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

[herrdude]

@nikey22 could you please point me to some guidelines about where and how to start working on a native brightness support for k2100m? Thanks.

Couldn't you look at the original ROM for K3100m and the ROM from @nikey22 as a start? Just spitballin'

 

[ZenSurfeur]

heu in fact K2100m is a GK106 and k3100m is a GK104 Kepler Gpu one
There some differences between these two Kepler gpu
Magical vBios by @nikey22 are GK104 based (K3100, K4100, k5100...GTX 67x, 68x...)

 

[herrdude]

heu in fact K2100m is a GK106 and k3100m is a GK104 Kepler Gpu one
There some differences between these two Kepler gpu
Magical vBios by @nikey22 are GK104 based (K3100, K4100, k5100...GTX 67x, 68x...)

For sure, but I am thinking that he can see what changes were made between the two ROMs. After that, he can see if he can apply those changes to the K2100m ROM.

I admit I know nothing about programming ROMs

 

[ZenSurfeur]

For sure, but I am thinking that he can see what changes were made between the two ROMs. After that, he can see if he can apply those changes to the K2100m ROM.

I admit I know nothing about programming ROMs

It could be a starting way but I don't think this will work

 

[jay508]

Would you say this would not be a suitable card to flash? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nvidia-G...550486?hash=item46906999d6:g:6tgAAOSwgaNc4VBK

Also in regards to the 780m, are the Clevo versions suitable for flashing? If not, what are the best versions of this card for flashing?

I've been following this thread for a while, and I'm sure my 6970 is going to die pretty soon haha! Will be doing the swap in the near future.

Thanks in advance guys!

The Dell version of the gtx780m gtx880m has relatively good compatibility. The comparison between clevo gtx880m 870m and dell has a slight difference in hardware. The vbios used for iMac is not universal between different cards, and it will not boot directly or there will be a black screen and no display on the price screen. If used in a PC, dell hp, MSI and other machines are universal.

 

[RRPC]

If we use SSDs we don't really need ODD fan and HDD fan. We can redirect these airflows. The question is, redirect these airflows on the GPU itself or on GPU heatsink (to create a thermal flux), maybe one the GPU and another one on the heatsink?

Ik have still the 1TB HDD inside the imac.

Because for me it's not a problem to have a HDD. it's even better for my usages. I process a lot of content, doing this on a SSD will kill the SSD faster.
Or that is the usual experience I see in the Audiovisual industry, SSD are killed faster because of processing video. And or writing a lot of data, and remove it. Form the SSD.
So, The reason for now I'm not removing the HDD is also because of that I'm lazy. I don't want to buy the special sensor or transistor. for now. And the HDD is as I said for me good to write files.

I have a SSD in the imac, it's definitely a huge update in boot performance and system performance, I have installed Catalina fresh to this SSD.
I'll got a Samsung Evo 1TB drive. And the extra sata connector that it's available in the 2011 iMac just for installing the SSD. .

I created a bracket to mouth the SSD on the HDD .. it's a Frankenstein bracket but it works. It's holding the SSD in place and the screen close with no problem. I can take a picture for sure, if someone is interested. So I need that hdd cooling.

About the Optical.
I'm maybe thinking to remove the Optical drive. And re direct the airflow of it to the heatsink. Or even get a extra fan on that place and blow on the
Heatsink

The card is great, playing also GTA5 on it.
Also great. Have to say. Also bought the WX7100 to play hardcore games on the imac. And it's also a way for me at least to bench mark the imac. Not saying that valley score is not a real test. Also going to do that.

It's good that we see so many nvidia cards now getting to the native support. Hope we can get the same for the AMD cards. I volunteer to help in anyway (beta testing for example) if needed

 

[Aesthetica]

Today was the day, what an unbelievable treat! Thanks to everyone in this thread especially @nikey22 for the VBIOS.

In Unigine Valley I'm getting 2200 vs around 500 with the 6770, just played a bit of Tomb Raider - High Settings - 1080p - almost locked @60fps the whole time.

Most importantly for me, I have Mojave support, GPU acceleration in Photoshop and Illustrator and a butter smooth UI (didn't even notice it wasn't quite butter smooth before until today!) Really feels like a new Mac (after already feeling like a new Mac with the SSD upgrade) which I hope to use for 5+ more years.

Really recommend the upgrade, after gathering all the knowledge and parts its not too difficult, especially now Curtis Gross on YouTube has some videos up that make the process a lot clearer, and completely worth the time effort and cash!

Next up, upgraded WiFi + BT!



Also, I'm selling a flashed GTX 770m that I tested in my iMac today, its working lovely so is plug and play. Will ship EU wide

 

[earmstr18]

View attachment 944730
Today was the day, what an unbelievable treat! Thanks to everyone in this thread especially @nikey22 for the VBIOS.

