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

[internetzel]

...me again: is there a chance to boot in a 'verbose' mode, so that one can monitor where the booting stops? I just can't figure out a reason for this, but the new GPU (GTX780m with BR2-Rom).

edit: my other 2009 iMac11,1 had faaar less problems. the GTX780m flashed under Win10 and everything was fine since then... no need to patch anything. the only obvious difference between these two machines is one is a i5 and the other one is i7.

First generation i5 and i7 are almost identical CPUs, so that should not make a difference.
But maybe the bootrom version of the two machines differs?

 

[Quinten07]

After carefully reading this thread for days and days I have finally found a card that works. I tried a GTX680M from Msi but that kept the system from eving turning on. So I bought a Dell Quadro k4000M an flashed it using the linux usb tool. It works fine now! Going to upgrade to catalina when I have some free time. I didnt cut the heatsink and also used a 2 pipe heatsink. Temps are lower than the amd5750 it replaced.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

After carefully reading this thread for days and days I have finally found a card that works. I tried a GTX680M from Msi but that kept the system from eving turning on. So I bought a Dell Quadro k4000M an flashed it using the linux usb tool. It works fine now! Going to upgrade to catalina when I have some free time. I didnt cut the heatsink and also used a 2 pipe heatsink. Temps are lower than the amd5750 it replaced.

One the long run you will not be happy with the heat sink with 2 pipes. During normal operation it may work, during benchmark, gaming, even watching TV the sink will not be able to transport away the heat generated on average.

EDIT: You may download Unigine Valley (link on first post) and run a benchmark and post the results.

 

[Quinten07]

One the long run you will not be happy with the heat sink with 2 pipes. During normal operation it may work, during benchmark, gaming, even watching TV the sink will not be able to transport away the heat generated on average.

EDIT: You may download Unigine Valley (link on first post) and run a benchmark and post the results.

I will post temps under stress when I test them. I am most interested in the results, I did some gaming to test it and it didn’t surpass 70 degrees celcius.
the K4000M is also the lowest card that the three pipe heatsink is recommended for so I think I might be ok. However in case I find the heatsink unsufficient I wil upgrade to a new one.

 

[MrZupp]

After all I found an error and corrected the NVIDIA config files within the new 0.6.6 EFI folder. Download again and move on to 0.6.6 and forget the old versions.

This is the last update on the sleep kexts which seem to be missing for me on OCLP

 

[passatgt]

After carefully reading this thread for days and days I have finally found a card that works. I tried a GTX680M from Msi but that kept the system from eving turning on. So I bought a Dell Quadro k4000M an flashed it using the linux usb tool. It works fine now! Going to upgrade to catalina when I have some free time. I didnt cut the heatsink and also used a 2 pipe heatsink. Temps are lower than the amd5750 it replaced.

Just a quick tip, drill two holes on the HDD bracket, easier to mount the SSD that way than with tape Like this:

 

[Quinten07]

Just a quick tip, drill two holes on the HDD bracket, easier to mount the SSD that way than with tape Like this:

View attachment 1777457

haha that would most certainly be a better way to mount it, however I don’t like drilling and if the machine keeps working good I would like to never open it again

 

[rmd79]

Hi, I’m having some trouble with a K3000M on a iMac 2011, I’m using OCLP and I have no sleep under Big Sur and Windows 10 UEFI ( High Sierra’s sleep function works under OCLP very well )

Also, sometimes when I boot it up my wireless apple keyboard and magic mouse aren’t recognized and I have to connect a usb keyboard to do a pram reset to make them work for the next 2-3 boots. I had no issues under Catalina Loader.

@MrZupp

Regarding the KB/mouse issues, if you're using the @stephle ROM you might want to try nikey22's last K3000M release (which is stable in my experience). My experience with the @stephle ROM was that no keyboard or mouse would work (bluetooth or USB) on occasion and rebooting usually "fixed" it. That was in a Mid-2010 system. After flashing nikey22's last K3000M ROM (V4) the issue went away and hasn't come back. The only problem I've had with that ROM is no backlight control in Win10.

I realise that a GPU ROM affecting KB/mouse seems illogical, but that's my experience.

 

[MrZupp]

@MrZupp

Regarding the KB/mouse issues, if you're using the @stephle ROM you might want to try nikey22's last K3000M release (which is stable in my experience). My experience with the @stephle ROM was that no keyboard or mouse would work (bluetooth or USB) on occasion and rebooting usually "fixed" it. That was in a Mid-2010 system. After flashing nikey22's last K3000M ROM (V4) the issue went away and hasn't come back. The only problem I've had with that ROM is no backlight control in Win10.

