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

[jay508]

Okay, we know the problems with the WSON like chips and for that reason one came up with this nice Linux method. Of course you must have some English language knowledge to use terminal commands. Otherwise it will be cryptographic

Yes, the Ch341a can only be used on a VBIOS chip that can clip pins for convenience and efficiency. The Linux approach is versatile with terminal commands but has to be plugged in for ages. Wifi has been around for years and it's rare to find an Internet connection to a router.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Yes, the Ch341a can only be used on a VBIOS chip that can clip pins for convenience and efficiency. The Linux approach is versatile with terminal commands but has to be plugged in for ages. Wifi has been around for years and it's rare to find an Internet connection to a router.

Everybody at least in Europe/US has a single internet connection provided by a cable or DSL router. So this is quiete normal here. You may configure another computer to provide DHCP over a wired connection, too. Of course this needs some administrative knowledge, too. But since the IP network is older then the WIFI all knowledge is only on click or internet search away, you just have to find it. And it is beyond the scope of this thread to solve admin problems at your home.

 

[fatfree]

I know that Apple and SMC gpu fan control is lost after the non-apple gpu swap, but is the cpu fan controlled by Apple and SMC also lost? i know to use Macs Fan Control to fix this, but just curious to know%

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I know that Apple and SMC gpu fan control is lost after the non-apple gpu swap, but is the cpu fan controlled by Apple and SMC also lost? i know to use Macs Fan Control to fix this, but just curious to know%

Just do a long, long Valley run and observe the changes in temperature of the CPU and the CPU sink and speed of the CPU fan at the same time. It looks to me like Apple never wanted the users to experience the sound of a running fan or it does not work.
Right now all CPU cores are near 60C and fan at minimum of 940 rpm (using Apple SMC). Running the ODD fan (MFC) at max of 2500 rpm I can hold down the GPU at 60C, too. So this is in sync. On the long run I would like to bring the heat faster out of the box.

 

[herrdude]

Yes, the Ch341a can only be used on a VBIOS chip that can clip pins for convenience and efficiency. The Linux approach is versatile with terminal commands but has to be plugged in for ages. Wifi has been around for years and it's rare to find an Internet connection to a router.

Most internet companies provide modems that also are routers. I would be highly surprised if these units didn't have 1-4 RJ45 ports. I admit it might not be convenient to run a cable from your iMac to your modem/router but it is just a temporary process.

 

[Cordonblu]

​

** NVIDIA Quadro K4100M ROM **​

Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control​

In the words of Steve Jobs, “this is insanely great!”

After much testing and research, I've put together a ROM for the NVIDIA Quadro K4100M which will allow:

• Genuine native brightness control
• Genuine ‘gray’ early-boot screen
• Genuine macOS bootloader compliance

Features (testing in progress):

• Target Display Mode: testing
• Target Disk Mode: functional via both TB ports
• External Monitor: 1 DP/Thunderbolt port functional only
• iGPU: H.264 with usual highvoltage12v HD3000/Framework Kexts mods
• dGPU temp sensor: testing
• Internet Recovery: present
• Apple Hardware Test: n/a

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore.
This is an alternative ROM and mainly for the audience that just want a “drop-in” answer to upgrading their video card on the iMac 2011.

I appreciate the ongoing ROM testing done by @Ausdauersportler, @highvoltage12v. With their efforts we can expand its utility across multiple macOS versions and peripherals. The brightness range may need to be adjusted with a modified ApplebacklightFixup.kext.

This rom does not require the use of an external EDID parser or a separate graphics core-console stack module, but I’ve left them in there for now. It uses a built in EDID_override_Protocol and GOP_protocol. The rom is based on a TianoCore EDK2 build which houses its own generic video driver. During bootup, the efiROM is responsible for video rendering before the control is seamlessly transferred off to a different handle, the macOS video drivers.

warning: as stated previously these cards are based on a WSON flash package and therefore are much more difficult to recover from a bad flash. Please take precautions and verify flashing.


******
UPDATE
******
21 07 2020: working on Mojave 10.14.6, security update 2020-004 (18G6020)
20 07 2020: working on High Sierra 10.13.6, security update 2020-004
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.4
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.6 + kext mods

Hi lads,

Successful upgrade! Currently writing this from it, I have installed the kexts for the igpu/wake problem, brightness and smc sensors, but for some reason my gpu core clock is stuck at 400 mhz thus not perfoming any higher than 25fps in Valley. Any ideas? Running Catalina 10.15.6.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi lads,

Successful upgrade! Currently writing this from it, I have installed the kexts for the igpu/wake problem, brightness and smc sensors, but for some reason my gpu core clock is stuck at 400 mhz thus not perfoming any higher than 25fps in Valley. Any ideas? Running Catalina 10.15.6.

