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

[Airknight]

Please check the first post and the guides we made there. This complete operation is a idiot-proof as changing a dying ATI card. Since we got OCLP working the rest is playing with a Lego set for children under six years, unless you can read.

You cannot sell an iMac with an macOS version without any support (High Sierra)! In less than a year you will face the first security aware websites not willing to connect to an older unsupported version of Safari, what will happen in 3 years when your ATI is dying, again?

We do not need to sell this solution to you. The market has already decided for you. GPU cards listed on post #1 became rare and expensive, no turnaround visible at the horizon.

If you love your old ATI so badly my personal advice:
Panta Rhei - „Denn alles muß in Nichts zerfallen, Wenn es im Sein beharren will“

Just for the Record and not selling anything....

Got two good working 6970m's lying around here just for that reason. if you want your system to be usable in the future there is no option but replacing them. Or stick with the outdated HS indeed.

Won't even sell them for exact you're own reason. Wouldn't like to have somebody coming back after 1-2 weeks that my overpriced card is also dying again.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

So… thank you! It worked using an APFS container for Mojave. And applying both suggestions, so I can't tell if it was System ProductName or SecureBootModel. But after booting with those both settings, it let me chose the drive for installing Mojave. Installation went fine without any problems.

But… when booting Mojave with the OCLP generated SD card, I didn't have brightness control. I checked and had to disable SIP again, but still no brightness control. The iMac was running very hot, with the PSU Primary at 70° for example.

When booting the Mojave installation with the Catalina Loader (the one I use for High Sierra), Brightness Control was back again, the iMac was running a lot cooler… but no Wifi instead!

So right now I am back to High Sierra with the Catalina Loader.

One thing I noted about brightness control (with Catalina Loader) is, that with High Sierra the screen is quite dark (even if I got used to it). I would say around 50% max. brightness. But with the Mojave installation and the same loader, the maximum screen brightness is normal, just like it should be.

How about reading the OCLP docs and the first post in advance? Make sure your OCLP generated EFI has the correct system (iMac11,2) and the correct GPU recognised (NVIDIA). I put a short howto on the first post, too. It covers the manual steps if auto detection fails for some reason.

Maybe you ran into an new shortly fixed issue. There is a constant rate of change currently due to the recently added legacy video support.

And you may replace the AppleBacklightFixup.kext on the Catalina Loader with the one from OCLP. The brightness problem will go away - and I am pretty sure I wrote exactly this on the post where you got the Catalina Loader image in the first place.

Q12: Brightness level seems to be low! How to fix this?
Please use the most recent version of OC. If this does not help: Attached you will find another version of the AppleBacklightFixup.kext. Replace it in the EFI/OC/Kexts folder. If this does not work you may own a yet unknown display type.

(I am feeling like a pre school teacher searching and reading each and every possible topic manually for your).

 

[vep]

I found out that while creating the OpenCore EFI folder the setting about SIP was turned off. I made sure that it was turned on and created a new OpenCore folder saved to my USB drive and booted it from the new OpenCore USB.

hi
I tried this method, finally figured out...I was able to assign permissions to the camera and microphone, but microphone is still not capturing any sounds...thinking about hardware issue...may be connector?

 

[dksp]

How about reading the OCLP docs and the first post in advance? Make sure your OCLP generated EFI has the correct system (iMac11,2) and the correct GPU recognised (NVIDIA). I put a short howto on the first post, too. It covers the manual steps if auto detection fails for some reason.

I read a lot, but I don't know what to look for, looks like I have have missed some parts.

Maybe you ran into an new shortly fixed issue. There is a constant rate of change currently due to the recently added legacy video support.

I used the latest release from yesterday.

And you may replace the AppleBacklightFixup.kext on the Catalina Loader with the one from OCLP. The brightness problem will go away - and I am pretty sure I wrote exactly this on the post where you got the Catalina Loader image in the first place.
Q12: Brightness level seems to be low! How to fix this?
Please use the most recent version of OC. If this does not help: Attached you will find another version of the AppleBacklightFixup.kext. Replace it in the EFI/OC/Kexts folder. If this does not work you may own a yet unknown display type.

I did try this a couple weeks ago, with no result. My display type is 9cdd, which is in the list. I will try again with the kext from the latest OCLP. Maybe it will work this time.

EDIT: I just tried the kext from OCLP 0.1.1 with the Catalina Loader and High Sierra and the maximum brightness is still too low. I did reset PRAM.

(I am feeling like a pre school teacher searching and reading each and every possible topic manually for your).

I'm sorry… but let's say that preschool kids learn a lot and fast

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I read a lot, but I don't know what to look for, looks like I have have missed some parts.


I used the latest release from yesterday.


I did try this a couple weeks ago, with no result. My display type is 9cdd, which is in the list. I will try again with the kext from the latest OCLP. Maybe it will work this time.

