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

[wlagarde]

Here’s my contribution guys and I hope we can finally get an EFI flash one of these cards soon... I hope you guys enjoy the video and If anyone knows how to get ahold of Luke Miani let me know I’d like to help him try to fix his problems.

.
Thanks for posting this. It makes everything clear about using the stock Apple X-bracket. See post #1518 for reference. The version with the smaller central square (that comes with the Radeon 6770M/6750M) fits perfect without modification at least with the GTX765M. The one with the larger central square (that comes with the Radeon 6970M) will also fit but one of the surface mount devices is a little close and borders on touching it. So if you use this version be careful and be aware you may need to mod this version as described by FlorisVN.

 

[wlagarde]

Great video !
Love to see more, and I'm also following Mac Yak channel

I would advise you to use an MXM-A video card for the 21,5" iMac series !
Another user here posted he had his Dell Precision M4700 Nvidia Quadro K2000M working fine.
This is an MXM-A card insteal of the bigger MXM-B cards.
I would advise to use that in smaller iMacs, which also use MXM-A heatsinks..
27" iMac's, I would advise to use bigger MXM-B video cards.

For the backside use 1mm copper plates, sticket with 3m thermal tape 14x14mm to cover the backside vram chips.
Also highyl reccomend you use K5 thermal pasta, to replace the white Apple original white thermal paste for the vram chips and heatsink choces.

see following examples of recommended products :

https://www.amazon.com/CS-LABS-Thermal-replacement-K5-PRO/dp/B01H3D9ZE8

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/20-p...552.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.4b7d4c4dCXuitA

https://www.ebay.com/itm/5x-Adhesif...h=item5b316c8609:g:RBAAAOSwo4pYcQMZ:rk:1:pf:0

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...nVIDIA+Quadro+K2000M+2GB+Video+Card+&_sacat=0

https://www.amazon.com/Precision-nV...rds=Dell+Precision+M4700+Nvidia+Quadro+K2000M

...and here are some pictures of the K2000M FlorisVN references compared to a stock Apple AMD Radeon 6770M. Note the X-bracket on the K2000M is glued to the card and cannot be removed without risking damaging the card. It has threaded holes that are too small for the mounting screws to pass through therefore they must be drilled out. See Post #1402 for details about how to do this.

Update: It turns out the X-bracket for the K2000M is adhered to the card and can be removed with the help of a hair dryer.

 

[wa9im]

Протестировал адаптер сегодня и он работает.BIOS сшит


at the weekend I will experiment with gtx780m on my imac)))

 

[FlorisVN]

Протестировал адаптер сегодня и он работает.BIOS сшит
View attachment 815426 View attachment 815427

at the weekend I will experiment with gtx780m on my imac)))

nice, looks good !
keep in mind I think 100Wat TDP is the limit in the iMac 27".

 

[montechristo]

Yes - Stock dell VBIOS and works OOB without need for web drivers. Will post update with screenshots shortly...
[doublepost=1544973658][/doublepost]NVIDIA Quadro K2000M installation for 2011 21.5" iMac

Purchased this card on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Precision-M4700-Video-Card-nVIDIA-Quadro-K2000M-2GB-D30WG-0D30WG/123487397348?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649.

Dell NVIDIA Quadro K2000M; Dell Part No: D30WG (intended for Dell Precision M4700 laptop); VBIOS 80.07.52.00.18.

MXM-A form factor fits perfect without any modifications of the heatsink or iMac required. Runs Mojave flawlessly. Expected issues with backlight control and no boot screen. However, the X-bracket that is included with the card is permanently glued to the card and cannot be removed. The X-bracket holes were threaded and needed to be drilled out and enlarged to allow the stock Apple mounting screws to pass through to the heatsink. Started with 5/64" drill, then moved up to 3/32, and finally to a 7/64" drill. Worked perfectly.

View attachment 811118 View attachment 811119 View attachment 811120

Hey mate

thanks so much for your post!! and well done on your success!

ive got a few of these 27" machines ready for a solution

will this GPU work in the 27" with the 6970M heatsink?

or are there better options with the Nvidia GTX 765M / 780M

id prefer a nice cheap option like this

thanks in advance
[doublepost=1547341313][/doublepost]

Well the GTX765m aswell as the GTX780m Dell/Alienware versions are known working !
So I would suggest you keep them on your repported succesfull list..

