The picture shows 4 RAM chips of type K4G41325 (only one of them is barely readable on the photo) which has a capacity of 4 Gbit, according to the datasheet.
4 Gbit / 8 BitsPerByte = 0.5 GB per Chip
0.5 GB * 4 = 2 GB total VRAM
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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
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4 Gbit / 8 BitsPerByte = 0.5 GB per Chip
0.5 GB * 4 = 2 GB total VRAM
Thanks, and instead on 2010 with m6100? Another question which is the best amd for 2011?
I've not used M6100. Post #1 table says M6100 is bigger card (MXMB) so need bigger heat sink + mod. M5100 is easier with about same perf.
For 2011 (12,x) AMD GPU. GCN1-3 don't work. Only GCN4. wx4130 is easiest. wx3200 require soldering mod so need good soldering tools+skills.
Read my signature link. All summarized.
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It all depends on how you define "best".
1. Most powerful card for newest Mac OS, at all cost: RX5500
2. Most powerful card for Windows, at all cost : Quadro P5000
3. Cheapest card just to revive my iMac: HD6750, HD5670, Quadro K610, K1100
At the end of the days, the question you have to ask yourself: How much do you want to spend, and how resourceful are you to search for a card you want?
Hi guys, please forgive my ignorance, can someone help me with a question? On my 2011 iMac 27” 32GB RAM and i7 2600, I have the NVIDIA K610M 1GB graphics card installed and I want to put in the Nvidia K5000M 4GB, is it possible? Would it be like taking one out and putting in another? I mean modifying the software!!! I understand that it means changing one for another.
I have been reading your site and it was very helpful.
I have a mid-2011 iMac 27" (12,2 i7 3.4GHz) whose graphics card (Radeon 6970) failed a while ago. I was originally going to get a 6770 to replace it, but decided to go to Monterey which needs a bit more grunt.
It seems the AMD WX4130 is the preferred solution at present, and tbh, many of the alternatives are just not available. Even the WX4130 is fairly rare. I could only find two suppliers on eBay, and they both seem to be the same person as all the pictures and text are identical. He claims they are suitable for this iMac specifically.
The supplier also sells WX4150 as suitable, although it costs more. $107 -> $139
Is there any point going to the WX4150?
It is not as if I am a heavy graphics user, but I would like to keep this iMac for a while yet. It was the top end when I bought it and it has been my main computer ever since then.
I used M6100 for iMac 11.3 MacOS 11.7.10
and I have been successfully using it w/old heat sink to this day. It's including in tandem with a Mac mini M2 pro.
Of course, you will have to work a little with a grinding machine on the radiator to remove the excess metal sirface that prevents you from installing the card without contact with the metal. And for reliability from contact with the M6100 - I sealed it with insulating tape MB next to the v-card connection socket.
Only thing I noticed is artifacts when finishing OS work, after the screen closes and goes dark, blinking amorphous little squares appear across the width of the screen, as I understand it - these are the clocks before the OS is finished and going switch off.
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after the jumpers/resistors mod I installed the WX3200 in my Imac and flashed the card from xubuntu, now the internal screen works in xubuntu but I`m kind of stuck, oclp doesn`t work neither does anything else besides xubuntu
what can i do? (i`d like to install osx)
what can i do? (i`d like to install osx)
12,x are more challenging since only more rare and more expensive GCN4+ for >= Monterey. Some people seems okay with Kepler on >= Monterey but I've generally encountered problems.
wx3200 is a good choice if can do GPU mod. I actually have several already modded. Will PM.
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OCLP software installation has 2 bugs on wx3200. Read here I've installed 4x using the guide in the link.
Thanks for the link that can be very helpfull! to start with I reed this: This card works for all 2011 iMac 12,x (and all 10,x except LVDS and 11,x) Mine is a Imac 11.2 can I conclude that it won`t work at all? (I was very hopefull now the internal screen is already lighting up with Xubuntu)
I think I might have shared incorrect info (corrected). 11,2 works on wx3200 with the jumper removal mod per post #14529
Besides the 2x OCLP installation bugs for wx3200. wx3200 VBIOS is GOP and not EG so no boot selection with option key on boot Screen will be blank if can't find proper Lexa injected OC. You already have ubuntu so no idea how boot is searching for correct OC in your current install. Try making a rescue boot CD to confirm able to boot correct OC ( link ) with C key on boot
Thanks again! 
I think I accidentally made some kind of rescue usb-stick with OCLP (my CD drive is defect). Same procedure as the CD but instead of burning the ISO I copied the changed .plist file into the temporary folder that OCLP uses to build OC and than wrote it to disk. After that I installed Sonoma with my ssd connected on a usb port, the install might have finished while I was asleep, but it doesn`t run (yet) the screen turns black after a few seconds of apple logo and 1/4 timeline.
