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

[FlorisVN]

Just popped a 770M into my 2010 iMac after two years straight of lurking this forum thread. Still not in the sweet spot for a balanced machine but it's better than nothing, would try a 980M but I think the power consumption is too high. Anyone know what the maximum limit is for GPU power consumption on these iMacs? Anyone got any references I can go and look at?

GTX765m and i think also GTX780m with Dell/Alienware bios give 1 external display with that bios.
only working with 1'st thunderbolt port.

i think @highvoltage12v has an GTX770m running in one of his 2011 iMac's aswell, maybay he can report if external display is working.
If so, maybay the vbios of Dell/Alienware works better with 2011 iMac than with 2009/2010 versions.. ?
All speculation of course, but it could be that the port mapping from the 2010 does not allow external monitor with a Dell/Alienware bios..

I presume you are running a Dell/Alienware bios at the moment.. ?
and like @liquidtwitch stated, have you perhaps also tried a different vbios.. ?

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Baked my Radeon 6970M card for the second time last weekend. iMac is humming along just fine again. I hope I get another 23+ months out of the second bake too.

 

[highvoltage12v]

GTX765m and i think also GTX780m with Dell/Alienware bios give 1 external display with that bios.
only working with 1'st thunderbolt port.

i think @highvoltage12v has an GTX770m running in one of his 2011 iMac's aswell, maybay he can report if external display is working.
If so, maybay the vbios of Dell/Alienware works better with 2011 iMac than with 2009/2010 versions.. ?
All speculation of course, but it could be that the port mapping from the 2010 does not allow external monitor with a Dell/Alienware bios..

I presume you are running a Dell/Alienware bios at the moment.. ?
and like @liquidtwitch stated, have you perhaps also tried a different vbios.. ?

@kar0sh1 I have a 770m in a 21.5" 2011 iMac. Displayport on the back works fine. I don't recommend putting an MXM-B card in a 21.5" iMac but if you're installing it into a 27" it should be fine. I have a k2000m in a 2010 21.5" iMac which works fine, External display works. So yes a 770m in a 2009-2010 iMac should work fine and have display port output. Just make sure the card has a Dell bios.

 

[Melvibilly]

Hey guys, hope everyone is enjoying their holiday. I replaced the Radeon HD 4850 in my late 2009 27" iMac with a Dell Alienware Nvidia GTX 770m. Everything went well and it seems to be working fine except for the boot screen and brightness adjustment. I did have to modify the heat sink with a Dremel as it wouldn't sit flush (which is weird, because I have the two pipe heatsink and I thought it would only be an issue with the three pipe one). I haven't gotten to try any games yet, but my machine is so much quieter without that hot AMD card in there.

Hey guys, hope everyone is enjoying their holiday. I replaced the Radeon HD 4850 in my late 2009 27" iMac with a Dell Alienware Nvidia GTX 770m. Everything went well and it seems to be working fine except for the boot screen and brightness adjustment. I did have to modify the heat sink with a Dremel as it wouldn't sit flush (which is weird, because I have the two pipe heatsink and I thought it would only be an issue with the three pipe one). I haven't gotten to try any games yet, but my machine is so much quieter without that hot AMD card in there.

Hello I have a Imac 2009 27” and Got the Nvidia GTX 780m. But my Imac still not showing any picture, all that I hear is the boot up sound and it keeps rebooting and black screen, please I need help. Somebody please help me...

 

[FlorisVN]

Hello I have a Imac 2009 27” and Got the Nvidia GTX 780m. But my Imac still not showing any picture, all that I hear is the boot up sound and it keeps rebooting and black screen, please I need help. Somebody please help me...

what vbios or gtx780m version are you using ?
Keep in mind Dell/Alienware versions are known working...
Others may not work..

 

[Melvibilly]

what vbios or gtx780m version are you using ?
Keep in mind Dell/Alienware versions are known working...
Others may not work..

I’m not really sure but I don’t know if this help

 

[jlev#222]

I was trying to find what is the problem on my Mac.

