Strips on Display - GPU upgrade on iMac 21.5 inch Mid 2011

[elKikkoL290890]

Hello ! I've an iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) with this hardware:

CPU: Intel Core i5 2,5 GHz
RAM: 32 GB 1333 MHz DD3
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512 MB

I want to change the GPU because some strips have appeared on the display and to enhance it. Are there any problems installing an Nvidia Quadro K2100M DDR5 2GB ?

 

[msisaac]

I have this same exact iMac and I upgraded to the K2100M without any problems. Bought a Dell version off eBay and swapped it in easily. System booted up just fine and I was able to upgrade to Catalina from High Sierra. I had a Windows bootcamp partition and flashed the GPU rom with Nick[D]vB's rom. System works like a champ. Only things I've had problems with are nitpicks. Nick's rom is supposed to enable boot screens, but those aren't foolproof. I might get the Apple logo boot screen one time and then it's black the next time. Resetting nvram and smc seems to do the trick until the next time something goes funky. But I can always hold Option during boot and get a boot selection menu without fail, so it's not a big deal. Nick's rom for the K2100M is also supposed to support the native ambient backlight control, but I haven't had any success there. Screen is bright in a dark room or a bright room. Third item is that I sometimes lose the mouse cursor when the screen turns off for a long period. But I'm not sure if that's the GPU or my setup using Barrier to share my mouse/keyboard with my Windows system sitting right next to the iMac. Didn't have any problems with the mouse cursor before the GPU upgrade, though, so I'm thinking the GPU upgrade is related. The mouse cursor comes back after a short period of time, so again, it's nitpicky. Other than those items, MacOS has no problems running with this card, whether you flash the rom or not.

If you decide to flash the rom, I highly suggest you create a Windows bootcamp partition BEFORE you do the swap. There are other ways to flash the card, but the Windows method is the easiest. And creating the bootcamp partition AFTER swapping the card was a decent sized headache for me, so make sure you have Windows set up BEFORE you swap. If you don't want to flash the rom, then no need for bootcamp. You just won't have any boot screens. The screen will be black until MacOS starts.

 

[elKikkoL290890]

I have this same exact iMac and I upgraded to the K2100M without any problems. Bought a Dell version off eBay and swapped it in easily. System booted up just fine and I was able to upgrade to Catalina from High Sierra. I had a Windows bootcamp partition and flashed the GPU rom with Nick[D]vB's rom. System works like a champ. Only things I've had problems with are nitpicks. Nick's rom is supposed to enable boot screens, but those aren't foolproof. I might get the Apple logo boot screen one time and then it's black the next time. Resetting nvram and smc seems to do the trick until the next time something goes funky. But I can always hold Option during boot and get a boot selection menu without fail, so it's not a big deal. Nick's rom for the K2100M is also supposed to support the native ambient backlight control, but I haven't had any success there. Screen is bright in a dark room or a bright room. Third item is that I sometimes lose the mouse cursor when the screen turns off for a long period. But I'm not sure if that's the GPU or my setup using Barrier to share my mouse/keyboard with my Windows system sitting right next to the iMac. Didn't have any problems with the mouse cursor before the GPU upgrade, though, so I'm thinking the GPU upgrade is related. The mouse cursor comes back after a short period of time, so again, it's nitpicky. Other than those items, MacOS has no problems running with this card, whether you flash the rom or not.

If you decide to flash the rom, I highly suggest you create a Windows bootcamp partition BEFORE you do the swap. There are other ways to flash the card, but the Windows method is the easiest. And creating the bootcamp partition AFTER swapping the card was a decent sized headache for me, so make sure you have Windows set up BEFORE you swap. If you don't want to flash the rom, then no need for bootcamp. You just won't have any boot screens. The screen will be black until MacOS starts.

Thank you for your answer ! I purchased the nVidia Quadro K2100M from ebay, but I still have to receive it.
Can you explain in detail how to configure the card on the iMac ? Where can I find the necessary configuration files ?

 

[msisaac]

Read this post thoroughly and follow the links related to flashing the K2100M.

