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

[cvasi2006]

This is what i use for my 780m. I think this is more on the safe side, so its not as quiet.

Thank you!

 

[passatgt]

I ordered a AC wifi + bt4 solution from taobao: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.1-c.w4004-660199089.9.409e5ac5zQu37p&id=40307425283

It works fine, plug & play. Since i purchased this for a 2010 iMac, i opted for the two antenna version(BCM94360CS2). It works plug & play, and you can connect the bluetooth cable directly into the daughterboard, so you don't need to do any soldering, wire cutting. Both Wifi and BT4 works, however i'm not sure how to enable continuity. I downloaded the continuity activation tool, but it just says that its already active. But i don't see any difference sadly. I didn't connected the antennas yet, because i will take this machine apart again and its a very fragile connector... but even without the antenna connected, i still got 40-50mbps.

 

[Borak]

have you tried this rom? http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=07545500285316150386

it can be opened by Kepler bios tweaker, not sure how the MXM card will work with it.

btw, today i have installed dell 770m 3gb in my friend's iMac 2011 and it works! no bootmenu though and no Bootcamp support(black screen), will try that one with Clevo vbios soon as that one is more compatible on any other system. tried 780m dell and 680m dell with uefi vbios with no luck. 780m does boot, but no picture, 680m just failed to start at all.

but how come 770m driver installed in OSX? there were no mac released with it, right?

I have GTX 770m in hands.

have you tried this rom? http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=07545500285316150386

it can be opened by Kepler bios tweaker, not sure how the MXM card will work with it.

btw, today i have installed dell 770m 3gb in my friend's iMac 2011 and it works! no bootmenu though and no Bootcamp support(black screen), will try that one with Clevo vbios soon as that one is more compatible on any other system. tried 780m dell and 680m dell with uefi vbios with no luck. 780m does boot, but no picture, 680m just failed to start at all.

but how come 770m driver installed in OSX? there were no mac released with it, right?

Run 100%, plug and play? I have GTX 770MXM. My Mac: iMac Mid 2011, 27"- i7 - 3.4Ghz.
Thanks!

 

[Borak]

have you tried this rom? http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=07545500285316150386

it can be opened by Kepler bios tweaker, not sure how the MXM card will work with it.

btw, today i have installed dell 770m 3gb in my friend's iMac 2011 and it works! no bootmenu though and no Bootcamp support(black screen), will try that one with Clevo vbios soon as that one is more compatible on any other system. tried 780m dell and 680m dell with uefi vbios with no luck. 780m does boot, but no picture, 680m just failed to start at all.

but how come 770m driver installed in OSX? there were no mac released with it, right?

have you tried this rom? http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=07545500285316150386

it can be opened by Kepler bios tweaker, not sure how the MXM card will work with it.

btw, today i have installed dell 770m 3gb in my friend's iMac 2011 and it works! no bootmenu though and no Bootcamp support(black screen), will try that one with Clevo vbios soon as that one is more compatible on any other system. tried 780m dell and 680m dell with uefi vbios with no luck. 780m does boot, but no picture, 680m just failed to start at all.

but how come 770m driver installed in OSX? there were no mac released with it, right?

Run 100%, plug and play?

I have GTX 770MXM.

My Mac: iMac Mid 2011, 27"- i7 - 3.4Ghz.

Thanks!

 

[thebossarturo]

Sounds like a dead gpu, or you just have a short somewhere. The mounting bracket, or something is touching the heatsink? Try removing the heatsink and mounting bracket and just hold the card in place with your fingers to see if it boots up. It should boot without a battery and screen attached too(listen to the boot sound)

You were right mi friend, I just tested the card without the heatsink and I get the chime. I’m going to install Mojave and then I will try to find where the card touching the heatsink.

Thanks a lot!

 

[kilianrmh]

Hello everyone! After reading about all the successful iMac 2011 27" GPU mods, I decided to buy an old iMac 27" Mid 2011 with a defective GPU. After I received the iMac, I turned it on and all I saw was a white screen and after a minute the flashing folder icon appeared (received the iMac without a HDD). I then proceeded to take the iMac apart and install an empty SSD and bake the broken GPU. After I put the iMac back together, it wouldn't start anymore so I removed the LCD unit and when pressing the power button only the first LED would blink once. When I tried starting the iMac without the baked GPU, the first two LEDs would light up, so I guess I broke the GPU while baking it (200 Degrees Celsius, 8 Minutes).

Now I am in need of a new GPU - I was thinking about the GTX 770M. I know there are plenty of posts about the 770M in this thread but I will ask the question anyway, just to have a calm mind when ordering it: Is the GTX 770M still a good option or should I go with an AMD card where the backlight controls are working?

And does the 770M support Metal in Mojave? I thought Apple dropped Nvidia GPU support with the release of Mojave?

