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

[motorm3]

And yet you let us believe it is a software problem?? Are you serious?

I never had a problem with WiFi on this imac until latest OCLP update. I will reinstall big sur again and see if it helps

 

[motorm3]

We have th same iMac and GPU. I use the latest stable OCLP GUI and all is well... well except that my cpu fan suddenly stopped working (it stopped several months ago) but i think its a hardware issue, i already replaced the fan with a fully working one but still does not work with my iMac so as a remedy, i extended the cpu fan line so it can reach the plug where the HDD fan is connected (its ok to sacrifice HDD fan as I use SSD) then I just set the proper parameters in Macsfancontrol. It works just fine for me but i would really like to find the better solution, unfortunately, I cant

Regarding your problem, you may be having a hardware problem... check your module's connection, check the pins as well, sometimes those tiny pins may bend without you noticing them.

I never had a WiFi problem before until latest OCLP update. The WiFi works but drops out now and then so I have to reconnect.

 

[dan_bai]

amd w7170m，how is the card.could i use it in imac 12.2 27 inch?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

just find this card

NEW Dell Precision 7510 7520 M4800 WX4130 2GB WX4150 4GB MXM3.0 A Video Card​

NEW Dell Precision 7510 7520 M4800 WX4130 2GB WX4150 4GB MXM3.0 A Video Card

NEW Dell Precision 7510 7520 M4800 WX4130 2GB WX4150 4GB MXM3.0 A Video Card in Computers/Tablets & Networking, Computer Components & Parts, Graphics/Video Cards | eBay

www.ebay.com

Will 4GB version also work on my imac properly if now i have olny 2GB radeon?

This particular offer looks like a copy and may be a fraud?

 

[Adv34]

Hello. Which graphics card is suitable for 27 inch 2011 (I need system selection screen (os x +win ) Thanks

 

[Surf2bikes]

Hello. Which graphics card is suitable for 27 inch 2011 (I need system selection screen (os x +win ) Thanks

There are many cards. Read Post #1 of this thread. Everything is explained there. There is no simple answer to your question.

 

[ng0757]

Note: The WX41x0 VBIOSes don't support Bootcamp. This could be fixed, but I won't do so unless there is some actual need for that.

hello,
I reread this thread many times and saw your new BIOS,
You also mentioned:
The WX41x0 VBIOSes don't support Bootcamp. This could be fixed,but I won't do so unless there is some actual need for that.

Am I the only one who needs bootcamp to install win10???


I replaced iMac2009 graphics card with wx4170-nick'bios and bcm94360cd BT4.0.
Because some new software I really need can't run on Mojave,
now I have to install Monterey with OCLP several times and test it.

There was only one problem that existed before, that is, bootcamp cannot drive the graphics card after installing Win10.

I used to use parallels to install virtual machines under Mojave,
but virtual machines can't give full performance of graphics cards and cpu.

After running bootcamp and finally entering win10, run the bootcamp driver package, an error message will appear, indicating that this is a win7 version bootcamp driver.
It seems that the bootcamp in Monterey can't correctly identify my IMAC and downloaded the wrong win7 version.
I downloaded some versions of AMD drivers, but they couldn't be installed.This must be the problem of the graphics card BIOS.

Another question is:
I can install Mojave or Catalina with dosdode1'patcher and install BigSur or Monterey with OCLP.
How to install high Sierra? I've tried to install it before,
because I replaced the graphics card and bluetooth, I don't know how to update the driver to run perfectly?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

hello,
I reread this thread many times and saw your new BIOS,
You also mentioned:
The WX41x0 VBIOSes don't support Bootcamp. This could be fixed,but I won't do so unless there is some actual need for that.

Am I the only one who needs bootcamp to install win10???


I replaced iMac2009 graphics card with wx4170-nick'bios and bcm94360cd BT4.0.
Because some new software I really need can't run on Mojave,
now I have to install Monterey with OCLP several times and test it.

There was only one problem that existed before, that is, bootcamp cannot drive the graphics card after installing Win10.

I used to use parallels to install virtual machines under Mojave,
but virtual machines can't give full performance of graphics cards and cpu.

