What is the soldering mod?
Myself I use the sata splitter cable that costs about 2 euros. 😅
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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
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Myself I use the sata splitter cable that costs about 2 euros. 😅
It is basically the same mod, instead if using the cable to short the two pins you can use a small portion of solder lead to connect the pins on the HDD permanently. Does not make any sense with modern SSD, just keep the cable.
But: Both wil effectively spin down the HDD fan all the time. Can become a problem during long, long gaming nights.
Even if I have installed the sata splitter cable, I still use macfan control and have set it to increase rpm according to various sensors.
However, this mod is helpful during updates, when the macfans control app is not loaded, and the iMac fans would be spinning like crazy. 😁
As Ausdauersportler already said, this is basically the same thing but I’ll show you what I did anyways. I found this method in a video explaining how much of a scam that OWC Cable is.
Here is what you need to clip and solder together. I highly recommend you use some shrinkwrap too.
It’s the first cable from the bottom (Ground) and the Middle Cable (4th from bottom and top)
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I tried Patched Sur and at least i arrived to a running Big Sur but with no patches and i had a weird SIP uneditable unchangeable configuration
So i restart everything and now there is High Sierra
I will proceed with dosdude Catalina Patcher and then OCLP (or patched sur)
An enigma about why it stops on AppleALC (tried to replace it with the one you gave me) or lilu
....
Hello! Here I am again.
Since a few weeks I'm a very happy user of a mid 2011 iMac with a WX4150 graphics card. Everything works fine, but I have a small problem.
After some time of use, the external monitor starts to flicker and goes black for a few seconds, doing this more and more frequently.
From what you've told me in the thread, it could be because I'm using the grey thermal paste and that's not the right one for the GPU, but I wanted to ask you because in Mac Fan Control I don't see that the sensor temperature is high, and I wanted to save myself from disassembling the iMac again if it wasn't strictly necessary.
P.S: Does the mid 2011 21.5 iMac support up to 32GB of RAM? I know it's officially 16 but I've seen somewhere that it might support 32?
Since a few weeks I'm a very happy user of a mid 2011 iMac with a WX4150 graphics card. Everything works fine, but I have a small problem.
After some time of use, the external monitor starts to flicker and goes black for a few seconds, doing this more and more frequently.
From what you've told me in the thread, it could be because I'm using the grey thermal paste and that's not the right one for the GPU, but I wanted to ask you because in Mac Fan Control I don't see that the sensor temperature is high, and I wanted to save myself from disassembling the iMac again if it wasn't strictly necessary.
P.S: Does the mid 2011 21.5 iMac support up to 32GB of RAM? I know it's officially 16 but I've seen somewhere that it might support 32?
I can’t help you with the GPU issue but I can tell you that yes, it does support 32GBs.
Someone else like can surely help you with your main issue
Update on my GPU Upgrade:
I did the Dremel Mod with the Heatsink and installed the K4100M that arrived today.
Then I used the Linux USB SSH method to flash the GPU which also went smoothly.
Then I restarted and voila, it works perfectly!
Update: Yesterday right b4 midnight Monterey finished installing and it looks great!
I did the Dremel Mod with the Heatsink and installed the K4100M that arrived today.
Then I used the Linux USB SSH method to flash the GPU which also went smoothly.
Then I restarted and voila, it works perfectly!
Update: Yesterday right b4 midnight Monterey finished installing and it looks great!
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Im sorry i dont understand... i want to use specific software (HSierra and Adobe CC2017 apps) what exactly are you suggesting?
In a short description what exactly are metal Gpus?
I am suggesting that you check the ISV webpage about the compatibility by reading and searching through the CC apps yourself.
This is what this thread is about.
Yes. Gaming on a mac is fairly possible.
And with the GPU Upgrades in this thread you can actually play with good FPS.
I actually want to game on my iMac too, for that imma max it out. (i7-2600, K4100M, 32GB RAM, 3 Drives) and that will make a fine gaming machine for stuff like Minecraft and low settings BeamNG
Hi everyone,
I am sharing some experience and not succeed GPU update here, hoping to get advice or help.
Since my AMD 4850 failed I was looking for a new GPU. Following this forum experienced admin and other users advices I bought a AMD card M5100, the red one coming from a Dell laptop. I install it on my Late 2009 11,1 iMac but impossible to start, no boot at all, even after several hardware manipulations. After retry with the seller I saw myself the card working on his Dell laptop running Win7... So I assume this AMD card was not compatible with my late 2009 11,1 iMac motherboard firmware.
