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

[bosjc]

There are a few versions of WX4130 VBIOS available from here.
Which one did you flash?

Further questions:
What type of VRAM chips does your card have?
Do you use OpenCore?
Which macOS version are you trying to boot?
Do you know whether your iMac firmware (a.k.a bootrom) is up to date?

So, it had the WX4130_GOP.rom originally flashed. I tried the alt version which is where things went a bit sideways. I just swapped out the logic board, and was able to get a boot screen back into the Linux live USB, but, it was having some issues. On reboot, can't get anything anymore. Going to try to the CPU as maybe an issue. Wish I could get into memtest or something for the ram. It does still boot with the chime - and then fans max blast with the new logic board.

I have nothing on it at the moment - just an SSD provisioned with the Open Core Legacy Patcher install (that I can't really get to). I was hoping to install a later version. Not sure how to check the iMac firmware at this point, although, I have cleared pram.

 

[Stefanox2410]

Why imac pro if it is imac 27 2011??? I try to change setting but with inac no work control light

 

[internetzel]

So, it had the WX4130_GOP.rom originally flashed. I tried the alt version which is where things went a bit sideways. I just swapped out the logic board, and was able to get a boot screen back into the Linux live USB, but, it was having some issues. On reboot, can't get anything anymore. Going to try to the CPU as maybe an issue. Wish I could get into memtest or something for the ram. It does still boot with the chime - and then fans max blast with the new logic board.

I have nothing on it at the moment - just an SSD provisioned with the Open Core Legacy Patcher install (that I can't really get to). I was hoping to install a later version. Not sure how to check the iMac firmware at this point, although, I have cleared pram.

You could try whether you always get a boot screen when installing the WX4130 without any heatsink in oder to rule out a bad installation of the card onto the heat sink - just don't let any OS boot into the graphical UI.
In case you don't get a boot screen even without heat sink I'd suspect the WX4130 to be faulty.

 

[Shnite]

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.

Can I use the TongaBiosReader application to edit the BIOS of the S7100X?

GitHub - Hedzin/TongaBiosReader: Tonga/Antigua Bios Reader Tool (based on HawaiiBiosReader)

Tonga/Antigua Bios Reader Tool (based on HawaiiBiosReader) - Hedzin/TongaBiosReader

github.com

 

[The_Croupier]

Hi there, I am happily running Sonoma on my 2010 iMac 11.2. Full disclosure: full functionality is not available, it only reliably runs basic apps but looks good doing it.

I am somewhat curious at the recommendation to “upgrade to a Metal GPU” on the OCLP website (and to a lesser extent here on MR where it is clearly not for everyone) though.

In reading all the posts in the last few months by people that have “upgraded to a Metal GPU” or that have tried and failed there is a very clear trend that the upgrade is at best hit or miss and only for those that are well-versed in custom BIOS use AND brave.

Dont get me wrong; I think all the work done by the people that develop OCLP and such is amazing and really useful.I love it. But surely the recommendation to upgrade the GPU on these nonmetal Macs is misplaced for all but a select few Mac users until a more reliable upgrade path is available, if ever?

Or am I missing the point?

Thanks for all the great work and advice in these threads everyone 🙏🙏🙏

You're missing the point, seems you are happy to endure a sub par experience with an old Mac? what's the point? And it is actually a very basic mod. Try the soldering to upgrade these Mac's to BT 4.0+ then it only starts to get technical but many first timers manage it with little drama especially since threads like these basically hold your hand and spoon feed you like a baby to make it very simple almost to the point of boringness.

 

[xleo77]

Hello, I come to share my experience!
After 8 hours of fighting, I was able to change the GPU of my Imac 21.5 mid 2010 for an Nvidia k1100m.
I think that the fact that it is 13 years old was noticeable in the state of the plastics (2 connection tabs were broken that I was fortunately able to connect the cables directly with a lot of work), it was also complicated to reconnect the screen data cable, it was I had twisted the connector a little, so I had to remove the entire cable, connect to the logic board and then connect to the screen again since this connector is a little more robust and easier to connect.
A few years ago I had also changed the hard drive, replacing the temperature sensor with the 2n3904 transistor trick.
I also replaced the superdrive that hadn't worked for years with a second SSD, where I installed High Sierra again.
After installing opencore, recover the brightness control and put it into sleep mode (it takes a while to react but it comes back).

The truth is that without this fabulous guide I don't know if I would have been encouraged to make those changes.
Now I need to get a pendrive to see if I can upgrade to Catalina, unless they recommend trying Big Sur since I only have 8 GB of ram.

Thanks!

