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

[snam11]

on my machine can't test opencore yet due to my broken k1100m, but maybe this can help:

OpenCore on the Mac Pro

@startergo, I think we both may still have some level of misunderstanding. 1. Making your Mac boot OpenCore by default is one time operation during OpenCore setup. For this you somehow need to register it as the default in your firmware preferences. I can imagine the following ways: — From...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Ausdauersportler]

So, thanks for the comments that it can be upgraded. Now, since it's so old, how available are the parts? It's 'old'. I assume that it requires a special part. Are they still available in places other than ebay? (I've been burned so many times on ebay. I avoid it like the plague!)

This is what I found for one of the cards mentioned in the beginning.

View attachment 903418

EDIT: It figures. All I can find are expensive cards, and many don't have heat sinks. I'll keep what I've got. It had some minor issues, but every time I checked with Apple, they said it was 'NBD', and not covered. *shrug*

Hi!

Again, if you start reading this post you will find at the end some pictures of mobile graphics cards of type MXM (A and B, short and long). The thread is old but it has been updated all the time to reflect the latest status, including the list of recommended cards.

The idea of this how to is to read to first and follow up the links your are interested in (how to disassemble, to to flash, what is needed for installing more recent OS versions). Read it and make your own repair plan!

If you do not do video cutting or gaming all the day and night the Nvidia K1100M (performance like ATI 4850, 5670, 6770) or K2100M (performance like ATI 6970) is the card of your choice. You need no hardware changes on the heatsink. These are easy to get on the US eBay market, offer all features you want to have, and are cheap.

But you need to have some some hands to open, take the computer into parts and install your parts back. But there are a lot of how to available for this task, even this website offers a LEGO alike step by step replacement guide and the set of tools you need to do it.

From my own experiences the best way to flash the BIOS is at the very end the CH341A clip programmer, but you may do it with a Linux boot USB memory stick / flash card too.

The worst idea your can have: Selecting a different card just because it was cheaper on eBay OR selecting the wrong card at all, i.e. getting a Nvidia M2000M instead of the Kepler based card K2100M - all this happened lately to readers of this thread. YOU WILL NOT GET A CUSTOM BIOS for such a card AND it will simply/likely never work at all.

I did more than 10 reinstallation during the last three month. Now it takes less than an hour to do the complete hardware exchange, regardless which type of machine it is. The exception is the 21.5" family. Because it is so small you have to move more parts to get out the logic board and finally the graphics card. But prepared with another working computer or iPad to watch the installation guide, having a pre flashed card by hand, the right paste to assemble it on the heat sink everybody will do it instead of watching one long soccer, NHL, or NBA game on TV - and the best thing is: There is no such thing on TV now to steal your precious live time.

Have fun! If you already have a broken video card there is nothing to lose.

 

[=TheONE=]

Hello! Guys, I need your help. During transportation, the SMD-resistor on the video card fell off. Can someone take high-resolution photos of the k2100m graphics card on each side?

 

[herrdude]

So, thanks for the comments that it can be upgraded. Now, since it's so old, how available are the parts? It's 'old'. I assume that it requires a special part. Are they still available in places other than ebay? (I've been burned so many times on ebay. I avoid it like the plague!)

This is what I found for one of the cards mentioned in the beginning.

View attachment 903418

EDIT: It figures. All I can find are expensive cards, and many don't have heat sinks. I'll keep what I've got. It had some minor issues, but every time I checked with Apple, they said it was 'NBD', and not covered. *shrug*

That's a GPU for a desktop computer. It should be like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Dell-P...404441?hash=item4d97fcbb59:g:VL0AAOSwhqhaN543

Does it have to be WX7100? There are many cheaper alternatives on the first page.

 

[snam11]

Hello! Guys, I need your help. During transportation, the SMD-resistor on the video card fell off. Can someone take high-resolution photos of the k2100m graphics card on each side?

you could do a pic of yours so it can be compared with others....
i would say if it's a cap related to voltage regulation circuit or similar the board can work fine without it.

 

[=TheONE=]

you could do a pic of yours so it can be compared with others....
i would say if it's a cap related to voltage regulation circuit or similar the board can work fine without it.

I do not want to distract people from work with my problem and the search for comparisons. Maybe this part got into the package by mistake, but I would have quietly studied the photos. These photos would probably be useful to someone else, because in the Internet I did not find photos of good quality.

 

[snam11]

that's a cap, but is lonely.... a pic of your board could be useful

 

[=TheONE=]

if so necessary - here)

 

[snam11]

based on visual inspection, seems your board is not missing a thing...
unless is hidden under the sticker

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

based on visual inspection, seems your board is not missing a thing...
unless is hidden under the sticker

I bought an HP notebook a few years ago, and after opening the bag the notebook was packed in, a small capacitor fell out. 'Oh, great!' I thought. But it worked fine, happy days! I think someone playfully tossed it in the bag just to mess with people. *shrug* I wasn't really laughing, but appreciate the sick humor.

