Cool! Buying a new industrial good brings us closer to the edge…
Buying a new M1 just to have a more powerful and energy efficient CPU idling the whole day along?
For 99.99% of all computational work the Late 2009 is fast enough.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
- WikiPost WikiPost
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
Buying a new M1 just to have a more powerful and energy efficient CPU idling the whole day along?
For 99.99% of all computational work the Late 2009 is fast enough.
macOS's final security update for your Macs have been out of date by over 9 months & over 18 months respectively.
You're opening yourself to malware unless this is being used in air gapped environment.
It is admirable that you are using your Macs beyond 4 years and 6 years. Everybody should follow that.
But be aware that after 120 months your data is not as well protected anymore whether it be macOS or even Windows.
Also when one goes into the rabbit hole of upgrading bits and pieces you may end up spending nearly 80% of a brand new M1 Mac put on sale on Amazon/BH/Adorama.
I have the 2012 iMac 27". I intend to replace it with a 2022 iMac 27" or larger display.
HDD is dead & I'm running on the 128GB SSD. A speaker is busted and the 27" backlit is already showing signs of dimming. I could repair it but given that macOS Catalina's last security update is expected around Christmas I rather just sell it as is and buy into the next base model that would be fault free hopefully by 2032 when I can get an Apple silicon chip on a sub-1nm die shrink.
Last edited:
And what are you doing in this "2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade" thread?
iMac12,2, RX580 mobile, 1 TB SSD, 32 GB Memory, BT4.2, WiFi ac, Monterey 12.1 unpatched
I honestly do not know what macOS security update you are talking about!
Take a look at the first post of this thread and start reading there.
Edit: Monterey 12.2
Last edited:
Can you pls send me a link to the other potential hw upgrades like BT4.2 for my iMac11,3?
iMac Mid 2011 Bluetooth 4.0 internal upgrade
Post Updated October 23rd, 2021 0. Preamble This is in fact an iMac Late 2007 to Mid 2011 Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi 802.11ac upgrade thread - which some minor adjustments one can use the guides posted here to apply this upgrade even on older iMacs and MacPro systems. Until this first post will...
forums.macrumors.com
Hi if someone could help please I had to reinstall big sur so I formatted the ssd for mac os installed big sur but windows I have on another ssd and now it won't show up in boot picker how do I get it back windows is there on another ssd but doesn't show up. Please help
🚨 CITIZEN! You have not purchased New Consumer Good in 12 years, 3 months. Please proceed to the nearest Apple Store immediately. 🚨
Successfully updated from 12.1 to 12.2 unattended. I just initiated the update (full not delta) and left for breakfast, then after about 30mins it booted to a slow 12.2 which also does not have wifi. I then ran post-install patch from latest OCLP GUI (offline version). After 2nd reboot, I am greeted with perfectly working 12.2 on an almost 11years old machine.
Nvidia Quadro K3100M runs perfect in his machine. Even windows 11 on parallels run very well here.
Again, much gratitude to all devs and contributors to this 2011 iMacs Graphics Card Upgrade thread and to OCLP team.
Nvidia Quadro K3100M runs perfect in his machine. Even windows 11 on parallels run very well here.
Again, much gratitude to all devs and contributors to this 2011 iMacs Graphics Card Upgrade thread and to OCLP team.
Attachments
A big thanks to all that have contributed to this forum. I now have a 2011 27" iMac with a K2100M fully working.
One very minor thing still bugs me a little and I hope that someone can help me out. When I click "about this mac", the processor reports that it's the old i5. I swapped this out for a Xeon E3-1290 a long time ago.
The thing is, when I was running the computer with Open Core, it reported accurately. I installed this the very old and basic way as described by Joerg Henninges here:
I'm sure most people here will be familiar with mounting efi, copying files and using Bless.
This was fine and it gave me the boot screen that I wanted. However, when I decided that I wanted backlight brightness adjustment, I thought I'd give OCLP a try.
Now that I have installed open Core through OCLP, the report has changed back to the i5. Any ideas as to how this can be remedied? Thanks in advance.
One very minor thing still bugs me a little and I hope that someone can help me out. When I click "about this mac", the processor reports that it's the old i5. I swapped this out for a Xeon E3-1290 a long time ago.