So I source and purchase a AMD WX4130. Once installed this card allow my iMac to boot but I was facing the well-known "black screen" symptom. Then I carefully follow The_Croupier and mitesh33 instructions on post #13624 and #14815 to remotely by ssh flash the vbios with backup first, then the good rom... See attached pictures
After reboot and reset PRAM still have the black screen issue. So according the first post #1 and #14815 I should install the OCLP boot loader to get my card working on boot screen. I am not sure how to do so given the original card is dead.
My macOS installation is the following:
Original 1TB HDD with 2 partitions I usually as DATA or stock purpose.
SSD 500GB (installed by removing the DVD combo) running High Sierra (upgrade from El Capitan) on the first partition and Catalina on the second partition, installed fresh install with dosdude1's patch.
I read on this threat I should be able to boot with OCLP OR Catalina's patch. As I still have the black screen issue I want to ask for help installing OCLP with the Linux live usb method. I do not have a working GPU neither second screen but I have I MacbookAir running Monterey and Linux.
Did someone experienced that situation and could offer some advice? Thanks for any help or suggestion!
I am sharing some experience and not succeed GPU update here, hoping to get advice or help.
Since my AMD 4850 failed I was looking for a new GPU. Following this forum experienced admin and other users advices I bought a AMD card M5100, the red one coming from a Dell laptop. I install it on my Late 2009 11,1 iMac but impossible to start, no boot at all, even after several hardware manipulations. After retry with the seller I saw myself the card working on his Dell laptop running Win7... So I assume this AMD card was not compatible with my late 2009 11,1 iMac motherboard firmware.
So I source and purchase a AMD WX4130. Once installed this card allow my iMac to boot but I was facing the well-known "black screen" symptom. Then I carefully follow The_Croupier and mitesh33 instructions on post #13624 and #14815 to remotely by ssh flash the vbios with backup first, then the good rom... See attached pictures
After reboot and reset PRAM still have the black screen issue. So according the first post #1 and #14815 I should install the OCLP boot loader to get my card working on boot screen. I am not sure how to do so given the original card is dead.
My macOS installation is the following:
Original 1TB HDD with 2 partitions I usually as DATA or stock purpose.
SSD 500GB (installed by removing the DVD combo) running High Sierra (upgrade from El Capitan) on the first partition and Catalina on the second partition, installed fresh install with dosdude1's patch.
I read on this threat I should be able to boot with OCLP OR Catalina's patch. As I still have the black screen issue I want to ask for help installing OCLP with the Linux live usb method. I do not have a working GPU neither second screen but I have I MacbookAir running Monterey and Linux.
Did someone experienced that situation and could offer some advice? Thanks for any help or suggestion!
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M5100:
Needs OpenCore/OCLP to boot and provide graphical output after flashing. I think the guides are pretty clear about this! No wonder you had no success. Booting into safe mode would have shown graphics.
WX4130/WX4150 etc:
All these vBIOS versions have an High Sierra bug. Here the internal LCD gets black on boot. Plug in an external display or an display emulator stick to avoid this problem. Only with High Sierra!!
macOS:
No, not Catalina patched, surely not! Delete the dosdude1 patched Catalina installation, it will not work at all with the new card as all necessary drivers have been deleted from the installation using the patcher. Delete the container, create a new one and install from the scratch - you can pick Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur or even Monterey using OCLP.
To come around your current problem get/borrow an external display (miniDP connector), just plugging it in will enable the internal LCD on boot with your new flashed WX4130. After moving on to a new macOS you will not need the external display any longer.
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Hi, I will try to remove dead original GPU on my imac 27" and use pretty same mod like you did, I found this new card on ebay, could you advice me if it is good choice and price compered to your experience?
NEW Dell Precision 7510 7520 M4800 AMD WX4130 2GB WX4150 4GB MXM3.0 A Video Card | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for NEW Dell Precision 7510 7520 M4800 AMD WX4130 2GB WX4150 4GB MXM3.0 A Video Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
I can really not comment on this card.Hi, I will try to remove dead original GPU on my imac 27" and use pretty same mod like you did, I found this new card on ebay, could you advice me if it is good choice and price compered to your experience?