EDIT: I just tried the kext from OCLP 0.1.1 with the Catalina Loader and High Sierra and the maximum brightness is still too low. I did reset PRAM.


I'm sorry… but let's say that preschool kids learn a lot and fast

Read this, download and run gfxutil as described there and post back your device path like this from my iMac12,2

me@iMac % ./gfxutil -f GFX0
01:00.0 1002:67ef /PCI0@0/P0P2@1/GFX0@0 = PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)
me@iMac %

And please post your OCLP config.plist file

 

[herrdude]

EDIT: I just tried the kext from OCLP 0.1.1 with the Catalina Loader and High Sierra and the maximum brightness is still too low. I did reset PRAM.

So to be clear, you have no problem pulling a kext from the the OCLP app but you won't actually run the app?

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Just for the Record and not selling anything....

Got two good working 6970m's lying around here just for that reason. if you want your system to be usable in the future there is no option but replacing them. Or stick with the outdated HS indeed.

Won't even sell them for exact you're own reason. Wouldn't like to have somebody coming back after 1-2 weeks that my overpriced card is also dying again.

Following a post by Ausdauersportler I sold my working HD5670m almost right after confirming that the WX4150 runs normally in my iMac 2010. Got enough money to buy another K1100m and some small parts to upgrade the iMac.
I'm quite sure the buyer of my iMac (if I ever want to sell it) will be happy to receive one with Big Sur to install the latest apps he plans to use, rather than the old High Sierra, which refuses to install even Office 365....

On the ugprade path, we keep going forward, and never look back.

 

[dksp]

Read this, download and run gfxutil as described there and post back your device path like this from my iMac12,2

me@iMac % ./gfxutil -f GFX0
01:00.0 1002:67ef /PCI0@0/P0P2@1/GFX0@0 = PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)
me@iMac %

And please post your OCLP config.plist file

I will try this evening, when back at home.

So to be clear, you have no problem pulling a kext from the the OCLP app but you won't actually run the app?

No not exactly. Yesterday I built an SD card using the OCLP app and with the Mojave installer on it. But once Mojave installed, I had no brightness control with the OCLP generated loader. So I tried booting with the Catalina Loader I used before, and brightness control was back, but no more wifi instead.

And, with exactly the same Catalina Loader, brightness control behaves differently in High Sierra and Mojave. High Sierra is too dark, Mojave is fine.

 

[Maki Fox]

Hey guys,



I have problem with the 27 iMac 2011, the video card is done, I have tried baking but overheated it and one of the mem chips came down. i have put it back but I don’t think it worth trying. Now I have two options that are quick. I have found a broken similar card which I can try baking or a 512 mb nvidia card form a 21 inch imac same year that is working. Not sure if this downgrade would work smoothly and easily and how the radiator matches up. What do you think? Thanks.

Guys, changed the video card but have problems. Can't start it in recovery mode or safe mode either. I have this error screen. The drives are ok. What could this be? Any idea? Video card issue or should I look elsewhere? Thanks.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Guys, changed the video card but have problems. Can't start it in recovery mode or safe mode either. I have this error screen. The drives are ok. What could this be? Any idea? Video card issue or should I look elsewhere? Thanks.

You should look elsewhere! We do not comment on broken old ATI cards, we do not work on repairing it. The focus is on how to replace the old GPU with a new one as listed on the tables on post #1.

 

[dksp]

Read this, download and run gfxutil as described there and post back your device path like this from my iMac12,2

me@iMac % ./gfxutil -f GFX0
01:00.0 1002:67ef /PCI0@0/P0P2@1/GFX0@0 = PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)
me@iMac %

And please post your OCLP config.plist file

Home for lunch… so the "./gxfutil -f GFX0" outputs the following device path.
(And just to be sure, I checked with both CL and OCLP loaders, under High Sierra and Mojave.)

01:00.0 10de:11fc /PCI0@0/P0P2@3/GFX0@0 = PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x3,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)

I attached both the OCLP and Catalina Loader plist files inside the zip.

 

[hflopez]

Hi there!
thanks all for the constant work on this!
I followed the steps to flash using the latest USB linux tool for nvflash.

Come from a mid 2011 27" imac with High Sierra, swapped GPU to 880M.
Powered up and no light at all on the screen.
Then flashed using ./nvflash_linux -6 GTX/880M_BR.rom
Then restarted and I have light on then screen, but anything else, black screen not showing anything....
Someone can help?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Home for lunch… so the "./gxfutil -f GFX0" outputs the following device path.
(And just to be sure, I checked with both CL and OCLP loaders, under High Sierra and Mojave.)

01:00.0 10de:11fc /PCI0@0/P0P2@3/GFX0@0 = PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x3,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)

I attached both the OCLP and Catalina Loader plist files inside the zip.

