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

[Ausdauersportler]

I plan to do so, but I got this crazy idea last night. I'm wondering if my p5 State issue has to do with running in legacy mode. Also, it takes about a minute and a half to boot to the windows login screen and have video display even with my SSD. In order to fix this I think I'm going to reinstall the 6770m and install High Sierra which should support the Maxwell ii based M4000M when I swap it back in. I can use that to install rEFInd, and then shrink High Sierra to about 60gb and reinstall windows in UEFI mode. I will install TeamViewer in both OS's and then reinstall the M4000M and update drivers through TeamViewer. Then hopefully i can still see the rEFInd boot loader and shorten the boot time significantly.

Edit: maybe I need opencore instead of rEFInd? I read somewhere that rEFInd worked for video with unsupported GPUs.

There is a more easy way to do an UEFI installation on an iMac 2011 as long as you have only installed a single disk. If you have a second cheap USB disk and a second Mac install High Sierra including web drivers to this disk using this Mac. Boot the iMac with your M4000 from this new disk. Prepare the Win 10 USB boot stick and install. Details may follow if you can go this way.

Have you tried OC to use as a boot selector emulation like we do with AMD cards?

 

[BadBiscuit]

There is a more easy way to do an UEFI installation on an iMac 2011 as long as you have only installed a single disk. If you have a second cheap USB disk and a second Mac install High Sierra including web drivers to this disk using this Mac. Boot the iMac with your M4000 from this new disk. Prepare the Win 10 USB boot stick and install. Details may follow if you can go this way.

Have you tried OC to use as a boot selector emulation like we do with AMD cards?

Once High Sierra is installed to an external USB disk could this be moved between a variety of 2009-2011 iMacs? Thereby allowing HS partitions, which for the most part is only kept to update Boot ROM or to use Target Display/Disk, to be removed from the internal SSD. Asking for a friend.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Once High Sierra is installed to an external USB disk could this be moved between a variety of 2009-2011 iMacs? Thereby allowing HS partitions, which for the most part is only kept to update Boot ROM or to use Target Display/Disk, to be removed from the internal SSD. Asking for a friend.

In my xx+ years of computer usage I collected some old HDD which I use as external USB connected boot drives. High Sierra boots unchanged all those Late 2009 to Mid 2011 iMacs. The 2011 with Mojave+ will be different and the AGC patch for NVIDIA is not really useful sometimes for AMD cards.

 

[MirComputers]

I'm designing and developing mobile and web apps with this absurdly outdated computer i bought for 100EUR and spent an extra 200EUR to fix it up. Just to compare, the cheapest brand new 27" 1440p monitor costs 240EUR and its dog **** compared to the iMac display.

You are probably very bad at monitor purchase - i can get 2k 32 inch AOC IPS MATTE for 230 euros in italy and it will draw 1/10 the power of the iMac (20w vs 150 - 300 depending on load, with monitor on) while looking much betteer and more colour accurate - and the iMac glossy surface is a no go for me anyway.
Not to say that people should not do this if they are able to, just that if you spend time on the machine, the power bill will eat back the savings you had in the long run.

 

[herrdude]

You are probably very bad at monitor purchase - i can get 2k 32 inch AOC IPS MATTE for 230 euros in italy and it will draw 1/10 the power of the iMac (20w vs 150 - 300 depending on load, with monitor on) while looking much betteer and more colour accurate - and the iMac glossy surface is a no go for me anyway.
Not to say that people should not do this if they are able to, just that if you spend time on the machine, the power bill will eat back the savings you had in the long run.

So, what exactly are you hooking that wonderful AOC IPS MATTE monitor up to? I am willing to bet that it runs on electricity. 🤪

 

[G3llings]

There is a more easy way to do an UEFI installation on an iMac 2011 as long as you have only installed a single disk. If you have a second cheap USB disk and a second Mac install High Sierra including web drivers to this disk using this Mac. Boot the iMac with your M4000 from this new disk. Prepare the Win 10 USB boot stick and install. Details may follow if you can go this way.

Have you tried OC to use as a boot selector emulation like we do with AMD cards?

