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

[Ausdauersportler]

If you do the same test (experiment) with the same card type in the same machine at different times you get a (statistically) better and more reliable result. Deleting such data is utter nonsense. The fact that in this case we got the exact same result does not make the experiment nor the result worse.

You should better ask if there are systematic errors made during this experiment which allows you to separate bad data from good data....I know some and I could explain a lot of the differences.

You can safely assume the high scores shown in the table are real.

 

[Rhino_60]

You have not described the nature of you problem! It works pretty well and I do it once a week on test systems ....

After modded my iMac (CPU and Video card as my signature), I've found from App Store an upgrade (SecUpd2020-004) for my original High Sierra 10.13.6 OS system.
I've downloaded it and after reboot (... the upgrade requires reboot), the upgrade has been created a new disk called "MacOS Installer" that try to reinstall High Sierra (into a new partition...).
I must interrupt the installation from switching off rear button, restart system holding ALT and reselect the original startup disk, but the upgrade has no successful.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

After modded my iMac (CPU and Video card as my signature), I've found from App Store an upgrade (SecUpd2020-004) for my original High Sierra 10.13.6 OS system.
I've downloaded it and after reboot (... the upgrade requires reboot), the upgrade has been created a new disk called "MacOS Installer" that try to reinstall High Sierra (into a new partition...).
I must interrupt the installation from switching off rear button, restart system holding ALT and reselect the original startup disk, but the upgrade has no successful.

While downloading the upgrade prepare the automatic reboot by pulling the OpenCore SD card (your default startup item).
The update installer will create a disk image and will set this image to boot from automatically. If you do not pull the OpenCore card you can choose from the OpenCore boot picker the new installer. This fails sometimes during Catalina installation. For this reason I do upgrades without OpenCore...

 

[Rhino_60]

While downloading the upgrade prepare the automatic reboot by pulling the OpenCore SD card (your default startup item).
The update installer will create a disk image and will set this image to boot from automatically. If you do not pull the OpenCore card you can choose from the OpenCore boot picker the new installer. This fails sometimes during Catalina installation. For this reason I do upgrades without OpenCore...

... Maybe I’ve not explained that I haven’t installed OpenCore at all, I’ve only default startup system.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

... Maybe I’ve not explained that I haven’t installed OpenCore at all, I’ve only default startup system.

Then please move over to a High Sierra thread...as I wrote before this High Sierra Upgrade works pretty well all the time and your problem is not related to the GPU change, at all. Getting a black and blank screen is a known issue after a GPU change. But not upgrade problems....

Whatever upgrade or new installation, unless you do not delete your old partitions, only the systems files will be replaced. Why do you interrupt the installation at all? Probably you should pay the Apple website a visit and read about installation of the latest security upgrade on your "supported" system.

 

[inck243]

Hey so I did the surgery on my 21.5 today... GPU, CPU and SSD are all installed. I can boot into my new High Sierra SSD ofcourse without a boot screen.

I'm having trouble flashing the card using the linux bootable USB. I didn't unplug the SSD/HDD because I didn't want to open up the machine again and I thought booting blind would be easier than it's turning out to be.

I made 3 identical USB sticks figuring I'd have luck choosing at least one. I tested them on my working macbook and they're fine. But on the imac when I boot and hold option, I'm not sure if it's working. I've tried in the left direction and right direction with a variety of different numbers of presses hoping eventually I would land on one of the USB sticks. If it ever does boot into a stick, it never gets an IP address. But also I'm not sure if it's even booting from the USB.

At first I tried using my normal ethernet but now I'm using a spare router so it's isolated to just the imac and my macbook plugged in with ethernet. Any time I boot into what I think is one of the 3 USB linux drives, the screen stays black but never gets an IP address on the router.

