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

[Diablo54800]

Hi everyone,

First, I wanna thx you all for this thread and all the work done by the community. 😀
I have an iMac 21“ mid 2011 and I’ve decided to upgrade the GPU due to some issue with the actual one. I have purchased and received today a Quadro K2100m. I have unmounted the original GPU and put the new one. I have boot on my USB key with Linux and connect with SSH. Everything is fine until I try to found the GPU with the command line and I get the answer : no adapter found… I’m really disappointed and do not know what to do… GPU installation seems to be OK… any idea?

Many thx in advance
Sébastien

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thank you for your rapid reply. I will apply these fixes asap, though my biggest concern of them all is the second display. I didn't see anything mentioned in the first post regarding this specific issue and searching this thread is tricky.

You need to follow the links to posts or packages and read deep. The first post is limited in size, one cannot put there all information gathered in seven years.

Nevertheless the so called display port AGC patch which cures also the so called black screen on boot issue has been included to my package installers and will be installed automatically.

 

[eablokker]

I have an iMac 21“ mid 2011 and I’ve decided to upgrade the GPU due to some issue with the actual one. I have purchased and received today a Quadro K2100m. I have unmounted the original GPU and put the new one. I have boot on my USB key with Linux and connect with SSH. Everything is fine until I try to found the GPU with the command line and I get the answer : no adapter found… I’m really disappointed and do not know what to do… GPU installation seems to be OK… any idea?

These cards often come dead on arrival. Check how many LED's you are getting on the motherboard.

Search the forum. This post might help

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi everyone,

First, I wanna thx you all for this thread and all the work done by the community. 😀
I have an iMac 21“ mid 2011 and I’ve decided to upgrade the GPU due to some issue with the actual one. I have purchased and received today a Quadro K2100m. I have unmounted the original GPU and put the new one. I have boot on my USB key with Linux and connect with SSH. Everything is fine until I try to found the GPU with the command line and I get the answer : no adapter found… I’m really disappointed and do not know what to do… GPU installation seems to be OK… any idea?

Many thx in advance
Sébastien

You are simply using the wrong software tool. The K2100M is an NVIDIA card. Try nvflash_linux and search the post where you found this Linux tool for some guides…

This is the first time I have seen this error

 

[Diablo54800]

You are simply using the wrong software tool. The K2100M is an NVIDIA card. Try nvflash_linux and search the post where you found this Linux tool for some guides…

This is the first time I have seen this error

Oh My God....shame on me....
I have reinstall the original GPU.... I'm too tired for today...will try again tomorrow with the correct command line
Many thx

 

[Diablo54800]

It's OK now....I'm with my K2100

Which OS do you suggest for my iMac? BigSur? or to stay with HighSierra?

Many thx

 

[ElCani]

It's OK now....I'm with my K2100
View attachment 1874445

Which OS do you suggest for my iMac? BigSur? or to stay with HighSierra?

Many thx

Big Sur works great on my 2011 27 with a K3100m.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

It's OK now....I'm with my K2100
View attachment 1874445

Which OS do you suggest for my iMac? BigSur? or to stay with HighSierra?

Many thx

Difficult question! This answer only applies to the iMac12,x Mid 2011 systems:

While Big Sur using OCLP works really great the macOS version offering the most features is still Catalina. Apple changed a lot of small thing, we never managed to get AirPlay working on Big Sur although we know in principle how to patch. @NOTNlCE started recently another experiment with AirPlay and Big Sur, but no results so far.

But you would need to use the @dosdude1 patcher and some additional patches mentioned on post #1 in the update section briefly.

Big Sur: simple installation and simple update and simple management
Catalina: more features, more complex installation and more complex management during updates

 

[antoniomac]

Update:
Experimental AMD M5100 2GB support (AMD Radeon R9 M370X 2GB)

This card has been produced in many variants, currently I know of at least three different types and ident strings:

Type	ident	BIOS version	device-id	working
Green AMD PCB	109-C93157-00A_03	W5170M	6820	yes
Blue AMD PCB	109-C42271-01_02	W5170M	6820	most likely
Red DELL PCB	109-C42241-01_02	M5100-DELL	6821	yes

--

Have just updated the former post with a new vBIOS for the Dell card (red PCB with ident 109-C42241-01_02). It has a slightly different GPU type and so both vBIOS versions are not exchangeable - so do not pick the wrong version, it will end in a bad flash and it will be hard to recover.