NEW Dell Precision 7510 7520 M4800 AMD WX4130 2GB WX4150 4GB MXM3.0 A Video Card | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for NEW Dell Precision 7510 7520 M4800 AMD WX4130 2GB WX4150 4GB MXM3.0 A Video Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!www.ebay.com
This is an MXM-A AMD card while I used an MXM-B NVIDIA Card.
This thread has enough information for you yourself to decide if it’s good for you though.
I used an MXM-B NVIDIA Quadro K4100M and I got it for 120€. For my card you need the 3 Pipe MXM-B Heatsink (originally for the HD 6970M). For your card the MXM-A Heatsinks should be enough.
Sorry somehow i placed completly bad link, this is link i wanted to post https://www.ebay.com/itm/265140147808 Could you send link where you bought yours card? You can send in personal message if you dont want post it to forum. Thank you very much for your time
Looks good. It’s more expensive than mine but if you’re in the US them your listing is probably the cheapest you can get (I’m in Germany so my listing probably won’t work for you). Still, here’s the Link: https://www.ebay.de/itm/165461735015
Here is my experience in a step-by-step Guide and me assuming you have a 2011 27” like me:
You will need:
The 3 Pipe MXM-B Heatsink (if you have the HD 6970M in your iMac you don’t need to buy it separately)
A Dremel or some off-brand one
Thermal Paste and Thermal Pads or K5 Pro
The new Card
A USB Stick to make a Linux Flash USB (use this vid:
A computer you can use to SSH into the iMac Linux USB
An ethernet connection
Steps:
1. Take apart your iMac and take out the old card.
2. Now that you have both the heatsink and both the old and new cards, swap out the metal x-clamps om the back.
3. Take the heatsink, clean any dirt or leftover Thermal Paste off and dremel out the needed spots (see last image in first post)
4. Apply an appropriate amount of new thermal paste to the Die of the GPU and apply the thermal pads to the RAM Chips on the front of the GPU
5. Put the GPU and Heatsink together correctly and put everything back together but don’t screw in the board yet and leave the hard drive unplugged.
6. Turn on the iMac (black screen is normal) and use the Vid to SSH into the iMac. If the Card is functional it should chime and boot into the USB you have to plug in b4 booting it up
7. Use the first few steps from Post #13,624 to go into the correct directory (it isn’t always “/ssd2” like shown in the post, use the lsblk command to find out the correct one)
8. Use the Video to flash the card but remember to put “./” infront of nvflash_linux or else it wont work. (not shown in vid)
9. If the flash was successful, press the power button on the imac for 1 second and wait until it shut down.
10. Power it back on and if everything worked and the card isn’t dead it should start up normally and you can try accessing the boot picker just to see if everything worked.
11. Unplug everything and put the iMac together completely now (also plug in your Hard Drive and all that)
12. Enjoy!
Finally installed the pre-flashed K2100M from eBay, and the 3rd LED finally shows, but no 4th LED. I've rechecked the LCD cables and the issue persists. Am I missing something here? I assumed something would show up on the screen once booting finished. I'm going to test with an external display later today, but if anyone has any tips, I would appreciate it.
Thanks for your suggestion. I would love it to be enough but it seems I need more help...
So I borrow an external display with miniDP connector (iMac side) and DP connector (Display side). I test it on my Macbook and it works well.
But connected to the late 2009 27" 11,1 iMac there is still no screen both internal lcd and external display remain black
So I unplugged the lcd screen, then the HDD, then the SSD, then the ram. All disconnected the screen is not still not working. I can listen the boot and the two fan seems fully working.
Any chance I miss something during the process ? I mean I believe I successfully flashed the videocard (it has been test and was working on Dell laptop), and the screen was clearly working with my dead 4850.
I suppose I should see the Apple logo during the first boot sequence but as I don't know during which boot sequence the screen should start working I suppose the problem might be:
- As the default target OS is Catalina (dosdude patched) I try to hold option key during boot the choose the HSierra partition. Nothing sure but it might be my problem ?
- the miniDP port behind the iMac was difficult to plug, maybe because I never use it before or because the motherboard original position change a little bit.
- It seems the top left screen corner connector has suffer some from plug/unplug
- I choose the WX4130 ROM to flash the GPU but I can repeat the process with another ROM more recent ?
I start losing doubt seeing my iMac working again but far from the idea to give up. The Late 2009 11.1 may has some limitation, different from iMac 2011 ?
