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

[StephN999]

Bonsoir,

Since the old message talked about many things, I repeat my question, am I the only one with the GeekBench Metal test to have zero at Histogram Equalization?

Thank you

Overclocking the Ram at 2200 (1100 real) works very well there I am at 1045.5 for the GPU, 1006 max recommended.

throttling with Valley, I think the Ram is not cooled enough, I would take care of this problem from time to time.

 

[earmstr18]

The good configuration to exploit the Dual Channel to get the best performance is “by DIMM” meaning to have same RAM sizes in same DIMM number so your installation is good. You may try to invert the modules.

Done.

Didn't change performance on valley.

What could be causing this lack of performance or restriction?
Could it be possible the GPU is not getting enough power?
Or would it just be 24gbs of RAM vs 32gbs?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Bonsoir,

Since the old message talked about many things, I repeat my question, am I the only one with the GeekBench Metal test to have zero at Histogram Equalization?

Thank you

Overclocking the Ram at 2200 (1100 real) works very well there I am at 1045.5 for the GPU, 1006 max recommended.

throttling with Valley, I think the Ram is not cooled enough, I would take care of this problem from time to time.

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011) - Geekbench

Benchmark results for an iMac (27-inch Mid 2011) with an Intel Core i7-2600 processor.

browser.geekbench.com

Got the same zero value with my GTX 780M...

 

[greensour]

I've tried to reset pram and replace 6770 with 880m. Then Also did smc and pram reset. It works but display color looks so choppy. Is it possible to fix it? High Sierra installed.

Also Adobe Painter didn't recognize card at all.

 

[StephN999]

@Ausdauersportler, thank you, 😉

Does anyone know why?

 

[earmstr18]

View attachment 952058

I've tried to reset pram and replace 6770 with 880m. Then Also did smc and pram reset. It works but display color looks so choppy. Is it possible to fix it? High Sierra installed.

I noticed that on the login screen on both Sierra and High Sierra.
Didn't notice it on Mojave or Catalina

 

[BadBiscuit]

What could be causing this lack of performance or restriction?

Did you run Apple Hardware Test (AHT) to rule out a faulty sensor that might be causing throttling?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

@Ausdauersportler, thank you, 😉

Does anyone know why?

Possibly a bug the company never fixed. You can search the net and get some similar descriptions. Do not waste time on it. It is just a benchmark used to give a coarse direction of the capabilities of these cards. I would not make a benchmark thread out of this.

 

[StephN999]

If it's not important, so much the better!

Thank you again.

 

[ZenSurfeur]

Done.
View attachment 952054

Didn't change performance on valley.
View attachment 952056

What could be causing this lack of performance or restriction?
Could it be possible the GPU is not getting enough power?
Or would it just be 24gbs of RAM vs 32gbs?

I have just tried with only 16Bg ram

 

[passatgt]

Done.
View attachment 952054

Didn't change performance on valley.
View attachment 952056

What could be causing this lack of performance or restriction?
Could it be possible the GPU is not getting enough power?
Or would it just be 24gbs of RAM vs 32gbs?

Did you run the benchmark after a sleep cycle?

 

[earmstr18]

Did you run Apple Hardware Test (AHT) to rule out a faulty sensor that might be causing throttling?

Just ran it and got No trouble from the test.

I have just tried with only 16Bg ramView attachment 952091

Well that eliminates RAM being the issue.
Is there any program I could run that may give a clue as to what's causing the restriction?
Could these potentially be the problem restricting

Did you run the benchmark after a sleep cycle?

I did not. Upon startup

 

[decat]

I've tried to reset pram and replace 6770 with 880m. Then Also did smc and pram reset. It works but display color looks so choppy. Is it possible to fix it? High Sierra installed.

I noticed that on the login screen on both Sierra and High Sierra.
Didn't notice it on Mojave or Catalina

Using a k4100m here and the login screen on HS does indeed look choppy, was already wondering what could be the cause of this. Once logged in all works fine.

 

[herrdude]

k3000m still waiting for bios.

We were wondering what you were doing. Thanks for the update. 🤣

 

[nikey22]

I just wanted to memorialize forever this guy's contributions to this forum so far:

9/11/2020

k3000m still waiting for bios.

9/8/2020

still waiting for k3000m bios.

9/2/2020

Maybe someone can do nice bios for K3000M?
whats the problem?

9/5/2020

everything okay for all with other cards! Fine GREAT!
But who help for pps with K3000M! with right vbios. i got 3 card and stuck with wrong bios.

