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

[Ausdauersportler]

Have a bit of an issue here, Bought a couple of M4000 1GB cards but cheaped out and bought the ROMless HP versions without realising there were no rom chips on them. I soldered on the ROM's from the old 6770M cards and flashed them with the clip. Still not getting any boot screen despite having modded EG2 bootrom. Are there strap resistors on these cards that need to be added for the system to see the ROM? Is there a guide around to be able to integrate the VBIOS into the bootrom so I can get around the issue?

There is a single post about the M4000 where the user finally injected the vBIOS using OpenCore just because he could not figure out which resistors would work. Of course you cannot get an EFI boot picker working this way since OpenCore will loaded after disc access and so after the EFI boot device picking. Another succeeded with the BIOS chip replacement…

If you get the firmware injection working it would be a nice topic to describe and post about here. Basically one would inject the two smaller EFI drivers as @Nick [D]vB described and additionally the vBIOS without those drivers converted back into an ffs module as described on the GitHub - in the same way it is included into the iMac firmware of 2012+ systems.

 

[duvelhedz]

Dear Ausdauersportier,
Yes, I do not grasp the full significance of the models and features you addressed.

Metal is not required as I am not trying to upgrade OSX on the 2011 27" 12.2 iMac to run a more recent OSX. I am happy to work in Lion or Yosamite. I just need a more reliable GPU. 2TB should be fine but which GPU will work reliably on Yosamite and Lion?

I have a 2019 27" 5K iMac for current work, however I like working in Adobe CS5 which only runs on these old systems. I am not interested in gaming.

I have worked my way through part of Michael DT’s excellent introduction which offers the ‘feature rich AMD WX4130’ and the ‘most Mac compatible M4000/M5100/W5170M’ but from your comments these post 2011 cards are not suitable for a 2011 iMac 12.2. Older cards used by 2010 iMac seem to be dual slot, not MXM.

I read Nvidia K1000M and find there too, Open GL is 4.6 and CL 3.0; whereas the old HD6970 was Open GL 4.4 and CL 1.2. I have no idea how critical those numbers are. Are Open GL and CL versions not backwards compatible?

If I cannot find a GPU to run Lion 10.7, I shall have to adapt to Yosamite 10.10 and lose some software features.
I am happy to take the trouble to make an Nvidia MXM GPU work with flashing via terminal. Perhaps you can help by suggesting a good choice.

Best Wishes,
Tony

You would be best to upgrade to a more modern card and then run a 10.7 virtual machine in Parallels with the software you need. You would be able to restore a disk image of your current drive into the VM with disk utility. Otherwise you are going to be stuck with a card known for failure

 

[Stefanox2410]

good morning everyone, a question, I have a 27 2011 and a 27 2009. I bought a k2100 and a k1000m, I also have 21.5 heatsinks. is that okay? could the temperature sensor give problems and maybe have artifacts and slowdowns even in the bench? as a more stable operating system is big sur okay?

 

[Terraaustralis]

Hello!

There is only this card on the entire thread with Lion support.

The WX4130 is GCN4 and needs Sierra while the M4000 is GCN1-3 and is not supported and will need 10.10 - which is still not Lion. Ironically this entire thread focussed on the question to get more recent cards and better modern macOS support.

It would be more easy if you purchase an old ATI card ripped from an iMac11,x or iMac12,x - this would be much more easy.

The threads internal name is iMac 2009 to 2011 MXM3 graphics card upgrade just because all these models use MXM3 graphics cards.

I made my recommendations very clear on the first post. But despite what the experts are telling you there is no international equally accessible market with transparent prices for public buyers (free trade zones are the exact opposite of free trade because you lock out the rest of the world from each of these zones). I just found used AMD M4000 MXM3 cards priced from 19 to 119 USD on eBay U.S - so everything depends on the local market you find in the outback or you have to deal with tax regulations.

You will find a used old card!

Thank you very much for simplifying my options. Yes, I realise I am going backwards while the forum moves forwards.

"The threads internal name is iMac 2009 to 2011 MXM3 graphics card upgrade just because all these models use MXM3 graphics cards."

