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

[Ausdauersportler]

Of all the thousands of threads that have stopped getting responses, how is it that this one - about updating an obsolete computer with an obsolete graphics card - is one that keeps getting responses?!?!
This thread is almost 800 pages, talking about upgrading a graphics cards in a 2011 iMac? How on earth ...

Not all people live in the shiny first world were we got used to dump all industrial goods after a short time span of attention before we head to the (Apple) store to get the latest toy, regardless if we need it or not. This thread removes such (obsolete) iMacs from the dumpster, give them a second life using an (obsolete) PC graphics card just to run the latest and greatest macOS versions without any technical losses. Guess the answer is that easy.

 

[jay508]

About macOS Ventura support
​

A few minutes ago Apple finally released macOS Ventura aka 13.0 (22A380). Under the shiny cover a lot of things have been changed. I will not repeat what @khronokernel already posted on Github, but I can announce that our iMacs are currently not supported by the OCLP (only 2012+ systems as of now), nevertheless Ventura will work with the brand new OCLP 0.5.0 release. Most annoying issue is the newly necessary AVX2 support within the CPU (Haswell+, i.e. Intel Late 2013 CPU). Because we cannot upgrade the CPU we rely now on a lot of patches.

GPU support for pre AVX2 CPU systems has been patched back for all kind of graphics cards listed on the very first post.
- Kepler
- GCN 1-3
- GCN 4 (needs safe mode boot on each update to apply patches)
- all iMacs now need root patches
- no more OTA delta upgrades
- DRM and video acceleration (HEVC, H.265) on GCN 4 (Polaris) systems does currently not work

Q: How to update to Ventura?

You can start using a OCLP Big Sur or Monterey installation, but you need to use an USB installer and OCLP 0.5.0 installed either directly on your internal SSD or on the USB. There is no way to OTA update to Ventura. There Is No Way To Ota Update To Ventura! THERE IS NO WAY TO OTA UPDATE TO VENTURA!
Read the OCLP docs before updating!

Q: Would I recommend to update to Ventura?

Absolutely not if you have only a single productive working system. If you can handle different macOS versions on your iMac you are free to give it a try.

Q: Do we support Ventura on this thread?

Absolutely not! Unless we get official OLCP support it is just a free ride how to break a working iMac.

Q: Should I upgrade to Ventura just because Apple Software Update announces availability?

Surely not before you upgraded OCLP. Otherwise you will break your system. Take a look at the first two questions and answers.

Note: If you want to disable the red notification dot showing the Ventura update follow this guide.
Edits: Changed link to access the final OCLP 0.5.0 release. Added DRM link.

View attachment 2101142

Newly made Ventura usb installation USB flash drive Newly installed Ventura system using wx4130 Installing anything is normal, the last time into the system screen only backlight without any display. Check the last led light on the motherboard. w5170m can enter the system normally only the graphics card is not driven.

 

[madvinegar]

@Ausdauersportler in your very nice github page, under the GOP vBioses, you provide only one bios of m5100.
For what kind of m5100 ram is this bios for? (AFR, BFR, Elpida)?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Newly made Ventura usb installation USB flash drive Newly installed Ventura system using wx4130 Installing anything is normal, the last time into the system screen only backlight without any display. Check the last led light on the motherboard. w5170m can enter the system normally only the graphics card is not driven.

Stop this, please. I wrote no support here and I meant it, will not answer new requests, cannot provide support for each and every user here when the complete OCLP team decided to provide no support right now. Just to repeat and cite my own post about Ventura:

- GCN 4 (needs safe mode boot on each update to apply patches)

 

[Ausdauersportler]

@Ausdauersportler in your very nice github page, under the GOP vBioses, you provide only one bios of m5100.
For what kind of m5100 ram is this bios for? (AFR, BFR, Elpida)?

Under construction, main purpose was to release the EG2 files. I will update the repository and add more files, soon. The current one is the one which supports Samsung+Elpida and it is the same which I posted on my original post. The Hynix versions are still somewhere hidden on this thread.

 

[duvelhedz]

Ventura success on iMac12,2 with M5100
Used the following link for the installer and did an in place upgrade from Big Sur.

macOS Ventura Full Installer Database. Download Directly from Apple!