After running bootcamp and finally entering win10, run the bootcamp driver package, an error message will appear, indicating that this is a win7 version bootcamp driver.
It seems that the bootcamp in Monterey can't correctly identify my IMAC and downloaded the wrong win7 version.
I downloaded some versions of AMD drivers, but they couldn't be installed.This must be the problem of the graphics card BIOS.

Another question is:
I can install Mojave or Catalina with dosdode1'patcher and install BigSur or Monterey with OCLP.
How to install high Sierra? I've tried to install it before,
because I replaced the graphics card and bluetooth, I don't know how to update the driver to run perfectly?

You should not use dosdude1 patcher on your iMac11,1 with this GPU and BT/WiFi card. Just run OCLP and install every macOS starting with Sierra. No macOS needs patching of the old and not any longer maintained and never for these iMacs adopted dosdude1 patcher. Install Windows 10 in UEFI mode and follow the instructions linked in either on the OCLP docs or the famous and well ignored first post on page #1 of this thread!

To summarize:

1. Never, never use dosdude1 patcher with iMac11,x models.
2. Use only OCLP with AMD cards
3. Install Windows UEFI, not legacy, do not use the BootCamp assistant to install! Download bootcamp drivers using the brigadier tool.
4. Download High Sierra in case you need it an create an USB installer according to Apples own online docs. High Sierra will switch off the internal display on boot (known issue with the vBIOS).

 

[ng0757]

3. Install Windows UEFI, not legacy, do not use the BootCamp assistant to install! Download bootcamp drivers using the brigadier tool.

I tried to use brigadier-0.2.4 to download the bootcamp drivers in Win10_21H2. The address in CMD is as follows,

http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/57/55/041-84868-A_402D0DFI39/6uz8hhgtd4b87t00mrq0uihiop5ivumsbk/BootCampESD.pkg

The PKG file downloaded from this address is still a win7 version of bootcamp driver after decompression.

 

[m0bil]

View attachment 1960310
I tried to use brigadier-0.2.4 to download the bootcamp drivers in Win10_21H2. The address in CMD is as follows,

http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/57/55/041-84868-A_402D0DFI39/6uz8hhgtd4b87t00mrq0uihiop5ivumsbk/BootCampESD.pkg

The PKG file downloaded from this address is still a win7 version of bootcamp driver after decompression.

Try the win7 drivers, I think they work fine in win10. Bootcamp always downloads win7 drivers for me. Also, once installed bootcamp will self update.

 

[Stefanox2410]

** NVIDIA Quadro K3000M Mac Edition ROM by @stephle **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control
​

View attachment 1740925

@stephle put together the following ROM for the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M which will allow:
Genuine native brightness control
Genuine ‘gray’ early-boot screen

Pre-installation Requirements:

iMac12,2 - (27-inch Mid 2011) Mac-942B59F58194171B (Tested machine)
- BootROM: 87.0.0.0.0. Please use High Sierra to update your BootROM to latest version.
or
iMac11,3 - (27-inch Mid 2010) Mac-F2238BAE (Tested machine)
- BootROM: 99.0.0.0.0. Please use High Sierra to update your BootROM to latest version.
or
iMac 11,1 - (27-inch Late 2009, core i CPU, only) Mac-F2268DAE (Tested machine)
- BootROM: 63.0.0.0.0. Please use High Sierra to update your BootROM to latest version.

- GPU variant: N14E-Q1-A2
- VRAM type: Hynix H5GQ1H24BFR T2C 322A, Samsung

@stephle made sure that the rom will report the correct size of vram this time: 2048MB.

View attachment 1740926​

I've tested several cards on my iMac Late 2009 and Mid 2010 and iMac 2011 systems since November 2020. But there have been cards not running well on 2011 systems and other cards with different memory types not running at all. This sounds familiar, right?

You need to install the latest version of the AppleBacklightFixup.kext provided on the first post and the OpenCore distributions. If this does not work you might have a different machine, your panel ID can be found by going to System Preferences > Displays > Color > Open Profile > mmod

As stated previously these cards are based on a WSON flash package and therefore are much more difficult to recover from a bad flash. Please take precautions and verify flashing before rebooting.