In Unigine Valley I'm getting 2200 vs around 500 with the 6770, just played a bit of Tomb Raider - High Settings - 1080p - almost locked @60fps the whole time.

Most importantly for me, I have Mojave support, GPU acceleration in Photoshop and Illustrator and a butter smooth UI (didn't even notice it wasn't quite butter smooth before until today!) Really feels like a new Mac (after already feeling like a new Mac with the SSD upgrade) which I hope to use for 5+ more years.

Really recommend the upgrade, after gathering all the knowledge and parts its not too difficult, especially now Curtis Gross on YouTube has some videos up that make the process a lot clearer, and completely worth the time effort and cash!

Next up, upgraded WiFi + BT!



Also, I'm selling a flashed GTX 770m that I tested in my iMac today, its working lovely so is plug and play. Will ship EU wide

Nice, are you going to be upgrading the wifi and BT so you'll have airdrop?
Curious about that too. My iMac is a 2011 as well and would love that for better work flow

 

[herrdude]

Nice, are you going to be upgrading the wifi and BT so you'll have airdrop?
Curious about that too. My iMac is a 2011 as well and would love that for better work flow

There's a thread for that: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imac-mid-2011-bluetooth-4-0-internal-upgrade.1780242/

 

[Ed Hartouni]

well, something went wrong... maybe someone here will recognize the issue...
iMac mid 2011 21.5"
attempted to replace with a Nvidia Quadro K1100M
using the "Linux stick" method,

Storing updated firmware image...
................................................................
Verifying update...
Update successful.

Firmware image has been updated from version Unavailable (Invalid) to DE.AD.00.BE.EF.


A reboot is required for the update to take effect.
./nvflash_linux -6 Quadro_Beta1.2/K1100.rom 48.13s user 2.65s system 58% cpu 1:27.54 total

when I reattached the internal disks and booted, I got this screen, which is a stalled bootup:

so something wasn't happy...
I did reset the NVRAM a couple of times, but that didn't help this...

I did get the boot disk screen, and I did select a disk... just that the screen isn't playing well with the card...

any suggestions?

 

[herrdude]

well, something went wrong... maybe someone here will recognize the issue...
iMac mid 2011 21.5"
attempted to replace with a Nvidia Quadro K1100M
using the "Linux stick" method,

Storing updated firmware image...
................................................................
Verifying update...
Update successful.

Firmware image has been updated from version Unavailable (Invalid) to DE.AD.00.BE.EF.


A reboot is required for the update to take effect.
./nvflash_linux -6 Quadro_Beta1.2/K1100.rom 48.13s user 2.65s system 58% cpu 1:27.54 total

when I reattached the internal disks and booted, I got this screen:
View attachment 944771

so something wasn't happy...
I did reset the NVRAM a couple of times, but that didn't help this...

I did get the boot disk screen, and I did select a disk... just that the screen isn't playing well with the card...

any suggestions?

It's your K1100m or the LVDS cable. Do you have an extra one to test?

 

[Ed Hartouni]

thanks...that does help...

It's your K1100m or the LVDS cable. Do you have an extra one to test?

I can take it apart again and check the cable... but I'd have to get another GPU

not tonight...

 

[Arthur1330]

The Dell version of the gtx780m gtx880m has relatively good compatibility. The comparison between clevo gtx880m 870m and dell has a slight difference in hardware. The vbios used for iMac is not universal between different cards, and it will not boot directly or there will be a black screen and no display on the price screen. If used in a PC, dell hp, MSI and other machines are universal.

I see, thanks for your help!! Is there anyway I can tell if it is a Dell card, or do I have to ask the seller?

I don't suppose you have a link to a suitable 880m & 780m? (even if it's from China!)

Thanks again!

 

[Ed Hartouni]

looking at the flash chatter, there does seem to be a difference between what xanderon posted and what I saw:


root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # ./nvflash_linux -6 Quadro_Beta1.2/K1100.rom

NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.414.0)
Simplified Version For OEM Only
Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...

Adapter: Quadro K1100M (10DE,0FF6,103C,2256) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00

NOTE: Only IFR present:
NOTE: Skipping Board ID and Device ID checks.
NOTE: EEPROM does not contain board ID, skipping board ID check.

WARNING: Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID (1028.15CC)
does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID (103C.2256).

Please press 'y' to confirm override of PCI Subsystem ID's: y
Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch
Current - Version:Unavailable (Invalid) ID:0000:0000:103C:2256

Replace with - Version DE.AD.00.BE.EF ID:10DE:0FF6:1028:15CC
Quadro K1100M by Nick[D]vB (Normal Board)

Update display adapter firmware?
Press 'y' to confirm (any other key to abort): y
Identifying EEPROM...
EEPROM ID (EF,3012) : WBond W25X20A 2.7-3.6V 2048Kx1S, page
WARNING: Adapter does not have a preservation table,
unable to preserve board settings.
Storing updated firmware image...
................................................................
Verifying update...
Update successful.