Download macOS Ventura full installer with one click straight from Apple! Every version of Ventura Beta & Final available all in one place!!

mrmacintosh.com

Had to boot into safe mode at the end of the install process to complete the root patching for AMD GCN.
Was less painful than I was expecting, however the warning still applies.
————————————————————-
Do not install unless you are willing to nuke your macOS partition.
NEVER INSTALL BETA SOFTWARE ON A PRODUCTION MACHINE.

 

[Nubedj]

Hello everyone,

I have read the messages and I thank you for the information, I have bought a K3100M and I am going to install it on my iMac 27 mid 2011 A1213.

I am going to modify the 3-tube heatsink and I have a question about the X bracket, instead of cutting or filing, can I put some plastic washers made with my 3d printer and that way it would stay separate from the electronic components?

in case it's possible I'll share the STL file

I await your advice! Regards!!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hello everyone,

I have read the messages and I thank you for the information, I have bought a K3100M and I am going to install it on my iMac 27 mid 2011 A1213.

I am going to modify the 3-tube heatsink and I have a question about the X bracket, instead of cutting or filing, can I put some plastic washers made with my 3d printer and that way it would stay separate from the electronic components?

in case it's possible I'll share the STL file

I await your advice! Regards!!

Use the X-bracket coming with the card, get a smaller one from another iMac (best solution) or file the big bracket. The purpose of this bracket is to press and hold the card evenly on the sink without bending it. Plastic washers will undermine this...

 

[Nubedj]

with only 1mm thickness would it bend the card??

With that thickness, is it enough so that it does not rub against any component?
Could also design and manufacture an X bracket in ABS plastic that support temperature
How hot can that area get?

I don't have another iMac to use a smaller X bracket

 

[duvelhedz]

with only 1mm thickness would it bend the card??

With that thickness, is it enough so that it does not rub against any component?
Could also design and manufacture an X bracket in ABS plastic that support temperature
How hot can that area get?

I don't have another iMac to use a smaller X bracket

There should have been an X-Bracket with the card. You will need to drill out the posts and use this one. Failing that you will need to buy the Xbracket for the 21.5" 2011 model or the one that came with the 2.7GHz 6770 512MB 27" models. Any of the 2009 or 2010 iMacs will also have the correct one. Using the old bracket will warp the card and cause it not to have adequate cooling.

 

[Nubedj]

but I can't make it with the 3d printer??

would abs plastic melt?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

but I can't make it with the 3d printer??

would abs plastic melt?

Apple made a casting 10 years ago (and not the simple sheet coming with PC cards) to guarantee some mechanical stability. Putting plastic in between would need a complete x-bracket form to have the same point pressure not only at the washers around the screws but also below the complete form to avoid bending of the complete card. We have seen frying dying cards just because of bad installations.

If you install a 20-30W MXM-A card a metal sheet bracket may do the job. Your card will burn 75 Watt under load like the already dead old ATI card....

 

[Nubedj]

but I want to make the complete support, the complete X, the material that I use in the 3d printer can withstand more than 100 degrees without melting.

I can follow the drawing of the card

 

[kinwin]

but I want to make the complete support, the complete X, the material that I use in the 3d printer can withstand more than 100 degrees without melting.

I can follow the drawing of the card

The plastic material used in 3D printers will soften long before the melting point.

 

[madvinegar]

Ventura success on iMac12,2 with M5100
Used the following link for the installer and did an in place upgrade from Big Sur.

macOS Ventura Full Installer Database. Download Directly from Apple!

Download macOS Ventura full installer with one click straight from Apple! Every version of Ventura Beta & Final available all in one place!!

mrmacintosh.com

Had to boot into safe mode at the end of the install process to complete the root patching for AMD GCN.
Was less painful than I was expecting, however the warning still applies.
————————————————————-
Do not install unless you are willing to nuke your macOS partition.
NEVER INSTALL BETA SOFTWARE ON A PRODUCTION MACHINE.

Just out of curiosity, can you please check if Apple TV works? Can you watch a movie/episode?

 

[Nubedj]

You could also place the metallic one on top, the one made with the 3d printer in contact with the card and the original metallic one on top

Do you have any photos of the modified X bracket or the 21.5-inch model?

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hello everyone,

I have read the messages and I thank you for the information, I have bought a K3100M and I am going to install it on my iMac 27 mid 2011 A1213.

