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

[BadBiscuit]

Does anyone in this forum (or elsewhere) offer this upgrade as a service?

I have two old 21.5-inch 2011 iMacs I'd like to have upgraded, but even though I've replaced hard drives with SSDs and even built a fusion drive for one of them, this is a bit much for me.

I just want to pay someone else to do it. Even if that means shipping these iMacs half-way across the country. (I could also pull the logic board and just ship that, if the upgrade can be tested before coming back to me.)

I do agree this may not make financially sense, and the risk is likely a big part of why no business for this exists to my knowledge. Sourcing reliable cards for a reasonable price would be challenging for such a business.

There is risk of damage during shipping, during the upgrade, or that it will just be unsuccessful given the uncertainty of most cards. If you‘re willing to accept those risks, I‘d be happy to help. PM me if you’d like to discuss details.

If you want it tested post-upgrade then I’d need the complete iMac. UPS shipping MI to KY is likely around $30 each way for a 21.5” iMac. That is based on what I paid last time I shipped one from TN to KY. You’d need to provide the machine, parts and a pre-paid return label, and decide if the cost and risks make sense to you. I’ve done this a few times (see my sig), so unlikely I will damage it during the upgrade, but not out of the question.

I don’t do this as a business, nor am I interested in sourcing and guaranteeing cards for old iMacs. Nor am I looking for profit, just want to do my part to help keep old iMacs out of the landfill where it makes sense.

 

[john2000s]

Yup - Seems the Pro series GPU's (WX x100's) aren't able to edit their clocks/volts at a driver level within the driver or Afterburner (when you click apply it just reverts back) but my 780M I was able to control everything.

Not sure how to edit the values in the bios of the card.

That's a bit poo, there is Polaris BIOS editor but dont have any AMD cards floating around to test.

 

[junley4]

@exFictitiouZ
I've adjusted the -BFR rom timings slightly and the boosting should be better now, also a few other tweaks to bios version. Please redownload and reflash. Thanks!

A reminder for anyone that purchases any new card, please take front/back pictures of the card including the vrams and backup the vbios rom. It makes troubleshooting much easier to have this information.

Thanks sir nikey22 for the boost tweak... gonna try this now. feedback later...

Edit: My machine (27-inch, Mid 2011 iMac with K3100M) works greater now with the new BFR rom. I used to scrore 1525 points with 36.5fps in unigine valley with the previous bfr rom. Now i get 1723points with 41.2fps. Thanks!!!

 

[exFictitiouZ]

@exFictitiouZ
I've adjusted the -BFR rom timings slightly and the boosting should be better now, also a few other tweaks to bios version. Please redownload and reflash. Thanks!

A reminder for anyone that purchases any new card, please take front/back pictures of the card including the vrams and backup the vbios rom. It makes troubleshooting much easier to have this information.

Crikey! This newest ROM is aMaZinG! Immediately after flashing I got a score of 1714 in Valley, bringing my card in line with everyone else.

For the lulz, I also ran Unigine Valley in ULTRA mode using DirectX11 and Nvidia 3DVision. I didn't realise Valley can be THAT breathtaking. This is particularly relevant during these lockdown times when I haven't seen prairie and flowers and mountains for so long, only my curtains and laminate floors. Duh.

Thanks @nikey22. Honestly if you've a PayPal account I'd buy you a coffee or two, for bringing my 11-year old iMac into 2021 and beyond.

 

[Carriba]

Hello
Share someone original Bios Gtx 780m (or link please for download).
Failed to install gpu in my imac.
I can see only with HDMI (on the second monitor), monitor iMac the black.
Native bios did not save... Want to flash Dell Bios

 

[FlorisVN]

Hello
Share someone original Bios Gtx 780m (or link please for download).
Failed to install gpu in my imac.
I can see only with HDMI (on the second monitor), monitor iMac the black.
Native bios did not save... Want to flash Dell Bios

Why not use Nicks or nickey's custom imac vbios.. ?

