Dell K1100M, I held the card in my hand, used a phillips screwdriver bit, and just pushed the x-clamp out. After that, I threw the Apple X-clamp on there, and it screwed right back into the heatsink and sat fine, no issues.

Some people have the bigger cards with a different x-bracket which will not fit on a smaller K1100M or K2100M card. Then you have to reuse the Dell x-bracket and hammer or drill the rivets out after separating it from the card. Post #1 and the pictures provided by all the people. BTW: Does anybody need big original apple x-brackets

 

[phu34r]

Holy hell. I figured id never find an active community on 2011 imacs!

Theres a local 27" with a dead gpu in my area. Im thinking this can still be fixed pretty cheap but ill start reading. The HP Zbook15 NVIDIA Quadro K2100M looks cheap enough and (from what ive read so far) can do 4k60? How difficult is all the modding that needs to be done?

It was a pretty easy straight swap for me. Removed the stock x-bracket from the K2100m and installed apple bracket. The k2100m might up for grabs soon if you are interested 😁

No, EFI works great. Just an auto-enrollment in an MDM profile when an OS is installed or updated. I actually cloned my HS/Mojave drive from my other iMac over to this one, so this was the first time I'd actually installed an OS. This one is eventually destined for my mother-in-law, so The University of North Dakota having full rights to wipe the device at any moment is a bit of a drag. 😥😛

MDM is easy to disable. There are plenty of guides on the subject.

Currently, have a 880m on the way to replace the k2100m, what is the BIOS missing that borks the backlight pwm?

 

[NOTNlCE]

Awesome. Thanks for you help. It looks like these quatros are the cheapest option?

I dont need 4k but i do have a 3440x1440 if thats possible on any of these cards

This resolution should be just fine on the K2100M over DisplayPort.

 

[MMFC378]

It was a pretty easy straight swap for me. Removed the stock x-bracket from the K2100m and installed apple bracket. The k2100m might up for grabs soon if you are interested 😁

Might take you up on that to avoid all the flashing (assuming thats already done). Let me procure this system first, still havent heard back from the seller. Thanks for the tips so far everyone

 

[HighSierraCosworth]

Some people have the bigger cards with a different x-bracket which will not fit on a smaller K1100M or K2100M card. Then you have to reuse the Dell x-bracket and hammer or drill the rivets out after separating it from the card. Post #1 and the pictures provided by all the people. BTW: Does anybody need big original apple x-brackets

Do you mean the Type B cards? So that means for an MXM-B to A swap you can't just use the Apple X-Clamp?

 

[Kaapo Tupas]

I am wondering that if I want to put a new SSD to my imac, how should I make the copy from my present Macintosh hd? Now that I have done all the cool stuff with Hackintool etc. So What is the appropriate method to keep all these intackt?

 

[MMFC378]

I am wondering that if I want to put a new SSD to my imac, how should I make the copy from my present Macintosh hd? Now that I have done all the cool stuff with Hackintool etc. So What is the appropriate method to keep all these intackt?

Are adding an SSD or swapping? You have a few choices.

If you put them both in at the same time (probably needing a new hdd adapter), you can just clone your drive to the ssd. If you happen to have a usb hdd cable, you can plug the ssd in usb, clone it, replace the mechanical with your new ssd. If none of that is an option, im pretty sure theres some software that you can back up the drive, move that backup to a usb drive, put the ssd in, install osx, then restore from your back. I think that might be built into OSX but dont quote me on that. Those are the immediate options i can think of

 

[passatgt]

So, the Brightness Slider app works kinda, but you might have experienced that it just puts a black overlay on the screen and its not perfect, for example the cursor is still at max brightness, doesn't work in full screen, alert windows etc... i found a better way to do this. I will upload the code later to github, but if someone wants to try it out, here it is:

This will change the screen's color gamma function, so everything appearing on the screen will get darker. This is still just a software method, so the actual backlight is still 100%, but its a better software solution at least. This app also works with the raspberry pi method, i will post more details about in a couple of days(if you don't specify a raspberry address in the settings, it will do the gamma method). You can add the app to under system settings / users / login items so it will start automatically. You can use F1 and F2 as shortcuts to increase/decrease brightness.

Dropbox - File Deleted - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

 

[HighSierraCosworth]

See, I don't understand what's going on here. I can use this thing for like 3 hours with no issues, but then it kernel panics within a few minutes of rebooting, and then once it boots back up, kernel panics at the login screen. Again, High Sierra works perfectly fine, and if I put the legacy video card patch, it works fine. I have the HD3000 kexts installed.

 

[VaMPiReSuCKeR]

Hi, I have installed a 770m on my mac 27 ". Now I wanted to put the firmware in order to have the boot but I don't know how to do it since I can't find how to flash the 770m bios from mac. Hi, I have installed a 770m on my mac 27 ". Now I wanted to put the firmware in order to have the boot but I don't know how to do it since I can't find how to flash the 770m bios from mac.

Thanks

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi, I have installed a 770m on my mac 27 ". Now I wanted to put the firmware in order to have the boot but I don't know how to do it since I can't find how to flash the 770m bios from mac. Hi, I have installed a 770m on my mac 27 ". Now I wanted to put the firmware in order to have the boot but I don't know how to do it since I can't find how to flash the 770m bios from mac.

Thanks

Read post #4363 and try out this Linux usb stick/sd card method to write the BIOS directly from the iMac if your internal display is already working. I recently checked out just out of of curiosity. Just follow the description in the link, write it down or print it out if you have no iPad, iPhone to watch it while booting Linux...

Someone should add this page link to the wiki post #1, I guess.

 

[VaMPiReSuCKeR]

Read post #4363 and try out this Linux usb stick/sd card method to write the BIOS directly from the iMac if your internal display is already working. I recently checked out just out of of curiosity. Just follow the description in the link, write it down or print it out if you have no iPad, iPhone to watch it while booting Linux...

Someone should add this page link to the wiki post #1, I guess.

Thank you very much, with this system in the end I was able to flash my 770m and I already have it working. Now I will install Catalina to do tests to see how it goes ...

 

[passatgt]

So, the Brightness Slider app works kinda, but you might have experienced that it just puts a black overlay on the screen and its not perfect, for example the cursor is still at max brightness, doesn't work in full screen, alert windows etc... i found a better way to do this. I will upload the code later to github, but if someone wants to try it out, here it is:

This will change the screen's color gamma function, so everything appearing on the screen will get darker. This is still just a software method, so the actual backlight is still 100%, but its a better software solution at least. This app also works with the raspberry pi method, i will post more details about in a couple of days(if you don't specify a raspberry address in the settings, it will do the gamma method). You can add the app to under system settings / users / login items so it will start automatically. You can use F1 and F2 as shortcuts to increase/decrease brightness.

Dropbox - File Deleted - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

Here is the sourcecode and an updated version, now it will display the built-in OSD when you press the brightness keys on your apple keyboard.

https://github.com/passatgt/imac-pwm-control (you can download the app from the Releases tab).

 

[nikey22]

wow! power table upregulated to 172% MAX (mW) on the 770m? Why so much? I mean, the 27" monitor at full brightness gets hot and loud b/c of fan use, now you have a video card that is adding to that. However, I guess that's not idle power. So it should be good? I don't know. Hopefully you guys can report to us how it goes after using the computer for several hours. Several ppl already have these installed.

Also, who is sv7?
Thanks.