Your system got (again) the wrong GFX0 path included. Fixed it here and reported it back to the OCLP developers. The Catalina Loader works always because it just adds all path settings known for all iMac11,x and iMac12,x (which are only two different ones).

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi there!
thanks all for the constant work on this!
I followed the steps to flash using the latest USB linux tool for nvflash.

Come from a mid 2011 27" imac with High Sierra, swapped GPU to 880M.
Powered up and no light at all on the screen.
Then flashed using ./nvflash_linux -6 GTX/880M_BR.rom
Then restarted and I have light on then screen, but anything else, black screen not showing anything....
Someone can help?

Just press alt/option on boot or fire up the internal display, read the first post again and search for black screen, install OCLP or the patched AGC as described there.

 

[khronokernel]

Home for lunch… so the "./gxfutil -f GFX0" outputs the following device path.
(And just to be sure, I checked with both CL and OCLP loaders, under High Sierra and Mojave.)

01:00.0 10de:11fc /PCI0@0/P0P2@3/GFX0@0 = PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x3,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)

I attached both the OCLP and Catalina Loader plist files inside the zip.

We updated OCLP with better hardware detection here:

Probe hardware for Backlight pathing · dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher@ef11715

Experience macOS just like before. Contribute to dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Could you verify whether it works correctly on your machine? Build below if you don't have python (must be signed into Github to download):

https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/suites/2613126170/artifacts/57227872

 

[dksp]

Thank you @Ausdauersportler and @khronokernel

That is great support!

I downloaded the new Github built and made a new installation on the SD card. It works perfectly now. With Mojave, brightness control is back and maximum brightness is correct too. Nightshift is enabled. Everything I tested so far works.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thank you @Ausdauersportler and @khronokernel

That is great support!

I downloaded the new Github built and made a new installation on the SD card. It works perfectly now. With Mojave, brightness control is back and maximum brightness is correct too. Nightshift is enabled. Everything I tested so far works.

Yes, to my great surprise your iMac11,2 has a different GFX0 path than my own one. We can only assume that this never came up in the past just because my older versions of OC where based on the one @Nick [D]vB provided initially. This just had both settings from the start.

 

[vinaypundith]

Hi all,
I have a 2010 model 21.5" iMac (iMac 11,2, EMC 2389). It came with an AMD Radeon HD 4670 GPU and an Intel Core i3-550 CPU (3.06GHz dual core). I upgraded the CPU to a Core i7-860S and the GPU to an NVIdia Quadro K1100M, reflashed by me with Nick's ROM as was described in post #1.

My issue is: Seemingly due to erroneous thermal readings, the machine cuts the CPU speed by more than half and the GPU speed even more than that. CPU runs at 1196MHz maximum (in both Mac OS and Windows 8) and its Geekbench 5 score is about half what I would expect, both single and multi core. Geekbench 5 score for the GPU is also 300 instead of the 2100-ish that I am supposed to get.

I did the thing of moving the ODD temp sensor and attaching it to the GPU heatsink. Macs Fan Control shows that all temp sensors are reading normally except for the GPU one from which there isn't any output at all.

I'm running OpenCore configured by OCLP v0.1.1, BTW.
Any ideas, anyone? Thanks in advance.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi all,
I have a 2010 model 21.5" iMac (iMac 11,2, EMC 2389). It came with an AMD Radeon HD 4670 GPU and an Intel Core i3-550 CPU (3.06GHz dual core). I upgraded the CPU to a Core i7-860S and the GPU to an NVIdia Quadro K1100M, reflashed by me with Nick's ROM as was described in post #1.

My issue is: Seemingly due to erroneous thermal readings, the machine cuts the CPU speed by more than half and the GPU speed even more than that. CPU runs at 1196MHz maximum (in both Mac OS and Windows 8) and its Geekbench 5 score is about half what I would expect, both single and multi core. Geekbench 5 score for the GPU is also 300 instead of the 2100-ish that I am supposed to get.

I did the thing of moving the ODD temp sensor and attaching it to the GPU heatsink. Macs Fan Control shows that all temp sensors are reading normally except for the GPU one from which there isn't any output at all.

I'm running OpenCore configured by OCLP v0.1.1, BTW.
Any ideas, anyone? Thanks in advance.

This behaviour is quite normal when you have a single thermal sensor not reconnected properly or ignored to change or short the HDD sensor. The CPU does not boost.

Normally only the GPU die is missing, having not a single GPU temp means you did not reconnect the original GPU heatsink sensor back too the back of the system board. You should see the GPU heat sink reading. To debug this you should send a screen shot of the Macs Fan Control window and possibly one of an SMC reading software. You can also use ASD to check your system -> somewhere on the first post.

Check all your cables!

