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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
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A K1100M not flashed will only show 2 LED. Using the Linux or Win7 flash tools will help to flash and thereafter you will see the other two LED coming up - if the card is not dead.
Just brain-storming.
There should be hundred of thousands of iMac2009-2011 sold.
The need of video card replacement should be sizable, for the failing HD6970, for the increased video performance, for extending the software and security support in system update, for the Catalina and Big Sur support, for FCP acceleration ...
Can a kickstarter be raised to order a few hundreds, if not thousand, of such video cards from the OEM for flashing with the CH341a BIOS Programmer?
To minimize the installation work, choosing those cards without the need of 3 pipe heatsink or modification would be the best, and power draw not more than 75W, effectively narrowing down to Nvidia K2100M or AMD WX4130/50.
From cost perspective the former would be better but from future compatibility perspective the latter would be favored.
However, I think the Kickstarter can only cater for a single product for the economy of scale.
The difficulty lies in sourcing the OEM manufacturer for a consistent product that can work in those iMac2009-2011.
The installation will be user-based (self support).
Don't know whether that is financially feasible ...
There should be hundred of thousands of iMac2009-2011 sold.
The need of video card replacement should be sizable, for the failing HD6970, for the increased video performance, for extending the software and security support in system update, for the Catalina and Big Sur support, for FCP acceleration ...
Can a kickstarter be raised to order a few hundreds, if not thousand, of such video cards from the OEM for flashing with the CH341a BIOS Programmer?
To minimize the installation work, choosing those cards without the need of 3 pipe heatsink or modification would be the best, and power draw not more than 75W, effectively narrowing down to Nvidia K2100M or AMD WX4130/50.
From cost perspective the former would be better but from future compatibility perspective the latter would be favored.
However, I think the Kickstarter can only cater for a single product for the economy of scale.
The difficulty lies in sourcing the OEM manufacturer for a consistent product that can work in those iMac2009-2011.
The installation will be user-based (self support).
Don't know whether that is financially feasible ...
For an order of a few thousand cards, I'd guess a maker might ship with the correct ROM (if Nick would allow), so there's be no need to flash. I'm already using K1100M and K2110M with OpenCore successfully, but I'd kickstart for WX4130/50.
There are a few key issues to take into consideration with such an ambitious kick starter.
1. Considering the future of X86 and Mac OS is winding down, there are only about 4 more years of support untill we hit PPC status.
2. You would have to practically become your own vender most likely in China to have access to different MXM cards/testing. This alone creates a huge barrier to entry, you would have to get the cards at bulk price to be profitable.
3. We are already 2/3 Mac OS versions into running Mac OS on unsupported hardware. Apple still at any time can further change how Big Sur behaves with legacy kexts rendering any functionality of HD3000 support useless, it practically is on computers that rely on HD3000 for actual video Processing. Volume sealing is also proving to be a miserable horrific experience, I Hate Big Sur, it's depressing.
4. What is the chance that someone is willing to spend ~$300 on an MXM card pre flashed for their iMac that is only worth about $180 realistically. Yes I said it, the 2011 27" iMac should only sell for $180 in as-is shape with a 6970m. Stop over inflating prices for an old 27" AIO with faulty hardware...
5. Untill we have a perfect AMD ROM with proper Bootscreens on Internal Display with perfect Backlight stepping, I wouldn't even consider selling it to ANYONE. If there is one thing I have learned about selling ANYTHING, is act like you're selling it to your 80 year old Grandma that doesn't know to put the TV on channel 3 to use the VCR. People will find any reason to break something, not know how it works and demand a refund without even mailing the item back.
6. Finite suppply, we have all come across this issue especially with the k2100m, it seems like we hit a wall with the Dell version Supply chain, the days of finding this card for around $35-40 are over. And like a few posts up, anyone claiming to sell the Dell version is selling the HP version (working)
7. Not many cards have a CH341A clip-able package, many cards still require being plugged in to be flashed, not a huge problem. You can find HP 8300 Elite mini PCs to do the job with ease, but this leads to my next issue.