 

[unclemiltie]

RAM is cheap. I picked up a couple of 8GB sticks for my 2010 a few weeks ago on ebay for something like $11 each.

Get more, you'll appreciate it

 

[xleo77]

RAM is cheap. I picked up a couple of 8GB sticks for my 2010 a few weeks ago on ebay for something like $11 each.

Get more, you'll appreciate it

Unfortunately not in Argentina
But I'm going to try to get the 16 GB, since they are old specifications, it is difficult to get them at a good price.

As I understand it, 16GB is the maximum that my imac supports, but I don't know if it should be 4 x 4GB or it can support 2 x 8GB.

 

[Shnite]

A few years ago I had also changed the hard drive, replacing the temperature sensor with the 2n3904 transistor trick.

Please tell us more details.
And is there a photo of how you connected it to the board?

 

[xleo77]

Please tell us more details.
And is there a photo of how you connected it to the board?

I took the idea from this post:

RESUELTO:replace the hard drive, how do I connect Hard Drive thermal sensor? - iMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2389

Apple changed to a seven lead temperature sensor and proprietary firmware in their hard drives in late 2009. Their thinking appears to be that no one but Apple or an Authorized Service Provider has the ability to change a hard drive. So you have to go through Apple to get a drive that won't...

es.ifixit.com

Instead of soldering it to the cable, I inserted the transistor into the connector that goes to the disk and glued it to the disk. I don't know if it's perfect, but at least it didn't make the fans crazy any more.

I only have this photo of when I was making the changes.

 

[moody-Istanbul]

Hello guys,

I appreciate all of your efforts. In late 2009, my 27" iMac computer's graphics card became completely unusable. Following the advice given on this forum, I purchased an AMD M5100 card from AliExpress.

During the purchase, I specified the iMac model I own. The card I bought is red in color, and I believe it's the Dell version. The product page and the messages sent by the seller provided a description as follows:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/post-30564216

My computer's screen is completely black, so I think I need to use the USB disk installer method.

I have a few questions for you, and I would appreciate your answers.

1. Could the card I purchased have had a suitable vbios loaded on it beforehand? How can I determine this?
2. If a suitable vbios has been loaded, would accidentally re-flashing the vbios cause any harm to the card?
3. Do I need to back up the original BIOS of my computer and the new graphics card? If the answer is yes, how can I do that?
4. Is it mandatory to add a copper plate between the original cooler and the GPU for the M5100?

Thank you very much...
Edit : I plugged display port cable to get try to get an external image on a LCD screen and it is done... I got image on LCD screen in High Sierra OS.

 

[internetzel]

Hello, I come to share my experience!
After 8 hours of fighting, I was able to change the GPU of my Imac 21.5 mid 2010 for an Nvidia k1100m.
I think that the fact that it is 13 years old was noticeable in the state of the plastics (2 connection tabs were broken that I was fortunately able to connect the cables directly with a lot of work), it was also complicated to reconnect the screen data cable, it was I had twisted the connector a little, so I had to remove the entire cable, connect to the logic board and then connect to the screen again since this connector is a little more robust and easier to connect.
A few years ago I had also changed the hard drive, replacing the temperature sensor with the 2n3904 transistor trick.
I also replaced the superdrive that hadn't worked for years with a second SSD, where I installed High Sierra again.
After installing opencore, recover the brightness control and put it into sleep mode (it takes a while to react but it comes back).

The truth is that without this fabulous guide I don't know if I would have been encouraged to make those changes.
Now I need to get a pendrive to see if I can upgrade to Catalina, unless they recommend trying Big Sur since I only have 8 GB of ram.

Thanks!

Bienvenido a esta comunidad y felicitaciones!

There's no need to get more than 8 GB of RAM unless you whish to do video editing or similarly demanding things. Upgrading to 1333 MHz RAM however would bring a small speed boost (although unnoticeable for normal use).
My opinion is that 8 GB of RAM is and will be sufficient for the whole life of your iMac; that hasn't changed for me from High Sierra all the way through to Monterey and I don't expect that to change on the way to Sonoma.

 

[tomcatrr]

Hello, I come to share my experience!
After 8 hours of fighting, I was able to change the GPU of my Imac 21.5 mid 2010 for an Nvidia k1100m.
I think that the fact that it is 13 years old was noticeable in the state of the plastics (2 connection tabs were broken that I was fortunately able to connect the cables directly with a lot of work), it was also complicated to reconnect the screen data cable, it was I had twisted the connector a little, so I had to remove the entire cable, connect to the logic board and then connect to the screen again since this connector is a little more robust and easier to connect.
A few years ago I had also changed the hard drive, replacing the temperature sensor with the 2n3904 transistor trick.
I also replaced the superdrive that hadn't worked for years with a second SSD, where I installed High Sierra again.
After installing opencore, recover the brightness control and put it into sleep mode (it takes a while to react but it comes back).