I would suggest you to consider removing the GTX770m aswell as the GTX980m...

But looking at the screenshot, it looks good to me now that list !

hey mate

been reading for a few hours - but new to this.. so please be patient if im asking silly questions...

will this GPU work for the 27" 2011?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Nvi...=item3fb66d2d37:g:oDMAAOSwHrlcMvsS:rk:51:pf:0

what will need to be done to get 10.13 or 10.14 working on it [ ill lose boot screen and brightness control without an extra app ]

are there any other cheaper options out there? any idea what old desktops were these put into so i could buy them for a few $ and pull the cards out of them [ just thinking creatively ]

big thanks in advance

MC

 

[arkieboy72472]

been reading for a few hours - but new to this.. so please be patient if im asking silly questions...

will this GPU work for the 27" 2011?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Nvi...=item3fb66d2d37:g:oDMAAOSwHrlcMvsS:rk:51:pf:0

what will need to be done to get 10.13 or 10.14 working on it [ ill lose boot screen and brightness control without an extra app ]

are there any other cheaper options out there? any idea what old desktops were these put into so i could buy them for a few $ and pull the cards out of them [ just thinking creatively ]

big thanks in advance

High Sierra runs natively. With a High Sierra Bootable USB, you can install it. There are other methods, but I just used dosdude1's patcher app which has a tool which downloads the High Sierra installer. Download the installer to your applications folder and then use Apple's way of making a bootable USB.

For Mojave, if you read this thread, I go over that a little bit. The process has to be done prior to graphics card installation. In the post boot tools, do not select the legacy graphics card option. I have glossed over quite a bit, so you are going to have to search and read up for yourself on what all to do.

 

[montechristo]

High Sierra runs natively. With a High Sierra Bootable USB, you can install it. There are other methods, but I just used dosdude1's patcher app which has a tool which downloads the High Sierra installer. Download the installer to your applications folder and then use Apple's way of making a bootable USB.

For Mojave, if you read this thread, I go over that a little bit. The process has to be done prior to graphics card installation. In the post boot tools, do not select the legacy graphics card option. I have glossed over quite a bit, so you are going to have to search and read up for yourself on what all to do.

Thanks mate - yep been using that app to dl the full versions of installers for years and then creating multiple bootable partitions on one of my external drives [ back with 10.6 10.8 etc when certain machines would be their max native os ]

that awesome - so need need for any drivers / stuffing around at all - e.g sys updates etc - i.e so if i gave to clients they arent going to stuff it up... awesome if true so its only the Nvidia GTX 765M and 780M that works like this?

re Mojave - yea ive seen the must install with the old card then swap over etc

so the cheapest option is a Nvidia GTX 765M for the 27" ? i was hoping for something less for my low end clients to be satisfied with.. in Australia on ebay as i listed above its nearly $200... for the 765M.. ouch

 

[FlorisVN]

Hey mate

thanks so much for your post!! and well done on your success!

ive got a few of these 27" machines ready for a solution

will this GPU work in the 27" with the 6970M heatsink?

or are there better options with the Nvidia GTX 765M / 780M

id prefer a nice cheap option like this

thanks in advance
[doublepost=1547341313][/doublepost]
hey mate

been reading for a few hours - but new to this.. so please be patient if im asking silly questions...

will this GPU work for the 27" 2011?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Nvi...=item3fb66d2d37:g:oDMAAOSwHrlcMvsS:rk:51:pf:0

what will need to be done to get 10.13 or 10.14 working on it [ ill lose boot screen and brightness control without an extra app ]

are there any other cheaper options out there? any idea what old desktops were these put into so i could buy them for a few $ and pull the cards out of them [ just thinking creatively ]

big thanks in advance

MC

hi that Nvidia GTX 765M 2GB MXM 3.0 B for Alienware M17x M18x Replace 675M AU ebay item looks good to me !
And I think it should work just fine, looks the same like mine..

As far as I know the fastest and known working card is a Dell/Alienware GTX780m !

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Nvi...=item3fb66d2d37:g:oDMAAOSwHrlcMvsS:rk:51:pf:0

 

[montechristo]

hi that Nvidia GTX 765M 2GB MXM 3.0 B for Alienware M17x M18x Replace 675M AU ebay item looks good to me !
And I think it should work just fine, looks the same like mine..

As far as I know the fastest and known working card is a Dell/Alienware GTX780m !