8. There is a crazy phenomenon many of us have experienced where the card works just fine in other computers, but won't work in the iMac. Yes I have 3 different wx4130/4150/RX560M cards that all work just fine in the HP 8300 USDT, but refuse to work in the iMac. A specific revision card is needed 00D (iirc) to work with the iMac's SMC, otherwise the cards are never detected in the iMac at all.
9. People want crazy amounts of money just for the heatsinks for these iMac's, seriously $60 for the 3 pipe heatsink, then you have to go modify them all. Granted if I was doing this large scale. I would create a Jig+CNC the heatsinks, but I don't know where to find a large lot of a1312 2011 Heatsinks for such a task.
10. Most importantly, you (not 'you' as in @KennyW sorry... Directing this towards the reader) don't own the rights to the ROMs created here on Macrumors, yes you mentioned this. But it all come down to the creator either @Nick [D]vB (who is M.I.A/had an eBay page) or @nikey22 which if I were to guess would take on this idea, would be the one to source all the materials needed to create pre assembled drop in cards that "just works".
Okay 11PM rant over, I'm sure I'm still missing a few things.
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any reason why the ROMTool.zip file is asking for the "Info.plist" password?
copied from the link in post#1
copied from the link in post#1
dell usually puts these QR stickers on their hardware.
It looks to me like a dell version..
Go back to the site you fetched the software and grab the password file, too.
Your Geekbench CPU scores are fine - the same results as with an i7-870, so I'd think your CPU is working fine.
I don't know whether the Xeon's "demand based switching" technology might cause what you're seeing, but it's much more liklely a software issue.
You should make sure your system isn't doing anything (like indexing; md(s) processes) in the background, for example using Activity Monitor. CPU usage should be below 5%(?) when idle and there should be very few storage activity going on.
I clicked on the link on the first page and it initiated the zip file download... I was expecting the link to take me to the page...
perhaps the link on page 1, post 1 should be: http://dosdude1.com/apps/
with a parenthetical statement to pick up the zippasswords.txt file when your getting the ROMTool.zip file.
Your points well taken.
One easily treks in muddy water when money and "copyrighted" materials are involved.
Reading thru this forum, it just seems that there is still significant demand from readers, but perhaps it is a biased sample.
The 3 pipe heat sink costs $15-20 as I checked lately but not $60. And if used with those low power versions of video cards, there is actually no need to purchase them, including the K2100M, which has its price doubled/tripled to ~$80-90 currently. But the good news is that those K2100M come pre-flashed for iMac that avoids all the hassles and works right out of the box. K610M is still selling in ~$30-35 range but performance is lacking relatively speaking.
If spending a $100 or so can extend the usage of my iMac2010 for 2 to 3 years, I still think it is worthwhile, since a new Macs cost in the range of at least $1000-2000. My wife's iMac 2007 is still serving her well for non-video intensive office works and internet browsing and some old games like Diablo III, after upgrading the CPU, SSD, wifi and blue tooth few years back at a relative small cost, and is now running Catalina in acceptable speed. It is sad to see that my own faster iMac 2010 now trails behind hers in system support...
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Where are you getting 3-pipe heat sink for $15-20 from? The prices on E-bay are ridiculous ($150-200US).
100% agree with that. I purchased a couple recently for ~$50 a piece and considered that a bargain; all others were well over $100.
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From Aliexpress. Shipping additional $10. So, I bought 2, one for my existing HD5750 which feels too hot during gaming. Another for wx4150 that I intend to flash.
P.S. Despite the rise in price of K2100M, I do notice that they can now be ordered pre-flashed for iMac and can work right out of the box. But whether that price hike is worth the "service fee" for the user, that is another question, and to each his own.
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"rom"
The only reason these files have passwords is Google was scanning them and thought it was detecting malware. There is nothing special that the files actually need a password.