Firmware image has been updated from version Unavailable (Invalid) to DE.AD.00.BE.EF.


A reboot is required for the update to take effect.
./nvflash_linux -6 Quadro_Beta1.2/K1100.rom 48.13s user 2.65s system 58% cpu 1:27.54 total

 

[jay508]

I see, thanks for your help!! Is there anyway I can tell if it is a Dell card, or do I have to ask the seller?

I don't suppose you have a link to a suitable 880m & 780m? (even if it's from China!)

Thanks again!

I have a lot of gtx870m gtx880m that have written nikey22 vbios and can be resold out of the box. I’m in China

 

[RRPC]

Next up, upgraded WiFi + BT!

Nice, also want to Maybe to do that.
But sure update the wifi and BT.

Had to find out how and what components I need
(It's not a priority as this Mac mainly is connected to a RJ45 network cable.)

There's a thread for that: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imac-mid-2011-bluetooth-4-0-internal-upgrade.1780242/

Thx for the link.

Really feels like a new Mac (after already feeling like a new Mac with the SSD upgrade) which I hope to use for 5+ more years.

Happy enjoy your imac, I also think it's brand new, and more smoothly.
This could be also because the SSD and fresh install and GPU

 

[ZenSurfeur]

Nice, also want to Maybe to do that.
But sure update the wifi and BT.

Had to find out how and what components I need
(It's not a priority as this Mac mainly is connected to a RJ45 network cable.)


Thx for the link.


Happy enjoy your imac, I also think it's brand new, and more smoothly.
This could be also because the SSD and fresh install and GPU

I did the update for less than 45€

 

[RRPC]

I did the update for less than 45€

that is nice, i try to understand what to order.

maybe its good if i move that to a PM, or topic, in order to keep this thread mainly on the GPU's

 

[ZenSurfeur]

mp sended

 

[Alessandro De Santo]

View attachment 944730
Also, I'm selling a flashed GTX 770m that I tested in my iMac today, its working lovely so is plug and play. Will ship EU wide

Price of the gpu ?

 

[Aesthetica]

Nice, are you going to be upgrading the wifi and BT so you'll have airdrop?
Curious about that too. My iMac is a 2011 as well and would love that for better work flow

Yeah exactly, I had a 2019 MBA with Airdrop and it makes everything super simple. I actually prefer the iMac in almost every way but miss AirDrop!

Unsure if I'm going to do any soldering (don't have an iron) (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imac-mid-2011-bluetooth-4-0-internal-upgrade.1780242/) or just get a new Airport card, adapter and USB dongle!
[automerge]1597680965[/automerge]
Would love a general 2011 iMac upgrade + mod thread to keep together everything possible with these things! Might make one myself if there's interest?

 

[DeletteUA]

jborko

Hello, where you purchased the videoCard?
i found this on the Aliexpress

US $168.19 10% OFF|Brand New WX4170 4170 4GB 109 C99581 00B 02 215 0895074 Video Graphics Card with X Bracket For HP ZBook17 G3 G4 G5 Fully Tested|Computer Cables & Connectors| - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

 

[Ausdauersportler]

jborko

Hello, where you purchased the videoCard?
i found this on the Aliexpress

US $168.19 10% OFF|Brand New WX4170 4170 4GB 109 C99581 00B 02 215 0895074 Video Graphics Card with X Bracket For HP ZBook17 G3 G4 G5 Fully Tested|Computer Cables & Connectors| - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

You may use a private message ...

 

[fulltilt54]

I recommend buying the larger 3 Pipe version and modifying (grinding) it. The smaller MXM-A heatsink doesn't have the cooling capacity or cover all the components.

I just bought a Dell K3100m to replace the stock AMD 5670 in my 27" 2010 iMac. The infamous first post seems to say that the 2 pipe version works with this card with some modifications, is upgrading to the 3 pipe really needed for this card? Thanks in advance, I've been trying to take in the entire thread since I stumbled onto it this weekend.

Quadro K3100M ++

ROM

yes (natively)

yes (natively)

no/yes

yes, 2 pipe?

B

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I just bought a Dell K3100m to replace the stock AMD 5670 in my 27" 2010 iMac. The infamous first post seems to say that the 2 pipe version works with this card with some modifications, is upgrading to the 3 pipe really needed for this card? Thanks in advance, I've been trying to take in the entire thread since I stumbled onto it this weekend.

yes, 2 pipe?

The K3100M and K3000M have a TPD of 75W. I do not know the TPD of the 4850 and 5850. So you might come around buying a 3pipe sink, but you need a MXM-B big sink anyway. The 5670 is a smaller MXM-A card, isn't it? This sink cannot be used.

If you burn your card doing this you are on your own, again. Obviously we need some guys willing to do some long term testing on this with the bigger heat sinks from 2009 and 2010 systems.

I will change the first post!