I realise that a GPU ROM affecting KB/mouse seems illogical, but that's my experience.

Where can I find the rom?

 

[dksp]

Just a quick tip, drill two holes on the HDD bracket, easier to mount the SSD that way than with tape Like this:

View attachment 1777457

Same here. I reused one of the existing existing holes and drilled a new one to fit the 2.5" mount. Took about 1 minute or so. If, one day, for any reason, I need to switch back to a 3.5" drive, it will still work as before.

And it should be better for heat dissipation, as the case of the SSD is made out of metal. I wouldn't suggest putting several layers of tape around it, isolating it from the air flow of the HDD fan.

But now back to topic

 

[Quinten07]

One the long run you will not be happy with the heat sink with 2 pipes. During normal operation it may work, during benchmark, gaming, even watching TV the sink will not be able to transport away the heat generated on average.

EDIT: You may download Unigine Valley (link on first post) and run a benchmark and post the results.

I have run the unigine valley benchmark. Temps & Results are posted below. It seems as though unigine valley only sees 256mb of the 4gb framebuffer. Don't know if this impacted performance because it seems a bit low. I let it run for 30 minutes and then did the benchmark.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I have run the unigine valley benchmark. Temps & Results are posted below. It seems as though unigine valley only sees 256mb of the 4gb framebuffer. Don't know if this impacted performance because it seems a bit low. I let it run for 30 minutes and then did the benchmark.

1. First of all, you did not really read the part about the non working ODD fan control on the first post? You should control the fan using Macs Fan Control depending on the heat sink temperature - DO NOT set it it a constant value. How do you expect the heat will be transported out of the body if not by a running ODD fan? You opened the iMac and could see the design!

2. To get the SMC control back your should have found the section about the replaced ODD temp sensor. It is tiresome how good you guys are at ignoring. It all ends up in such conservations where we have to carry each and every one step by step out of the big hole you dug yourself.

3. Unigine Valley has a bug reporting the wrong framebuffer size.

4. There could be a single temp left sensor unconnected. System would (then) not allow CPU boosting and so the low Valley result could be explained. Check it all sensors are reported to work properly. Use ASD - link is found in the hardware section post.

5. If the heat sink has already 67 the GPU itself may already reached 77 and higher. Avoid this.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi, I’m having some trouble with a K3000M on a iMac 2011, I’m using OCLP and I have no sleep under Big Sur and Windows 10 UEFI ( High Sierra’s sleep function works under OCLP very well )

Also, sometimes when I boot it up my wireless apple keyboard and magic mouse aren’t recognized and I have to connect a usb keyboard to do a pram reset to make them work for the next 2-3 boots. I had no issues under Catalina Loader.

This is what I have experienced with at least one K3000M and one K5000M on 2011 systems, too. It is listed within the known issues of the NVIDIA section. The only cure will be too move the card into a 2009/2010 system and get another one.

The Windows sleep problem may be caused by the missing or wrong INTEL HD3000 drivers (a known Windows bug not resolved by Intel - this CPU is just too old). Windows will always see the HD3000 and ignores the OpenCore settings to disable it.

There are no more sleep kexts necessary with OLCP (because it disables the HD3000) for all macOS versions! If you have sleep issues you face a different hardware problem - most likely caused by the graphics card you changed.

EDIT: Changing the vBIOS could in fact solve some issues.

 

[MrZupp]

This is what I have experienced with at least one K3000M and one K5000M on 2011 systems, too. It is listed within the known issues of the NVIDIA section. The only cure will be too move the card into a 2009/2010 system and get another one.

The Windows sleep problem may be caused by the missing or wrong INTEL HD3000 drivers (a known Windows bug not resolved by Intel - this CPU is just too old). Windows will always see the HD3000 and ignores the OpenCore settings to disable it.

There are no more sleep kexts necessary with OLCP (because it disables the HD3000) for all macOS versions! If you have sleep issues you face a different hardware problem - most likely caused by the graphics card you changed.

EDIT: Changing the vBIOS could in fact solve some issues.

Sleep did work previously with a k1100m under big sur and w10 uefi with CL, so the main culprit here is the graphics card I see, thanks for the heads up! Also, where can I find an alternative rom for the k3000m? There seems to be only one listed

 

[dksp]

Look again

 

[MrZupp]

Look again

View attachment 1777772

Oh nice, it was just added, I’ll try it tomorrow, thanks!