P.S.: This is surely hidden in the hardware problems section on the first post!

 

[dksp]

There is also the "CPU Heatsink" sensor missing. Are you sure you didn't forget to plug it in again, after upgrading the CPU? It happened to me with the same results.

I had the same base iMac, and did the same CPU upgrade plus the K2100M. And I replaced the hard drive with an SSD… highly recommended, especially for using macOS with APFS.

 

[vinaypundith]

@Ausdauersportler so it was true that I forgot to plug in the CPU temperature sensor. However, the original GPU temperature sensor had indeed been plugged in. What else do I need to check before re assembling the machine?

 

[vinaypundith]

Got my iMac properly working! Turned out I had forgotten to plug in the CPU heatsink thermometer cable. Plugged it in, and reseated the plug for the GPU heatsink thermometer also for good measure. CPU and GPU are both performing normally and fan speeds are normal without using Macs Fan Control.

BTW, my Quadro K1100M scored 1917 in the Geekbench 5 Metal test, if anyone wants to add that data to post #1 - I see there are currently no Metal performance scores for the K1100M in the chart. My K1100M is the variant with either Hynix or Samsung VRAM chips (I don't remember), but it definitely was not the one with Elpida chips.

 

[searge]

++ cards have a color depth problem only after boot - just sent the system once to sleep or change resolution. This will cure the problem.

Good morning community, I recently upgraded my iMac 27 2011 Quattro K3100M (Hynix AFR - Nikey22 Bios) with OCLP to BS 11.3. I was facing color depth problem before and I used a small script mentioned here (imaccolordepthfix) in startup routine to get this fixed every time system was rebooted. After latest update I checked this problem again and the problem is gone. I am not sure whether Big Sur version or changing to OCLP as recommended causes this effect, but I think this information could be useful.

 

[goldfish5252]

Maximum upgrade of iMac mid - 2010, 27” (iMac 11,3)
CPU : From 3,2Ghz Intel Core i3 to 2.93GHz Intel Core i7-870 (Quad Core, 8 threads), used - US$ 40
SSD : 3 TB WD Hard Disk to a 1TB Samsung 870 - US$132
OWC SSD Cable : US$38
RAM : 8GB RAM to 16GB RAM (Crucial, (4pcs of 4GB DDR3 RAM) - US$ 99
GPU : ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB to NVIDIA K4100M 4GB - US$145
GPU Heatsink (3 pipe),used : US$ 20


Total : US $ 474
Prices are before shipment.

Used Xanderon’s UNIX flash drive and SSH from a Windows desktop using Putty (64 bit). Basically user id is root, password is flash if using Putty.

Followed guides from Curtis Gross (best visuals), Macintosh Men (best pioneer) and MacRumours (best complete information A-Z but needs many weeks to read through).


GEEKBENCH score after installation

CPU
Single Core 442 (476 for stock CPU) performing below the 547 expected.
Multi Core 1459 (1043 for stock CPU) performing below the 2068 expected.

GPU
Open CL - 3978 (1508)
Metal - 5290

CINEBENCH
CPU (Multi Core) 2473 points

UNIGINE VALLEY BENCHMARK
Score : 1509
FPS : 36.1

 

[KennyW]

Maximum upgrade of iMac mid - 2010, 27” (iMac 11,3)
CPU : From 3,2Ghz Intel Core i3 to 2.93GHz Intel Core i7-870 (Quad Core, 8 threads) - US$ 40
SSD : 3 TB WD Hard Disk to a 1TB Samsung 870 - US$132
OWC SSD Cable : US$38
RAM : 8GB RAM to 16GB RAM (Crucial, (4pcs of 4GB DDR3 RAM) - US$ 99
GPU : ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB to NVIDIA K4100M 4GB - US$145
GPU Heatsink (3 pipe) : US$ 20


Total : US $ 474
Prices are before shipment.

Used Xanderon’s UNIX flash drive and SSH from a Windows desktop using Putty (64 bit). Basically user id is root, password is flash if using Putty.

Followed guides from Curtis Gross (best visuals), Macintosh Men (best pioneer) and MacRumours (best complete information A-Z but needs many weeks to read through).


GeekBench score after installation

CPU
Single Core 442 (476 for stock CPU)
Multi Core 1459 (1043 for stock CPU)

GPU
Open CL - 3978 (1508)
Metal - 5290

Cinebench
CPU (Multi Core) 2473 points

Congratulations to your successful effort and investment ! That's close to a M1 MacMini without the monitor.

Well, that is not the "maximum" upgrade yet 😊

The RAM can be max out to 32GB.
The Wifi and BT can be upgraded to ac & 4.2.
The USB 2 can be upgraded to 3.0 if you dare.
The GPU can be further upgraded to WX7100 or its close 2nd RX480, but unfortunately both have altogether disappeared from the market...