 

[lfom]

Hello
Share someone original Bios Gtx 780m (or link please for download).
Failed to install gpu in my imac.
I can see only with HDMI (on the second monitor), monitor iMac the black.
Native bios did not save... Want to flash Dell Bios

4GB model, Memory Support: Qimonda, Hynix, Samsung

Dell GTX 780M VBIOS

4 GB GDDR5, 771 MHz GPU, 1250 MHz Memory

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Carriba]

Why not use Nicks or nickey's custom imac vbios.. ?

Talked to Nick. There are three Bios 780m from it. On the second monitor works all three. Monitor imac all time black.
Put HD6970m 2g - imac monitor work.

 

[Jforte]

Talked to Nick. There are three Bios 780m from it. On the second monitor works all three. Monitor imac all time black.
Put HD6970m 2g - imac monitor work.

Maybe the problem are the vram chips (not Samsung, but hynix...? Let’s wait for a new vbios...

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Talked to Nick. There are three Bios 780m from it. On the second monitor works all three. Monitor imac all time black.
Put HD6970m 2g - imac monitor work.

Have you ever tried to read check the first post of this thread and search it for

• the latest 780M BIOS provided by @nikey22
• the so called black screen issue visible from Sierra to Big Sur with NVIDIA cards on iMac Late 2009 to 2011

 

[elise_s1]

I have a bit of an odd question now...
I have a 2010 iMac with the spec below.
I also got hold of a 2011 21.5 younger sibling with a Radeon HD 6750M (GPU is still working fine).
Now the dilemma... what should I do? swap graphic cards? keep them as they are? or search for another metal capable card and sell on the 6750?

 

[Carriba]

Have you ever tried to read check the first post of this thread and search it for

• the latest 780M BIOS provided by @nikey22
• the so called black screen issue visible from Sierra to Big Sur with NVIDIA cards on iMac Late 2009 to 2011

First post read many-many times.
Flash bios 780m_br2 (before 780m_eg2 ; gtx780m_001
i have a loading screen, only second monitor. monitor imac black always!
cable LCD imac work.

 

[dondrapersf]

i recently purchased a k3100m . card arrived today in mail. i put in the card. my 2011 imac boots but led 3 is not on ? is that an issue that card is not working or is it because i have not flashed the card


also i looked at the instructions to flash the card using USB (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1596614/page-175?post=28184981#post-28184981) but my imac is not showing up in the router ? what could be the issue ? i dont have a flashing clip set. Not sure what i need to do here ?

Iam stuck ? anyone help ?

 

[KennyW]

i recently purchased a k3100m . card arrived today in mail. i put in the card. my 2011 imac boots but led 3 is not on ? is that an issue that card is not working or is it because i have not flashed the card


also i looked at the instructions to flash the card using USB (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1596614/page-175?post=28184981#post-28184981) but my imac is not showing up in the router ? what could be the issue ? i dont have a flashing clip set. Not sure what i need to do here ?

Iam stuck ? anyone help ?

If your iMac can boot, it is the great first step.
Prepare your Linux flash drive in advance and test it on your iMac to make sure it works before you swap your GPU to have a feel of how it displays.
You might as well give your iMac a fixed IP address in Network setting to facilitate the SSH instead of searching for it.
You can then test the SSH by booting your iMac from the Linux USB again and try SSH from another computer to confirm the proper networking.
Attach an external monitor to your iMac with the new GPU. Sometimes, it may give an external display with the Linux booting.

 

[dondrapersf]

If your iMac can boot, it is the great first step.
Prepare your Linux flash drive in advance and test it on your iMac to make sure it works before you swap your GPU to have a feel of how it displays.
You might as well give your iMac a fixed IP address in Network setting to facilitate the SSH instead of searching for it.
You can then test the SSH by booting your iMac from the Linux USB again and try SSH from another computer to confirm the proper networking.
Attach an external monitor to your iMac with the new GPU. Sometimes, it may give an external display with the Linux booting.

ok i cant even see it on the router. my old GPU does not work so how can i check if the flash drive works on it. iam going to have to trust that the flash drive works based on the instructions.