 

[Klineex]

Quadra K3000M with the stock VBIOS successfully working on a iMac 24 inch Early 2009 iMac on Big Sur with Full Metal Acceleration using the external DisplayPort port on the back connected to an internal LVDS controller board internally going through the RAM door in order to “connect” to the internal LCD. Obviously no boot screen but works great, cpu is for some reason detected as 2.65 GHz, maybe because of OpenCore. Sleep also works!

I also tried a Quadro K3100M, however it refused to POST, not sure why. However works great with the K3000M, word of warning.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Quadra K3100M with the stock VBIOS successfully working on a iMac 24 inch Early 2009 iMac on Big Sur with Full Metal Acceleration using the external DisplayPort port on the back connected to an internal LVDS controller board internally going through the RAM door in order to “connect” to the internal LCD. Obviously no boot screen but works great, cpu is for some reason detected as 2.65 GHz, maybe because of OpenCore

Hi!

This is really, really great! Should this work with the 27 coreduo, too?
Can you create a more comprehensive doc including pictures and a part list how you made this happen?

Thanks for sharing!

 

[G3rry71]

My experience is that you can successfully install a more recent version of Catalina by OCLP over your old version in situ with preservation of all your user accounts and data. You might also update to Big Sur in the same way with no problem as I did. But still be fore-warned that you should DO A BACKUP FIRST at least for your data, or it is no use to cry over spilled milk.

Hi KennyW,
I confirm I was able to upgrade from Catalina to BiG Sure in situ via OCLP!
Thank you very much!

 

[PaDa23]

When I use the command for the working directory it says there is no such path. I can only get as far as /lib. I copied the files on the usb directly. With my explorer (windows) I can see all files.

 

[cabinfourus]

Apple does not provide drivers for those GPU types - too bad.

I did find some support for the 460m from Nvidia. They actually have a driver out there for this card that some say works with mac. I can't verify this information, yet. I am planning on going down the yellow brick road with this one and giving it a try. I enjoy a good challenge!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I did find some support for the 460m from Nvidia. They actually have a driver out there for this card that some say works with mac. I can't verify this information, yet. I am planning on going down the yellow brick road with this one and giving it a try. I enjoy a good challenge!

There were so called web drivers available up to High Sierra. So this will be likely a dead end. But the card will run with Windows.

 

[cabinfourus]

I'd recommend going with either the WX4130 or WX4150

I actually didn't see this post until I had already purchased an M4700 Nvidia Quadro K2000M 2GB card. The one I purchased was only 15 bucks and it is from a Dell laptop. I figure I won't lose too much on it if things go wrong. I am a bit limited since I only have the two 21.5 iMacs. I may look into getting a 27 later to play around with. I have always been a PC guy until I got these two at a great price. I am learning the Apple products love to dip into my wallet a bit deeper than PCs and with Windows, PCs are much more user-friendly when it comes to upgrades.

 

[cabinfourus]

because the measure you personally will apply is unknown

Yes, I should have offered a bit more information.
My skills with Apple products are limited to mechanical repairs and some technical. I have flashed and replaced bios chips on different types of boards with success.
I do understand that none of these graphics cards are 'plug n play' easy.
It is mainly the terminology that causes most of my issues. Example: graphics card or video card - etc.
As far as funds, I can afford to purchase most things I want. I don't do things like this to save money. (lol) I enjoy the challenge of it.
Anyway, I am starting to understand this forum/wiki a bit more of an informational site than question-and-answer support. I am sure my type of questions gets on the nerves after answering them several hundred times.
Maybe you could include a rating of the installation. For beginner, moderate, or professional installers. It would give an idea of the challenges one would face and will these challenges be worth the time, money, and effort one would have to spend replacing these GPUs vs buying newer machines.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

About the 16bit resolution glitch of UGA_DRAW_PROTOCOL

Recently a user of this forum reached out and sent over this attached kernel extension which can be installed directly to the system (High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina via @dosdude1 patcher) or injected using OpenCore (and in particular OCLP) to tackle the above mentioned problem.

Please send a feedback about the usability and the success, if it works for the NVIDIA users in a reliable way (cannot test it myself) I will make a pull request to include it into OCLP.

Thanks for helping!

BTW: Apparently @Nick [D]vB found this solution.