**UPDATE**
9/27/2020

still nothing for k3000m. SAD!

Read point #2 on page 1: "Please do not harass the BIOS developers to go faster, release a particular BIOS, etc. Please do not clog up the thread with useless posts asking if your specific card will get a new BIOS."

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

Since the old message talked about many things, I repeat my question, am I the only one with the GeekBench Metal test to have zero at Histogram Equalization?

I am afraid it is a Geekbench bug related to NVIDIA cards. I have same behaviour with a 780M and a 880M.

 

[Cristhian Paladinez]

Hello, I installed this GTX 780m in a 2011 - 27" iMac but the 3 led that indicates the communication between the GPU and the motherboard don't turn on (only 2 led on). Has anyone had this problem with this card?

 

[Jforte]

Hello, I installed this GTX 780m in a 2011 - 27" iMac but the 3 led that indicates the communication between the GPU and the motherboard don't turn on (only 2 led on). Has anyone had this problem with this card?
View attachment 952154

Again: did you flash the vbios available on this forum?
on my first iMac 27 mid 2011, I bought a 780m witch was used on a HP. Same as you, 2 leds. After flashing new bios, waited about 40 seconds (first time) then everything’s working...

 

[elise_s1]

Hi everybody,
my first post here, although I've read (almost) all 372 pages in this thread.
I have a 21.5 iMac 11,2 (mid 2010) with a faulty GPU, so I decided to replace it along with other upgrades.
Basically I replaced:
the CPU fom i3 540 to i5 680
the RAM with 2x 8GB DDR3 10600
the GPU from HD4670 to Nvidia Quadro K1100
the HDD with an SSD (not done yet, wanted to have it up and running before a fresh install).
I took a lot of photos and could set up a wiki if needed.

Problem is: it seems I cannot install *any* operating system.
I tried with High Sierra (latest officially supported OS), Sierra and El Capitan, but to no avail.
got to the utility page, I select to install on the freshly cleaned HDD (, install start and interrupts with 3 to 4 minutes left.
restarts and does the same again and again.
I made the bootable USB in various ways (downloaded DMG file and used TransMac, used dosdude utility from a running imac and terminal instructions, etc.) but ended up with the same output.
on the installer log the critical error is: "The Quartz framework's library couldn't be loaded".
could anybody please point me to the right direction? booting into recovery partiton seems to work ok, screen is visible and internet connection is running flawlessly

could the issue be related to the K1100 GPU? which OS should be easier to install at first?

thanks in advance

quick update on this.
it turns out the issue was the RAM.
8GB units are not fully supported and eventually the iMac freezes or reboots, even with just one slot occupied
I discovered this running a live Lubuntu USB: all stress tests were fine apart those involving the RAM.
This might be related to the CPU type: dual core (be it i3 or i5) are not compatible.
Quad core i5 and i7 are OK.
thanks again for the suggestion.
currently typing from the very machine.

 

[StephN999]

Bonjour,

Not officially supported that for sure but it works perfectly well on a lot of machines, I had 32GB on my 27" (2011) it has never been a problem.

I don't think I'm wrong when I say that the 8GB memory stick didn't exist at the release of this machine.

 

[Cristhian Paladinez]

Again: did you flash the vbios available on this forum?
on my first iMac 27 mid 2011, I bought a 780m witch was used on a HP. Same as you, 2 leds. After flashing new bios, waited about 40 seconds (first time) then everything’s working...

Thanks for answering, I have followed the forum for a long time and read the process many times, I tried to flash the ROM via SSH with linux but it does not recognize the card, my question is whether there is difference in using a 780 from Clevo or one Dell

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

Thanks for answering, I have followed the forum for a long time and read the process many times, I tried to flash the ROM via SSH with linux but it does not recognize the card, my question is whether there is difference in using a 780 from Clevo or one Dell

It should not. Show us your log.

 

[ZenSurfeur]

Thanks for answering, I have followed the forum for a long time and read the process many times, I tried to flash the ROM via SSH with linux but it does not recognize the card, my question is whether there is difference in using a 780 from Clevo or one Dell

I got it one time with a k2100m the only solution was to flash with a usb flasher

 

[Cristhian Paladinez]

It should not. Show us your log.

I get this message

 

[Cristhian Paladinez]

I got it one time with a k2100m the only solution was to flash with a usb flasher

Thanks I think I'll have to get a CH341a clip