LCD installed? One reason to have low Valley scores is the fact that the CPU will not boost unless the iMac has been closed and all temp sensors have been replugged.

Otherwise you may face a bad/half dead card??

 

[Cordonblu]

LCD installed? One reason to have low Valley scores is the fact that the CPU will not boost unless the iMac has been closed and all temp sensors have been replugged.

Otherwise you may face a bad/half dead card??

Yes, LCD is installed in fact the mac is fully assembled, cpu boosts to 3.5 GHz without problems, I will try to boot to W10 or High Sierra and rerun benchmarks. Temps look correct as none pass 60 and fans are all at full blast in mac fan control, I will attach a screenshot with all the info. Also when I did the flash I did backup the original rom and the full size was 1KB which is kinda strange.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Yes, LCD is installed in fact the mac is fully assembled, cpu boosts to 3.5 GHz without problems, I will try to boot to W10 or High Sierra and rerun benchmarks. Temps look correct as none pass 60 and fans are all at full blast in mac fan control, I will attach a screenshot with all the info. Also when I did the flash I did backup the original rom and the full size was 1KB which is kinda strange.

This is Unigine Heaven, not Valley?

 

[Cordonblu]

This is Unigine Heaven, not Valley?

Ohh, f*ck, I'm sorry, I worked soo many years with Heaven that i guess my brain just went for it, downloading right now.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Ohh, f*ck, I'm sorry, I worked soo many years with Heaven that i guess my brain just went for it, downloading right now.

HP cards do not contain a valid BIOS, the Laptop contains the BIOS within it‘s own firmware.

 

[Cordonblu]

HP cards do not contain a valid BIOS, the Laptop contains the BIOS within it‘s own firmware.

No luck, gpu core clock is still stuck at 405 MHz. I will test High Sierra or W10 and report back.

 

[shademruser]

First off, awesome thread here with so much good information. Many thanks to all those who have contributed.

A few months ago I used the instructions in this thread and dosdudes installer to install 10.15.4 on my 2009 iMac. I used the USB Linux flash method to update my video card, and followed the OpenCore instructions to setup the bootloader on an SD card. Everything ran smooth and worked as expected, brightness control ect. The only option I did not install on the unsupported installer was the legacyGPUpatch.

I updated my unsupported installer to 10.15.6 this weekend and had issues after the installation, specifically going to the black screen. I followed the instructions in the latest pdf guide (rev 7/23/2020) and the instructions on the post here (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1596614/page-236?post=28406927#post-28406927) to update the AppleGrapahicsControl.kext with my boardid but my iMac still boots to a black screen unless I hold the option key down to force a boot picker. After installing the patched kext i can not boot to the desktop even with the option key down, loading seems to fail at the launch of the MacOS gui.

So far i have tried the following, all with a fresh install of 10.15.6

-with OpenCore (AppleGrapahicsControl.kext 10.15.6 patched)
-without OpenCore (AppleGrapahicsControl.kext 10.15.6 patched)
-without OpenCore (AppleGrapahicsControl.kext 10.15.4 patched)
-without OpenCore (AppleGrapahicsControl.kext 10.15.6 patched, I updated a fresh version with only my board id Mac-F2268DAE added to the plist)

all seem to give me the same results, either boot to black screen, or if holding option the imac loads until the graphics are supposed to launch. I can ssh into it at that point but the screen is stuck at the apple logo and grey status bar. booting verbos gives errors about AMFI: code signature verification failed and mac_vnode_check. I figured SIP got turned back on so i re-disabled it with my highsierra installer/recovery USB. I still get the same issues.

if I rebuild the kext cache manually or with hackintool after any of the AppleGrapahicsControl.kext modifications (and after using kext utility to install) I get the following

kxld[com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy]: The following symbols are unresolved for this kext:
kxld[com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy]: agdcGTraceToken(IOFramebuffer const*, unsigned short, bool, unsigned short, unsigned char, unsigned short, unsigned long long, unsigned short, unsigned long long, unsigned short, unsigned long long)
Link failed (error code 5).
Prelink failed for com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy; omitting from prelinked kernel.

I assume this is my problem, in that the kext wont load and then the graphics faille to launch the GUI.

any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. What did I miss here that is causing me soooo much trouble...

 

[nikey22]

@Cordonblu
Try removing the FakeSMC kext that you installed. It's not needed/necessary. I wonder if it is interacting with the GPU to thermal it prematurely.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

First off, awesome thread here with so much good information. Many thanks to all those who have contributed.
any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. What did I miss here that is causing me soooo much trouble...

When using the @dosdude1 installer you only get SIP back when not running the post installer. You have to run it before adding any new extensions!

Having SIP enabled give you the "missing certificate" error message. Turning SIP off gives you still a warning about the missing certificate, but the kernel will be relinked.