You guys have idea what is the status of attached screenshot?
From iMac, my 780m is detected, but slot information incorrect. (it should be on slot 3)

It's working perfectly on bootcamp@windows 10.

from iMac with nVidia driver manager
View attachment 686623 View attachment 686624
from windows, cuda-z status.
View attachment 686625

[doublepost=1553694221][/doublepost]

I was trying to find what is the problem on my Mac.

You guys have idea what is the status of attached screenshot?
From iMac, my 780m is detected, but slot information incorrect. (it should be on slot 3)

It's working perfectly on bootcamp@windows 10.

from iMac with nVidia driver manager
View attachment 686623 View attachment 686624
from windows, cuda-z status.
View attachment 686625

how did you get onto boot camp with out boot screen

 

[FlorisVN]

I’m not really sure but I don’t know if this help

looks like a Dell/Alienware card to me..
so I think it should work, at least with 2011 models.

I presume also 2009/2010 27" models should work with this card..
Have you tried reseating the card in the MXM slot.

Also have you tried an SMC and NVram reset.. ?

you can also test if it boots and chimes, without connecting the iMac internal LCD display.

 

[Miles Teg]

I have a iMac 2011 27 inch that came with a Radeon HD 6770M 512meg graphics card. The card has been acting up, giving me colored squares across the screen so I think it is in the process of dying. I have booted using different operating systems so and I get the same result. I was thinking of getting a refurbished Apple card on eBay. I would like to have more vram. When purchased form Apple the faster CPU versions had graphic card upgrade options, one with 1 gig ram and the other with 2 gigs ram. My computer has the i5 2.7 ghz processor. My question is will a Radeon HD 6970M 1G or Radeon HD 6970M 2G work in my iMac 2011 27" computer?

 

[Winston-]

I have a iMac 2011 27 inch that came with a Radeon HD 6770M 512meg graphics card. The card has been acting up, giving me colored squares across the screen so I think it is in the process of dying. I have booted using different operating systems so and I get the same result. I was thinking of getting a refurbished Apple card on eBay. I would like to have more vram. When purchased form Apple the faster CPU versions had graphic card upgrade options, one with 1 gig ram and the other with 2 gigs ram. My computer has the i5 2.7 ghz processor. My question is will a Radeon HD 6970M 1G or Radeon HD 6970M 2G work in my iMac 2011 27" computer?

I would either try either another hd 6770m or upgrade to known tested and working mxm boards like the 780m or 765m if you do not mind losing brightness and bootscreen. hd 6970m is known to have issues so either you want to control brightness and have the bootscreen an replacement hd 6770m is one of your options

 

[FlorisVN]

I have a iMac 2011 27 inch that came with a Radeon HD 6770M 512meg graphics card. The card has been acting up, giving me colored squares across the screen so I think it is in the process of dying. I have booted using different operating systems so and I get the same result. I was thinking of getting a refurbished Apple card on eBay. I would like to have more vram. When purchased form Apple the faster CPU versions had graphic card upgrade options, one with 1 gig ram and the other with 2 gigs ram. My computer has the i5 2.7 ghz processor. My question is will a Radeon HD 6970M 1G or Radeon HD 6970M 2G work in my iMac 2011 27" computer?

As far as I know, the 6770m in 27” iMac uses a smaller gpu heatsink, which is not compatibe with 6970M card.

You also need to upgrade your heatsink if you want to run another card like the 6970M or Other compatible Nvidia Dell/Alienware GTX765/770/780M card.

 

[Winston-]

A seller told me that an hd 5750 and likely the hd 4850 will not work in a 2011 iMac. An hd 5750 in a 2011 iMac it will produce no image on boot. Wonder why an 2009 iMac can take likely an hd 5750 and an hd 6970m yet the 2011 iMacs cannot?

 

[FlorisVN]

A seller told me that an hd 5750 and likely the hd 4850 will not work in a 2011 iMac. An hd 5750 in a 2011 iMac it will produce no image on boot. Wonder why an 2009 iMac can take likely an hd 5750 and an hd 6970m yet the 2011 iMacs cannot?

I presume this has to be due to the firmware and i/o layout I think.
Notice that the display ports are also different on the logic board of the 2009-2020 comparing to the 2011 iMac.
I would say the 2009/2010 are almost the same..
2011 also has a much more different logic board compared to the 2009/2010 models wich are in my opinion almost the same..

