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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
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Hey guys,
like many of you I'm also facing problems with my iMacs 6970. It already spent some time in my oven but as errors are appearing again I'm quit tempted to grab a NVIDEA 780m from ebay and give it a try. What really troubles me is that I can't asses the draw backs that come with a non-apple GPU. Yes, I've read about the boot screen as well as the missing option to control backlight brightness but what does it mean in every day use? And what can you do if your Mac crashes? Is it still possible to start recovery mode, to do stuff like PRAM reset or at least get into target disk mode?
like many of you I'm also facing problems with my iMacs 6970. It already spent some time in my oven but as errors are appearing again I'm quit tempted to grab a NVIDEA 780m from ebay and give it a try. What really troubles me is that I can't asses the draw backs that come with a non-apple GPU. Yes, I've read about the boot screen as well as the missing option to control backlight brightness but what does it mean in every day use? And what can you do if your Mac crashes? Is it still possible to start recovery mode, to do stuff like PRAM reset or at least get into target disk mode?
You can still boot in safe mode, target disk mode, etc. Once the OS boot gets far enough along, you'll see graphics if everything is working. Network recovery mode would be notably more difficult since the UI wouldn't be visible. Target disk mode is helpful because you can, for example, reinstall the OS onto the hard drive from another mac.
Still no luck even with installed nVidia webdriver + macOS 10.12.1 from my MBP15 2012. Running blind, only works in Safe Mode. Any clue for this guys? Really hope this to work.
Hi everybody,
I have 21.5 2011 iMac, boosted to 16GB RAM and now waiting for tools to install 480GB SSD (together with 500GB HDD). I'm wondering about GPU update now, it seems like 780M 4GB is the most popular option so far, even the most power consuming (122W, according GPUBoss). I guess, this 122W may cause overheat pretty easy, and it won't be super-mega performance, for the newest games, plus the price is ridiculous (over $400 on Ebay).
The question is, the new 10xx generation of GeForce seems way more powerful and almost the same TDP, I mean 1060M (80W, source). Understood, that they still more as project, and you can't buy it yet, but if they will be available at the stores, is it any chance to install it to 2011 iMac?
I have 21.5 2011 iMac, boosted to 16GB RAM and now waiting for tools to install 480GB SSD (together with 500GB HDD). I'm wondering about GPU update now, it seems like 780M 4GB is the most popular option so far, even the most power consuming (122W, according GPUBoss). I guess, this 122W may cause overheat pretty easy, and it won't be super-mega performance, for the newest games, plus the price is ridiculous (over $400 on Ebay).
The question is, the new 10xx generation of GeForce seems way more powerful and almost the same TDP, I mean 1060M (80W, source). Understood, that they still more as project, and you can't buy it yet, but if they will be available at the stores, is it any chance to install it to 2011 iMac?
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short answer is no, the 10XX series cards do not have working mac drivers for the Older mac pros or hackintoshes. Also from my experience (i have now tried a 770m 780m and 880m and found that only certain cards work in certain instances!)
Sounds like 770M is the most affordable candidate, with decent performance. For $200+ it's probably worth it... Just curious 770M = 75W and 880M = 122W, how many W iMac can afford to take onboard? From 35W of original 6750M...
And on the unrelated note, just want to know your opinion. Compare option discussed above (internal upgrade) and eGPU option, which however not as good as internal, but it will be no problem with installation process, and you always can use eGPU with other laptops, PCs, etc. I won't provide any links, otherwise it will looks like promotion, but as I understand it will worth about $700 (with GPU).
Pros:
Easy to upgrade
Easy to install
Can use on the multiple devices
Cons:
Need external monitor for iOS (not 100% sure)
A bit more expensive
Additional piece of metal on your table
What you guys think?
Pros:
Easy to upgrade
Easy to install
Can use on the multiple devices
Cons:
Need external monitor for iOS (not 100% sure)
A bit more expensive
Additional piece of metal on your table
What you guys think?