Well, that sounds like a great idea but I only have the iMac. I can swap the gpu in about 10 mins I've done it so many times trying to get this working, so I already put the 6770m back in. Then internet recovery failed so I had to install Catalina which I already had a USB drive for. Downloaded High Sierra patcher and used that to download High Sierra. Have to create the USB when I get home and do a fresh install.

 

[passatgt]

You are probably very bad at monitor purchase - i can get 2k 32 inch AOC IPS MATTE for 230 euros in italy and it will draw 1/10 the power of the iMac (20w vs 150 - 300 depending on load, with monitor on) while looking much betteer and more colour accurate - and the iMac glossy surface is a no go for me anyway.
Not to say that people should not do this if they are able to, just that if you spend time on the machine, the power bill will eat back the savings you had in the long run.

Theres a reason 27" is more expensive: PPI

 

[Alessandro De Santo]

I have mid 2010 27 iMac with i3 cpu 16 giga ddr3 and ssd 1 tb
I have already buy new cpu i7 to replace the old i3 and would like to upgrade GPU too with the wx4130.
On eBay and AliExpress I find HP and Dell card
Which it’s better to choose?
There is some code or serial number to check?
I read post 1 about flashing the vBios just want to ask if I will not flash the bios the iMac will boot till the desktop and work?Of course I will not have boot screen and brightness control
Thank in advance
Alessandro

 

[KennyW]

I have mid 2010 27 iMac with i3 cpu 16 giga ddr3 and ssd 1 tb
I have already buy new cpu i7 to replace the old i3 and would like to upgrade GPU too with the wx4130.
On eBay and AliExpress I find HP and Dell card
Which it’s better to choose?
There is some code or serial number to check?
I read post 1 about flashing the vBios just want to ask if I will not flash the bios the iMac will boot till the desktop and work?Of course I will not have boot screen and brightness control
Thank in advance
Alessandro

I don't known there is a HP version of WX4130.
I have success with 2 cards of the Dell version.
Without the Mac vBIOS, only the external display will work.
Using the Linux USB flash drive, it is not difficult to update its vBIOS.
And with Opencore, you have a Boot screen and hardware acceleration support for H.265 and HVEC.

 

[peekpt]

The following is a vbios ROM for: Nvidia Quadro K610M

K610M:
The chip I used to develop the ROM is: N15M-Q2-B-A1
MXM-A (3.0) bus interface, low powered card at TDP 30W.
It is a drop-in fit for the 21.5" iMac and 27” iMac heatsinks.
It is based on the GK208 GPU Kepler 2.0 architecture.
Metal supported.


I put this together only because there are now a few members on here that have one and it is relatively cheap to purchase for the moment.
It is based on Nick [D]vB's ROMs. All credit to him.
I have not had a chance to test it fully, but I can confirm brightness control will work with Opencore implementation on High Sierra 10.13.6.
Bootpicker menu is also available ofcourse.

This card should be added to our database of working GPUs.
Enjoy.

addendum:
7/15/2020
- working on Catalina 10.15.3 2011 iMac 21.5"
- no internet recovery
- working on Catalina 10.15.X 2009 iMac 27" (Ausdauersportler)

Thank You for this ROM I have installed this GPU on my iMac 12,2. By now I'm running BigSur 11.2
There's a lot of work on the iMac's original bracket and Heatsink but after some elbow grease I managed to get everything right.
I leave some pics of the process here in case someone wants to do the same.

I'm not running opencore, so I can't get brightness control but there's some weird behaviour on the boot. To get the legacy logo I have to keep alt pressed on boot then select disk or I will get a black screen before the accelerated logo kicks in. This is a little tedious on installs because I have to pay attention on reboots. Is there an update to fix this?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thank You for this ROM I have installed this GPU on my iMac 12,2. By now I'm running BigSur 11.2
There's a lot of work on the iMac's original bracket and Heatsink but after some elbow grease I managed to get everything right.
I leave some pics of the process here in case someone wants to do the same.

I'm not running opencore, so I can't get brightness control but there's some weird behaviour on the boot. To get the legacy logo I have to keep alt pressed on boot then select disk or I will get a black screen before the accelerated logo kicks in. This is a little tedious on installs because I have to pay attention on reboots. Is there an update to fix this?