I am confused. You say all 2009 to 2011 models support MXM3 cards. I rejected the Radeon HD5670, HD5770 and the HD5750 used in the 2010 iMacs because online specifications describe them as Dual Slot. Can a MXM card also fit into a dual slot? Are there adapters involved? What is the situation?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thank you very much for simplifying my options. Yes, I realise I am going backwards while the forum moves forwards.

"The threads internal name is iMac 2009 to 2011 MXM3 graphics card upgrade just because all these models use MXM3 graphics cards."

I am confused. You say all 2009 to 2011 models support MXM3 cards. I rejected the Radeon HD5670, HD5770 and the HD5750 used in the 2010 iMacs because online specifications describe them as Dual Slot. Can a MXM card also fit into a dual slot? Are there adapters involved? What is the situation?

A final time: All these 2009 to 2011 iMacs have MXM3 slots!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Found this Lilu plugin named AdvancedMap today on Discord more by chance...will only work with AMD GPU models.
It enables Apple Map features normally only available on Apple Silicon. Works on Monterey and later.

Spoiler: Installation

Download the extension, put it into the Kexts folder of the OpenCore installation, add a dict to the list of injected kernel extensions in the Kernel section in the same way as already done for all other extensions (e.g duplicate the 18 lines for AppleALC) and replace AppleALC in the duplicate with AdvancedMap two times, you can adjust the comment to make it human readable, set MinKernel to 21.0.0 and reboot.

                        <dict>
                                <key>Arch</key>
                                <string>x86_64</string>
                                <key>BundlePath</key>
                                <string>AdvancedMap.kext</string>
                                <key>Comment</key>
                                <string>Apple Maos Feature Unlock</string>
                                <key>Enabled</key>
                                <true/>
                                <key>ExecutablePath</key>
                                <string>Contents/MacOS/AdvancedMap</string>
                                <key>MaxKernel</key>
                                <string></string>
                                <key>MinKernel</key>
                                <string>21.0.0</string>
                                <key>PlistPath</key>
                                <string>Contents/Info.plist</string>
                        </dict>

Since this is not integrated into OCLP you will loose this manual change on any OCLP upgrade you perform. You might preserve a template.

 

[Stefanox2410]

I flashed this k2100 from scratch. installed from scratch big sur. put opencore on the only ssd New and it still goes jerky and doesn't even open the animations and the bar. i did reset pram many times and tried to reflash the card again. same thing. try changing gou type to opeconre from none or nvidia but nothing changes very strange.

AT THE FIRT FLASH OF NVIDIA , finish BUT I READ
“gpu flash mac unable to preserve board table”and more i forget

 

[Terraaustralis]

A final time: All these 2009 to 2011 iMacs have MXM3 slots!

Thanks for the explanation.
Best Wishes,
Tony

 

[exploradorgt]

So... i had success after all with a $50 Dell 6770M 1GB card. Found a ROM that was working properly, shows 1gb instead of 512mb, bootscreen, brightness control, external monitor works. I'll post the ROM if the guy who sent it to me allows me to do so. The card looks different compared to the Apple version, its red, the chip layout is different etc... so its possible that this model is not as **** as the factory one and it might work for a long time...

Hi, could you please help me? or share the ROM?

Been reading this forum and other sources of information but I'm now more confused. I have the 6770M 1GB card, it's says 216-0810001, the PCB in my case is blue, chip has red corners. I've been searching for roms with no luck so far. I'm getting quite confused with the info posted on the web, some people say to avoid RED GPU cards because they won't work, others (as in your case) report it worked.

EDITED: I found this post here by nikey22 where a ROM for the 6770 1GB is shared. I will try this, but first I have to place the 2 resistors as suggested, and buying the EPROM for flashing (this will take a while locally). On a different post I found someone explaining the experience of someone else, being able of injecting something, bios? and so the resistors were not needed. I have no idea if such thing applies for this card.

On the other hand, I also have the N12P-Q1-A1, it's the NVIDIA Quadro 1000 - 2GB. I'm discovering I got this by mistake, as the right one is the Quadro K1000. Is there any hope for the one I have? the Quadro 1000?

