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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
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When the installation is complete, I don't do the patcher. At this point the iMac will restart. Do I keep the pen driver with OCLP or can I eject the pen driver now? And only then do I select SHIFT to enter safe mode?
Is there any video or image showing this procedure for iMac with Kepler GPU?
No, there is a great written online OCLP documentation. We do not produce videos and I do not comment on videos. And last but not least this is slightly off topic, there is a great Monterey thread.
Great. It is already installed and with OCLP also installed on the machine without the flash drive to boot. Thanks for the information and willingness to help. I'll try some more refined searches to solve this next step.
I was able to flash my K2100M with flashrom and when I put it in the mid 2011 iMac 27 inch it won't boot stays black screen no chime.
Is anybody else unable to connect an Apple Thunderbolt Display to their upgraded iMac? I installed a K610M and am running 12.5. My Thunderbolt display works fine when connected to my Macbook, but doesn't work at all on the iMac. A normal Mini Displayport screen works fine.
No sure, but the best option would be searching back through this thread. We have a long history, but not all users are active. Cannot test your scenario, never owned a TB display myself and do not have a K610M. But I know not all replacement cards support a (third) display connected through a TB dock.
This user had a working TB display with the K4100 card, he simply did not manage to read through the known issues with High Sierra after connecting back the internal LCD.
As I wrote before it might be your simple entry level card which may not be able to drive two 2560 x 1440 (QHD/WQHD - Wide Quad High Definition) displays simultaneously. You cannot have it all and additionally the developers cannot test each and every display type with all cards.
Hi, i'm about to buy an iMac 2010 21.5 with an i3 550, 16GB of RAM and an AMD 5670 for 100€. I plan to upgrade by adding an SSD, changing the processor to an i7 860S and finally changing the GPU. I have a faulty HP Zbook computer with a WX 4150, i've seen that with HP GPUs there are many problems but i would like to have your opinion before trying: is it worth up for trying? Knowing that the HP computer is very long to disassemble, if that can save me from wasting my time. Thank you in advance for your answers!
It does worth the effort.
You don't have to use the WX4150.
You can sell it to us, to cover the labour you spent to disassemble it. The WX4150 is of great demand.
The WX4150 will run great in any iMac after applying the needed simple modifications mentioned on the first post of this thread. Please get used to gather this information from the documentation yourself and do not let us look it up for you.
If you can get a bigger 27“ 2010 machine the time and money spent into the iMac will remain the same, you simply get a bigger and nicer screen, the amount of work will be less because the bigger systems are much more easy to work on. And you need no mods on your WX4150.
Anyone doing the Graphics Card upgrades in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia? I'm not confident to do a GPU upgrade myself.
I have four x 21.5" mid-2011 iMacs all with the stock GPU and in 3 of them the stock graphics cards seem to be finally failing.
I have four x 21.5" mid-2011 iMacs all with the stock GPU and in 3 of them the stock graphics cards seem to be finally failing.
Despite the introduction on the first post it is more a matter of organized working than complexity. Do not rush, prepare and test the tools needed in advance, start with one system, take your time, have enough space to place all parts. You can do this.
If you liked playing Lego back in your childhood you will get this done, too.
My personnal opinion: it is (almost, for some) an obsolete machine. You are “english language native”, read instructions is easy for you. Get some (cheap) tools (like suction cups), see some tutorials on youtube, get propper cheap gpu’s (read post 1). If you give this to a professional it won’t be cheap (for the benifit on those machines, since it would be best to do an internal cleanning and change the thermal paste on the cpu) and you will lose a lot of fun…
Thank you for your answer! I will inquire further. Being on vacation i do not have my old computer out of order, but it was not an HP Zbook but a Dell! Maybe it will work better. And i’m probably going to buy a 2011 iMac in the end, the 27" ones are too expensive though.
So, after an exhausting two weeks of incredible work requirements--and a trip to LA to give Mom a hug for her BD--I returned to the setup, and just took my time.