The thing is, when I was running the computer with Open Core, it reported accurately. I installed this the very old and basic way as described by Joerg Henninges here:
This was fine and it gave me the boot screen that I wanted. However, when I decided that I wanted backlight brightness adjustment, I thought I'd give OCLP a try.
Now that I have installed open Core through OCLP, the report has changed back to the i5. Any ideas as to how this can be remedied? Thanks in advance.
Hi, i recently installed Monterey on a Imac 27 2011 I5 3,1 ghz with a Quadro K4100.
Everything works fine but i know airdrop doesn't work... and airplay? I mean.. if i want to use airplay to a Samsung TV compatible to extend desktop.. how can i solve ? Thanks
Everything works fine but i know airdrop doesn't work... and airplay? I mean.. if i want to use airplay to a Samsung TV compatible to extend desktop.. how can i solve ? Thanks
There is no solution. Even with BT/WiFi update AirPlay is broken on Big Sur and later.
Use other software apps to achieve the same functionality.
Last edited:
Q: Has anybody out there an Apple HomePod (mini) working on Big Sur and later using a modded iMac?
Which hardware (which GPU and possibly the BT4.0 upgrade)?
Thanks in advance!
Edit: Seems to work with BT4.0/WiFi upgrade
Which hardware (which GPU and possibly the BT4.0 upgrade)?
Thanks in advance!
Edit: Seems to work with BT4.0/WiFi upgrade
Attachments
Last edited:
Hi All, first ever post, I was gifted a 2009 late 27" iMac. It turns on and makes the apple bong but displays various coloured lines with no other graphics, it stays like that for about 20 seconds and then tunes into a blank screen.
The iMac still accepts CD's and seems to "work" although I see nothing.
I have done some research thinking it was a 2011 iMac (but its actually a 2009 late), i bought a GTX 675m from a dell laptop verified working for the equivalent of about 65$.
Can anyone tell me if this card is compatible or am I wasting my time?
PS: already had the gpu out and baked it at 200, yes yes i know its basically pointless but i was bored whilst waiting for the new card haha, also put it all back together and it still is the same so at least i haven't broken anything.
Thanks for any help!
The iMac still accepts CD's and seems to "work" although I see nothing.
I have done some research thinking it was a 2011 iMac (but its actually a 2009 late), i bought a GTX 675m from a dell laptop verified working for the equivalent of about 65$.
Can anyone tell me if this card is compatible or am I wasting my time?
PS: already had the gpu out and baked it at 200, yes yes i know its basically pointless but i was bored whilst waiting for the new card haha, also put it all back together and it still is the same so at least i haven't broken anything.
Thanks for any help!
I have already upgrade my 2011 21.5in i5 to a wx4150 and replaced the internal hard disk with an SSD, it runs great! Would it be possible to upgrade the CPU to a Xeon E3-1270 or would I run in to power and TDP constraints or would there be too much power draw and the temps be too high for workstation and gaming use? I don't need sleep. I plan to just have the screen turn off after 10 minutes of inactivity and power off at night.
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
Hi guys. I ran into a problem when I needed to connect my laptop to an Imac. How to use the Imac monitor? I have a cable, but I tried to connect it today, but I didn’t succeed, the image didn’t appear on the iMac. 
I also used the key combination cmd + F2
MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6
My cable I used
I also used the key combination cmd + F2
MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6
My cable I used
Did you mean WX7100? W6170M seems to be working well in the 2011 iMac12,2 other than sleep and doesn't have the SMBUS conflict like the 2010 iMac11,3. Sleep doesn't matter to me (changed my mind since my last post) so the W6170M seems like an excellent deal for $50 compared to a $40 M5100 or $150 WX4150. NVRAM resets at startup aren't a big deal either as long as KP's are rare. My 12,2 has been shelved for a while and this thread has come a long way since I last considered a graphics upgrade in 2015. Thanks so much for all your hard work @Ausdauersportler !
Last edited:
Great to hear this! Sometimes the 12,2 tends to need a PRAM reset on reboot or cold boot. So there are more problems with the W6170M as only the missing sleep/wake. But I agree, compared to everything else you can buy on these days it is a powerful and cheap alternative.
No, I was writing about the W7170M/S7100 models available on ebay. These cards will show the same problems when used in the iMac12,2 like the W6170M.
Not tested myself, but are you using this vbios ?
If so, most probably like all other Nvidia cards you need to add this registry entries. You can use this app helper to make things easier.