Thanks for your suggestion though

i guess my question is does led 3 come on after flashing the card or before flashing the gpu ? at this point it looks like logic board and gpu are not communicating either due to card not being flashed or card is not working.

 

[lfom]

ok i cant even see it on the router. my old GPU does not work so how can i check if the flash drive works on it. iam going to have to trust that the flash drive works based on the instructions.

Thanks for your suggestion though

i guess my question is does led 3 come on after flashing the card or before flashing the gpu ? at this point it looks like logic board and gpu are not communicating either due to card not being flashed or card is not working.

LED 3 will turn on only if the logic board can communicate with the graphics card, what only happens if it has a Mac-compatible VBIOS. So if it has a PC VBIOS, it won't light up until it is flashed with a compatible VBIOS, provided the board is working fine, of course. Make sure you zap the PRAM once the card has the new VBIOS or cards are replaced, otherwise it may be activated only when macOS loads and the proper drivers are loaded as well. Some cards may provide video to the internal LCD panel when macOS is loaded tho, but I am not sure if it depends on the video card model or not, I would say that it may happen just because the OS was loaded and the iGPU was activated (like when macOS is loaded without and GPU drivers in any i3/i5/i7 device).

About the Ethernet card, I had a 2011 21,5" iMac with a dead Ethernet, as well as two USB ports (probably corrosion). Although macOS reported an Ethernet port in the System Preferences >>> Network, System Profiler would not list any cards in Ethernet Cards, so make sure you check the later. If you have Airport working, a quick test would be configuring any bootable macOS disk in another Mac, set it to auto-login, connect it to your network and enable Screen Sharing, so you can connect over the network from another computer (it works even with a PC/tablet/etc if you enable the VNC password).

 

[ChrisCaro]

Hello Community,

I am new here and would like to contribute to enhancing our knowledge on these machines. Lots of good test reports, whether successful or unsuccessful, in this discussion but it is not consolidated. I made a VERY simple google sheets document that I believe will capture the most relevant information as people test cards. The goal here is to help determine why some cards fail and some cards work. This community is deep and thoughtful, so I trust that if there are other data columns you want to add, please do. But please, keep things neat- add data validation where possible. if something isnt in the drop down, just add it to the data validation tab.

I hope this sheet helps in the long term! If it catches on, great. use the link below and have fun.

2011 iMac GPU Upgrade Data

 

[Ausdauersportler]

First post read many-many times.
Flash bios 780m_br2 (before 780m_eg2 ; gtx780m_001
i have a loading screen, only second monitor. monitor imac black always!
cable LCD imac work.

again: have you searched for black screen issue on the first post?

 

[exFictitiouZ]

Hello Community,

I am new here and would like to contribute to enhancing our knowledge on these machines. Lots of good test reports, whether successful or unsuccessful, in this discussion but it is not consolidated. I made a VERY simple google sheets document that I believe will capture the most relevant information as people test cards. The goal here is to help determine why some cards fail and some cards work. This community is deep and thoughtful, so I trust that if there are other data columns you want to add, please do. But please, keep things neat- add data validation where possible. if something isnt in the drop down, just add it to the data validation tab.

I hope this sheet helps in the long term! If it catches on, great. use the link below and have fun.

2011 iMac GPU Upgrade Data

Contributed!

 

[Carriba]

Hello Community,

I am new here and would like to contribute to enhancing our knowledge on these machines. Lots of good test reports, whether successful or unsuccessful, in this discussion but it is not consolidated. I made a VERY simple google sheets document that I believe will capture the most relevant information as people test cards. The goal here is to help determine why some cards fail and some cards work. This community is deep and thoughtful, so I trust that if there are other data columns you want to add, please do. But please, keep things neat- add data validation where possible. if something isnt in the drop down, just add it to the data validation tab.

I hope this sheet helps in the long term! If it catches on, great. use the link below and have fun.

2011 iMac GPU Upgrade Data

Transfer this table to the first post.