 

[kral84]

Can i use the K1000 on my Imac 2011 (27..) ? i have 2 headpipes (1x2pipes, 1x3pipes) which can i use?my gtx860m is broken i will buy an cheap card for only home office not game playing or video cutting thing k1000 is good ...

 

[BeerFighter]

Is there any schematic/firmware for DyingLight module? I'm just want to make it by my own- no way to get it in Russia.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Can i use the K1000 on my Imac 2011 (27..) ? i have 2 headpipes (1x2pipes, 1x3pipes) which can i use?my gtx860m is broken i will buy an cheap card for only home office not game playing or video cutting thing k1000 is good ...

The K1000M will perfectly fit on your 2pipe heat sink. But a K1100M will give you native brightness control using the OpenCore boot loader image. Your choice...

 

[kral84]

I don't need a brightness control, maybe the K1000 will be updated as well *i hope* ...Ok thank you!! I hope i can flash it via Nvflash usb stick do I have to convert / remove the x-bracket? or can I leave it there

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I don't need a brightness control, maybe the K1000 will be updated as well *i hope* ...Ok thank you!! I hope i can flash it via Nvflash usb stick do I have to convert / remove the x-bracket? or can I leave it there

Without brightness control you burn your display - I had temperatures around 60 C. I would not like it without. A small apple bracket will fit or you have to drill or hammer the rivets out. Removing the bracket with a hair dryer is a 60s action.
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Is there any schematic/firmware for DyingLight module? I'm just want to make it by my own- no way to get it in Russia.

Have you noticed the raspberry Pi solution lately posted here? I am not a expert on this, but looks to me as it is a 100% replacement. Again, on page one you will find the link or search the thread...or ask the creator @passatgt directly.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

So for this one, I'd need a heat sink? How hard is that to find, and I'd assume that the one I have wouldn't work to dissipate the heat of this card.

Thanks...

 

[herrdude]

So for this one, I'd need a heat sink? How hard is that to find, and I'd assume that the one I have wouldn't work to dissipate the heat of this card.

Thanks...

Will that model even work?

 

[inck243]

So for this one, I'd need a heat sink? How hard is that to find, and I'd assume that the one I have wouldn't work to dissipate the heat of this card.

Thanks...

The iMac already has a heat sink for the gpu. You’d remove the existing card and replace it with the new one. And although the card you linked is mxm, I don’t think that one is compatible. Search for the ones listed on the first post. If you want the AMD ones add “mxm” to your search because there are some for PCs that have the same name.

Also what GPU did your iMac come with ?

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

The iMac already has a heat sink for the gpu. You’d remove the existing card and replace it with the new one. And although the card you linked is mxm, I don’t think that one is compatible. Search for the ones listed on the first post. If you want the AMD ones add “mxm” to your search because there are some for PCs that have the same name.

Also what GPU did your iMac come with ?

That's where it's gotten weird. I searched for the phrase mentioned upstream, and I got a lot of Dell and Alienware boards, and only two links to mac specific boards, and they were both really low memory. I figure if I'm going to go through this I might as well go big, or just live with what I've got.

What did it come with? AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1G. This website seems to think it's a 'high end' card. *shrug* Maybe I don't need to replace it. I did have some issues with it, and called Apple, and was told they wouldn't do anything for me. It wasn't included in their recall/service plan.

 

[thebossarturo]

Hey guys,

I did the swap a few moths back, for the GTX 780m. But, I’m having an issue now.

Any ideas on what this might be?

The computer starts normal, but then I get this screen, sometimes it will just be a black screen.

if any one knows what might be causing this I would appreciate their help 😃

 

[herrdude]

No, you won't get a picture on the stock vBIOS without a back-light mod,

AMD users should flash the GOP vBIOS attached, you can do it from windows.

Then use OpenCore to get boot-screen and brightness control with no other mods!

AMDVBFlash / ATI ATIFlash 5.0.567 Download

AMD AMDVBFlash is used to flash the graphics card BIOS. The version released by ATI was called ATIFlash or just WinFlash. It supports all AMD Radeo

www.techpowerup.com

Download: iMac OpenCore Loader.dmg


FEATURES:

[1] Native brightness control on Quadro K1100M & K2100M cards.

(more cards may be added in the future through vBIOS updates)

[2] Target Display Mode on Quadro K1100M & K2100M cards.

[3] Real-time hardware monitoring using HWMonitor app:

Nvidia GPU Die Temp + GPU, VRAM & CPU core Frequencies.

[4] Reduced boot-screen delay, no more random black-screen boots.

[5] OpenCore + rEFInd boot-pickers on AMD cards with NO MODS!