I am going to modify the 3-tube heatsink and I have a question about the X bracket, instead of cutting or filing, can I put some plastic washers made with my 3d printer and that way it would stay separate from the electronic components?

in case it's possible I'll share the STL file

I await your advice! Regards!!

The original X-bracket itself already has plastic insulation in back color.
I tried both big-square and small-square x-bracket with no issues at all.
If you are concerned about it, you might as well add a thin layer of Kapton tap over the black part on the X-bracket.
3D printing an insulating layer between the X-bracket and the PCB seems OK to me, as long as the layer is not too thick to obstruct the bolting to iMac's logicboard.

 

[Nubedj]

The original X-bracket itself already has plastic insulation in back color.
I tried both big-square and small-square x-bracket with no issues at all.
If you are concerned about it, you might as well add a thin layer of Kapton tap over the black part on the X-bracket.
3D printing an insulating layer between the X-bracket and the PCB seems OK to me, as long as the layer is not too thick to obstruct the bolting to iMac's logicboard.

I was thinking 1mm thick

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I was thinking 1mm thick

Have you check the available space between the logicboard and the MXM card?
But anyway, as you already have a 3D printer, printing several pieces with various thickness wouldn't be an issue for you.
Go ahead and try. Just don't tighten the screws too much.

 

[fronk]

I hope I don't sound like an idiot with this question but, just to confirm in relation to the iMac 2011 and Ventura....

It seems that the iMac 2011 with a Polaris card (like the WX4150 I have) is supported with OCLP patches, however on the web I read that there are problems with the WIFI card.

So in theory you could upgrade without too many problems as long as you replace the WIFI card with a more modern one?

 

[Nubedj]

Have you check the available space between the logicboard and the MXM card?
But anyway, as you already have a 3D printer, printing several pieces with various thickness wouldn't be an issue for you.
Go ahead and try. Just don't tighten the screws too much.

Ok, thanks!

 

[jay508]

About AMD EFI boot screen support​

Nearly two years ago I posted here about a method @Nick [D]vB proposed to get EFI boot screen support with AMD Polaris cards. Before he took a sabbatical from this thread he left all knowledge and tools to get such a result. Unfortunately the first generation of EG2 vBIOS versions had some problems, sometimes the boot screen was dark (invisible) and needed a wire mod to switch the display on manually, sometimes the EFI picker showed up only on an external display. Last year @internetzel and I did a first run to solve this, after a break of more than seven months @dfranetic took over and solved using an IDA64 debugger the riddle within some weeks.

The only thing you need in advance is the iMac firmware modification. These BIOS versions offer native brightness control, support external displays without any sync problems. You can also use the same (OCLP) OpenCore setup as with the GOP BIOS versions to enable 4K H.264/HEVC on the GCN4 cards .

Tonga and Saturn cards use an Apple driver from iMacs not fully compatible with our systems. Unfortunately these drivers cannot enable the backlight (at least we failed to achieve this). Again @dfranetic developed a little PCB to install into the iMac which enables backlight on boot automatically. Details about this development (layout will be published) will be added to the same Github repository, too. The longer I write, the more I think he should have written this post.

Download:

In future all GOP and EG2 and other new vBIOS versions will be found in this Github repository.

All EG2 version will be found in the subfolder named EG2, all vBIOS versions will follow the simple naming convention GPUNAME-EG2_adj.rom, if you need the M4000 version the file name will be M4000-EG2_adj.rom.

At the same time I moved all the existing GOP vBIOS version posted here on the individual posts scattered over the thread into the same GitHub repository. All GOP versions are stored in the subfolder named GOP and will follow in general this naming convention GPUNAME-GOP.rom, if you need the M4000 version the file name will be M4000-GOP.rom. There may be more than one file with your GPU name included covering different VRAM support.

You can download and flash as usually using the Linux GRML tool with amdvbflash or flashrom and a clip programmer.

Currently these vBIOS versions are available:

Venus: M4000, M5100, M6000, W5170
Saturn: M6100, W6170 (both needing a PCB)
Tonga: S7100X (needs a PCB)
Polaris: WX4130, WX4150, WX4170

Upcoming:

Ellesmere: W7100, RX480 , RX470

Possible, but not touched so far:

Polaris: WX3200
Saturn: W6150M (needs PCB)
Tonga: W7170M (needs PCB)

The GCN4 / Polaris vBIOS versions will work in the same way as the Venus card, the backlight of the internal LCD will turn on automatically on system boot or when pressing alt/option.