But why not upgrade to a known working Dell/Alienware Nvidia card.. ?

 

[MoreWillFollow]

...so either you want to control brightness and have the bootscreen an replacement hd 6770m is one of your options

Could you please describe what is about brightness and bootscreen?

1. How different brightness will be compared to original one?
2. Can I still access Recovery More, BIOS and etc.?
3. Will it upgrade to Mojave with GTX770M?

 

[Winston-]

Could you please describe what is about brightness and bootscreen?

1. How different brightness will be compared to original one?
2. Can I still access Recovery More, BIOS and etc.?
3. Will it upgrade to Mojave with GTX770M?

Yes since its also from an 2011 iMac so brightness control, Recovery mode, etc is the same if you are using an Apple hd 6770m instead. You can upgrade to an gtx 770m I think but you will lose bootscreen, controlling brightness, and I have no idea if you are able to access recovery mode but should be able to.
[doublepost=1553979975][/doublepost]

I presume this has to be due to the firmware and i/o layout I think.
Notice that the display ports are also different on the logic board of the 2009-2020 comparing to the 2011 iMac.
I would say the 2009/2010 are almost the same..
2011 also has a much more different logic board compared to the 2009/2010 models wich are in my opinion almost the same..

But why not upgrade to a known working Dell/Alienware Nvidia card.. ?

Depends I mean if you still want a boot screen and a way to control brightness without any modifications, or just use the iMac as a glorified display and other mxm cards not from Apple might break that function, or three monitors including the built in display, or you rely on thunderbolt port to function normally. Yes its true that Dell/Alienware cards allow Mojave with metal support if you have it as your only or main computer then yes go for it.

 

[Winston-]

Only the hd 4850 from the 2009 iMac works with the 2009,2010, and 2011 iMacs

 

[ibanezbass]

980Ms don't work, only kepler based cards do. An 880m will work but require nvidia's flaky drivers. At this stage the 780m is the best card to get.

It's also the card that rominator said he got working with a bootscreen, but it looks like he's dropped off the radar and despite making a big deal about it working and getting a lot of people in this thread excited there's been no updates or progress in months.

If you've got the cash maybe look at egpu. I've got an rx 580 in a Razer Core X that I use with my 13" rmbp w/tb, I might do a benchmark today with it hooked up to the iMac's thunderbolt 1 and see how it benchmarks. I'll report back.

I’ve got a 980M in mine. Works fine in Windows, haven't really tested MacOS. I had to use the DyingLight Mod to get backlight.

 

[am65]

Apologies for jumping in on the end of this thread with such a basic question, but I've been looking at what I can do to upgrade my Mid 2011, 21.5-inch iMac factory original AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512 MB graphics card, hopefully with something with a lot more VRAM so that I can use it for a bit of GPU reliant rendering and such.

I've been looking through this awesome thread for a while now but admit I've got lost in the detail a bit with what works for the 21.5 inch machine vs a 27 inch machine, so if anyone could suggest /confirm what I should be looking concentrating on for modding my 21.5 inch machine that would be really appreciated.

If I'm following correctly, I should be sticking to an MXM A card and Kepler architecture, with the current general recommendation being a 3GB GTX770M or 2GB Quadro K2000M ... and the K2000 is the technically more compatible (and cheaper) choice albeit with less VRAM. And post upgrade I should be expecting no Bootscreen and no Backlight brightness control. Is that correct? For reference, am intending to use the machine in Mac OS only, so don't need to boot into Windows. Possible I may try adding an eGPU later but as its obviously only a Thunderbolt 1 based machine I'm not sure how useful that is.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Suspect I've missed something important, hence the post.

 

[MoreWillFollow]

You can upgrade to an gtx 770m I think but you will lose bootscreen, controlling brightness, and I have no idea if you are able to access recovery mode but should be able to.

Thanks, this will help me!

Is there anyone who already install GTX770M and use it with MacOS? Please, give information about it

1. How different brightness will be compared to original one?
2. Can I still access Recovery Mode, BIOS and etc.?
3. Will it upgrade to Mojave with GTX770M?