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Nvi...=item3fb66d2d37:g:oDMAAOSwHrlcMvsS:rk:51:pf:0

cool thanks mate

appreciate your help

so what was needed to change the cooling from the 6970M to fit that card on your 27" 2011? or did it just slot in?

 

[FlorisVN]

cool thanks mate

appreciate your help

so what was needed to change the cooling from the 6970M to fit that card on your 27" 2011? or did it just slot in?

some heatsink mods have to bee performed.
Please see older posts from me and others here..
they contain al the info and pictures..

 

[arkieboy72472]

cool thanks mate

appreciate your help

so what was needed to change the cooling from the 6970M to fit that card on your 27" 2011? or did it just slot in?

If you have a 2 pipe heat sink and the right bracket, then you can just swap everything over. If you have the other bracket and/or a 3 pipe heat sink, then mods will need to be made.

 

[MarshallH]

I was wondering, maybay you can update the current list ?
Ad the following card for 21,5" 2011 users ! (and possibly also 2009-2010 iMac's)


Dell NVIDIA Quadro K2000M
VBIOS 80.07.52.00.18.
MXM-A card model
(intended for Dell Precision M4700 laptop)

maybay add MXM models per model, like the ones in the list now, apply MXM-B formfactor to them so they are for 27" iMac.
And MXM-A for 21,5" models.

And maybay a good idea, if we add compatible MacOS X versions per card.
And if external display works or not..
How about this idea ?
[doublepost=1546428104][/doublepost]

easies thing to do, is restore a winclone image.
Unfortunately you have deleted your existing bootcamp partition so making a backup clone image of it is not possible anymore.

You can try and find a pre existing windows 10 winclone image on the web, and restore it.
But still then you have a blackscreen, and only external monitor should work.
BUT user max86 apperently find a way to make internal imac dislay work with GTX765m under bootcamp.
I don't know how yet, he states to force the nvidia driver to install or something..
I hope he can give us more details on this one..

If i know the way, I can make an Windows 10 Winclone image, and can share it with you if wanted..
[doublepost=1546428383][/doublepost]what do you guys think of Final Cut Pro X performance, with Nvidia GTX765m/GTX780m vs original AMD 6970m.
Would the AMD card performe better still, I always thought AMD cards are better and faster with Final Cut Pro X.. ?

Should we get a degrease in Final Cut Pro X performance, when upgrading to an Nvidia card.. ?
iMac 2012-2013 also uses nvidia cards, and raw performance is faster on paper...

Anybody got experience here with this, or can share info ?

I installed a K3000M out of a Dell Precision Laptop, however i do not have metal support. Any idea why i don't but the K2000M does? Anybody have a vbios version that would support metal? Would the vbios from your K2000M work on a K3000M?

Also, is there a way to make a card that should but doesn't support metal, support metal without a vbios change? Like a software patch?

Thanks

 

[FlorisVN]

I installed a K3000M out of a Dell Precision Laptop, however i do not have metal support. Any idea why i don't but the K2000M does? Anybody have a vbios version that would support metal? Would the vbios from your K2000M work on a K3000M?

Also, is there a way to make a card that should but doesn't support metal, support metal without a vbios change? Like a software patch?

Thanks

I dont have the K2000m tested, some other user here in this topic !
I would advise you contact him..

I don't know why the K3000m does not support metal and the K2000m does.
I don't think it's possible to ad metal support by a software patch..
Maybay modifiening or flashing another K2000m could work and fix your problem, I have no idea..
But do some chip research before starting with these things is my advice !

 

[wa9im]

Hi. At the weekend I tested my IMAC 27 2011.
Available R9m390x (does not work in imac).
AMD 6970m (died a year ago)
GTX780m is included only on cold, changed vbios did not help((.
But earned screen in windows 10 (running windows on the 2nd monitor after going to sleep mode after waking up turned off monitor 2 and have the image on the imac)
Sorry for the translation native language is Russian

 

[wlagarde]

I installed a K3000M out of a Dell Precision Laptop, however i do not have metal support. Any idea why i don't but the K2000M does? Anybody have a vbios version that would support metal? Would the vbios from your K2000M work on a K3000M?

Also, is there a way to make a card that should but doesn't support metal, support metal without a vbios change? Like a software patch?