Yes, you should read the first post and search for opencore and the black screen issue and the Big Sur patcher options. Which patcher did you use to install Big Sur?

 

[peekpt]

Which patcher did you use to install Big Sur?

Clean install with dosdude's Catalina Patcher, then used patched Sur to update.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Clean install with dosdude's Catalina Patcher, then used patched Sur to update.

Reread the first post about the Big Sur patcher options especially for these iMacs. Patched Sur was not the best choice for your system....

 

[peekpt]

Reread the first post about the Big Sur patcher options especially for these iMacs. Patched Sur was not the best choice for your system....

It works flawlessly, with PatchedSur I have sleep fixed now something I couldn't do with Catalina, the only thing is brightness control because I don't want to change my machine ID with OC because I do dev with this machine and it can mess up big time.

 

[MirComputers]

So, what exactly are you hooking that wonderful AOC IPS MATTE monitor up to? I am willing to bet that it runs on electricity. 🤪

Any haswell or newer mac will crush imacs on performance per watt - a 2015 13 inch MBP will run circles in single core performance and make for a nice portable machine, under 65w on full load and maybe 5 in idle.
And no need to do any modding, opening with associated risk, and so on.
You can talk about fun, challange, and making use of old stuff you have around - but don't try to pass this as economically reasonable.

 

[MirComputers]

Theres a reason 27" is more expensive: PPI

27 2k ips screens go for slightly less, around 200 euros - again, muc better contrast ratio aswell
And the lowest i saw a 27 inch when i was lookign for replacement PSU was 200 euros for i5 with the broken gpu and old spinning drive.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

It works flawlessly, with PatchedSur I have sleep fixed now something I couldn't do with Catalina, the only thing is brightness control because I don't want to change my machine ID with OC because I do dev with this machine and it can mess up big time.

Patched Sur is based on the micropatcher wihich is based on my code at least for those metal modded iMacs. Unfortunately this development stopped months ago and I decided to fork and continue. I do not know why Ben is not moving on, but until he did you are better of with my fork - which contains OpenCore by the way.

Sleep etc. is working for Catalina, too. Everything has been documented, again, on the first post.

You will have to live with that black screen until you move on.

Edit:
This OpenCore never changes or changed the system serial and mlb, it just changes the system type to MacPro1,1 for AMD systems. I can guarantee you from a year of personal experience that there will be no problem with iCloud and iMessage and Apple if you use OpenCore in that way.

The separate OpenCore packages for the Catalina Loader image - linked from the first post - provided for NVIDIA cards do not even spoof the ID.

 

[yjchoi17]

Hi, everyone. I'm new to this scene.

I have a 2009 27" iMac (the core i7 variation) that I'm trying to get to work with an NVIDIA GTX 880M.

My use case might be a bit unique since I only plan to use Windows 10 via Boot Camp on this machine. No macOS. That's how I've been using it since the machine no longer got support starting with Mojave. I moved on to a more recent iMac. The thing is, I use a graphic rendering SW that only takes advantage of NVIDIA cards. Not possible on the new iMac, but possible on the old 2009...if only I can get it to work!

So far, I was able to use the Linux USB stick and flash the NVIDIA card via SSH. But from here, I'm lost. So I would appreciate any kind of advice.

When I install the flashed 880M, I only get the bootup chime with a black screen. I do realize that this is an issue with the 2009 models, and can be fixed with a modified AGC (or whatever it's called). But I don't think this is just a matter of having no display. I don't think the machine is booting behind the darkness, since it doesn't show up on the router. Another way to confirm that the machine isn't booting is that an external monitor also doesn't show anything. If I go back to the original ATI/AMD card, it boots up, automatically logs in, and shows up on the router. Again, this is all on Windows.

I also tried a different SSD that has a fresh install of macOS High Sierra with updates. Installed High Sierra with ATI/AMD card installed, and went through a firmware update during the process. High Sierra boots up without issues with the original card. But NVIDIA 880M fails to boot. Just the startup chime, but no display. Not even on an external monitor.