The benchmarks are giving nearly the same results, Valley is 20% higher, GeekBench OpenCL and OpenGL about 10-15% higher, MetalBench the same.

This GPU will be identified by the macOS as AMD FirePro M5100 and by MetalBench and GeekBench5 as AMD Radeon R9 M370X.

Warning:
This card is easy to install but complex to manage during the software installation. You need to install OpenCore in advance and add the changes posted before. The card will not boot into macOS without the adjusted CAIL values in the config.plist.

Hello, this is ok?

Firepro M5100

 

[NOTNlCE]

Difficult question! This answer only applies to the iMac12,x Mid 2011 systems:

While Big Sur using OCLP works really great the macOS version offering the most features is still Catalina. Apple changed a lot of small thing, we never managed to get AirPlay working on Big Sur although we know in principle how to patch. @NOTNlCE started recently another experiment with AirPlay and Big Sur, but not results so far.

I'm afraid there's not much progress for NVIDIA users. While I can patch the root volume to load the HD3000 kexts, AirPlay remains unavailable, regardless of SMBIOS. I will hopefully have more time to mess around in the coming weeks.

In regards to an OS recommendation: If you can live without some feature set (H.265, AirPlay, etc.) then Big Sur runs just as well as any other system with OCLP.

 

[Diablo54800]

Many thx.... I think I will upgrade to Catalina

PS : thx a lot for all the work you have done and will do

 

[motorm3]

So the airplay won't work on unsupported IMac running Monterey

 

[motorm3]

So the airplay won't work on unsupported IMac running Monterey

So these old imacs will never fully run on Monterey like airplay and all the rest of the stuff. The only thing that runs is the new os and that's it.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

So these old imacs will never fully run on Monterey like airplay and all the rest of the stuff. The only thing that runs is the new os and that's it.

Honestly, on my AMD equipped iMacs everything is working fine with Big Sur and Monterey, including AirPlay.

Sometimes I have problems to connect to my AppleTV 4K - but I did not spend any time to investigate this.
The problems with NVIDIA cards are well known for more than a year, now. But there are other software solutions for video sharing - the next search machine is only one tab away.

We have simply not enough people here testing and trying, but some are just happy with complaining.

 

[NOTNlCE]

There is no reason to be pessimistic - many features included in Big Sur and Monterey do work, and the biggest improvement is a supported OS and security updates to keep these machines going longer. This community (especially @Ausdauersportler and others) have been working for many years to get these iMacs to where they are now. There are constantly developing improvements in VBIOS, OCLP, and other things that add more and more functionality and features. Never say never - just be aware and informed of the hardware you are tweaking and modifying to do things it was never intended to do.

 

[motorm3]

Honestly, on my AMD equipped iMacs everything is working fine with Big Sur and Monterey, including AirPlay.

Sometimes I have problems to connect to my AppleTV 4K - but I did not spend any time to investigate this.
The problems with NVIDIA cards are well known for more than a year, now. But there are other software solutions for video sharing - the next search machine is only one tab away.

We have simply not enough people here testing and trying, but some just happy with complaining.

Honestly, on my AMD equipped iMacs everything is working fine with Big Sur and Monterey, including AirPlay.

Sometimes I have problems to connect to my AppleTV 4K - but I did not spend any time to investigate this.
The problems with NVIDIA cards are well known for more than a year, now. But there are other software solutions for video sharing - the next search machine is only one tab away.

We have simply not enough people here testing and trying, but some just happy with complaining.

I'm not complaining i would like that everything works. Could you tell me what amd card you are using or what amd card is best to get. Thanks for helping.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

About AirPlay on Big Sur and Monterey:

This is an ongoing project. AirPlay sound is working even to my 13 year old AirPort Express station and to my recent 4K AppleTV. The image will not be displayed (unlike with Catalina on this system with this AMD GCN).