Thanks

I do find this odd (no metal support for K3000M) but I can confirm Dell K2000M does have metal support - see third screenshot in post #1402.

 

[highvoltage12v]

Probably a very dumb thought, but I wonder if anyone with the know how has looked at the dcb tables on the GT130 that was in the Apple iMac 24" A1225 (https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/66067/66067).

I'm guessing that as they're not kepler based the architecture is completely different but I figured it would be worth raising.

I have an early 2009 a1225 iMac coming Monday with the GT130 in it. I will be trying the K2000m (it's still sitting around) in it and will report on what happens. Would love to see this old iMac with a Metal supported card. I done some research and a user by "havel" on iFixit has tried a " GTX 260M 1GB MXM 3.0" card in it but had screen gamma issues with their card. Maybe using a newer series card/OS might solve this problem, or I will end up with the same issue or possibly nothing at all. Still worth trying because there is nothing on MXM swapping the a1225 iMac other than this.
[doublepost=1547686423][/doublepost]

I do find this odd (no metal support for K3000M) but I can confirm Dell K2000M does have metal support - see third screenshot in post #1402.

Did you accidentally select "Legacy Video Card Patch" at all during any install? This will break Metal and leave everything choppy/broken. Honestly the option shouldn't be auto selected for the 2011 iMac because it's useless. We do however need HD3000 kexts installed to fix sleep in Mojave. You can try running 10.14.2 combo update but I cant guarantee it will put back the stock kexts.
[doublepost=1547688446][/doublepost]

...and here are some pictures of the K2000M FlorisVN references compared to a stock Apple AMD Radeon 6770M. Note the X-bracket on the K2000M is glued to the card and cannot be removed without risking damaging the card. It has threaded holes that are too small for the mounting screws to pass through therefore they must be drilled out. See Post #1402 for details about how to do this.
View attachment 815424 View attachment 815425

Thanks for the drill bit sizes. The x-bracket however is adhered to the back and not glued on. It can be removed by inserting a screw driver on the 4 posts and gently pushing. I found this better because I didn't want the drill bit to slip and knock an SMD off.

 

[wlagarde]

I have an early 2009 a1225 iMac coming Monday with the GT130 in it. I will be trying the K2000m (it's still sitting around) in it and will report on what happens. Would love to see this old iMac with a Metal supported card. I done some research and a user by "havel" on iFixit has tried a " GTX 260M 1GB MXM 3.0" card in it but had screen gamma issues with their card. Maybe using a newer series card/OS might solve this problem, or I will end up with the same issue or possibly nothing at all. Still worth trying because there is nothing on MXM swapping the a1225 iMac other than this.
[doublepost=1547686423][/doublepost]
Did you accidentally select "Legacy Video Card Patch" at all during any install? This will break Metal and leave everything choppy/broken. Honestly the option shouldn't be auto selected for the 2011 iMac because it's useless. We do however need HD3000 kexts installed to fix sleep in Mojave. You can try running 10.14.2 combo update but I cant guarantee it will put back the stock kexts.
[doublepost=1547688446][/doublepost]
Thanks for the drill bit sizes. The x-bracket however is adhered to the back and not glued on. It can be removed by inserting a screw driver on the 4 posts and gently pushing. I found this better because I didn't want the drill bit to slip and knock an SMD off.

highvoltage12v - Great pickup. I had to heat up the card pretty hot with a hair dryer to get the stock x-bracket to release but indeed as you show it is in fact adhered not glued and can be removed. As for my install I specifically deselected the legacy video card patch and I have metal support.

MarshallH - Did you leave the legacy video card patch selected when you installed your K3000M?

 

[bmillz]

So, I got my late 2009 27" iMac's internal display working in Windows 10. The install was done in legacy mode. I can confirm that the display would not work if Windows was installed in EFI mode. My GTX 770m showed up just fine and the drivers installed. The only slight annoyance was when Windows first booted up, I would have to press the power button to sleep the Mac because the screen was black. Then, when I woke it, the display turned on and worked fine.

Unfortunately, I had so much trouble trying to switch between macOS and Windows without seeing the boot options screen, I just wiped the SSD clean and installed Mojave. But, this is a great proof of concept for anyone that wanted to know how these cards fare on Windows.

P.S. - Thanks to @highvoltage12v for answering all of my (probably stupid) questions!!!