Yesterday a new CUDA driver for 10.12 Sierra was released:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-8.0.51-driver.html
Can anybody try to get it running?
I have an iMac 2011 running Sierra on a faulty 6970m (without system extensions), today my 780m arrived.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-8.0.51-driver.html
Can anybody try to get it running?
I have an iMac 2011 running Sierra on a faulty 6970m (without system extensions), today my 780m arrived.
I'm having same issue.
Mine is iMac Late 2009, with same video card as yours 780M, which I took from Alienware and has same vbios version too.
On the bootcamp, it's working fine, even Windows 8 or 10.
But, with Mac OS doesn't, always black screen. But it's working. From remote desktop i can access. It's just screen not showing...
Mine is iMac Late 2009, with same video card as yours 780M, which I took from Alienware and has same vbios version too.
On the bootcamp, it's working fine, even Windows 8 or 10.
But, with Mac OS doesn't, always black screen. But it's working. From remote desktop i can access. It's just screen not showing...
Encouraged by the feedback given by @mhafeez and @Fl0r!an, I was finally able to replace my defective 6970M with a Dell 780M pulled from an Alienware machine with the same VBIOS that has been reported as working (80.04.af.00.03).
After installing the current version of the Nvidia Web Driver on an up to date 10.11.5 El Capitan, I can't get the iMac's internal screen to work. Everything else seems to be working: OSX detects the 780M and works perfectly on an external display, Screen Share or Airplay.
Windows also detects the card and works fine with the external display or Remote Access.
I've made some benchmarks and can confirm huge improvements on either OS, which leads me to believe there's no problem with the GPU and that it is correctly installed.
Neither OS seems to recognise the 27-inch internal display. OSX sees it as being a 23-inch display with a single resolution of 1280 x 1024.
Windows sees it as a generic PnP display.
I've checked and double checked that all the LCD's cables (VSync, LVDS, power and backlight) are correctly plugged in to the logic board and inverter board.
What could be happening? Does anyone who had black screen issues with their 780M had the same symptoms?
Is it possible that I somehow damaged the LCD or any of the cables? I handled everything with care and can't see any noticeable damage on the cables. I ran out of ideas and I'm at a loss on how to diagnose what's happening. Does anyone have a clue? It's the same card, same brand, pulled from the same system, with the same VBIOS as the ones other members have been reporting working.
Off topic: just noticed @MacVidCards got suspended. That's a huge blow to anyone who has been following this thread hoping for any custom ROM solutions for our problems.
Hello Again,
I had no success with the 780m on my 27" 2011 iMac. The Details are:
My 6970m stopped working, therefore I removed the AMD/ATI kext files from the system extensions. Than I could use the mac, but all the animations etc. were too slow to work with the mac. So instead of replacing the 6970m with the same model (i did this sucessfully a year ago), I ordered a 780m from dell/alienware. The seller said it has the bios number 80.04.af.00.03, which worked for @mhafeez.
I have multiple systems installed: Latest Sierra, and for Testing also El Capitan 10.11.1. On both systems I installed the latest CUDA driver and the specific web drivers (Thank you @MacVidCards). I also have a bootcamp partition, but i am not sure if it still works because i could not boot into windows with the faulty 6970m.
After inserting the 780m, I made many tries to get it running. The mac does not boot: I hear the chime sound and it shows a bleck screen, the mac does not appear in the network for screensharing and also no sound from the volume buttons or from voiceover. Therefore I think it is not booting. One time it started into a recovery partition, I used voiceover to select Sierra as the boot device, but after the restart nothing happend. I also tried to wait for about 15 minutes, it sometimes did a restart after about 10 minutes. One time i removed all harddisks and tried to start from a recovery usb flash drive, which also did not work with the 780m. Also tried external display without success. The diagnostic LEDs are showing that the card is not recognized: two on, two off
I think the problem could be, that I removed all the AMD/ATI kext, maybe they also contain the nvidia drivers. Is there a way to check if the card is working? Maybe someone can help me and test the card. I am currently in Germany.