I think I accidentally made some kind of rescue usb-stick with OCLP (my CD drive is defect). Same procedure as the CD but instead of burning the ISO I copied the changed .plist file into the temporary folder that OCLP uses to build OC and than wrote it to disk. After that I installed Sonoma with my ssd connected on a usb port, the install might have finished while I was asleep, but it doesn`t run (yet) the screen turns black after a few seconds of apple logo and 1/4 timeline.
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Thanks again!
All 4x of my wx3200 installs encountered a hang near the final install phase mentioned in my guide + workaround. See signature links.
Building OC require explicitly setting AMD GOP Injection + Lexa. OCLP auto detect doesn't work correctly. Also mentioned in the guide.
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🙏🙏🙏 Thank you! And all the other people who made this possible! Sonoma is up and running with the WX 3200 in my Imac 11.2 (haven`t really tested it but for now everything seems to work). 🙂
Hi, long time reader first time poster.
I am interested in doing something a little different than I’ve seen done here. I am interested in putting a W6600 pro GPU into a 2011 iMac. I’ve done some quick measurements and I think it would fit if the optical drive is removed along with the factory GPU cooler. I found a MXM to PCIE adaptor on AliExpress, it’s actually on sale right now. The W 6600 pro GPU is the best single slot GPU that I think Mac supports. If anyone knows a better one, please let me know.
I’ve done some preliminary research and I think I’ll need to do a patch in order to get to work. I found a post on the site talking about how to get these GPUs to work in the older 5.1 Mac pros.
I linked some information at the bottom of the post.
The big questions I have right now are if PCI express supports sending the video back into the iMac to run the screen, and also how hard it will be to get the GPU to work in the iMac with regards to the bios. I’ve done a bit of reading on the firmware pages that are linked here and I think the bios could be edited in a similar way to the MXM cards featured on this post. Also the 6000 series cards seem to have issues because of a bios bug, it seems there’s a patcher to cover this. Based on what I know, I feel like if I were able to patch the bios in the way that makes it work in the Mac Pro then I could get it working with open core but I am definitely not sure on this.
My understanding is that the PCI express can send video back into the motherboard, for example to go out through a HDMI port on the motherboard. I’m curious if this is how the iMac does it? I also read that MXM boards can send video through additional pins that they have using display port.
One work around that I was thinking of if it cannot send it through the PCI express then possibly I could get LCD driver board designed for these iMacs and use that instead of the built in one.
Please feel free to criticize this idea. I’m curious about any other issues I will run into while I’m trying to get this to work. I really appreciate everything on this thread. It has been very helpful for me.
I currently have three 2011 iMacs and one 2010 iMac. One of them I’ve upgraded to i7 2700 K with 32 gigabytes 1600 megahertz RAM and the WX 4170 GPU. Currently, I’m running the 4150 bios as I was having stability issues. I just got a new package of copper spacers. I’m going to try to optimize it and get it working with 4170 bios. I have the computer overclocked and the ram running at 1600 mhz using the motherboard flashing information on another thread on this site.
Thank you for any information you can provide me!
MXM to PCIe adapter
AMD Radeon Pro W6600
Information about flashing W6600 Pro for 5.1 Mac Pro
I am interested in doing something a little different than I’ve seen done here. I am interested in putting a W6600 pro GPU into a 2011 iMac. I’ve done some quick measurements and I think it would fit if the optical drive is removed along with the factory GPU cooler. I found a MXM to PCIE adaptor on AliExpress, it’s actually on sale right now. The W 6600 pro GPU is the best single slot GPU that I think Mac supports. If anyone knows a better one, please let me know.
I’ve done some preliminary research and I think I’ll need to do a patch in order to get to work. I found a post on the site talking about how to get these GPUs to work in the older 5.1 Mac pros.
I linked some information at the bottom of the post.
The big questions I have right now are if PCI express supports sending the video back into the iMac to run the screen, and also how hard it will be to get the GPU to work in the iMac with regards to the bios. I’ve done a bit of reading on the firmware pages that are linked here and I think the bios could be edited in a similar way to the MXM cards featured on this post. Also the 6000 series cards seem to have issues because of a bios bug, it seems there’s a patcher to cover this. Based on what I know, I feel like if I were able to patch the bios in the way that makes it work in the Mac Pro then I could get it working with open core but I am definitely not sure on this.
My understanding is that the PCI express can send video back into the motherboard, for example to go out through a HDMI port on the motherboard. I’m curious if this is how the iMac does it? I also read that MXM boards can send video through additional pins that they have using display port.
One work around that I was thinking of if it cannot send it through the PCI express then possibly I could get LCD driver board designed for these iMacs and use that instead of the built in one.
Please feel free to criticize this idea. I’m curious about any other issues I will run into while I’m trying to get this to work. I really appreciate everything on this thread. It has been very helpful for me.