 

[junley4]

Hello Community,

I am new here and would like to contribute to enhancing our knowledge on these machines. Lots of good test reports, whether successful or unsuccessful, in this discussion but it is not consolidated. I made a VERY simple google sheets document that I believe will capture the most relevant information as people test cards. The goal here is to help determine why some cards fail and some cards work. This community is deep and thoughtful, so I trust that if there are other data columns you want to add, please do. But please, keep things neat- add data validation where possible. if something isnt in the drop down, just add it to the data validation tab.

I hope this sheet helps in the long term! If it catches on, great. use the link below and have fun.

2011 iMac GPU Upgrade Data

contributed my experience from 2011 iMacs, both 21.5-inch and 27-inch model.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Transfer this table to the first post.

The first post is full (max. length reached of 70.000 characters reached), the table is redundant because we still have the performance charts (google docs, too) online (where everybody can check which card in which systems has been tested successfully) and most of the users posting here questions are unfortunately not willing to get the info available from the first post anyway.

Even if we typeset it it big nice red characters.

- It is even more redundant if a single user adds a single machine with a single card in a couple of rows just to show that all macOS versions from High Sierra to Big Sur are running. I can confirm that even Sierra is working with AMD and 10.8.2 with NVIDIA cards - which has been documented still somewhere on the first post.

- It is well known that a card will work with all these macOS versions if the OS has been properly patched.

We would need a table of the difficult cases, or a hit an miss rate statistics with old NVIDIA cards. But there is a serious problem with gathering such data. People only tend to post if they experience serious problems. We would not see the vast majority of working ones.

 

[ChrisCaro]

If the first post is full, maybe it is possible to make the second post an extension? either that or the community has outgrown it's shoes here. maybe time to get a subforum dedicated to this topic?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

If the first post is full, maybe it is possible to make the second post an extension? either that or the community has outgrown it's shoes here. maybe time to get a subforum dedicated to this topic?

There is only one first post - and I do not see the deeper sense in making it longer if users ignore it anyway. It is wasted effort and mostly counter productive it one adds redundant content - Quidquid praecipies, esto brevis.

Yes, I would strongly agree if one starts a new thread mainly focussed on the installation and hardware problems. It has become a bad habit to hijack this really active thread with all kind of iMac related (hardware) problems. Every question has been answered except these still unsolved problems and tasks, some have been added to the first post recently (there is a search button and even google has a really up today index of these threads).

The focus of this thread is the discussion of the development of the solution. Feel free to create a new thread!

 

[KennyW]

The first post is full (max. length reached of 70.000 characters reached), the table is redundant because we still have the performance charts (google docs, too) online (where everybody can check which card in which systems has been tested successfully) and most of the users posting here questions are unfortunately not willing to get the info available from the first post anyway.

Even if we typeset it it big nice red characters.

- It is even more redundant if a single user adds a single machine with a single card in a couple of rows just to show that all macOS versions from High Sierra to Big Sur are running. I can confirm that even Sierra is working with AMD and 10.8.2 with NVIDIA cards - which has been documented still somewhere on the first post.

- It is well known that a card will work with all these macOS versions if the OS has been properly patched.

We would need a table of the difficult cases, or a hit an miss rate statistics with old NVIDIA cards. But there is a serious problem with gathering such data. People only tend to post if they experience serious problems. We would not see the vast majority of working ones.

Agreed. What are reported is probably only the tip of the iceberg. There are also many other factors affecting the outcome apart from the Mac model, year of make, GPU type, VRAM etc etc, like how worn out is the GPU, technical factors in installation or GPU insulation, what system patches applied ....

To most newbie, the Short Plan of the Upgrade Process should be most useful. It can be further expanded in details like in iFixit, of the individual steps with possible questions or issues encountered and answers and pictures. I understand that it would become a very long document, like an encyclopedia. However, the document flow would be more user friendly in a practical manner rather than reading different sections and attempting to join them together by those who are not that technically savvy. Integrate the info at the points of need. The main questions we hear concern mainly 3 big areas, the choice of GPU, the technical aspect of installation and flashing, and finally the OS installation.