You messed something up during the base @dosdude1 patcher installation, all other users here got and get it running using the stock patcher and published patches.

 

[Cordonblu]

@Cordonblu
Try removing the FakeSMC kext that you installed. It's not needed/necessary. I wonder if it is interacting with the GPU to thermal it prematurely.

Yeah, that is what I was thinking about as high sierra score is also low, let me try and report back.
Edit: Going to do a clean install of Hsierra as I no longer trust what kext are installed, also geekbench reports a max frequency of 800 Mhz but Valley still underperforms

 

[McImac]

Hi,

I have a mid 2011 27" iMac. Considering of getting a "Dell Nvidia Quadro K4100M 4GB Graphics Card N15E-Q3-A2" to upgrade the GPU, would this work?

I'm intending to flash the VBIOS of the GPU on the same iMac and using Linux OS prepped on USB drive.

What is the expectation when this is installed, Boot menu will be blank as I understand it. Will Linux OS session be blank too, and needing to use another computer to remote ssh to the iMac, right?

I just want to be sure as I did purchase a Quadro K2100m earlier and try in the same machine, but it's not booting up and running the Linux OS, and thus, not able to remote ssh to the iMac.

Thanks.

​

** NVIDIA Quadro K4100M ROM **​

Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control​

In the words of Steve Jobs, “this is insanely great!”

After much testing and research, I've put together a ROM for the NVIDIA Quadro K4100M which will allow:

• Genuine native brightness control
• Genuine ‘gray’ early-boot screen
• Genuine macOS bootloader compliance

Features (testing in progress):

• Target Display Mode: testing
• Target Disk Mode: functional via both TB ports
• External Monitor: 1 DP/Thunderbolt port functional only
• iGPU: H.264 with usual highvoltage12v HD3000/Framework Kexts mods
• dGPU temp sensor: testing
• Internet Recovery: present
• Apple Hardware Test: n/a

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore.
This is an alternative ROM and mainly for the audience that just want a “drop-in” answer to upgrading their video card on the iMac 2011.

I appreciate the ongoing ROM testing done by @Ausdauersportler, @highvoltage12v. With their efforts we can expand its utility across multiple macOS versions and peripherals. The brightness range may need to be adjusted with a modified ApplebacklightFixup.kext.

This rom does not require the use of an external EDID parser or a separate graphics core-console stack module, but I’ve left them in there for now. It uses a built in EDID_override_Protocol and GOP_protocol. The rom is based on a TianoCore EDK2 build which houses its own generic video driver. During bootup, the efiROM is responsible for video rendering before the control is seamlessly transferred off to a different handle, the macOS video drivers.

warning: as stated previously these cards are based on a WSON flash package and therefore are much more difficult to recover from a bad flash. Please take precautions and verify flashing.


******
UPDATE
******
21 07 2020: working on Mojave 10.14.6, security update 2020-004 (18G6020)
20 07 2020: working on High Sierra 10.13.6, security update 2020-004
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.4
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.6 + kext mods

 

[highvoltage12v]

Hi,

I have a mid 2011 27" iMac. Considering of getting a "Dell Nvidia Quadro K4100M 4GB Graphics Card N15E-Q3-A2" to upgrade the GPU, would this work?

I'm intending to flash the VBIOS of the GPU on the same iMac and using Linux OS prepped on USB drive.

What is the expectation when this is installed, Boot menu will be blank as I understand it. Will Linux OS session be blank too, and needing to use another computer to remote ssh to the iMac, right?

I just want to be sure as I did purchase a Quadro K2100m earlier and try in the same machine, but it's not booting up and running the Linux OS, and thus, not able to remote ssh to the iMac.

Thanks.

There is a good chance if you plug a MDP to DP cable into another display and boot, you will have a Display on your external display which makes life easier. Its always the port closest to the Firewire 800 Port.

 

[Cordonblu]

@Cordonblu
Try removing the FakeSMC kext that you installed. It's not needed/necessary. I wonder if it is interacting with the GPU to thermal it prematurely.

No luck, clean high sierra install, no kexts, all unplugged besides mouse/keyboard, ethernet and secondary screen unplugged. Same score as catalina with all the kexts so I guess the core is still stuck at 400 Mhz, what is strange is that when I ran the geekbench5 compute test it reports that the max frequency is 800 Mhz, other k4100m in geekbench report different max frequencies ( Maybe geekbench sees the correct max frequency? or does it report its max frequency reported by the vbios? ). I'm up to debug for you if you want.