I'm facing some challenges here:

• Many of these discussions are old, this means some people are no longer present or active to interact, or if they do, they no longer remember details.
• Some conversations in forums are difficult to follow when no quoting was used.
• Some success stories have no feedback on what they did to get things working.
• Some information around the web is not accurate, as the same models identifiers are used to refer to different hardware
• Another challenge is seeing comments explaining "GPU model ABC123 is not compatible at all", but then on another thread or post is mentioned that the ABC123 is basically the same as ABCD333 so you can use it just by changing the BIOS.

My iMac is the 27" late 2009 Core i5, originally with the RADEON HD 4850. Any light regarding the cards I mentioned here will be appreciated. I'm mostly interested on running Windows on this iMac, running OSX would be great but I understand I have limited range with this hardware.

** For clarity purposes, my posts will include over and over card models for future reference. I will try to be as detailed as possible, apologies if this sounds repetitive.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi, could you please help me? or share the ROM?

Been reading this forum and other sources of information but I'm now more confused. I have the 6770M 1GB card, it's says 216-0810001, the PCB in my case is blue, chip has red corners. I've been searching for roms with no luck so far. I'm getting quite confused with the info posted on the web, some people say to avoid RED GPU cards because they won't work, others (as in your case) report it worked.

View attachment 2252602






On the other hand, I also have the N12P-Q1-A1, it's the NVIDIA Quadro 1000 - 2GB. I'm discovering I got this by mistake, as the right one is the Quadro K1000. Is there any hope for the one I have? the Quadro 1000?

View attachment 2252603

I'm facing some challenges here:

• Many of these discussions are old, this means some people are no longer present or active to interact, or if they do, they no longer remember details.
• Some conversations in forums are difficult to follow when no quoting was used.
• Some success stories have no feedback on what they did to get things working.
• Some information around the web is not accurate, as the same models identifiers are used to refer to different hardware
• Another challenge is seeing comments explaining "GPU model ABC123 is not compatible at all", but then on another thread or post is mentioned that the ABC123 is basically the same as ABCD333 so you can use it just by changing the BIOS.

My iMac is the 27" late 2009 Core i5, originally with the RADEON HD 4850. Any light regarding the cards I mentioned here will be appreciated. I'm mostly interested on running Windows on this iMac, running OSX would be great but I understand I have limited range with this hardware.

As always please start reading the first post of this thread. There is in fact a single non metal replacement card listed there. Your blue card needs soldering to add a vBIOS chip.

But this thread has a focus on the more modern metal cards, if you want to play with older card like your Nvidia Fermi card (which has not metal support at all) you hit the wrong thread.

 

[exploradorgt]

View attachment 2252608

As always please start reading the first post of this thread. There is in fact a single non metal replacement card listed there. Your blue card needs soldering to add a vBIOS chip.

But this thread has a focus on the more modern metal cards, if you want to play with older card like your Nvidia Fermi card (which has not metal support at all) you hit the wrong thread.

Thank you ausdauersportler

As always please start reading the first post of this thread

Yes, I did. I have covered from page 1 to 300, and 710 forward, I'm just having difficulties with some specifics. My point is, yes I'm doing my homework, respectful to the people sharing knowledge.

Your blue card needs soldering to add a vBIOS chip.

Thanks, after finding this info today I'm already searching for the 2 resistors (10K and 5K), and trying to locate a vBios chip (Pm25LD010) as specified on the thread. So far no local store has that chip. I will try to flash the one originally placed on my HD 4850 (the Pm25LV010) using Windows Nvflash.

But this thread has a focus on the more modern metal cards, if you want to play with older card like your Nvidia Fermi card (which has not metal support at all) you hit the wrong thread.

Could you please suggest the proper thread? I posted here because I thought it was the best place, to avoid opening a new thread, I ask this because usually on repair forums this is often not encouraged to avoid repetitive threads. I'll open an specific thread then.

Metal, that's ok, I'm mostly interested on running Windows on this iMac, High Sierra is fine with me too, but Windows is the goal.

Thanks for the recap about that card.

 

[Borowski]

Thanks, after finding this info today I'm already searching for the 2 resistors (10K and 5K), and trying to locate a vBios chip (Pm25LD010) as specified on the thread. So far no local store has that chip. I will try to flash the one originally placed on my HD 4850 (the Pm25LV010) using Windows Nvflash.

No need to use exactly the same chip: You can use (m)any bios-chips, even bigger or smaller, of course the rom must not exceed the chip size, as long the voltage and footprint/housing fit.
Some exotic ones aren't recognized by flashing-software, mostly older tools from the GPU-vendor, avoid special models.