I currently have three 2011 iMacs and one 2010 iMac. One of them I’ve upgraded to i7 2700 K with 32 gigabytes 1600 megahertz RAM and the WX 4170 GPU. Currently, I’m running the 4150 bios as I was having stability issues. I just got a new package of copper spacers. I’m going to try to optimize it and get it working with 4170 bios. I have the computer overclocked and the ram running at 1600 mhz using the motherboard flashing information on another thread on this site.
Thank you for any information you can provide me!
MXM to PCIe adapter
AMD Radeon Pro W6600
Information about flashing W6600 Pro for 5.1 Mac Pro
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I've read a post (in this thread or another thread) regarding this idea.
The poster confirmed that the external GPU (RX5500XT or RX580) worked and output video signal through the ports on the card.
But the internal LCD panel didn't work from the eDP cable.
When you use the LCD driver kit to turn the LCD panel to the external display, it's just another stand-alone display and is supposed to work with any video input source.
The poster confirmed that the external GPU (RX5500XT or RX580) worked and output video signal through the ports on the card.
But the internal LCD panel didn't work from the eDP cable.
When you use the LCD driver kit to turn the LCD panel to the external display, it's just another stand-alone display and is supposed to work with any video input source.
Hello! Another succesfull mod here with wx4150 and i7 2600. I had first upgraded from High Sierra to Ventura. I run the Valley benchmark and only got score 1025 and 25 FPS. I thought maybe it was due to the fact I had not performed a clean install however even with quick install to Sequoia I got same results. The imac excel benchmarks show much higher scores with similar setup. Could something be wrong or is this normal?
I've been working with it for a week now pretty stable except the 3 times crash see report below, anyone have an idea what is going on? (see the pdf for the rest)
panic(cpu 1 caller 0xffffff80047e18df): zone_require_ro failed: element improperly aligned (addr: 0xffffff86ef8ba4d0) @zalloc.c:7328
Panicked task 0xffffff9555ef27d8: 12 threads: pid 178: WindowServer
Backtrace (CPU 1), panicked thread: 0xffffff9a1fb100c8, Frame : Return Address
I had 2x 12,2 + wx3200 on Sequoia w/o any crashed for a couple of months. Might try Sequoia as a test but maybe unlikely to resolve your problem.
Any special app workloads? Post #1 table * indicate wx3200 don't have VA for more advanced professional graphics apps.
Last night I was playing Black Mesa on my iMac12,2 on Windows 10 when all of a sudden the screen went black without any prior indications of something failing soon. The OS and the game were still running (I could hear the in-game sound). After rebooting, the screen would not come back on. But I think macOS was still booting (i could hear my external hdd beeing mounted).
So the question is: do you think it's the backlight or the GPU which is dead? I am using an NVIDA K1000M with the correct vbios. I still have the AMD GPU that came with the system.
Thanks in advance.
So the question is: do you think it's the backlight or the GPU which is dead? I am using an NVIDA K1000M with the correct vbios. I still have the AMD GPU that came with the system.
Thanks in advance.
Lower brightness all the way by using Apple keyboard brightness function keys. If display appear, then your LCD (also used in Thunderbolt Display) backlight has this common problem.
Also lower brightness all the way and use apple keyboard short cut to sleep (option+command+eject) + wake and see if dimly lit backlight comes back on. If backlight board goes into protection mode due to high resistance of the backlight circuit, this will reset it.
Also turn on volume change feedback so when it goes blank, can use keyboard volume keys to hear if have sound and therefore iMac is working properly.
Also put a high contrast (say about this mac dialog box over black background) when it goes dark, shine a flashlight and see if can see the dialog box. Will be very faint and any glare from dirty protective glass will not help so clean it well.
Apple Thunderbolt Display Black Blanking Out Repair
Thunderbolt Display uses an LG edge LED lit LCD Display (also 09-11 27" iMacs and 27" Cinema Displays). The LEDs are on the bottom edge of the...
www.ifixit.com
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Lower brightness all the way by using Apple keyboard brightness function keys. If display appear, then your LCD (also used in Thunderbolt Display) backlight has this common problem.
Apple Thunderbolt Display Black Blanking Out Repair
Thunderbolt Display uses an LG edge LED lit LCD Display (also 09-11 27" iMacs and 27" Cinema Displays). The LEDs are on the bottom edge of the...
Thanks, I will check if it's the backlight. If it is, I don't think that I will disassemble the screen.
It seem that it could also be dead caps on the backlight converter board:
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Yes, hope thats the case for you. I've fixed about 10-15 of these. My stats are
- All except 2 were TB Display
- 1 iMac that would blank out unless it lowest brightness setting. Even then, didn't stay on long
- 1 iMac would blank out within few seconds after brightness up to 1/2 way. Lowest sitting will stay on
- Can see high contrast image with flashlight on the iMacs. Not sure about TB Display.
- Never had inverter board problem
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No speciall apps just firefox, spotify, signal, libre office.
I’ll try Sequoia, can I use the upgrade option? Or do I need to make a new usb stick?