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

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Ed Hartouni said:
View attachment 946716


probably breaking more than I am fixing...

I decided to boot the system into the linux stick I made for flashing...
that worked, though the screen is the same.

I was able to communicate to the new GPU on the local screen. More disturbing, although the network showed an IP associated with the iMac, I couldn't ssh into the machine... so I wonder if the used AirPort card I got is working.

But, the screen was the same... perhaps some other cable is not properly connected, I broke a cable or a cable connection, etc... still not sure why the system doesn't boot.

Looks like I'll go back in and check the connections, and if I don't see any problems, replace the current GPU for the previous GPU and see if anything changes...

Ugh.

Sorry to share all this...
...maybe there should be a thread dedicated to the trials and tribulations of iMac 2011 GPU card upgrades... the first post referring to the first post of this thread, RTFM.
Click to expand...
This looks like a broken card. Having the boot screen is fine and indicated indeed you have a good flash. During boot after 50-60% of the progress bar the system switches into graphics mode, if this fails the GPU is half dead, the GPU might be badly installed on the sink causing a leakage current or a short under load, or the card does not sit really in the MXM slot.

Please add the system details to your signature as we all did. It is not really convenient to guess or collect what are you doing there out of the last 10 pages and 100 posts....
 
During boot after 50-60% of the progress bar the system switches into graphics mode, if this fails the GPU is half dead, the GPU might be badly installed on the sink causing a leakage current or a short under load, or the card does not sit really in the MXM slot.

The boot does indeed go to slightly more than 50% of the progress bar and then stalls.

I am resolved re-install the old GPU and see where I am.
 
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Ok, so I installed the WX4170 in my 21.5 2011 iMac. I heard the chime and used ssh and it worked. AMD vbflash had ffff under test and the bios was blank. I flashed the ROM however and it said it worked. But when I tried to boot off the flash drive again the screen is still blank
 
TechAssistant said:
Ok, so I installed the WX4170 in my 21.5 2011 iMac. I heard the chime and used ssh and it worked. AMD vbflash had ffff under test and the bios was blank. I flashed the ROM however and it said it worked. But when I tried to boot off the flash drive again the screen is still blank
Click to expand...

I think the Linux USB is only for tethering mode (SSH), no GUI, black screen is normal.
 
Hi all,

I have 1 unit of GTX880m 8GB and GTX870m 3G each for sale.
They have all been flashed with the right VBIOS to work directly and natively on iMac 2011 A1312.
I also have the modified 3 pipe heatsink to go with these cards.

Please contact me if you are interested.

Regards
Jay508
 
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jay508 said:
Hi all,

I have 1 unit of GTX880m 8GB and GTX870m 3G each for sale.
They have all been flashed with the right VBIOS to work directly and natively on iMac 2011 A1312.
I also have the modified 3 pipe heatsink to go with these cards.

Please contact me if you are interested.

Regards
Jay508
Click to expand...
Note:
These are the cards I have played with and no longer needed and wish to let go.
 
Ed Hartouni said:
During boot after 50-60% of the progress bar the system switches into graphics mode, if this fails the GPU is half dead, the GPU might be badly installed on the sink causing a leakage current or a short under load, or the card does not sit really in the MXM slot.

The boot does indeed go to slightly more than 50% of the progress bar and then stalls.

I am resolved re-install the old GPU and see where I am.
Click to expand...
Do a visual examination of the K1100M installed on the sink. I have seen cards having caps and coils making contact to the sink because the GPU itself is so flat and does not bring the card high enough. You need the contact of the GPU with the copper part but you have to avoid any other physical contact at the same time. This is not easy to achieve with every card on any sink without physical modification or using some tape to avoid contact.

In this sense the first post cannot be complete. The number of combinations of at least 10 different sink types and 15+ cards gets higher and higher and we cannot keep track to this unless user report back - which does not happen in any successful case. Mostly problems will be reported...

Finally: We cannot help with hardware problems. Asking here does not (really) help since the only way to solve this is replacing the card or checking it in another system. The only person who can do this is sitting in front of your iMac.
 
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sOckhamSter said:
Has anyone else has managed to get VDA Decoder to work in Catalina on an iMac 11,2 (mid-2010) with a K1100M? I'm asking cuz I'm tearing my hair out trying to get this working! So, at a basic level I have the whole dosdude Catalina installation working just great by following the various guides, it is literally just the iGPU I can't get working which I hope should allow me to watch Netflix/Prime in Safari.

My hardware: 21.5" iMac (mid-2010), 11,2. K1100M graphics card with patched VBIOS.