So the questions:

Is this a faulty card? (after all, I haven't seen anything come out of the card.) The card showed up correctly when I was flashing it via Linux USB drive. Is that not enough to confirm that the card isn't faulty?

Do I need to use OpenCore? I haven't looked into OpenCore very much yet, since 880M doesn't seem to require it. (It's a ++ card.) Is that correct?

If my intention was to use the NVIDIA Card only on Boot Camp, did I not have to flash the card? (Not that the card was working on windows before flashing. It wasn't.)

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi, everyone. I'm new to this scene.

I have a 2009 27" iMac (the core i7 variation) that I'm trying to get to work with an NVIDIA GTX 880M.

My use case might be a bit unique since I only plan to use Windows 10 via Boot Camp on this machine. No macOS. That's how I've been using it since the machine no longer got support starting with Mojave. I moved on to a more recent iMac. The thing is, I use a graphic rendering SW that only takes advantage of NVIDIA cards. Not possible on the new iMac, but possible on the old 2009...if only I can get it to work!

So far, I was able to use the Linux USB stick and flash the NVIDIA card via SSH. But from here, I'm lost. So I would appreciate any kind of advice.

When I install the flashed 880M, I only get the bootup chime with a black screen. I do realize that this is an issue with the 2009 models, and can be fixed with a modified AGC (or whatever it's called). But I don't think this is just a matter of having no display. I don't think the machine is booting behind the darkness, since it doesn't show up on the router. Another way to confirm that the machine isn't booting is that an external monitor also doesn't show anything. If I go back to the original ATI/AMD card, it boots up, automatically logs in, and shows up on the router. Again, this is all on Windows.

This is a strong indication that your card is not working at all.

I also tried a different SSD that has a fresh install of macOS High Sierra with updates. Installed High Sierra with ATI/AMD card installed, and went through a firmware update during the process. High Sierra boots up without issues with the original card. But NVIDIA 880M fails to boot. Just the startup chime, but no display. Not even on an external monitor.

So the questions:

Is this a faulty card?

Not entirely clear after this analysis - but after flashing you should have three status LED without the internal LCD working and all four if it is working properly.

(after all, I haven't seen anything come out of the card.) The card showed up correctly when I was flashing it via Linux USB drive. Is that not enough to confirm that the card isn't faulty?

No, the Linux utility just flashes a recognised card (and it uses the text mode, only). You can reboot into the flash utility and check if the display comes up. But after a PRAM reset you are probably trapped in that AGC patch situation.

Do I need to use OpenCore? I haven't looked into OpenCore very much yet, since 880M doesn't seem to require it. (It's a ++ card.) Is that correct?

No!

If my intention was to use the NVIDIA Card only on Boot Camp, did I not have to flash the card? (Not that the card was working on windows before flashing. It wasn't.)

You can try it without a custom BIOS but is is pain to maintain such a Mac without having EFI Boot Screen once in a while. You situation will not change flashing back to the stock BIOS. The LCD will remain dark until system comes upon with a AGC patched macOS. Get a extern USB disk and install High Sierra, install the patched AGC and try to boot it blindly disconnecting the internal WIN ssd.

Since you may get trapped all the time after a new PRAM reset stick with the recommendations: Install High Sierra on the first partition of your SSD (30GB) and install AGC patch. This way after each PRAM reset the system will auto boot into High Sierra and fix the internal LCD. Then you can move on to Windows...

AGC = AppleGraphicsControl.kext in /Systems/Library/Extensions

All this has been documented. Most likely you got another dead NVIDIA card.

 

[yjchoi17]

This is a strong indication that your card is not working at all.

Not entirely clear after this analysis - but after flashing you should have three status LED without the internal LCD working and all four if it is working properly.

No, the Linux utility just flashes a recognised card (and it uses the text mode, only). You can reboot into the flash utility and check if the display comes up. But after a PRAM reset you are probably trapped in that AGC patch situation.

No!