What else can I try to do? I really want to get the mac running. Maybe it is the system version: Everyone who had success first installed the card on Yosemite, but updating to el Capitan worked also. How can i get the mac to boot? At least it would be helpful to have a running system with blackscreen and screensharing.
I had no success with the 780m on my 27" 2011 iMac. The Details are:
My 6970m stopped working, therefore I removed the AMD/ATI kext files from the system extensions. Than I could use the mac, but all the animations etc. were too slow to work with the mac. So instead of replacing the 6970m with the same model (i did this sucessfully a year ago), I ordered a 780m from dell/alienware. The seller said it has the bios number 80.04.af.00.03, which worked for @mhafeez.
I have multiple systems installed: Latest Sierra, and for Testing also El Capitan 10.11.1. On both systems I installed the latest CUDA driver and the specific web drivers (Thank you @MacVidCards). I also have a bootcamp partition, but i am not sure if it still works because i could not boot into windows with the faulty 6970m.
After inserting the 780m, I made many tries to get it running. The mac does not boot: I hear the chime sound and it shows a bleck screen, the mac does not appear in the network for screensharing and also no sound from the volume buttons or from voiceover. Therefore I think it is not booting. One time it started into a recovery partition, I used voiceover to select Sierra as the boot device, but after the restart nothing happend. I also tried to wait for about 15 minutes, it sometimes did a restart after about 10 minutes. One time i removed all harddisks and tried to start from a recovery usb flash drive, which also did not work with the 780m. Also tried external display without success. The diagnostic LEDs are showing that the card is not recognized: two on, two off
I think the problem could be, that I removed all the AMD/ATI kext, maybe they also contain the nvidia drivers. Is there a way to check if the card is working? Maybe someone can help me and test the card. I am currently in Germany.
What else can I try to do? I really want to get the mac running. Maybe it is the system version: Everyone who had success first installed the card on Yosemite, but updating to el Capitan worked also. How can i get the mac to boot? At least it would be helpful to have a running system with blackscreen and screensharing.
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Excellent thread. Been reading for a while.
770M looks nice and seems to be cheap. I'm on the fence.
Now, let's say I dont care about OS X
and just care about windows to boot normally, do I take a big risk trying to install a card like this one ? I have a 21.5" 2011 iMac.
[doublepost=1478872933][/doublepost]
Have you tried safe mode ?
770M looks nice and seems to be cheap. I'm on the fence.
Now, let's say I dont care about OS X
and just care about windows to boot normally, do I take a big risk trying to install a card like this one ? I have a 21.5" 2011 iMac.[doublepost=1478872933][/doublepost]
Have you tried safe mode ?
Can someone help me on this..? I managed to get a display on my internal screen in Imac 27" mid 2011 model with a nvidia 780m, it was 2am already in here so i decided to sleep. then after waking up i turn on again the imac but why is that it has no display again..? i havent done anything before unplugin the power cord i just clicked the shutdown button, thats all...
please help me im very confuse... =(
please help me im very confuse... =(
Update: so i thought of pulling out the hdd in the imac and reinstalling mac osx el capitan using my macbook air and after a fresh installation of os i put it back in the imac and i was surprise that it has display again so i went on to enter certain infos like username, time and date etc and when i was on the actual operating system i checked if the 780m vidcard was detected and it was, so i decided to shutdown it again. so heres another thats confusing me, after the shutdown i powered it on again and it has no display again..? why is that..? has anyone else encounter this problem..?
finally figured it out =) just by installing nvidia web driver which is available in nvidia.com i finally got display even after i shut it down and power it on again. thankfully i have a macbook air. i took out the hdd which is in imac then using an enclosure, i select imac's hdd in my macbook air and download the nvidia web driver.
Hey everybody,
I just wanted to get back to you. Good news first: my upgrade to a 770m was successful. The system boots as expected with the known drawbacks. I use Shades to dimm the screen in darker conditions. The results are not as good as the real brightness control and I definitely wouldn't activate it during colour critical work. It's still fine to reduce the brightness by up to 50% without having too washed out images.