The truth is that without this fabulous guide I don't know if I would have been encouraged to make those changes.
Now I need to get a pendrive to see if I can upgrade to Catalina, unless they recommend trying Big Sur since I only have 8 GB of ram.

Thanks!

@xleo77 I have the same IMAC and K1100m.
Do I need, copper plates or "only" Thermal paste ?

Thanks!

 

[xleo77]

@xleo77 I have the same IMAC and K1100m.
Do I need, copper plates or "only" Thermal paste ?

Thanks!

@tomcatrr
I used thermal paste for the GPU and thermal pads (1mm) for the memories. If that's the question.
I also took the opportunity to change the thermal paste on the CPU, it was very dry.

 

[langking]

Hi everyone, I have a question about updating my 2010mid 27’ imac.

At first i have high sierra installed in. and my original graphic card dead somehow. Then I bought a AMD firepro M5100. After I finished the flash work and the hardware installation. I reset pram. then my external screen working well, and I install opencore1.1 in high sierra. Reboot and still only external display showed up. Did i do something wrong or what should I do to make internal screen working? It remains black no matter how many times I tear it apart and reinstall the screen. Please help. Thank you!

edit: The iMac just recognized one display. Only the external one.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hello guys,

I appreciate all of your efforts. In late 2009, my 27" iMac computer's graphics card became completely unusable. Following the advice given on this forum, I purchased an AMD M5100 card from AliExpress.

1. Could the card I purchased have had a suitable vbios loaded on it beforehand? How can I determine this?
2. If a suitable vbios has been loaded, would accidentally re-flashing the vbios cause any harm to the card?
3. Do I need to back up the original BIOS of my computer and the new graphics card? If the answer is yes, how can I do that?
4. Is it mandatory to add a copper plate between the original cooler and the GPU for the M5100?

Thank you very much...
Edit : I plugged display port cable to get try to get an external image on a LCD screen and it is done... I got image on LCD screen in High Sierra OS.

1. It could be. You can verify that by talking with the seller.
2. No.
3. No, you don't need to (I didn't). But it's advisable to do so, just in case. It's effortless.
4. No, it's not. But same as #3 above. Just in case you use thick thermal pads on vRAM chips, then the copper shim is very helpful.

Check the info about your iMac display, if the iMac recognize 2 displays, but you can only see image on the external one, then there is a hardware issue (cabble, socket, broken transistor on the logicboard etc.)

 

[xleo77]

Hi everyone, I have a question about updating my 2010mid 27’ imac.

At first i have high sierra installed in. and my original graphic card dead somehow. Then I bought a AMD firepro M5100. After I finished the flash work and the hardware installation. I reset pram. then my external screen working well, and I install opencore1.1 in high sierra. Reboot and still only external display showed up. Did i do something wrong or what should I do to make internal screen working? It remains black no matter how many times I tear it apart and reinstall the screen. Please help. Thank you!

edit: The iMac just recognized one display. Only the external one.

I'll tell you my experience, I had that problem too, in my case it was a bad connection of the screen data cable, a couple of contacts had been bent, and I couldn't connect it properly (luckily I was able to straighten them without breaking them).
I tried several times to connect it and there was no point, I already gave up, then I found a method in the ifixit comments, so the only way to connect it was to release the connector that comes out of the screen, connect the cable to the logicboard to Make sure it is well connected and then reconnect the screen connector (it is easier and more robust) and then the screen just worked. The connector that goes to the board is very delicate, check it carefully.
I hope it helps you.

 

[langking]

I'll tell you my experience, I had that problem too, in my case it was a bad connection of the screen data cable, a couple of contacts had been bent, and I couldn't connect it properly (luckily I was able to straighten them without breaking them).
I tried several times to connect it and there was no point, I already gave up, then I found a method in the ifixit comments, so the only way to connect it was to release the connector that comes out of the screen, connect the cable to the logicboard to Make sure it is well connected and then reconnect the screen connector (it is easier and more robust) and then the screen just worked. The connector that goes to the board is very delicate, check it carefully.
I hope it helps you.

Oh no! So you mean this is a hardware problem?! I’m pretty sure that I plugged the cable properly! Because I tried so many times to adjust its position. So maybe I broke the cable itself. I’ll order a new cable to replace it. Thank you so much. I’ll manage the cable in your way this time.