One last question: Since I have no working GPU with an flashed Apple UEFI, can I still install Mojave? I am aware that I could probably clone an image with a working Mojave install onto the SSD but no one provided one so far. I also own a Mac mini from 2009 that is compatible with the Mojave Patcher but I don't know if this solution is working with the iMac, since the GPU in the Mac mini is pretty old.

 

[passatgt]

Hello everyone! After reading about all the successful iMac 2011 27" GPU mods, I decided to buy an old iMac 27" Mid 2011 with a defective GPU. After I received the iMac, I turned it on and all I saw was a white screen and after a minute the flashing folder icon appeared (received the iMac without a HDD). I then proceeded to take the iMac apart and install an empty SSD and bake the broken GPU. After I put the iMac back together, it wouldn't start anymore so I removed the LCD unit and when pressing the power button only the first LED would blink once. When I tried starting the iMac without the baked GPU, the first two LEDs would light up, so I guess I broke the GPU while baking it (200 Degrees Celsius, 8 Minutes).

Now I am in need of a new GPU - I was thinking about the GTX 770M. I know there are plenty of posts about the 770M in this thread but I will ask the question anyway, just to have a calm mind when ordering it: Is the GTX 770M still a good option or should I go with an AMD card where the backlight controls are working?

And does the 770M support Metal in Mojave? I thought Apple dropped Nvidia GPU support with the release of Mojave?

One last question: Since I have no working GPU with an flashed Apple UEFI, can I still install Mojave? I am aware that I could probably clone an image with a working Mojave install onto the SSD but no one provided one so far. I also own a Mac mini from 2009 that is compatible with the Mojave Patcher but I don't know if this solution is working with the iMac, since the GPU in the Mac mini is pretty old.

Yes, a dell 770m will work and it does support Mojave. Theres only a software solution for backlight control, or theres some hacky PWM control stuff mentioned in this thread. But i think the sofware based backlight control works fine. If you don't need MacOS, just a working computer, you can install Ubuntu, which for some reason supports backlight control out of the box. And yes, you need a working gpu to install Mojave. So install Mojave onto an SSD with the Mac Mini, apply the post install patches with the install tool, but make sure you select the patches made for an iMac 2011. I'm not sure if it will boot on the mac mini this way, but you don't need to anyway, just pop back the ssd into the imac and it should boot just fine.

 

[FlorisVN]

Run 100%, plug and play?

I have GTX 770MXM.

My Mac: iMac Mid 2011, 27"- i7 - 3.4Ghz.

Thanks!

Just do the heatsink mod, and make sure you have a compatible Dell/Alienware card.
Also I recommend you run macos high sierra.

Then should indeed be plug and play !

 

[Hradlo]

Hi, I tried to read this forum to decide what GPU is best upgrade for my iMac 21,5 2011. It is little bit chaotic here . So any recommendation ?

 

[passatgt]

Hi, I tried to read this forum to decide what GPU is best upgrade for my iMac 21,5 2011. It is little bit chaotic here . So any recommendation ?

k2000m or k1100m

 

[FlorisVN]

Hi, I tried to read this forum to decide what GPU is best upgrade for my iMac 21,5 2011. It is little bit chaotic here . So any recommendation ?

see first post of this thread for more info.
I would recommend you a compatibe Quadro K2000m or k1100m

 

[dondrapersf]

Hey guys,

I've replaced my baked card with a gtx 780m from a Dell/Alienware laptop. Before i did that, the computer was running but now I got nothing.

At first, the diagnostic led #1 would be on, but when i pressed the power button it would turn off until unplugged the machine from the wall.

Then I removed the CMOS battery to see if reinserting it would have any effect.

But, I think i made the problem worse.

Now, when I plug the iMac to the power diagnostic led #1 turns on, but it turns OFF in a second.

Tomorrow I will replace the CMOS battery with a new one, and remove the new gpu and see if I can get it to run again with the old gpu.

I would appreciate any help!

logic board issue potentially.

 

[FlorisVN]

logic board issue potentially.

Looks like a psu problem to me btw..

 

[thebossarturo]

Thanks for your help guys!

I finally got the gtx 780m working on my mid-2011 27" iMac

logic board issue potentially.

Looks like a psu problem to me btw..

It turns out passatgt was correct. I had short. I believed the problem was the nvidia x-bracket. So, I took apart the iMac and wrapped the x-bracket with tape and voila... I got in Mojave.

It's running perfectly right now. But, does anyone know if there is a way to use CUDA in Mojave ?

 

[FlorisVN]

Thanks for your help guys!

I finally got the gtx 780m working on my mid-2011 27" iMac




It turns out passatgt was correct. I had short. I believed the problem was the nvidia x-bracket. So, I took apart the iMac and wrapped the x-bracket with tape and voila... I got in Mojave.

It's running perfectly right now. But, does anyone know if there is a way to use CUDA in Mojave ?