The process I'm following in brief, in this order:
- Boot from a USB configuration of dosdude1's Catalina patcher
- Install all of the post-install patches (including the legacy video. I've tried with and without, seems to install whatever I choose!)
- Fix the broken graphics with the "UNDOING DOSDUDE1 Video patches" process
- Fix the broken sleep issue and install IOSurface.kext
- Update AppleGVA.framework
- Fix the black screen issue with AppleGraphicsControl.kext

Checking in Hackintool and VDADecoderChecker always shows negative.

I have tried some of those latter steps in different orders to experiment, and I've also played with installing Lilu/WhateverGreen. I've even tried it out in OpenCore, but I figure if I can't get it working natively then I'm unlikely to be able to tweak it to work in OpenCore - I'd be very happy to be proved wrong on that!

I think the main issue might be to do with the iMac 11,2 being based on Clarkdale not Sandybridge which all the supplied kext files are targeting.

Has anyone managed to get this working with the same or similar hardware configuration, or are there some Clarkdale kexts knocking about somewhere? Thanks in advance for any information anyone can help here with.
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H264 hardware dec/enc is done exclusively using Intel Quicksync (via Intel embedded chipset on CPU) when you use NVIDIA graphics cards on MacOS (not implemented by Apple), so you need a CPU with an intel GPU.
Hardware H264 and HEVC enc/dec is done by AMD graphic cards, when you use one (WX serie).
 
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Ausdauersportler said:
Do a visual examination of the K1100M installed on the sink. I have seen cards having caps and coils making contact to the sink because the GPU itself is so flat and does not bring the card high enough. You need the contact of the GPU with the copper part but you have to avoid any other physical contact at the same time. This is not easy to achieve with every card on any sink without physical modification or using some tape to avoid contact.

In this sense the first post cannot be complete. The number of combinations of at least 10 different sink types and 15+ cards gets higher and higher and we cannot keep track to this unless user report back - which does not happen in any successful case. Mostly problems will be reported...

Finally: We cannot help with hardware problems. Asking here does not (really) help since the only way to solve this is replacing the card or checking it in another system. The only person who can do this is sitting in front of your iMac.
Click to expand...

I did a check of the card before installing the heat sink, including a side-by-side comparison of the old card and the new (previous card was the Radeon HD 6750M). However, what I should have done was to install the new card into the heat-sink before applying the thermal conduction paste/compound and sliding a business card along the heat sink to see if there were any interference points.

After verifying that there were no mechanical contacts other than the GPU chip, disassemble GPU-card/heat-sink, apply the heat conduction compound/paste to GPU chip contact surface and memory chips, and reassemble.

The Apple heat-sink screws keep the clearance set once they are tightened (they cannot be over tightened) but these tolerances are small so if the thickness of the entire package isn't what was designed (e.g. a new x-bracket might not have the same thickness off the board as the original at the screw) then the card might not be sitting in the correct position with respect to the heat-sink surface. Spring washers keeps the GPU in contact with the Cu-plate and adjusts as the components heat up and the dimensions change because of the thermal expansion.

My post here wasn't seeking detailed instructions on how to correct a problem (of my own creation) but rather to tap into the extensive experience of people who have taken iMacs apart and put them back together and probably have had to debug problems in the process. Buying a card off the web is going to be a crap shoot, but there are many random reassembly issues too. Getting a copy of the "Apple Technician Guide; iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)" was a great help both for its trouble shooting diagnostics and for the details of how to disconnect the connectors (many clever connectors, too many in my opinion).

The trouble shooting can go a lot faster if someone who's been through it can provide a hint, thus my posts here.

Thank you for your response! I'll try to reply with more pertinent details of the upgrade (in particular, the mechanical installation issues) in the near future.
 
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macOS does not make use of the dGPU for hardware video acceleration for Nvidia cards unfortunately. The Nvidia cards have a built-in dedicated video encoding engine called NVENC and can be accessed by using a special API (probably in Windows only). This is why we rely on Intel QuickSync for video encoding. However for AMD cards, macOS can directly access the encoder/decorder engine, which could explain why they run slightly hotter.

Below are the differences between the Clarkdale iMac 2010 and SandyBridge iMac 2011 CPU/chipset offerings:

clarksdale vs Sandybridge.png
 
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Ausdauersportler said:
Try to replace the installed version with older or more recent versions of the AppleBacklightFixup.kext on the OC image. Cannot check with K1100M before posting, have no such card available. First post, again...
Click to expand...

