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

[r6mile]

@Andrea Filippini your imac should have the ati 4670 so a k610/k1100m would be ok.
io non andrei oltre anche perchè è un core2, quindi il costo non giustifica l'upgrade...

As @Ausdauersportler pointed out, this iMac cannot have the GPU upgraded anyway.

 

[snam11]

if his imac is an a1311 2308 it should be upgradable because it has the mxm slot
i'm 101% positive it can be done on the 27", not quite sure about the 21"

 

[Ausdauersportler]

if his imac is an a1311 2308 it should be upgradable because it has the mxm slot
i'm 101% positive it can be done on the 27", not quite sure about the 21"

It is not the slot, it is (probably) the functionality: For an unknown reason (to me) the core2duo machines will not work the same way as the later i-series Intel based machines. If you watch the page one you will find out that there are only the 21.5" 2010 and 2011 models listed.

I cannot find a positive or negative post on it, but probably some of the more senior members can comment on this? I am following the story for seven month, only. Just remember that I once asked about the late 2009 27" core2duo model and got a non positive answer...

Edit:
I found some posts about the CPU, search the thread for "core 2 duo" and limit results to this thread, only. The cards will (likely) work, but the vBIOS features like boot screen are said to work not! So you can buy a K610M and use it with or without a modded vBIOS and it will most likely run. If you get no brightness control the smaller 21.5" display is unlikely overheating the system in the same way a 27" is able to do.

 

[Wania]

Hi @Wania,
Could you please explain that last step that finally made it work for you? 🙂
Thanks!

sudo chmod -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions/
sudo chown -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/
sudo chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions/
sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/
sudo chmod -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions/
sudo chown -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/
sudo kextcache -i /
sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/AppleGVA.framework/
sudo chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/AppleGVA.framework/
sudo kextcache -i /
sudo kcditto
sudo reboot

 

[boy80]

if his imac is an a1311 2308 it should be upgradable because it has the mxm slot
i'm 101% positive it can be done on the 27", not quite sure about the 21"

I can confirm that 2009 core2duo versions do not support these video cards. I tried the k1000 with Nick's rom. Only get black screen this is on BOTH the 21" & 27" both with core2duo cpu. Same card works fine on my 2010 i3 and 2011 i7. Idont have any I seies 2009 iMacs. Bummer for me as I wanted to swap out the hou on my 09 27". Oh well

 

[duvelhedz]

I can confirm that 2009 core2duo versions do not support these video cards. I tried the k1000 with Nick's rom. Only get black screen this is on BOTH the 21" & 27" both with core2duo cpu. Same card works fine on my 2010 i3 and 2011 i7. Idont have any I seies 2009 iMacs. Bummer for me as I wanted to swap out the hou on my 09 27". Oh well

Does the 21.5" Late 2009 C2D still run with a black screen with the original HP/Dell rom?

I have tried a FirePro "6770" and got blank screen. Machine booted but nothing to internal or External display

 

[Lam Le]

You read the page? There is no vBIOS for the K3000M available.

Could you pls support for vBIOS with K3000m & W5170 run on iMAC 2011. Thank you.

 

[hacknmac408]

i have 3 wx4150 cards but they are HP. can you explain to me why they do not work?

 

[ZenSurfeur]

i have 3 wx4150 cards but they are HP. can you explain to me why they do not work?

Explain

 

[Ausdauersportler]

i have 3 wx4150 cards but they are HP. can you explain to me why they do not work?

Nobody claimed or promised that these card will work! We had a discussion about that but there was no explanation found until now. @highvoltages owns three of these non working cards, too. You are not alone. For that reason we added this note to the first page:
Note - (Some of) These WX 4130/4150 are not detected by the 2011 iMacs for some reason, and therefore are currently incompatible. Even worse some models are not detected in any iMac model late 2009 to mid 2011.

 

[mazz0]

Hi All,

Quick couple of questions:

1) Is a K2100M likely to work in Big Sur?
2) When it comes to installing the custom drivers, is there any reason I can't do that *before* I remove the old graphics card, so I can do it with the screen active?

Thanks

 

[r6mile]

Hi All,

Quick couple of questions:

1) Is a K2100M likely to work in Big Sur?
2) When it comes to installing the custom drivers, is there any reason I can't do that *before* I remove the old graphics card, so I can do it with the screen active?

Thanks

No idea on 1)
But on 2), you are not installing custom drivers, you are flashing the card, which clearly this can only happen if the card is in the computer.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi All,

Quick couple of questions:

1) Is a K2100M likely to work in Big Sur?
2) When it comes to installing the custom drivers, is there any reason I can't do that *before* I remove the old graphics card, so I can do it with the screen active?

Thanks

1)
There is still Nvidia support in the Big Sur Beta, so likely yes. Read the Big Sur thread on this.
2)
Read first page and first post about flashing options. Everything has been documented there. Using a CH341A you can flash before installation.

 

[mazz0]

No idea on 1)
But on 2), you are not installing custom drivers, you are flashing the card, which clearly this can only happen if the card is in the computer.

1)
There is still Nvidia support in the Big Sur Beta, so likely yes. Read the Big Sur thread on this.
2)
Read first page and first post about flashing options. Everything has been documented there. Using a CH341A you can flash before installation.