(allows bootscreen & native brightness control simultaneously)

[6] SideCar + Video acceleration on new AMD cards (Mojave+)

Huge H264 & HEVC video encoding speed improvements in FCPX etc

Playback of DRM protected streaming content (Netflix 4K etc)


2011 iMacs only -

[7] UEFI Windows: Sound fix for HDAudio code 12 driver error,

can also fix some ThunderBolt eGPU resource issues in Windows.

(Enable DSDT in ACPI section of the OpenCore configuration tool)

[8] Mojave & Catalina: Integration of SandyBridge iGPU Kexts

required for the AirPlay + Sleep + GVA QuickSync video fixes

Catalina needs IOSurface.kext replacing FIRST, more details here:

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

EDIT: 7/28/20 Please download the newest Lilu/WhateverGreen kexts from Github, they constantly change. EDIT: 4/17/20 An additional AppleIntelSNBGraphics.kext has been added to the pack to include board ID for iMac Pro/AMD-WX Series Config.plist. You can now have working sleep when your board ID...

forums.macrumors.com

INSTALLATION:

Restore the image to an SD card or USB stick, I do not recommend installing to a non-removable drive. If using an AMD card show hidden files and extract the AMD config.plist file inside the /EFI/OC/ folder. Set the "Catalina Loader" drive as the default boot disk in system preferences or by using Ctrl+Enter from the Apple boot-picker. If you have problems booting delete any Lilu or Whatevergreen kexts from S/L/E, to disable OpenCore just remove the drive and do an NVRAM reset.


WARNING:

Congratulations, you are now running a Hackintosh! I have done some basic safety checks but I can't test everything, there is a non-zero risk that something will go spectacularly wrong. I accept NO responsibility if Apple ban your accounts or if your iMac blows-up, wipes all your data, and injures your cat... Make sure you have current back-ups of all your drives, and use the RomTool to make a back-up of your iMacs BootRom so it can be restored in case of corruption (very unlikely, but possible). Configuration tools are included, be careful - here be dragons!


Based on "Catalina Loader" by Rastafabi.

Thanks to Highvoltage12v & Ausdauersportler for testing.

Full credit to all the original developers & those who shared essential information.



Better late than never...

When I try to burn the DMG with BalenaEtcher, it says that the file is missing a partition table. Is this normal? Thanks for all of your hard work.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

When I try to burn the DMG with BalenaEtcher, it says that the file is missing a partition table. Is this normal? Thanks for all of your hard work.

Yes, this is normal.
[automerge]1586041086[/automerge]

Hey guys,

I did the swap a few moths back, for the GTX 780m. But, I’m having an issue now.

Any ideas on what this might be?

The computer starts normal, but then I get this screen, sometimes it will just be a black screen.

if any one knows what might be causing this I would appreciate their help 😃

View attachment 903666

I would assume this is the green vertical bars of Nvidia cards? Search the net for pictures of failing cards, you probably will see some similar symptoms there. Just a quick guess.

 

[highvoltage12v]

When I try to burn the DMG with BalenaEtcher, it says that the file is missing a partition table. Is this normal? Thanks for all of your hard work.

Completely normal.

 

[mikrob74]

Have a 860m gtx and have black screen.... I can't boot with stick (black screen).... I have no custom rom for 860m , is the card for the trash ? Have any one for.me.an solution... I try : install.amd card , install over usb, after finish boot go to patcher post install and install the patches.... After that install nvidia and black.screen on boot (permanently) keyboard light is lighting but always black screen... Its a feature or sn bug from latest catalina?

860m will work but must be clevo bios as black screen... need to upload Dell or nvidia Bios... you can install Ubuntu and use terminal NVFASH, or yet to try DOS boot up disk.... even if you revert to 700 series its all about the bios version (Umbuntu will load card in test mode and full install, once nvidia driver is installed you lose the brightness control so reverted install)

 

[rc3105]

So, thanks for the comments that it can be upgraded. Now, since it's so old, how available are the parts? It's 'old'. I assume that it requires a special part. Are they still available in places other than ebay? (I've been burned so many times on ebay. I avoid it like the plague!)

...

EDIT: It figures. All I can find are expensive cards, and many don't have heat sinks. I'll keep what I've got. It had some minor issues, but every time I checked with Apple, they said it was 'NBD', and not covered. *shrug*

Replacement Apple cards are $60+ and prone to failure. (all the Apple cards from that era are iffy)

Nvidia K1100m cost anywhere from $15-40 on ebay. Pick a seller that offers free returns.

A tube of heat sink grease is like $3, the new card uses your original heatsink.

Everything you need software wise is in this thread.

Installation is 1-2 hrs for somebody comfortable working on computers. Probably sat+sun for a beginner.

Bonus, when upgraded with an Nvidia card 2009-2011 iMacs are able to run Catalina.