Thank you, that worked for k610m fine. However when tried to test this on another iMac with k2100m got another strange problem. That second iMac does not boot from CatalinaLoader. I have tried recreating the CL sd card from scratch, but no luck. The same card works on iMac with i5 and k610m just fine. On the one with i7 and k2100m, as soon as I select CatalinaLoader in the original boot selector, everything hangs on the selector screen. What's interesting, if I put the rEFInd CD and boot from it and select CatalinaLoader in the rEFInd selector, it boots fine and loads modified kexts.

I read the first post again and linked posts describing CL preparation, but haven't came across description of such an issue...

Any clues where to look at before I start debugging OC?
 
Tom.Tom said:
Thank you, that worked for k610m fine. However when tried to test this on another iMac with k2100m got another strange problem. That second iMac does not boot from CatalinaLoader. I have tried recreating the CL sd card from scratch, but no luck. The same card works on iMac with i5 and k610m just fine. On the one with i7 and k2100m, as soon as I select CatalinaLoader in the original boot selector, everything hangs on the selector screen. What's interesting, if I put the rEFInd CD and boot from it and select CatalinaLoader in the rEFInd selector, it boots fine and loads modified kexts.

I read the first post again and linked posts describing CL preparation, but haven't came across description of such an issue...

Any clues where to look at before I start debugging OC?
Click to expand...
Firmware version?
 
... It is also not a problem of booting from the sd on this iMac - I can boot the Doddude's Catalina installer from another sd without any problems.
 
MXM-B 2-pipe heat sinks with K3100M​

We have a bunch of Nvidia MXM-B cards with a cool BIOS provided by @nikey22. Unfortunately all these cards are listed to need a 2011 MXM-B 3-pipe heat sink due to the high power draw and complicated heat management in the iMacs.

After installing a K3100M card on an 2010 MXM-B 2-pipe sink I did a 2h test and let the Valley program run. Before I configured Macs Fan Control and controlled the ODD fan depending on the GPU heat sink temperature starting with 35 degrees C and ending at 65 degrees C.

During the complete test the limiting temperature of the sink was 52C while the fan ran at approximately 2800 rpm (max possible value is here 3800rpm) in this 27" mid 2010 system. Ambient temperature was around 20C all the time, we have currently a weather change from over 30 to under 20C. I am sure one can get lower running fans when accepting higher temps and lower lifetime of the electronic equipment.

From this short test I would assume that a least users living in the northern hemisphere with a climate comparable to Central Europe can safely use the K3100M and the K3000M (when we get back a working BIOS) on such an heat sink. The average power draw of the K3100M graphics card was 58-65W during the run. I expect lower values for the K3000M.

Of course this result is difficult to transfer to more humid and hotter environments. Always use a tool like Macs Fan Control to limit the internal temps.

Attached you will find some screen shots after approximately one and two hours and a photo of the sink I am talking about.

(brought to you by a huge fan of the 2020 CL winner)
 

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Thank you @Ausdauersportler. Excellent testing done there. I appreciate it. I was wondering if I'd be okay with my 2 pipe heatsink or not. I was thinking I might be. But real testing is best. Thank you for doing the work to confirm it.

I'm in a hot humid environment here now so will be careful to utilize macs fan control to ensure temps are within limits.

I've ordered the correct k3000m card now along with an eeprom burner and the replacement sop8 chips. So I hope to begin assisting @nikey22 and the other rom programmers with the effort for this card here once they arrive in a few weeks.
 
I just realized there are 9000 posts in this thread. No wonder it took me 3+ weeks to read through it all...
That's a lot of detail to digest for anyone. Thank goodness for post #1 summarizing it all or it'd be impossible.
 
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Hey guys, it’s been a long time since I’ve been on this thread. I have a 2010 iMac with a wx7100 in it and I tried to update to the latest vbios version (I used a clip not a software flash) But acceleration isn’t working across any os version I try and just shows up as “Display 14 MB” with no kext loading. Does anyone know what I did wrong? Is it because I have the custom bios that was requires by the beta 2 vbios that is no longer required by the new one? Thanks for any help.
9BCFD4CC-C12B-4F09-9445-3E820390EC7D.jpeg
 
LegoNickD said:
Hey guys, it’s been a long time since I’ve been on this thread. I have a 2010 iMac with a wx7100 in it and I tried to update to the latest vbios version (I used a clip not a software flash) But acceleration isn’t working across any os version I try and just shows up as “Display 14 MB” with no kext loading. Does anyone know what I did wrong? Is it because I have the custom bios that was requires by the beta 2 vbios that is no longer required by the new one? Thanks for any help.View attachment 946985
Click to expand...
 
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