 

[exploradorgt]

The Nvidia Quadro 1000 was accepted without any modifications 😃. Posted some details here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/27-late-2009-imac-gpu-upgrade-working-kind-of.2400067/

No need to use exactly the same chip: You can use (m)any bios-chips, even bigger or smaller, of course the rom must not exceed the chip size, as long the voltage and footprint/housing fit.
Some exotic ones aren't recognized by flashing-software, mostly older tools from the GPU-vendor, avoid special models.

Thank you for the info. Local electronic stores are not as diverse as in other countries, so I'm short in options, that's why I was considering the chip from my HD 4850 to see what happens (flashing it I mean). I'm not fully sure if I'll try this in the short term as I got the Quadro 100 working fine under Windows 10. I'll update if I decide to try.

 

[StefanAM]

Hey @Ausdauersportler! I see that you have and use RX5500XT. I have the opportunity to buy one. It is everything working on your iMac mid 2011? What are the caveats for this configuration? Thank you!

 

[golfin247365]

2011 iMac 12,2 here... after reading through the original post and FAQs I understand that the ability to run two external Apple Thunderbolt Displays are lost with the exception of the RX5500XT and possibly other cards run through a TB dock. I'm looking to upgrade with minimal cost and would love to keep my three screen setup...

My question is... has anyone tried running two external Apple Thunderbolt displays daisy chained through the functional thunderbolt port after GPU upgrade? I'm looking at getting an AMD WX4130 or WX4150 for ease of install and to gain metal compatibility while updating to Monterey with OLCP.

Thank you to all who have put in a ton of time/research making these upgrades possible. I have read the entire 1st page post multiple times and have searched the thread for my specific question as well.

Just curious of results if anyone has tried this. My assumption is it doesn't work, but I don't have an understanding of why a second display sometimes works through a dock for some GPUs when it sounds like the standard is only one external display unless RX5500XT is used. I figured hardware limitation for all cards except RX5500XT, but confused when I read some have success with 2nd external monitor through a dock or thunderbolt HD.

 

[joevt]

2011 iMac 12,2 here... after reading through the original post and FAQs I understand that the ability to run two external Apple Thunderbolt Displays are lost with the exception of the RX5500XT and possibly other cards run through a TB dock. I'm looking to upgrade with minimal cost and would love to keep my three screen setup...

My question is... has anyone tried running two external Apple Thunderbolt displays daisy chained through the functional thunderbolt port after GPU upgrade? I'm looking at getting an AMD WX4130 or WX4150 for ease of install and to gain metal compatibility while updating to Monterey with OLCP.

Thank you to all who have put in a ton of time/research making these upgrades possible. I have read the entire 1st page post multiple times and have searched the thread for my specific question as well.

Just curious of results if anyone has tried this. My assumption is it doesn't work, but I don't have an understanding of why a second display sometimes works through a dock for some GPUs when it sounds like the standard is only one external display unless RX5500XT is used. I figured hardware limitation for all cards except RX5500XT, but confused when I read some have success with 2nd external monitor through a dock or thunderbolt HD.

To connect two Thunderbolt Displays to a single Thunderbolt port, the GPU needs to have two DisplayPort outputs connected to the two DisplayPort inputs of the Thunderbolt controller.

The MXM connector can support multiple DisplayPort outputs. I suppose an iMac requires two specific DisplayPort outputs to be used. Perhaps some MXM cards support more than one display, but not to the two DisplayPort connections required by the iMac?


I have a question unrelated to yours:
The first post says the Target Display Mode doesn't work with some GPUs. That doesn't make sense because it is the GPU of the other computer that will be controlling the display. Maybe it's a software issue which disables the switch.

 

[Shnite]

Hello.
Is it possible to use S7100X with the native 2-pipe system if the frequency of the chip and memory is reduced?
For example - CoreClock: 725 MHz to 500 MHz, Memory: 1250 MHz to 900 MHz

 

[Shnite]

Spoiler: Q8: What kind of performance can I expect after installing one of these cards? A: We are still aggregating GPU benchmarks. There is a special section on this page and we added to the GPU tables a relative (to the old flagship HD6970) performance column only based on the the OpenGL benchmark.