Supported iMacs: iMac11,1 . iMac11 . iMac11,3 . iMac12,1 . iMac12,2

Windows support:

Since the GOP driver needed for UEFI Windows has been replaced within these new vBIOS by an Apple EG2 driver (or name it AppleGOP) version UEFI Windows is mandatory and you need to load and reconnect the AMDGOP.efi driver using OpenCore

<key>ReconnectGraphicsOnConnect</key>
<true>

View attachment 2102059

​

All this would not have been possible without @Nick [D]vB, @nikey22, @dfranetic, and @internetzel. Great team!

iMac12,2 added CoreEG2 & EDID firmware to the motherboard refresh m5100 refreshed with EG2 firmware.

It does have efi boot screen and OpenCore supports boot

uefi winodows10 has a boot screen to enter the system on a black screen? What is the problem.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

iMac12,2 added CoreEG2 & EDID firmware to the motherboard refresh m5100 refreshed with EG2 firmware.

It does have efi boot screen and OpenCore supports boot

uefi winodows10 has a boot screen to enter the system on a black screen? What is the problem.

Hi Jay!

Happy to see the second success after a firmware flash on this thread!

Add AMDGOP.efi and change the key according to the post you cited yourself.

What is the problem with doing this?

 

[dfranetic]

AMD 'EFI backlight' and the add-on PCB​

With EG2 VBIOS for AMD GCN cards we are unable to turn on the backlight during the EFI phase for some cards, see @Ausdauersportler's great post. My original intention with this add-on PCB was to automate the flip-switch-hot-wire add-on and make it seamless. Once I had a working prototype on a breadboard (I was testing it with a WX4130 with then original EG2 VBIOS), I decided to design and assemble a few PCBs and test it with other cards. To my disappointment, it did not work with FirePro M5100 (and the original Apple EG2 driver) in the same manner as it did with the WX4130. (To be fair, @Ausdauersportler did warn me about this.) It was at this moment that I actually started working on modifying/adjusting the original Apple EG2 drivers - once I succeeded, presence of EFI backlight (without that add-on PCB) was actually an added bonus, but only for some cards...

So what is this? VBIOSes with adjusted EG2 drivers for AMD cards will display a non-backlit EFI boot screen on internal LCD in some specific cases. Namely, there is (will be ?) no backlight with FirePro M6100, W6170M, W7170M, and S7100X (Saturn and Tonga family cards).

How it works? It simply plugs as an extension cable between the backlight board and the (power) cable originally connected to the backlight board, where it takes control of the backlight until macOS loads GPU drivers. (Its function is really 'invisible' - with a GPU which supports 'EFI backlight' that add-on PCB will simply pass-through all signals. I also stronlgy suspect that that same add-on PCB would enable EFI backlight with HP Nvidia Quadro T1000.)

Where is it available? The (KiCad) design files are on @Ausdauersportler's Github page along with precise description. My (personal) manufacturing capabilities are (currently) close to zero.

Will/can we have Saturn/Tonga EG2 drivers that enable 'EFI backlight' soon? I doubt it. It probably is doable, but it seems hard. @Ausdauersportler and I have already spent more time than the amount of time I used to learn how to modify, and then actually modify the EG2 drivers to enable those (possibly non-backlit) EFI boot screens. I stopped roughly when I found four specific lines of code in EFI-backlight-enabled EG2 drivers, which are not present in no-EFI-backlight EG2 drivers. (Disabling those lines of code in eg. Baffin driver - which enables EFI backlight - did in fact disable Baffin EFI backlight in my tests. So I'm pretty sure that I found the culprit... or one of the culprits.) I can share more details on this if there is interest.

 

[jay508]

Hi Jay!

Happy to see the second success after a firmware flash on this thread!

Add AMDGOP.efi and change the key according to the post you cited yourself.

What is the problem with doing this?

uefi windows 10 has a boot screen for a while and then nothing is displayed.

Is uefi windows10 not supported?
Or is it a windows system graphics card driver problem? The previous use is gop vbioos. uefi windows system to install the graphics card driver.