Do I need to use a USB keyboard? I'm almost sure the apple bluetooth keyboard is working because when I hold option, the screen never turns on and it doesn't boot to my SSD or HHD. I guess I can't see anything so not sure. Is there anything else I can do to help boot blind? Or does the boot screen not even work and everything needs to be unplugged?

Thanks

 

[herrdude]

Hey so I did the surgery on my 21.5 today... GPU, CPU and SSD are all installed. I can boot into my new High Sierra SSD ofcourse without a boot screen.

I'm having trouble flashing the card using the linux bootable USB. I didn't unplug the SSD/HDD because I didn't want to open up the machine again and I thought booting blind would be easier than it's turning out to be.

I made 3 identical USB sticks figuring I'd have luck choosing at least one. I tested them on my working macbook and they're fine. But on the imac when I boot and hold option, I'm not sure if it's working. I've tried in the left direction and right direction with a variety of different numbers of presses hoping eventually I would land on one of the USB sticks. If it ever does boot into a stick, it never gets an IP address. But also I'm not sure if it's even booting from the USB.

At first I tried using my normal ethernet but now I'm using a spare router so it's isolated to just the imac and my macbook plugged in with ethernet. Any time I boot into what I think is one of the 3 USB linux drives, the screen stays black but never gets an IP address on the router.

Do I need to use a USB keyboard? I'm almost sure the apple bluetooth keyboard is working because when I hold option, the screen never turns on and it doesn't boot to my SSD or HHD. I guess I can't see anything so not sure. Is there anything else I can do to help boot blind? Or does the boot screen not even work and everything needs to be unplugged?

Thanks

You let your iMac boot with the USB then you are supposed to SSH from another computer. You will need to go to your router to get the IP address of your iMac with the new graphics card.

 

[inck243]

You let your iMac boot with the USB then you are supposed to SSH from another computer. You will need to go to your router to get the IP address of your iMac with the new graphics card.

thank you any tips to booting the imac blind? I have 3 USB sticks in there, the original HHD and new SSD and I don't really want to open it up again and unplug them. I've tried a ton of times holding option and choosing the left / right arrow a different number of times but it won't ever boot into the usb.

 

[djs1718]

This happens if you boot into the Catalina Loader twice. After booting the Loader the selection of bootable devices will be shown on screen including the Loader itself. You may change the config.plist and check the hide self checkbox. This is the old Loader, right?

I was able to hide the selection screen for the bootable devices. Its this screen that I can't figure out. Tried all the settings, none will hide it. Is there a newer catalina loader?

 

[SubDriver]

We have to ask @NOTNlCE to add a GeekBench5 metal score entry and some more options for cards @nikey22 made BIOS versions for in his form, currently I add this values manually from my cards.

Regarding the temperature it may be caused by the dasct that Mojave and Catalina rely on the metal capabilities unlike High Sierra an draw more power...please use the normal older version of PolarisBoost extension, I changed the config on the new version of the Loader I published back, yesterday.

@Ausdauersportler - As usual, you are correct regarding the PolarisBoost extension. I replaced it on my Catalina Loader flash drive and that has solved the temperature issue. Back down to the 38-40 degree range with the fan at approximately 1620 rpm (Macs Fan Control settings: GPU Heatsink Minimum temperature 32 deg, Maximum temperature 49 deg)

@Pascal Baillargeau - Thank you for the iStat Menus suggestion and the snapshot of your GPU temperature to provide me a good comparison.

 

[SubDriver]

For those with a WX7100, here is some data for comparing the card performance during testing with GeekBench Metal using the "normal" PolarisBoost kext versus the PolarisBoostMAX kext in the latest Catalina Loader from @Ausdauersportler:

1. "Normal" PolarisBoost kext:
- GeekBench Metal Score: 36857
- Memory Clock speed: cycled back and forth between 300 MHz and 1.25 GHz during the benchmark
- Core Clock speed: varied a lot, but was generally above 900 MHz and usually was near 1.25 GHz
- Power Demand: lowest was around 30W, peak was approximately 200W, but the power demand also changed a lot during the benchmark and was generally below 110W
- Idle GPU heatsink temp (for my MacsFanControl settings): approximately 39 deg
- Idle Clock Speeds: 300-500 MHz for both
- Idle Power Demand: Approximately 30W