There is no hyperlink to the table in this paragraph.

 

[internetzel]

Hello.
Is it possible to use S7100X with the native 2-pipe system if the frequency of the chip and memory is reduced?
For example - CoreClock: 725 MHz to 500 MHz, Memory: 1250 MHz to 900 MHz

The frequencies will automatically get reduced if the power management has set the correct power limit in the VBIOS. For the Polaris cards that can be modified relatively simple, but for the S7100X I don't know (although the S7100X is already quite similar to the Polaris cards).

 

[Shnite]

There is a program, but it is not clear how to work with it.

GitHub - nikey22/AmethystBiosEditor: PBE fork for Amethyst GPUs specific to MXM - Apple iMacs

PBE fork for Amethyst GPUs specific to MXM - Apple iMacs - nikey22/AmethystBiosEditor

github.com

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/page-834?post=32286924#post-32286924

 

[Shnite]

AmethystBiosEditor

I've modified a bios editor to work on the Amethyst GPUs for tweaking purposes.
These would include cards like the S7100X (M390X):

View attachment 2226138
Amethyst is a sub architecture of Tonga. Previous editors will not work because the offsets have all been changed in the Amethyst cards, they use dynamic GPU voltages and speeds and have an array style selection depending on usage. I've labelled these mVL, mVM, and mVH for low, medium, high.

Please visit my github to get the latest version https://github.com/nikey22/AmethystBiosEditor
If you have a different Amethyst GPU ID, let me know and I will add it to the application in a future version.

@Pacific1972, thank you for testing
tweaked to 75Watts and only producing 60℃ temps on GPU die under load.
Excellent server card for iMac enclosures:
View attachment 2226135




Happy tweaking!

What settings should be set so S7100X can be operated with a two-pipe radiator?
I found 5 files. What to take as a basis?

 

[internetzel]

What settings should be set so S7100X can be operated with a two-pipe radiator?
I found 5 files. What to take as a basis?

You'd need a VBIOS that limits both "TDP" and "Mac Power Limit" to something less than 50 Watt.
But you're on your own with that - no idea whether the power management can actually work with such a limited setting. The card would run with very crippled performance - so that a WX4130 would probably outperform it easily.
And furthermore chances are high that the card will already run too hot while the operating system hasn't yet launched the drivers - which are probably required for the power management to actually work. Very bad situation especially when the screen is also at maximum brightness without operating system drivers to control that...

 

[Mikevdkooij]

Hi all!

So i'm currently looking to upgrade my iMac 27 inch Mid 2010 with a "new" GPU. It has the AMD HD5670 at the moment. The machine is doing pretty well (SSD + RAM upgrade already done), however playing YouTube video's, minimizing/maximizing windows, browsing content is a bit laggy. I am currently debating on upgrading to the RX480 since this will be the best bang for ur buck I suppose?

I do have one question regarding this and that's if I connect the current heatsink (which is stated as supported in the topic start) do I need to put a copper plate between de GPU and the heatsink for better contact or is that not necessary?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi all!

So i'm currently looking to upgrade my iMac 27 inch Mid 2010 with a "new" GPU. It has the AMD HD5670 at the moment. The machine is doing pretty well (SSD + RAM upgrade already done), however playing YouTube video's, minimizing/maximizing windows, browsing content is a bit laggy. I am currently debating on upgrading to the RX480 since this will be the best bang for ur buck I suppose?

I do have one question regarding this and that's if I connect the current heatsink (which is stated as supported in the topic start) do I need to put a copper plate between de GPU and the heatsink for better contact or is that not necessary?

No, it is neither supported nor technically a stable solution to drive the RX480 on anything else than the fat 27 iMac mid 2011 three pipe heat sink. It is only wishful thinking….

Can you please point out where exactly you found this support note?

 

[Mikevdkooij]

No, it is neither supported nor technically a stable solution to drive the RX480 on anything else than the fat 27 iMac mid 2011 three pipe heat sink. It is only wishful thinking….

Can you please point out where exactly you found this support note?

Huh wait, so after reading the full TS this is how I figured out that my fat 27 inch iMac Mid 2010 was one of the best supported models.

So I don't see why the RX480 wouldn't work?