View attachment 1740927
​

"insanely great!"
-Steve Jobs

Thanks again @Ausdauersportler and @nikey22
I was able to flash for a friend a k3000m It worked great thanks again .
Only two things, I can not find in the first page the kext apple backlight modified .
According to you if the programs you need are adobe photshop etc , would update with OC be stable? To which version?
Thank you very much for everything

 

[ng0757]

Try the win7 drivers, I think they work fine in win10. Bootcamp always downloads win7 drivers for me. Also, once installed bootcamp will self update.

I used to use the old win10, which can install win7 bootcamp with compatibilily mode. Today, I specially downloaded the latest Win10_21H2_EnglishInternational_x64.iso.
Even if the compatibilily mode option is checked, it can't be installed. Double click to run without any response, No error.

 

[motorm3]

And yet you let us believe it is a software problem?? Are you serious?

ok i reinstall big sur and wifi is working with no problems this time.

 

[ng0757]

Try the win7 drivers, I think they work fine in win10. Bootcamp always downloads win7 drivers for me. Also, once installed bootcamp will self update.

I reinstalled the old version of win10 again, installed the win7 version of bootcamp, and successfully installed the graphics card driver. The only problem left is that I can't open bootcamp control panel

The brightness can't be adjusted through F1 and F2.
I can only adjust the brightness in the AMD control panel

 

[drew0986]

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

This GPU will be identified by the macOS as AMD FirePro M5100 and by MetalBench and GeekBench5 as AMD Radeon R9 M370X. The current vBIOS supports Elpida video memory.

Warning:
This card is easy to install but complex to manage during the initial software installation.
You need to install OpenCore in advance and add the changes posted before booting into macOS.

The card will not boot into macOS without the adjusted CAIL values in the config.plist.

Test:
iMac11,x, and iMac 12,2 sleep and wake fully functional with OCLP 0.3.2
iMac12,1, no tested, assume it will work with OCLP 0.3.2
iMac10,1: tested

Use the M5100-DELL vBIOS for the red Dell card, only!

After installing the card it will not simply boot directly into any macOS version (WindowServer crash) unless you install and use OpenCore and apply the settings described below (I will try to get the changes added to OCLP, later).

So you need to install OpenCore onto your boot disk before booting in your current installation in normal multi user mode.

Run OLCP to create an AMD (metal) config and add the lines starting with the <key>rebuild-device-tree</key> into the DeviceProperties section (this is an iMac12,2 example):

                        <key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)</key>
                        <dict>
                                <key>shikigva</key>
                                <integer>80</integer>
                                <key>unfairgva</key>
                                <integer>1</integer>
                                <key>rebuild-device-tree</key>
                                <integer>1</integer>
                                <key>agdpmod</key>
                                <string>pikera</string>
                                <key>CAIL,CAIL_DisableDrmdmaPowerGating</key>
                                <data>AQAAAA==</data>
                                <key>CAIL,CAIL_DisableGfxCGPowerGating</key>
                                <data>AQAAAA==</data>
                                <key>CAIL,CAIL_DisableUVDPowerGating</key>
                                <data>AQAAAA==</data>
                                <key>CAIL,CAIL_DisableVCEPowerGating</key>
                                <data>AQAAAA==</data>
                        </dict>

These settings are equivalent with adding radpg=15 -wegtree apdpmod=pikera shikigva=80 to the boot-args in the config.plist of OpenCore.

This GPU type has been used in 2015 15" MacBookPro models.

Tested systems:
- iMac12,2: no problems
- iMac12,1: not tested
- iMac11,1: no problems
- iMac11,2: green AMD card has SMBUS problem, some temp sensor readings are weird, card needs a mod, red Dell card works fine!
- iMac11,3: no problems

Memory support:
The vBIOS attached here supports Elpida memory.
There is another vBIOS with Hynix BFR memory support.
And there is a third vBIOS with Hynix AFR memory support.