2. PolarisBoostMAX kext:
- GeekBench Metal Score: 43099
- Memory Clock speed: 1.25 GHz
- Core Clock speed: 1.25 GHz
- Power Demand: lowest was around 75W, peak was above 270W, but the power demand also changed a lot during the benchmark and was generally below 180W
- Idle GPU heatsink temp (for my MacsFanControl settings): approximately 46 deg
- Idle Clock Speeds: 1.25 GHz for both
- Idle Power Demand: Approximately 70W

Attached below are the full GeekBench results for both tests. I hope these may be of use to someone. I am definitely leaving the "Normal" PolarisBoost kext as my preferred one as recommended by @Ausdauersportler - I really don't want to burn out my WX7100!!😀💰💰💵

 

[TheRetiredOldMan]

Hi All,

I have one issue remained.
Here is about my iMac mid 2011 with WX4170 installed after being updated to Catalina.

My problem is no sound from internal speakers after I installed WX4170 graphics card. I can hear the chime at boot but not internal speakers output in desktop environment whether the OS is High Sierra or Catalina. This phenomena is the same with OpenCore or without OpenCore.
Built-in output is directed to Digital Out, not internal speakers.
Here are the screenshots concerning about sound setting.

I have read post #1 and have searched the whole thread about this issue, but I can not get a clear solution.
Can anyone give your comment or suggestion for this issue?
Thanks in advance.

 

[RRPC]

[

Hi All,

I have one issue remained.
Here is about my iMac mid 2011 with WX4170 installed after being updated to Catalina.
View attachment 941531
My problem is no sound from internal speakers after I installed WX4170 graphics card. I can hear the chime at boot but not internal speakers output in desktop environment whether the OS is High Sierra or Catalina. This phenomena is the same with OpenCore or without OpenCore.
Built-in output is directed to Digital Out, not internal speakers.
Here are the screenshots concerning about sound setting.
View attachment 941533
View attachment 941534
I have read post #1 and have searched the whole thread about this issue, but I can not get a clear solution.
Can anyone give your comment or suggestion for this issue?
Thanks in advance.

Can you please verify the next thing.

Did you connect this ?

Do you see in the port where you can connect a headset/external speakers. Only a red light?

If you see a red light your audio port is broken.
If you don't see a red light. You might have forgotten to connect that connector.

My grandma have also a iMac with a broken jack
And the imac only want to output digitally.
Apple chime is there, but in Mac OS no sound via the speakers.
Because there is a switch contact inside what is making a contact and tell the imac. You have to put out Spdif

 

[ggwwzz11]

OK I did not enter your problem I thought I saw a black screen at startup

but if you understand the black screen when starting the system, is that correct?

start button
apple logo
loading bar
and nothing more?
access to the system anyway or not at all?

Yes, startup with black screen
I think I'm missing the stage 1 and 2 boot screen

 

[TheRetiredOldMan]

[


Can you please verify the next thing.

Did you connect this ?
View attachment 941537
Do you see in the port where you can connect a headset/external speakers. Only a red light?

If you see a red light your audio port is broken.
If you don't see a red light. You might have forgotten to connect that connector.

My grandma have also a iMac with a broken jack
And the imac only want to output digitally.
Apple chime is there, but in Mac OS no sound via the speakers.
Because there is a switch contact inside what is making a contact and tell the imac. You have to put out Spdif

Hi RRPC,

Thanks for your comments.
I will check the connector later.

EDIT:
I have looked into the port and can not see a red light.
Perhaps I did forget to connect the audio cable during my last take apart.