Q: Who can share AirPlay experiences with AMD cards and on Big Sur or Monterey?

 

[knortn]

Has anyone's Displayport output become flaky after replacing their old video card? It's working most of the time for me but every now and then it drops out. At first I blamed the cable and replaced it. It got much better afterwards but still a little unstable at times. The internal LCD is 100% fine.

I have yet to try another secondary monitor. Currently I'm using an Acer VG270UP. It's running at 2560x1440, 120Hz. Switching to 60Hz doesn't make a difference.

 

[motorm3]

On my IMac it's showing the devices but it won't connect. I'm running Monterey Beta 10.it did work in big sur

 

[motorm3]

On my IMac it's showing the devices but it won't connect. I'm running Monterey Beta 10.it did work in big s

On my IMac it's showing the devices but it won't connect. I'm running Monterey Beta 10.it did work in big sur

Would one of these work in IMac mid 2011 27

 

[unclemiltie]

I have a similar issue with a 12,2 with a K3100M. If I shut down I get an "unresponsive power button" or if the machine goes to sleep it won't come back, I have to reboot (and have an unresponsive power button)

Ok, and now for something completely different!

yesterday we had a round of thunderstorms go through and the power went out. I was sitting at the computer when it happened. So I got up to go take a break and about 30 seconds after the power came back on the computer rebooted itself (it is set to re start on power loss) but it's never done that before. It happened again about an hour later.

So just for yucks I shut the system down (full shutdown) and pressed the power button and voila! first time it powered up just like it should. then I figured why not, try sleep. All good. I've put the system to sleep a few times now and it comes right back when I click my mouse.


No idea what the heck just happened but hey, I'm not complaining.

 

[BadBiscuit]

Has anyone's Displayport output become flaky after replacing their old video card? It's working most of the time for me but every now and then it drops out. At first I blamed the cable and replaced it. It got much better afterwards but still a little unstable at times. The internal LCD is 100% fine.

I have yet to try another secondary monitor. Currently I'm using an Acer VG270UP. It's running at 2560x1440, 120Hz. Switching to 60Hz doesn't make a difference.

I use a secondary display (Apple Cinema Display) with my main system (SCOOBY), and don't experience "flaky" behavior. Both displays are sharp and stable with brightness control.

BTW, that system runs Big Sur v11.6 and boots from OCLP v0.2.5, in case that helps.

 

[Pablito1]

Hello! it's newbie

I bought iMac 2011 mid 27" few weeks ago.

it's i5 2500S / 12G Ram / 6770M 512MB / 1TB HDD(Seagate Barracuda 7200.12)


So, i upgrade this imac. Already read this thread #1 and many more.

finally my iMac is on i7 2600 / 12G Ram (i orded 8G x2. soon 24GB Ram.) / GTX 880M 8GB / 1TB SSD(MX500 1TB)


I orded GTX 880M 8GB on Aliexpress, seller already flashed VBIOS and sent to me.
Thermal paste use Arctic MX-5 on core ,Thermalpad(Thermalright Extreme Odyssey Thermal Pad) on VRAM, other parts.


Still on High Sierra 10.3.6. All works normal.(Boot Screen, Bright control, sleep, etc.)

It's all stock sofrware.

THX

View attachment 1807800

Hi, I have the same imac like yours and I have intention to do the same GPU upgrade. Do you had to do some modification on heatsink or you just plag and play card?

 

[CY Yong]

Hi, I have the same imac like yours and I have intention to do the same GPU upgrade. Do you had to do some modification on heatsink or you just plag and play card?

Hi Sorry for out of topic.

My spec is iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011)
I had upgrade my CPU from 3.1 Ghz Intel Core i5 to 3.4 Ghz Intel Core i7 as well.
But my Imac run slower than before.

Do you have these problem? or do you do any extra setting after upgrade the CPU?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi, I have the same imac like yours and I have intention to do the same GPU upgrade. Do you had to do some modification on heatsink or you just plag and play card?

First post of this thread -> heat sink mod for all big NVIDIA MXM-B cards. Only smaller MXM-A cards are plug & play.