Ah yes, you’re quite right! Sorry if that seemed like a stupid question, there’s a lot to take in with all the various options.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Ah yes, you’re quite right! Sorry if that seemed like a stupid question, there’s a lot to take in with all the various options.

At least this thread is using the first page as a guide and collection of knowledge - there is nothing stupid in asking questions. The answers are sometimes short like mine 🙂

 

[mazz0]

Is there a similar thread for CPU upgrades, do you know? I haven’t seen one in my search (yet).

 

[StephN999]

@mazz0 CPU Upgrade iMac Mid 2011

 

[Andrea Filippini]

Thank you very much for your replies.
@snam11 @Ausdauersportler @r6mile @boy80
Actually I have no particular issues with GPU: I can see 1080p .mkv file easily with VLC player and 1080p videos on YT.
I have only buffering issues during a 1080p 60 fps videos on YT (I use chrome browser and I have already disabled hardware acceleration).
I have noticed high CPU usage during these videos on YT (no problem with VLC).
I don't know sincerely if it's a primary CPU issue (old processor) or a secondary CPU issue (not enough VRAM memory).


Best regards
Andrea Filippini

 

[Arturus]

Hey. Tell me where to find the instructions for the firmware of the nvidia gtx 780m video card? Can I change the brightness at the moment using the keyboard?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hey. Tell me where to find the instructions for the firmware of the nvidia gtx 780m video card? Can I change the brightness at the moment using the keyboard?

No brightness control with the current vBIOS on the 780M and as I wrote some minutes before just take look on page one and post #1 for all the details.

 

[jovonov]

Because you asked and doubt I just checked the functionality with my 2011/780M system installing Mojave in a separate APFS container. After first installation I tried to install @highvoltage12v patches and succeeded at least to get the sleep working. I had to apply the @dosdude1 patches to get audio and Unigine Valley running, again.

But the AppleGVA.framework and iGPU support is not working until you have installed the available (latest) Apple upgrades for Mojave. This introduces the "black screen on boot" issue, but a solution for this has been published, too.

Hi again,

Big thanks for testing and verifying.

After some more failure from my side I finally understood that this whole issue probably is related to me running a 2700k processor in my machine. I really do think that I am installing the kexts correctly, but after more testing I realised that sleep does not in fact work either, so then of course hw acceleration will fail also. Videoproc displays "Graphics N/A". Hackintool shows "Intel Generation ???" before installing the sleep kexts, but says Sandy Bridge afterwards.
Please let me know if I am wrong here, but maybe this information could be of interest to someone who is planning on buying a 2700k processor.

However I can report that upgrading Mojave to the latest security patch 18G5033 does not cause black screen issue. The screen is working fine without any modifications.

If anyone have working sleep and hw acceleration with mojave, 2700k and 780m, please let me know! 🙂

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi again,

Big thanks for testing and verifying.

After some more failure from my side I finally understood that this whole issue probably is related to me running a 2700k processor in my machine. I really do think that I am installing the kexts correctly, but after more testing I realised that sleep does not in fact work either, so then of course hw acceleration will fail also. Videoproc displays "Graphics N/A". Hackintool shows "Intel Generation ???" before installing the sleep kexts, but says Sandy Bridge afterwards.
Please let me know if I am wrong here, but maybe this information could be of interest to someone who is planning on buying a 2700k processor.

However I can report that upgrading Mojave to the latest security patch 18G5033 does not cause black screen issue. The screen is working fine without any modifications.

If anyone have working sleep and hw acceleration with mojave, 2700k and 780m, please let me know! 🙂

According to Intel your CPU supports QuickSync which is what you are looking for. Unfortunately I cannot confirm if there is any kind of Apple ROM or kernel extension support needed to achieve sleep and iGPU aka QuickSync support on CPUs that never have been used in official Apple products. The i7-2600 will work as fast as your i7-2700k, I never understood this race for the last additional 100MHz of core frequency 🙂

What I can tell you honestly: I had never problems to enable QuickSync on Catalina on at least 10 2011 system with more than 30 cards in test, but the Mojave installation yesterday killed my nearly. Still not understand why I could not make the basic installation working with the iGPU.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hello to all!

Because of our growing list of working cards (great thanks to @nikey22 and @internetzel) I reorganised the first post and deleted some redundant information. Still not happy with it, because it could have more structure and the same information using less story telling and redundant text fragments coming from copy and paste actions. Feedback is welcome. Error corrections, too.

The language thing should be corrected silently, I will not become a native AE or BE speaker in this life!

Happy reading....

 

[herrdude]

Hello to all!

Because of our growing list of working cards (great thanks to @nikey22 and @internetzel) I reorganised the first post and deleted some redundant information. Still not happy with it, because it could have more structure and the same information using less story telling and redundant text fragments coming from copy and paste actions. Feedback is welcome. Error corrections, too.

The language thing should be corrected silently, I will not become a native speaker in this life!

Happy reading....

If you need someone to correct it, I can do it. That's my thing!

 

[r6mile]

Hello to all!

Because of our growing list of working cards (great thanks to @nikey22 and @internetzel) I reorganised the first post and deleted some redundant information. Still not happy with it, because it could have more structure and the same information using less story telling and redundant text fragments coming from copy and paste actions. Feedback is welcome. Error corrections, too.

The language thing should be corrected silently, I will not become a native speaker in this life!

Happy reading....

This is excellent, thank you @Ausdauersportler!!