 

[herrdude]

I was able to hide the selection screen for the bootable devices. Its this screen that I can't figure out. Tried all the settings, none will hide it. Is there a newer catalina loader?

Sadly, you need to unplug any other drives. This will force the iMac to boot with the USB drive. You only need to remove the LCD, which takes just a few minutes. Then you can disconnect the hard-drive and SSD. It is not necessary to remove the motherboard, which is a pain in the butt. You can leave the LCD disconnected until you flash successfully the video card. Then you can reconnect the hard-drive, SSD, and finally the LCD. Good luck!

 

[roscho]

ok..and K11xx and K21xx?

thx

For those with a WX7100, here is some data for comparing the card performance during testing with GeekBench Metal using the "normal" PolarisBoost kext versus the PolarisBoostMAX kext in the latest Catalina Loader from @Ausdauersportler:

1. "Normal" PolarisBoost kext:
- GeekBench Metal Score: 36857
- Memory Clock speed: cycled back and forth between 300 MHz and 1.25 GHz during the benchmark
- Core Clock speed: varied a lot, but was generally above 900 MHz and usually was near 1.25 GHz
- Power Demand: lowest was around 30W, peak was approximately 200W, but the power demand also changed a lot during the benchmark and was generally below 110W
- Idle GPU heatsink temp (for my MacsFanControl settings): approximately 39 deg
- Idle Clock Speeds: 300-500 MHz for both
- Idle Power Demand: Approximately 30W

2. PolarisBoostMAX kext:
- GeekBench Metal Score: 43099
- Memory Clock speed: 1.25 GHz
- Core Clock speed: 1.25 GHz
- Power Demand: lowest was around 75W, peak was above 270W, but the power demand also changed a lot during the benchmark and was generally below 180W
- Idle GPU heatsink temp (for my MacsFanControl settings): approximately 46 deg
- Idle Clock Speeds: 1.25 GHz for both
- Idle Power Demand: Approximately 70W

Attached below are the full GeekBench results for both tests. I hope these may be of use to someone. I am definitely leaving the "Normal" PolarisBoost kext as my preferred one as recommended by @Ausdauersportler - I really don't want to burn out my WX7100!!😀💰💰💵

View attachment 941468View attachment 941469

As I posted in this thread

I do not use any benchmark software but Apples ioreg itself. This way:

roscho$ while sleep 1; do ioreg -l |grep \"PerformanceStatistics\" | cut -d '{' -f 2 | tr '|' ',' | tr -d '}' | tr ',' '\n'|grep 'Temp\|Fan\|Clock\|GPU Activity'; done

This polls the actual clocks every second via ioreg.

Without the above mentioned parmeters the Core CLK is stuck at 300MHz but the Mem Clock risies under load until 1250MHz.

With ...FORCE... after Polarisboost the Core Clock rises to 1243MHz and OpenCL performance is significantly better (GB4 45000 vs 35000). By the way, if it comes to significance or standard error it is wiser to compare sets of repeated measures (e.g. t-test & S.E.).

Also the GPU load in Activity Monitor (CMD+4) is higher and the GPU heatsink tempt rises higher under load.

EDIT: And Luxmark reports correctly, although the result is disappointing. But maybe i have to play around with different parameters.

View attachment 938491

regards,

roscho
[automerge]1596022164[/automerge]


For sure, this is the relevant PolarisBoost Config.plist part, but the 2 params should also work in the same place in RadeonBoost:

            <key>IOProviderMergeProperties</key>
            <dict>
                <key>ATY,EFIVersionB</key>
                <string>PolarisBoost</string>
                <key>CFG,CFG_NVV</key>
                <integer>2</integer>
                <key>CFG,CFG_PTPL2_TBL</key>
                <data>ggAAAHwAAAB2AAAAcAAAAGoAAABkAAAAXgAAAFgAAABSAAAATAAAAEYAAABAAAAAOgAAADQAAAAuAAAAKAAAAA==</data>
                <key>CFG,CFG_USE_CP2</key>
                <true/>
                <key>PP,PP_EnableLoadFalconSmcFirmware</key>
                <integer>1</integer>
                <key>PP,PP_Falcon_QuickTransition_Enable</key>
                <integer>1</integer>
                <key>PP,PP_WorkLoadPolicyMask</key>
                <integer>16</integer>
                <key>CFG,CFG_FORCE_MAX_DPS</key>
                <true/>
                <key>CFG,CFG_FORCEMAXDPM</key>
                <true/>
            </dict>

those parameters I found out are only for debugging if ones card does not clock up correctly.

Anyway the significant increase in ParticlePhysics and SFTT is interesting though...

Cheers
roscho

 

[meggle]

Hi everyone! I wanted to share some insights I gained installing OSX Big Sur on my iMac 2011 with a K4100M flashed with @nikey22 brilliant ROM.

1. I installed Big Sur using the patcher from https://github.com/barrykn/big-sur-micropatcher
2. Everything worked except Sleep, Full Brightness Level (same as on High Sierra), and External Display (this worked under High Sierra).
3. I then installed the patched kext's for Catalina from @highvoltage12v which fixed Sleep.
4. I tried installing AppleBacklightFixup.kext from @highvoltage12v but this did not work. Patching the AppleBacklight.kext manually using his guide worked, giving me the full brightness level.
5. I also manually patched AppleGraphicsControl.kext to include the iMac 27" 2011 Board ID as explained in a post by @highvoltage12v, giving me support for the external display.

Installing kexts on Big Sur was a bit of a hassle, as the usual tools like Hackintool and Kext Utility did not work. I had to mount the root partition, bless it and reload kexts. Basically after disabling root-authentication using csrutil (which was already the case for me) the steps are:

1) mount root volume: sudo mount -o nobrowse -t apfs /dev/diskNsM /Volumes/ROOT (disk id is / from diskutil list with last 'sX' removed)
2) make modifications to kexts
3) run kmutil install --update-all --volume-root /Volumes/ROOT,
4) bless new volume: sudo bless --folder /Volumes/ROOT/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi --create-snapshot

More information here:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1275454103900971012

So as far as I can tell everything works on Big Sur with a K4100M. I did not try things like Sidecar yet. Here's hoping things will stay the same for the Big Sur Final version, but I dont see why not.

Hope this helps!

 

[highvoltage12v]

Hi everyone! I wanted to share some insights I gained installing OSX Big Sur on my iMac 2011 with a K4100M flashed with @nikey22 brilliant ROM.

1. I installed Big Sur using the patcher from https://github.com/barrykn/big-sur-micropatcher
2. Everything worked except Sleep, Full Brightness Level (same as on High Sierra), and External Display (this worked under High Sierra).
3. I then installed the patched kext's for Catalina from @highvoltage12v which fixed Sleep.
4. I tried installing AppleBacklightFixup.kext from @highvoltage12v but this did not work. Patching the AppleBacklight.kext manually using his guide worked, giving me the full brightness level.

Installing kexts on Big Sur was a bit of a hassle, as the usual tools like Hackintool and Kext Utility did not work. I had to mount the root partition, bless it and reload kexts. Basically after disabling root-authentication using csrutil (which was already the case for me) the steps are:

1) mount root volume: sudo mount -o nobrowse -t apfs /dev/diskNsM /Volumes/ROOT (disk id is / from diskutil list with last 'sX' removed)
2) make modifications to kexts
3) run kmutil install --update-all --volume-root /Volumes/ROOT,
4) bless new volume: sudo bless --folder /Volumes/ROOT/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi --create-snapshot

More information here:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1275454103900971012

So as far as I can tell everything works on Big Sur with a K4100M except for having an external display (which worked under HS—I tried different port). I did not try things like Sidecar yet. Here's hoping things will stay the same for the Big Sur Final version, but I dont see why not.

Hope this helps!