Known issues:
- external display sync is difficult on all systems and needs the main LCD or the system to go to display sleep once after connecting the external display

Known features:
- Airplay is working until Catalina as with any other AMD metal card on iMac11,x and iMac12,2 (without using QuickSync)
- high metal scores
- boot screen with OpenCore
- brightness control working
- GPU power management working
- needs macOS 10.8.3 or better (HD7000 support)
- still full Monterey support (no root patching needed unlike Kepler)

Performance:
- GeekBench Metal and OpenCL: > 10.000
- Valley DELL: 23.46 FPS, 981 Score
- MetalBench: 31 MRays/s
- CoreClock: 300 MHz idle - 850 MHz max
- MemoryClock: 150 MHz idle - 1125 MHz max
- PowerDraw: 5W idle - 35W max

Warnings:
- do not use this vBIOS on the Red DELL card, it will cause a bad flash and will make the card unusable
- do not flash the vBIOS from the DELL card onto the other two cards, it will cause a bad flash and will make the card unusable
- a bad flash prevents the iMac from booting and running the Linux flash utility, again!
- bad flashes can only be cured by using a clip or some other nasty tricks

News:
- OCLP 0.3.2 and later support this card. So you can update OC using OCLP in future. Nevertheless the boot strap process is complex since you cannot boot the normal macOS unless OC has been installed in advance!

Is there a link for a green card with elpida memory?

 

[bluecrowHH]

May I ask something about the s7100 as there is an entry in the first post. It seems like it works without any special ROM, right? There is a metal result. Is there any testing ongoing? Does it behave like the w6170?
Thank you so much!
Cheers!

 

[nikey22]

I have the W7170M (4Gb) and have made a working ROM for it. It is basically the S7100 (8Gb). I am continuing testing on the iMac 2010, and iMac 2009. While it is "working" on an iMac 2011, there is a NVRAM reboot issue that renders the screen black. We haven't determined what is causing this yet.

I've also created a modified Bios Editor to manipulate the Core and mem frequencies easier. I'm working to get it customized for these class cards GCN 1.2, Tonga variety.

I don't recommend purchasing these cards yet, unless you are willing to experiment!

 

[Surf2bikes]

About gaming with an old iMac...​

This is now my third GPU upgrade in the same machine in the past 6 months (getting addicted I guess...)...now installed an AMD RX480 on my iMac 11,3. I am pretty impressed what is still possible with an 11 years old iMac! Here is a clip sample of very high demanding game in terms of graphics - Metro Exodus. The RX480 is really powerful - I cannot use the full power of this GPU as the iMac internal system is heating up and can crash. It's a bit tricky as you need to find the right fan settings in the iMac and the right resolution in the game settings. I discovered that the "Power Heatsink" is getting easily above 80 degrees Celsius, sometimes 100 degrees - I guess it's because of high workload and the resulting increased power consumption of GPU (94 watts in peaks). At the same time, if Power Heatsink is at 80+ and GPU die goes close to +75 C degrees the iMac is suddenly rebooting. I had these symptoms pretty often in the beginning but after playing around with fan settings and game settings I could find a workable/stable solution. The main challenge is to get an acceptable thermal working condition. I am mainly running the CPU fan at maximum and have the ODD fan kick in at 55 degress and max RPM at 65 degrees. I am using the Mac fan control pro version in order to save the settings for "gaming" with high quality. For normal usage these settings are not required.

Absolutely amazing what open source software developers, testers, bios reverse engineers have created here. Your are really awesome! With special thanks to @Ausdauersportler for the helping hand and @internetzel for creating the bios!

 

[m0bil]

I reinstalled the old version of win10 again, installed the win7 version of bootcamp, and successfully installed the graphics card driver. The only problem left is that I can't open bootcamp control panel
View attachment 1960564
The brightness can't be adjusted through F1 and F2.
I can only adjust the brightness in the AMD control panel

Never had that problem. I'm currently at 20H2 and bootcamp control panel works fine (it's version 5.1). Maybe F1/F2 not controlling brightness is because of bootcamp control panel, it has an option to make them work like normal function keys or control brightness.

 

[ng0757]

Never had that problem. I'm currently at 20H2 and bootcamp control panel works fine (it's version 5.1). Maybe F1/F2 not controlling brightness is because of bootcamp control panel, it has an option to make them work like normal function keys or control brightness.