Hi, when i flash your vbios via nvflash the card then wont start, if i then flash the original dump then it works again, any solution? how to flash it? regards
Please add the system you are working on, the MacOS version you are using, and the card you are testing to your signature. Otherwise nobody will be able to help you. Please!
Good morning/evening for everyone.
Thankyou all for your valuable information on that thread.
I have been looking into it during last three months and I have succeeded (partially) on taking back to life one iMac 2011 27" and iMac 2011 21.5". As I have some information on it I thought it was time to inform about.
We did not succeed with a K2100m model (the card was not working either on bootcamp), and we decided to go with the less TDP and resources demanding K610M on both iMacs.
We did buy two cards on the very same supplier from aliexpress, for the very same HP Zbook 15 in origin.
Both cards came with unknown firmware, and both where updated with nvflash under Windows Bootcamp with NickDVB and Nikey22 offered firmwares, thankyuu all.
We are facing a problem on the 21.5 " model, we don't get the white selection boot using the alt/option keyboard; the screen remains black. Even with external monitor we can't see anything.
On bootcamp Windows is working fine; we set it as default boot partition, and it boots unattended ; we are on need to access by RDP connection as fallback.
The boot rom firmware on the iMac seems to be the last one ; 87.0.0.0.0 from 2019. Both computers did have high sierra with last updates. On the working machine we are using patched Catalina without issues.
Maybe am I loosing something to take care about on the iMac 21.5?. , the process seemed equal for both,
Temperatures on this machine are on normal status, not that much different.
Maybe is not of importance, but we replaced the i5 by a socket compatible Xeon 1230 and it seems to work fine on it.
Thankyou all for any considerations, be safe!
Good morning/evening for everyone.
As I was thinking previously to the previous post, those issues where coming from my particular environment.
Answering myself, I had found that the Cinema Display that was connected to the thunderbolt/displayport was failing on the 21.5 inch model because it has USB 2.0 with less power on it than the 27inch version. Maybe I will try it with the thunderbolt dock, but at least is something.
Also, sorry to had bothered You, but the screen cable of the LCD LG's display was somehow damaged, with a new cable it is working as expected.
Rightnow the thermal sensors and screen are working fine, we will try with the opencore possibilities to recover the brightness control.
Thankyou all for the hard work!, all the best
That is good to hear of your success with K610M. Generally it seems the K2100M receives the highest success rate, so much so that they are now sold pre-flashed with Mac compatible BIOS if required by some sellers in AliExpress at the same price.
BTW, I read that your bootrom is at 87.0.0.0.0.
I check mine (iMac2010) and it is 99.0.0.0.0.
What is the latest bootrom that support APFS in these iMac 2009-2011?
Are the versions different for the 3 different iMacs of years?
BTW, I read that your bootrom is at 87.0.0.0.0.
I check mine (iMac2010) and it is 99.0.0.0.0.
What is the latest bootrom that support APFS in these iMac 2009-2011?
Are the versions different for the 3 different iMacs of years?
First post reading:
Installing OpenCore and macOS on your upgraded iMac
With the addition of our newer GPU, Metal is natively supported allowing for installation of macOS Mojave and Catalina with full graphics acceleration. But you need to make sure in advance you have already installed the lastest Apple firmware for your iMac. This can be done by installing High Sierra and all published Apple Update first before you can use the Catalina Loader or Mojave or Catalina.
I just ordered a Radeon WX4150 and reading a few pages of this post seems like this card hasn't been fully get into work yet or maybe I didn't read it all, can someone please tell what is the progress on this card? What are the missing and achieved progress on it So I'm aware? I would appreciate it !
You missed the part where we wrote that such a card will most likely not run at all in an iMac. Even with a correct BIOS the system will simply not boot. You may be lucky, getting a rare working one (some Dell cards are working in some models). Let us know if your card is working, take some high res pictures before installing on the heat sink and let us know your iMac model and MacOS version (start in any case with High Sierra).
Such cards are (often) not compatible in such a way as you cannot put diesel in a gasoline engine...okay you can do thus once.
Reread the first post completely before ordering a card!