You probably need to install Lilu.kext to use AppleBacklightFixup.kext along with it.
Ah you're trying big Sur. I'm trying to install it right now with micro patcher 0.0.20 don't spoil any surprises for me!
Do you think AppleGraphicsControl is working properly? I guess I can see in 30 min or so.

If you select to install hd3000 kexts with the micropatcher it should fix sleep for you, same set of kexts, we just need it to prevent crashing of the iGPU when waking from sleep.

GitHub - barrykn/big-sur-micropatcher: A primitive USB patcher for installing macOS Big Sur on unsupported Macs

A primitive USB patcher for installing macOS Big Sur on unsupported Macs - barrykn/big-sur-micropatcher

github.com

 

[meggle]

You probably need to install Lilu.kext to use AppleBacklightFixup.kext along with it.
Ah you're trying big Sur. I'm trying to install it right now with micro patcher 0.0.20 don't spoil any surprises for me!
Do you think AppleGraphicsControl is working properly? I guess I can see in 30 min or so.

Hey, I just updated my post, I got External Display to work by patching AppleGraphicsControl. I did load Lilu when loading AppleBacklightFixup.kext, did not make a difference, but I am no expert by any means... Yay everything works now! Thanks for all your work @highvoltage12v , very much appreciated.

 

[meggle]

One observation from testing K4100M in Big Sur: Making Facetime Calls or Recording the Screen in Quicktime both lead to an immediate Kernel Panic. Not sure how to debug this or if it's a Catalina problem, too.

 

[highvoltage12v]

One observation from testing K4100M in Big Sur: Making Facetime Calls or Recording the Screen in Quicktime both lead to an immediate Kernel Panic. Not sure how to debug this or if it's a Catalina problem, too.

If I were to guess, Big Sur wants to use the IGPU to do this, so AppleGVA needs patching again? I'm still having ****ing

michael@Michaels-iMac ~ % sudo mount -o nobrowse -t apfs /dev/disk8s5 /Volumes/Sur
mount_apfs: volume could not be mounted: Permission denied
mount: / failed with 66

issues with Sur. Even with the MicroPatcher....

 

[meggle]

If I were to guess, Big Sur wants to use the IGPU to do this, so AppleGVA needs patching again? I'm still having ****ing

michael@Michaels-iMac ~ % sudo mount -o nobrowse -t apfs /dev/disk8s5 /Volumes/Sur
mount_apfs: volume could not be mounted: Permission denied
mount: / failed with 66

issues with Sur. Even with the MicroPatcher....

Did you make sure you have disabled SIP and root authentication with csrutil? They were both disabled for me after installing with the patcher, but they might still be enabled for you. AFAIK the root authentication thing is new in Sur. I did all the kext modifications from the running system by the way.

Also I mounted the root filesystem to a new mountpoint, not remounting over the old one, not sure this is still possible as in the old versions.

 

[highvoltage12v]

Did you make sure you have disabled SIP and root authentication with csrutil? They were both disabled for me after installing with the patcher, but they might still be enabled for you. AFAIK the root authentication thing is new in Sur. I did all the kext modifications from the running system by the way.

Also I mounted the root filesystem to a new mountpoint, not remounting over the old one, not sure this is still possible as in the old versions.

I just realized somehow I'm on Beta 2 20A4300b, it downloaded the wrong version, probably most of my issues here.

 

[SubDriver]

Hi RRPC,

Thanks for your comments.
I will check the connector later.

EDIT:
I have looked into the port and can not see a red light.
Perhaps I did forget to connect the audio cable during my last take apart.

I experienced this when I upgraded to Mojave. I fixed it by reinstalling the @dosdude1 patches using the patch updater app that is provided with the @dosdude1 Mojave installer. For an unknown reason, the audio patch did not load properly when the initial patch was applied during the done post-install process. A quick re-install of the post-install patches was all it took and my audio was back to normal.