 

[moody-Istanbul]

Thank you very much...

 

[moody-Istanbul]

1. It could be. You can verify that by talking with the seller.
2. No.
3. No, you don't need to (I didn't). But it's advisable to do so, just in case. It's effortless.
4. No, it's not. But same as #3 above. Just in case you use thick thermal pads on vRAM chips, then the copper shim is very helpful.

Check the info about your iMac display, if the iMac recognize 2 displays, but you can only see image on the external one, then there is a hardware issue (cabble, socket, broken transistor on the logicboard etc.)

Thank you... I updated High Sierra already installed the ssd drive and than i couldn't get image on external screen.

 

[sagariplugg]

Hi everyone. I installed the k2100m in my IMac mid2011 27 and I am having problems. I have graphical bugs on the system and when watching youtube videos. I bought it from Ali already flashed and just installed it in my iMac, after that I upgraded to Ventura using opencore. maybe I missed something, I'm a total newbie. The seller put some kind of disk in the package, but the problem is that I don't have a cd drive.

 

[liynus]

Thanks for all the great info from macrumor users.
Since the 27" imac is delayed again, I decided to upgrade my iMac 2011 12,2 27" for a metal graphics card.
I bought a K2100M with a MXM 3.0 type A bracket on ebay just now.

For iMac A1312 A1311 2009 2010 2011 NVIDIA Quadro K2100M 2GB Video Card | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for For iMac A1312 A1311 2009 2010 2011 NVIDIA Quadro K2100M 2GB Video Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I just wanted to make sure besides thermal paste, I don't need anything else to install. Don't need thermal pads right?
I know I have to run OCLP to get it to update, but besides that, I can run windows OK in general?
Let me know if I missed something, or else I'll have to comb through the 800+ pages. (yes I did look at the wiki first).
I'm trying to make it as plug and play as possible. I have a youngster bugging me about running Minecraft with Optifine.

Thanks

 

[internetzel]

Thanks for all the great info from macrumor users.
Since the 27" imac is delayed again, I decided to upgrade my iMac 2011 12,2 27" for a metal graphics card.
I bought a K2100M with a MXM 3.0 type A bracket on ebay just now.

For iMac A1312 A1311 2009 2010 2011 NVIDIA Quadro K2100M 2GB Video Card | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for For iMac A1312 A1311 2009 2010 2011 NVIDIA Quadro K2100M 2GB Video Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I just wanted to make sure besides thermal paste, I don't need anything else to install. Don't need thermal pads right?
I know I have to run OCLP to get it to update, but besides that, I can run windows OK in general?
Let me know if I missed something, or else I'll have to comb through the 800+ pages. (yes I did look at the wiki first).
I'm trying to make it as plug and play as possible. I have a youngster bugging me about running Minecraft with Optifine.

Thanks

You should get K5 pro thermal paste for the VRAM on the "upper" side, instead of thermal pads (or thermal pads of the fitting thickness, which I don't know).
For running Minecraft with shaders you'll probably need a high end graphics card unfortunately; an RX480 in my late 2009 iMac is barely fast enough for Sildur's vibrant shaders lite. macOS OpenGL drivers seem to old for those shaders to run efficiently...

 

[CWatts]

I finally went with the AMD WX4130 for my iMac12.2

What surprised me is how the original graphics card had a ton of thermal glop of perceived poor quality. My iMac benefited from Apple's replacement program a few years ago.

In my case there is a noticeable gap between the original heatsink and the components of the new card, although the fit is very good overall. The two thicker components (voltage regulators?) just fit in the wider space of the heatsink.

The GPU and memory chips have 0.5 to 1mm of space. I don't know if it's better to use good thermal pads, a thick paste (Arctic Silver 5 may be too liquid-runny when hot), or add copper foils. Where can I get the latter?

 

[internetzel]

I finally went with the AMD WX4130 for my iMac12.2

What surprised me is how the original graphics card had a ton of thermal glop of perceived poor quality. My iMac benefited from Apple's replacement program a few years ago.

In my case there is a noticeable gap between the original heatsink and the components of the new card, although the fit is very good overall. The two thicker components (voltage regulators?) just fit in the wider space of the heatsink.

The GPU and memory chips have 0.5 to 1mm of space. I don't know if it's better to use good thermal pads, a thick paste (Arctic Silver 5 may be too liquid-runny when hot), or add copper foils. Where can I get the latter?

Searching for "copper shim" on amazon will reveal the things recommended in the first post of this thread.
"K5 pro thermal paste" is the recommended type of viscous thermal paste for the VRAM chips and other components - available from amazon as well.