 

[FlorisVN]

Thanks, this will help me!

Is there anyone who already install GTX770M and use it with MacOS? Please, give information about it

1. How different brightness will be compared to original one?
2. Can I still access Recovery More, BIOS and etc.?
3. Will it upgrade to Mojave with GTX770M?

I believe @highvoltage12v has a GTX770m running in one if his iMacs.
brightness can work with differnt soft and or hardware mods
I have not tested recovery mode as of yet, i think it does not work with a non EFI card.
Installing MacOS is no problem at all, startup utility works, and of course a blind bootscreen also work.

You can upgrade to Mojave using dosdude1's Mojave patcher tool.

 

[playdohsniffer]

980Ms don't work, only kepler based cards do. An 880m will work but require nvidia's flaky drivers. At this stage the 780m is the best card to get.

It's also the card that rominator said he got working with a bootscreen, but it looks like he's dropped off the radar and despite making a big deal about it working and getting a lot of people in this thread excited there's been no updates or progress in months.

If you've got the cash maybe look at egpu. I've got an rx 580 in a Razer Core X that I use with my 13" rmbp w/tb, I might do a benchmark today with it hooked up to the iMac's thunderbolt 1 and see how it benchmarks. I'll report back.

@liquidtwitch,

This guy also got the 980M working on a 2011 iMac:
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/4175243/all

What advise would you have for me upgrading my mid-2010 iMac (has a AMD Radeon HD 5/6xxx) with a 980M? I'm after Mojave support, but also enough graphics for gaming (play the CoD games still

Edit: Looks like my question was addressed back in post #1115, there's no internal LCD support with the 980M.

 

[liquidtwitch]

I’ve got a 980M in mine. Works fine in Windows, haven't really tested MacOS. I had to use the DyingLight Mod to get backlight.

What bios are you running?

 

[Geebs96]

Now guys I have a question. I just got mid 2011 27’’ iMac that unfortunately has a bad 6970 1GB. I’m really thinking about doing the oven trick since the original owner never did. Now I also thought about just swapping the gpu for an unsupported one. The 770 came to mind but I got ask, did anybody ever tried AMD gpu’s before? Seems like newer cards are natively supported by Mojave.
Sorry if it sounds stupid, just new to this.

 

[FlorisVN]

Now guys I have a question. I just got mid 2011 27’’ iMac that unfortunately has a bad 6970 1GB. I’m really thinking about doing the oven trick since the original owner never did. Now I also thought about just swapping the gpu for an unsupported one. The 770 came to mind but I got ask, did anybody ever tried AMD gpu’s before? Seems like newer cards are natively supported by Mojave.
Sorry if it sounds stupid, just new to this.

as far as i know, some AMD GPU's have been tested. most of them don't work.
I believe there is a known working Dell FireGL mobile card working, someone posted that on this topic..
But best known working cards are Dell/Alienware GTX765/770/780m and some other kepler cards of the 6xxm series.
I think these nvidia cards work best, due to matching dcb tables in their vbios rom, matching iMac specs.
I think most AMD cards have mismatching DCB tables in their Vbios, which could result in no iMac screen at all or just external monitor support or no monitor support at all..

The known working Dell/Alienware Nvidia cards, work with at least iMac display working, and 1 external monitor output working within MacOS.
So these cards are, lets say very iMac friendly with their vbios..

baking your 6970m would of course not be a permanent solution, but will in most cases put new life in your card for sometimes a few months or years..

But still I would reccomend a more permanent and better fix, and upgrade to a known working Dell/Alienware kepler Nvidia card.

 

[Melvibilly]

looks like a Dell/Alienware card to me..
so I think it should work, at least with 2011 models.

I presume also 2009/2010 27" models should work with this card..
Have you tried reseating the card in the MXM slot.

Also have you tried an SMC and NVram reset.. ?

you can also test if it boots and chimes, without connecting the iMac internal LCD display.

Hello I just did bouth SMC AN NVRAM reset. At the beginning didn’t work them for some somehow I got into the recover screen. But now I don’t get the booting sound!