You can try it without a custom BIOS but is is pain to maintain such a Mac without having EFI Boot Screen once in a while. You situation will not change flashing back to the stock BIOS. The LCD will remain dark until system comes upon with a AGC patched macOS. Get a extern USB disk and install High Sierra, install the patched AGC and try to boot it blindly disconnecting the internal WIN ssd.

Since you may get trapped all the time affect a PRAM reset stick with the recommendations: Install High Sierra on the first partition of your SSD (30GB) and install AGC patch. This way after each PRAM reset the system will auto boot into High Sierra and fix the internal LCD.

AGC = AppleGraphicsControl.kext in /Systems/Library/Extensions

All this has been documented. Most likely you got another dead NVIDIA card.

Okay, thanks for the input. I might go get a new card or just forget the entire project.

Just to clarify, the “No!” Regarding OpenCore means it’s not needed?

 

[marerl]

Hello.

I'm a newbe here on this forum.
I have read throughly trough all important wisdom here.
Just purchased an iMac 12.2. A1312 , 27" with I5 cpu with old spin HDD.
My intention is to play with it and try to upgrade the CPU,HDD to SSD,RAM and maybe to metal GPU.
My understanding is there is no easy way to get Catalina or Big Sur with ease.
No straight forward fix for GPU Upgrade.
Non of the successful upgrades of GPU have resulted in fully functional OS with no glitches as far as have read.
Am I right in my understanding?

Thank you for all the good efforts contribution of all participants .

Brgds Erling Asker

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hello.

I'm a newbe here on this forum.
I have read throughly trough all important wisdom here.
Just purchased an iMac 12.2. A1312 , 27" with I5 cpu with old spin HDD.
My intention is to play with it and try to upgrade the CPU,HDD to SSD,RAM and maybe to metal GPU.
My understanding is there is no easy way to get Catalina or Big Sur with ease.
No straight forward fix for GPU Upgrade.
Non of the successful upgrades of GPU have resulted in fully functional OS with no glitches as far as have read.
Am I right in my understanding?

Thank you for all the good efforts contribution of all participants .

Brgds Erling Asker

You are completely mistaken!

We have hundreds of published successful GPU upgrades, possibly the thousands of known successful Mojave, Catalina and Big Sur installations on this modded machines. Adding an BT/WiFi card, new GPU makes this machines fully compatible with the latest macOS version - of course unsupported by Apple.

Check the first post!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi all!

I did something evil, binary patched a Big Sur GUI patcher to include the Big Sur iMac micropatcher to get a (hopefully) completely command line free installation of Big Sur. I need volunteers to test it:

Release Automator for (iMac Late2009 to Mid 2011) Micropatcher · Ausdauersportler/automator-for-barrykn-micropatcher

This version has been configured to install the latest version of the iMac Late 2009 to Mid 2011 aware version of this fork of the micropatcher: https://github.com/Ausdauersportler/big-sur-micropat...

github.com

Have fun and report back.

Notes:
1. create a separate partition on your iMac for Big Sur test installation or use an external USB device
2. opencore will be installed on the Big Sur USB installer! No need to have a separate SD card.

 

[marerl]

Thanks.
I got the impression when upgrading after Apple have released an upgrade of OS
i't is necessarily to patch again ?
I have now a Mac mini late 2012 upgraded to Big Sur and it works.
Bu the is no upgrade available message om the Mini after Apple released latest Big Sur update

E""""

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thanks.
I got the impression when upgrading after Apple have released an upgrade of OS
i't is necessarily to patch again ?
I have now a Mac mini late 2012 upgraded to Big Sur and it works.
Bu the is no upgrade available message om the Mini after Apple released latest Big Sur update

E""""

This is a part of the unsupported by Apple story:

• Apple blocks unsupported hardware from installing new macOS versions
• Apple blocks unsupported hardware from getting upgrades via software update (for new macOS versions)

To overcome the first step you need a patched installer. To make your hardware work with new macOS versions you need sometimes patches, the older the hardware the more patches. Since updates are blocked you have to install new minor releases as 11.2 again creating a patched installer and - surprise - patch the system after installation, again too.

There is way to make upgrades accessible via software update, but the patching after an update will be necessary in any case. Unsupported means no support by Apple tools. There is no way around except spend some extra effort.