Good that it woeks now !
Cuda support for mojave still a no go, i doubt there will be any nvidia drivers will to be released for mojave..
Maybe with catalina we will get more lucky this time..

 

[passatgt]

Good that it woeks now !
Cuda support for mojave still a no go, i doubt there will be any nvidia drivers will to be released for mojave..
Maybe with catalina we will get more lucky this time..

since the new mac pro will support normal gpus, i hope there will be nvidia drivers released too

 

[FlorisVN]

since the new mac pro will support normal gpus, i hope there will be nvidia drivers released too

Yeah could very well be that catalina will get nvidia drivers & cuda support as well.
I think nvidia will get a green light for catalina from apple this time.
At least let’s hope so..

Mojave was not a good release for nvidia users out there.
Kepler cards do work, but still no cuda support at all.
Sad for all professionals out there who need cuds on their macs...

Catalina should btw run great again with the latest dosdude1 patcher.
Dosdude1 made it more friendly this time for us iMac users with upgraded graphic cards.
The legacy video patcher is not selected by default anymore running the catalina patcher.
So a very good looking future for Catalina , id you ask me !
Only sad catalina does not support 32bit apps, if you ask me...

 

[marmalito]

Yeah could very well be that catalina will get nvidia drivers & cuda support as well.
I think nvidia will get a green light for catalina from apple this time.
At least let’s hope so..

Mojave was not a good release for nvidia users out there.
Kepler cards do work, but still no cuda support at all.
Sad for all professionals out there who need cuds on their macs...

Catalina should btw run great again with the latest dosdude1 patcher.
Dosdude1 made it more friendly this time for us iMac users with upgraded graphic cards.
The legacy video patcher is not selected by default anymore running the catalina patcher.
So a very good looking future for Catalina , id you ask me !
Only sad catalina does not support 32bit apps, if you ask me...

Yeah, I'm already noticing how many games are no longer supported in Steam.

How easy is it to apply the latest Catalina updates? Is it simply a matter of installing them as usual, or does the patcher need to be run each time?

Also, I know this seems to be a no-go, but is there any way of getting Windows 7 or 10 in Boot Camp installed with an Nvidia replacement GPU?

 

[passatgt]

Yeah, I'm already noticing how many games are no longer supported in Steam.

How easy is it to apply the latest Catalina updates? Is it simply a matter of installing them as usual, or does the patcher need to be run each time?

Also, I know this seems to be a no-go, but is there any way of getting Windows 7 or 10 in Boot Camp installed with an Nvidia replacement GPU?

The Mojave updates usually install just fine without the need to re-apply patches, but this is one of the reasons to install High Sierra as a primary system, so if something fails, you can still boot back into HS after a pram reset.

 

[Borak]

Just do the heatsink mod, and make sure you have a compatible Dell/Alienware card.
Also I recommend you run macos high sierra.

Then should indeed be plug and play !

Thanks!
Some link with the procedure to be done? Step-by-step?

 

[FlorisVN]

Thanks!
Some link with the procedure to be done? Step-by-step?

All the info you need should be in the opening post of this thread.
I would advice you to start reading this first...

 

[cvasi2006]

hi, i have a question, now if i don't have boot image how can i install a new operating system?

 

[hyungju]

I have iMac 2010 21.5" and want to upgrade to Nvidia Quadro 1000M.
But I am not sure 1000M will work because it is not Kepler arch.

will it work ??
or is it okay to use any Kepler GPUs with MXM 3.0 Type A?

plus, if I change CPU to Xeon L3426 ( it takes only 45W TDP ), I think more power consuming gpu can be installed to my iMac ... ,, is it possible?

sorry for multiple questions in row

 

[passatgt]

I have iMac 2010 21.5" and want to upgrade to Nvidia Quadro 1000M.
But I am not sure 1000M will work because it is not Kepler arch.

will it work ??
or is it okay to use any Kepler GPUs with MXM 3.0 Type A?

plus, if I change CPU to Xeon L3426 ( it takes only 45W TDP ), I think more power consuming gpu can be installed to my iMac ... ,, is it possible?

sorry for multiple questions in row

I'm not sure about the 1000m, but I'm currently installing an i7 870S + k1100m into the same iMac. Give me a few days and i'll report back if its working or not.

 

[FlorisVN]

21,5 imac you want to install a mxm-b card, grab a compatible quadro k1100/2000m

About the cou upgrade don't know, but why not go for s 870s i think that is compatible..
Xeon could also be compatible i dont know.
[doublepost=1565108043][/doublepost]

hi, i have a question, now if i don't have boot image how can i install a new operating system?

There are several ways to install macos.
Easy way i would say, install high sierra on a smal partition, so with a pram you can always boot back into hs.
Create a seperste partition for mojave or other macos you want to install.
You still boot of external drives like usb sticks etc. while using startup utility.

I would personaly also create a small 8gb partition with a macos installer on it, this way you always boot into an installer of macos.