I waffled a bit on whether to try the GRML, or just flash the wx7100 . . . decided to just flash it, and apply the paste, etc. once <s>
SOIC8 procedure is simple, and I already had my clip-cabling assembled. It still took me about seven tries to get the clip corrrectly seated to get proper communication:
flashrom procedure is rather simple, but it took a lot of reading to get the correct command setup:
The soic8 chip is a GigaDevice (printed on chip: AH 1636; 25Q41BT; E6L425)...flashrom reads it as a GigaDevice GD25Q40(B)
I read the chip to four different files (each with a successively larger 'spispeed'), then md5sum'd each as a group to verify:
Feeling ok with the read, I then flashed the WX7100_GOP.ROM to great success, read the flashed rom from the chip, and md5sum'd the two to verify.
So began the usual alcohol cleaning, kapton taping, K5-Pro/MX-4 pasting, etc. No rush.
Of course, I forgot to put the memory back in first try
With the OCLP CD in, I was gladly surprised when it booted to the previously installed HS login on the external monitor.
Updated to the latest security patch, got OCLP installed to the SSD, and added a second SSD (to which I am currently installing Monterey).
Still have to do a little soldering before I can install the BCM943602CDP, but the wired ethernet is working well:
Thanks for documenting things so well, everyone, and just generally being helpful.
Regards
I just want to share what I found. I took my iMac (27 - 2011) to a local workshop here in Costa Rica to upgrade the iMac gpu. They installed the Nvidia K4100m and told me they did not do any gpu heatsink modification and the card they bought (in china) was already modified to fit the iMac. I showed them this forum thread and the pictures how the heatsink need it to be modified in order to match the gpu.
And they sent me this pictures. This a modified Nvidia K4100m where the upper blocks where moved and welded again in the card. I have been checking the heatsink temperature (with the ODD sensor) so far so good, but it still a concern and I was not fan of the thermal pads either. I ordered a couple of ac infinity fans and try to place them externally in the back with a M4 suction cups (or m4 magnets) to decrease the temperature.
Finally, almost everything is running fine I just have an issue with the brightness in Monterey using OCLP (the latest 0.4.10) because I not able to change it (in Big Sur is working great). I know now if there is any special build configuration for Monterey.
And they sent me this pictures. This a modified Nvidia K4100m where the upper blocks where moved and welded again in the card. I have been checking the heatsink temperature (with the ODD sensor) so far so good, but it still a concern and I was not fan of the thermal pads either. I ordered a couple of ac infinity fans and try to place them externally in the back with a M4 suction cups (or m4 magnets) to decrease the temperature.
Finally, almost everything is running fine I just have an issue with the brightness in Monterey using OCLP (the latest 0.4.10) because I not able to change it (in Big Sur is working great). I know now if there is any special build configuration for Monterey.
Pull all the blue thermal pads and install the card without.
Now check the location of the coils again. If the coils touches the sink you know what went wrong.
Quick question (I hope) – I just finally got around to upgrading my macs to Monterey after using Big Sur for quite a while. My 2013 Macbook Pro upgraded perfecting following the current instructions for OCLP on their site.
I tried to follow the same instructions for my 27" 2011 iMac with Quadro 2100 upgrade, and I ran into a snag. The keyboard isn't recognized during the Monterey install. It's recognized during boot to hold Option, it's recognized in the boot picking to select the USB EFI and then to select install Monterey, but once the installer starts, it won't recognize the keyboard anymore. Standard Apple Bluetooth keyboard, by the way.
I tried searching this thread to see if this has been asked, but I couldn't find anything about this specifically. I think when I installed Big Sur, I used a wired keyboard, but I seem to have lost that in my last move.
I tried to follow the same instructions for my 27" 2011 iMac with Quadro 2100 upgrade, and I ran into a snag. The keyboard isn't recognized during the Monterey install. It's recognized during boot to hold Option, it's recognized in the boot picking to select the USB EFI and then to select install Monterey, but once the installer starts, it won't recognize the keyboard anymore. Standard Apple Bluetooth keyboard, by the way.
I tried searching this thread to see if this has been asked, but I couldn't find anything about this specifically. I think when I installed Big Sur, I used a wired keyboard, but I seem to have lost that in my last move.
I think you need to connect a USB keyboard for this job.