I realised though that my systems seems not to use the graphics card properly. Playing Youtube videos shows a significant jump in CPU load. I also benchmarked my system with GpuTest with, well, horrible results. Has anyone an idea how I can activate the card in my system? It seems a bit weird as it recognises the card properly. Latest nVidia Web Driver is installed as well.
@flszen: As you are using an 770m have you done anything special to get your system working or was it 'just' plug and play? I recognised that your VBIOS differs from mine.
I just wanted to get back to you. Good news first: my upgrade to a 770m was successful. The system boots as expected with the known drawbacks. I use Shades to dimm the screen in darker conditions. The results are not as good as the real brightness control and I definitely wouldn't activate it during colour critical work. It's still fine to reduce the brightness by up to 50% without having too washed out images.
I realised though that my systems seems not to use the graphics card properly. Playing Youtube videos shows a significant jump in CPU load. I also benchmarked my system with GpuTest with, well, horrible results. Has anyone an idea how I can activate the card in my system? It seems a bit weird as it recognises the card properly. Latest nVidia Web Driver is installed as well.
@flszen: As you are using an 770m have you done anything special to get your system working or was it 'just' plug and play? I recognised that your VBIOS differs from mine.
sir how do you able to boot from windows via bootcamp..? i mean how can you access bootcamp without the boot screen being visible.? in my condition I have the same imac which is 27" mid 2011, elcapitan 10.11.6 with already installed nvidia web driver BUT without windows installed still... a while ago i was able to intall windows 7 ult 64bit via bootcamp, after the partitioning process the imac restarts by itself, but after that my screen just doesn't display anything... can you tell please tell me how will I be able to boot from windows using a 780m..? I really want to because I also play games.. thanks.
[doublepost=1479149157][/doublepost]
sir how do you able to boot from windows via bootcamp..? i mean how can you access bootcamp without the boot screen being visible.? in my condition I have imac which is 27" mid 2011, elcapitan 10.11.6 with already installed nvidia web driver BUT without windows installed still... a while ago i was able to intall windows 7 ult 64bit via bootcamp, after the partitioning process the imac restarts by itself, but after that my screen just doesn't display anything... can you tell please tell me how will I be able to boot from windows using a 780m..? I really want to because I also play games.. thanks.
Hey Chronos376,
I’m not sure if it is possible to install Windows after the GPU change. As far as other contributors to this thread have reported they set up their Bootcamp partition with the original Apple graphics card. In this case it is necessary to prepare the system in a similar way like Mac OS X for the GPU change (installing drivers, activating screen share or using something like Team Viewer).
Another option would be to use a virtualization software like Virtual Box ore VMware Fusion. Especially VMware does a pretty good job when it comes to performance aspects.
I’m not sure if it is possible to install Windows after the GPU change. As far as other contributors to this thread have reported they set up their Bootcamp partition with the original Apple graphics card. In this case it is necessary to prepare the system in a similar way like Mac OS X for the GPU change (installing drivers, activating screen share or using something like Team Viewer).
Another option would be to use a virtualization software like Virtual Box ore VMware Fusion. Especially VMware does a pretty good job when it comes to performance aspects.
so sir its either i have to find a compatible apple video card like 6970m to be able to install windows..? or is it also possible to take out the hdd in my imac and find a macbook pro for me to install a windows os from there..? as I've said earlier I really want to have a windows os again because of games like dota2 that can run without any performance issues.. thanks for the reply sir =)
or is it possible that after installing windows using my macbook pro.. then ill buy a hdd/ssd adapter caddy so that i can install properly the laptop hdd. so to summarize it my setup is 1tb desktop sata hdd for mac osx and 1tb laptop sata hdd for windows.. is this possible..?
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I have my doubts that this is going to work but you can try it. After installing Windows make sure that you get the right Bootcamp drivers for your iMac. Anyway in your case I would go for a virtualization solution. It also gives you the benefit of working seamlessly with two operating systems.