I checked Apple's official website. It is estimated that it is 5.1.5621. brigadier-0.2.4 downloaded 4033 for me...
I can't install the bootcamp5.1.5621 through win7 compatibility mode, Finally I forced the installation through "msiexec /i BootCamp.msi" , the bootcamp control panel works now.

F11 and F12 can adjust the volume,
but F1 F2 still can't adjust the brightness.who can help solve this problem?
After playing for 1 minute, the wx4170's temperature is 83℃+. Will the graphics card burn again?

 

[exFictitiouZ]

Hello everyone, it's been quite a while.

Suddenly my machine starts having problems with waking from sleep again, after it was fixed by moving to OCLP.
iMac 11,3 / K3100M nikey22 v4 ROM (latest one he published) / macOS 11.6.3 / OCLP 0.3.3

tried upgrading to macOS 11.6.4 (20G4147) and OCLP 0.4.2, but the problem persists. I've disabled sleep for now. Anyone experiencing this problem all of a sudden? i.e. having not modified anything in particular

I've been using dosdude's patched Catalina for a long time, but then recently it would not wake from deep sleep, showing kernel panic before it automatically rebooted. I'm certain it's a recent issue because initially it can sleep/wake just fine. Anyhow so I came here again to see that everyone's encouraged to migrate to OCLP. I also see that Nvidia sleep/wake cycle is also addressed. So I performed clean install + Migration Assistant and voila!

Thanks again. I respect you all.

 

[motorm3]

Hello everyone, it's been quite a while.

Suddenly my machine starts having problems with waking from sleep again, after it was fixed by moving to OCLP.
iMac 11,3 / K3100M nikey22 v4 ROM (latest one he published) / macOS 11.6.3 / OCLP 0.3.3

tried upgrading to macOS 11.6.4 (20G4147) and OCLP 0.4.2, but the problem persists. I've disabled sleep for now. Anyone experiencing this problem all of a sudden? i.e. having not modified anything in particular

What is the best rom for the quadro k3100m

 

[vmbl]

Hi,

I plan to buy a "Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 5500 XT" and extract the card to try to see if it is recognized by my 2011 or 2010 iMac,

Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 5500 XT - for Mac Computers

Portable External GPU (eGPU) for Docks for Intel-based Mac Computers with Thunderbolt 3 Ports - Pro Graphics Performance Boosters! Do you have an Intel-based MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac or iMac Pro with Thunderbolt 3 ports? If you need to run pro editing, rendering, color grading, an...

www.amazon.com

This is what the card looks like (RX 5700 version):

https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/ljrtim

Do you think it can work? I know the price is high but I'm doing this for research

I plan to use the sonnet for normal use on my newer MacBook Pro if it doesn't work

 

[internetzel]

Hi,

I plan to buy a "Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 5500 XT" and extract the card to try to see if it is recognized by my 2011 or 2010 iMac,

Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 5500 XT - for Mac Computers

Portable External GPU (eGPU) for Docks for Intel-based Mac Computers with Thunderbolt 3 Ports - Pro Graphics Performance Boosters! Do you have an Intel-based MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac or iMac Pro with Thunderbolt 3 ports? If you need to run pro editing, rendering, color grading, an...

www.amazon.com

This is what the card looks like (RX 5700 version):

https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/ljrtim

Do you think it can work? I know the price is high but I'm doing this for research

I plan to use the sonnet for normal use on my newer MacBook Pro if it doesn't work

Yes, that card (together with the RX 5700) is the latest known MXM graphics card with AMD GPU.
The card doesn't adhere completely to the MXM specifications with respect to the board dimensions, so you'll maybe need to do some more heat sink or iMac case modifications.
We don't know how well our old EFI firmware plays with PCIe 4.0 cards, although they should be backwards compatible.

With some luck the VBIOS will work with our EFI firmware as is - but modifying it may become a challenge.

You should start in the iMac 2010 as the 2011 is "pickier".

 

[exFictitiouZ]

What is the best rom for the quadro k3100m

The latest one, obviously.