After using my macbook pro 2011 17 as daily for around 2 month after successfully disable the dGPU using gMux.
I have made alot of upgrade and saw some issue on these device.
Upgrade list
HDD to SSD
Ram 8 to 16gb
Bluetooth 2.1+ to 4.0 (Support Low Energy Bluetooth, Handoff and newer airdrop)
Install Express Card to USB 3.0 (Quite faster than the standard USB 2.0 and makes the computer got 5 USB slot)
List of parts replacement
New OEM Battery
New DC-in port
New MagSafe 85w charger
New Thermal Paste
List of Kext modifier use
Activate Night Shift Mode Screen
Maxed out Intel HD Graphic 3000 Vram 512mb to 1024mb
Activate USB 3.0 to work
Activate Handoff and Airdrop for bluetooth 4.0
List of Issue I faced after disabling the dGPU
1. When using Photoshop, Lightroom and any video/graphic editing software your computer will automatically shut itself down the cause was due to CPU Throttling because these second gen i7 automatically Turbo boost itself. What I did to solve this issue was using an application called "Turbo Boost Switcher" and disable turbo boost and the automatically shutdown was gone.
2. High fan rpm (80%++) and Cpu throttling at login after typing the password shutdown. Basically when turning on the machine without plugging charge cable after typing in the password and enter your computer will shut itself right away but you could bypass this by plugging charge cable after logging in and then remove the cable after your cpu and fans cool down. What I found out was there were some "Malware stuff that is hitting the cpu load more than 100%" at login such as "RPCSVCHOST" "INSTALLD" you just need to check your activity monitor to see it. But after installing some Malware killer apps such Avast or Clean My Mac those shutdown after login was gone.
My current tempt is around 59-62C and around 69-74C while doing graphics work fan running at 53% both side around 4200 rpm.
Lastly, seems these 2011 macbook pro could last you for daily task and loads task but don't stress out the CPU too much that could be the best thing for these device. I use these device for Photo editing using Photoshop, Lightroom, Premier Pro & After Effect 2020 version running MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6. After Effect is the only application that I use it with an eGPU whenever I'm running it other than that its all good. I am planning to upgrade to MacOS Mojave very soon within next few month will update again when I got Mojave running.
I am just sharing my experience