 

[Juan Anibal Rivera]

Hello there! I have just replaced my 2011 iMac’s gpu and cpu from the stock hd6750m to a gtx 780m (it still has the 2 heat-pipe heatsink, I ordered the 3 heat-pipe one and it’s on the way, just wanted to see if it worked at first) and from the stock i5 2500s to the i7 2600, but I have some problems. First of all, it did not boot from the first attempt after I closed it up. But, after I disconected the display to see the diagnostic lights in the motherboard and turned it on, it booted up just fine. With the main display disconnected, I connected an external display to see if it displayed an image and it did. The computer recognizes both the 780m and the i7 2600. So, I was happy that it wasn’t at least that either the COU or GPU was faulty. But the main display is my issue right now. The computer only works right now if the external display is connected and the main display is disconnected. If the main display is connected, even if I have the external one hooked up to it, it won’t boot (it doesn’t chime). What could be the problem? If anyone has had any experience with this issue please let me know. I have had experience upgrading Mac computers for a few years now, but I haven’t found myself ever having any issues, so this is new to say the least 😅

 

[highvoltage12v]

Hello there! I have just replaced my 2011 iMac’s gpu and cpu from the stock hd6750m to a gtx 780m (it still has the 2 heat-pipe heatsink, I ordered the 3 heat-pipe one and it’s on the way, just wanted to see if it worked at first) and from the stock i5 2500s to the i7 2600, but I have some problems. First of all, it did not boot from the first attempt after I closed it up. But, after I disconected the display to see the diagnostic lights in the motherboard and turned it on, it booted up just fine. With the main display disconnected, I connected an external display to see if it displayed an image and it did. The computer recognizes both the 780m and the i7 2600. So, I was happy that it wasn’t at least that either the COU or GPU was faulty. But the main display is my issue right now. The computer only works right now if the external display is connected and the main display is disconnected. If the main display is connected, even if I have the external one hooked up to it, it won’t boot (it doesn’t chime). What could be the problem? If anyone has had any experience with this issue please let me know. I have had experience upgrading Mac computers for a few years now, but I haven’t found myself ever having any issues, so this is new to say the least 😅

With the original display installed, is it quarter fan spinning for half a second and shutting off? booting with no display? What I'd like you to do is "assemble" the iMac with the eDP cable disconnected (wrap the end in tape to prevent shorts) and see if it turns on then, if so, its likely a faulty display cable. Otherwise look your iMac over really well and see if if anything is sticking up touching the metal side of the LCD, also try booting with nothing plugged into the LED inverter board (but EDP connected) see if any of this troubleshooting helps.

 

[Juan Anibal Rivera]

With the original display installed, is it quarter fan spinning for half a second and shutting off? booting with no display? What I'd like you to do is "assemble" the iMac with the eDP cable disconnected (wrap the end in tape to prevent shorts) and see if it turns on then, if so, its likely a faulty display cable. Otherwise look your iMac over really well and see if if anything is sticking up touching the metal side of the LCD, also try booting with nothing plugged into the LED inverter board (but EDP connected) see if any of this troubleshooting helps.

ok, when I disconnect the main display entirely (it is out of the computer) and then connect the external display throught mDP, the computer turns on fine and it boots correctly. Also, as you said, when I hit the power button with the main display connected, the fans spin up for a split second and then it stops spinning and doesn’t boot or makes the startup chime.

 

[highvoltage12v]

ok, when I disconnect the main display entirely (it is out of the computer) and then connect the external display throught mDP, the computer turns on fine and it boots correctly. Also, as you said, when I hit the power button with the main display connected, the fans spin up for a split second and then it stops spinning and doesn’t boot or makes the startup chime.

Okay so it's quarter fan spinning, reinstall the display minus the EDP cable, and see if it boot then, if so you likely need an new EDP/video cable

 

[Juan Anibal Rivera]

Okay so it's quarter fan spinning, reinstall the display minus the EDP cable, and see if it boot then, if so you likely need an new EDP/video cable

Yeah, what you said happened. Without the EDP connector on the main display, it booted up no problem. But, now that I ask the question, could it be that the connector is shorted by something in the motherboard? I put a copper heat spreader on the 780m and it might be making contact with the motherboard. So I can disassemble the computer and put back the hd 6750m to see if that was the problem. What do you recommend?

 

[highvoltage12v]

Yeah, what you said happened. Without the EDP connector on the main display, it booted up no problem. But, now that I ask the question, could it be that the connector is shorted by something in the motherboard? I put a copper heat spreader on the 780m and it might be making contact with the motherboard. So I can disassemble the computer and put back the hd 6750m to see if that was the problem. What do you recommend?

Usually if you take the iMac apart while standing up and not laying down you run an increased chance of stretching/damaging this cable, could be the connector on the board, but I'm not there to examine it, the pins are very small. Yes remove your copper shim, this could be part of the issue, but I'm leaning more towards the cable. Here is how I did my k4100m I used really large thermal pads and took the tape off the metal bracket behind the card, you just want adequate cooling for the VRAM, it's doesn't have to be too crazy.

Yes try the 6750m, should be an easy/mess free swap considering you have both heatsinks available.