 

[Sricca]

All cards listed in the table in post #1357 support Mojave: Dell/Alienware GTX680M, GTX765M, GTX780M. The Dell K2000M does too but is a better fit for the iMac 21. The table lists the vBIOS versions confirmed to be iMac compatible.

[doublepost=1547954265][/doublepost]Installed GTX780m . Have issue. Screen stays black. I can only remote in to work on IMac. IMac shows the card installed. I think v bios must not be correct. Any way to trick IMac to think its an apple card?

 

[liquidtwitch]

Installed GTX780m . Have issue. Screen stays black. I can only remote in to work on IMac. IMac shows the card installed. I think v bios must not be correct. Any way to trick IMac to think its an apple card?

What kind of 780m do you have? My alienware 780m would work with Macos but not have any backlight with Windows.

When I put Dell firmware on the same card it worked fine on Windows but there was no internal video on Macos.

 

[gauchomac]

Data Point.

I happened across a 2011, i7 27" imac for cheap. Was from a tech who was Windows only, and he had installed Windows 10 on the main partition. Only showed initial Windows screen. It would not boot Internet Recovery, or from a USB. It would be fine for 50% and go to gray screen. I ran ASD EFI disk (wouldn't boot ASD OS) and it showed logic board, HDD, GPU fine. Given the known GPU issues, I suspected I had a bad graphics card.
From this thread, I got motivated enough to buy a gtx 765 (
https://www.ebay.com/itm/5YPW3-Dell...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649) some K5 thermal paste, and went to work.
I was going to try a reflow service to get the 6790 back long enough to install an OS, but @MarshallH kindly instructed me how to install High Sierra on the HDD via another mac (Thanks again, MH).
The new GTX card had the X-brace on the back, which I removed, and I notched the original X-brace for the one capacitor that looked to be an issue. The heat sink required grinding down the corners of two "blocks" to seat two of the chips on the 675.
Anyway, Put it together, hit the power switch, and presto, perfect boot.

Another data point:
As far as videos go, I really liked the MacSales videos for the disassembly, especially their SSD video, which pretty much gets the logic board ready to remove.

Big thanks to you thread contributors that led me to success. I never could have done it without this thread.

 

[FlorisVN]

So, I got my late 2009 27" iMac's internal display working in Windows 10. The install was done in legacy mode. I can confirm that the display would not work if Windows was installed in EFI mode. My GTX 770m showed up just fine and the drivers installed. The only slight annoyance was when Windows first booted up, I would have to press the power button to sleep the Mac because the screen was black. Then, when I woke it, the display turned on and worked fine.

Unfortunately, I had so much trouble trying to switch between macOS and Windows without seeing the boot options screen, I just wiped the SSD clean and installed Mojave. But, this is a great proof of concept for anyone that wanted to know how these cards fare on Windows.

P.S. - Thanks to @highvoltage12v for answering all of my (probably stupid) questions!!!

Just use Boot Champ, still works fine for running BootCamp !
Dissable SIP before, but since you are already running Mojave you should have disabled SIP.

 

[Sricca]

What kind of 780m do you have? My alienware 780m would work with Macos but not have any backlight with Windows.

When I put Dell firmware on the same card it worked fine on Windows but there was no internal video on Macos.

It came from a Clevo laptop as I understand

 

[Sricca]

OK, I need help. Installed the GTX780m that came from a Clevo laptop. iMac will boot up but internal screen does not work. I don't think the thunderbolt ports for external screen are working either but not sure. I have iMac working with screen share from another iMac also with an external USB monitor using display link. Where do I go from here? I have included 2 screen shots with information. Any way to edit Kext to allow non apple GPU to start up fully?

 

[highvoltage12v]

OK, I need help. Installed the GTX780m that came from a Clevo laptop. iMac will boot up but internal screen does not work. I don't think the thunderbolt ports for external screen are working either but not sure. I have iMac working with screen share from another iMac also with an external USB monitor using display link. Where do I go from here? I have included 2 screen shots with information. Any way to edit Kext to allow non apple GPU to start up fully?

Make a windows 10 Legacy install on an SSD using a different computer than the iMac. Plug a monitor into the display port closest to the other ports. Hopefully displayport will work in Windows. Let it sit for 10 minutes and see if it boots. I will find the ROM later from Tech Power up that has the same revision on the Dell 780m. This is all done with the LCD off the iMac so the fans will run on High and the CPU will stay down clocked.