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

iMac 2009 to 2011 MXM3 graphics card upgrade (Lastest update 10/13/2023 - this is the official documentation page - you found it finally!) This is the single and only documentation post. During the last years we constantly updated this post to reflect the lastet development of vBIOS and OCLP...

forums.macrumors.com

There appear to be some other configurations that I haven't done yet, so I can't speak to those. But that link should provide most of the info you need. The basic steps are going to be:

1. Create Windows bootcamp partition and install Windows. Verify it works and make sure you can access it from another computer, just in case you need to flash the K2100M without the iMac internal monitor working.
2. Use a dremel or drill to drill out the 4 post holes in the K2100M card and remove the X bracket. You need to do this so that the X bracket from the Radeon 6750 card will work on the K2100M. BE EXTRA CAREFUL HERE. Drilling out the posts can kill your card if you slip up. Also, clean the card very well afterward. Metal shavings from the drilling can also kill the card.
3. Disassemble the iMac according to iFixit instructions. Be very careful unplugging the cables inside the iMac as they're very thin and fragile.
4. Swap the K2100M into the system and reassemble.
5. Boot to Windows and use the nvflash utility to flash Nick[D]vB's custom rom onto the card.

That's all I did. You don't have to flash your card with a new vBIOS if you don't want to. It works in MacOS right out of the box. But the vBIOS from Nick[D]vB adds back the boot screens and a few other goodies.

Good luck.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Read page one of this thread:

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

iMac 2009 to 2011 MXM3 graphics card upgrade (Lastest update 10/13/2023 - this is the official documentation page - you found it finally!) This is the single and only documentation post. During the last years we constantly updated this post to reflect the lastet development of vBIOS and OCLP...

forums.macrumors.com

I do not understand why people cannot search and find this thread and open another completely obsolete one 😇

Sorry, I could not resist...

 

[elKikkoL290890]

Read page one of this thread:

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

iMac 2009 to 2011 MXM3 graphics card upgrade (Lastest update 10/13/2023 - this is the official documentation page - you found it finally!) This is the single and only documentation post. During the last years we constantly updated this post to reflect the lastet development of vBIOS and OCLP...

forums.macrumors.com

I do not understand why people cannot search and find this thread and open another completely obsolete one 😇

Sorry, I could not resist...

Hi, I have already seen that page and purchased the recommended GPUs! If I write it is to ask for information as I find it difficult! Do you find my thread obsolete? It's simple, don't answer ! Sorry, I couldn't resist ...

 

[elKikkoL290890]

Read this post thoroughly and follow the links related to flashing the K2100M.

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

iMac 2009 to 2011 MXM3 graphics card upgrade (Lastest update 10/13/2023 - this is the official documentation page - you found it finally!) This is the single and only documentation post. During the last years we constantly updated this post to reflect the lastet development of vBIOS and OCLP...

forums.macrumors.com

There appear to be some other configurations that I haven't done yet, so I can't speak to those. But that link should provide most of the info you need. The basic steps are going to be:

1. Create Windows bootcamp partition and install Windows. Verify it works and make sure you can access it from another computer, just in case you need to flash the K2100M without the iMac internal monitor working.
2. Use a dremel or drill to drill out the 4 post holes in the K2100M card and remove the X bracket. You need to do this so that the X bracket from the Radeon 6750 card will work on the K2100M. BE EXTRA CAREFUL HERE. Drilling out the posts can kill your card if you slip up. Also, clean the card very well afterward. Metal shavings from the drilling can also kill the card.
3. Disassemble the iMac according to iFixit instructions. Be very careful unplugging the cables inside the iMac as they're very thin and fragile.
4. Swap the K2100M into the system and reassemble.
5. Boot to Windows and use the nvflash utility to flash Nick[D]vB's custom rom onto the card.

That's all I did. You don't have to flash your card with a new vBIOS if you don't want to. It works in MacOS right out of the box. But the vBIOS from Nick[D]vB adds back the boot screens and a few other goodies.

Good luck.

Hello, thank you for your answer ! I have already seen that page, sorry maybe I expressed myself wrong! I have seen rom files for vBios, but after creating a bootcamp windows or using another pc, how should I use these files? How do I start them? I don't understand this. I thank you for your availability!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Why not posting using the single thread where all the guys read and write interested in this topic?
No, you start a new one and help is passing by more by chance.

There is a more easy version using a linux boot stick which contains a readme with all the commands necessary. It also contains the most recent Nvidia vBIOS versions. I am more the UNIX guy.

If you go with the windows version use google to figure out how to use the windows nvflash software. Commands are pretty similar....but I am sure there must be a readme within the image, too. And I am sure that you will find on the first page other links about help regarding the flash topic.

 

[elKikkoL290890]

I'm new on the forum and I opened a thread without thinking about it ... it's not a problem to interact with other people, I'm quite sociable.

I was looking at some tutorials on youtube with NVFlash, but on the download page I saw that there is no BIOS for the Nvidia Quadro K2100 M ... I don't know if it is a generic indication ...

Then I don't know if you can boot Windows externally on a USB key, because I wouldn't want to create partitions on my SSD (small capacity).

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Then go the Linux way, please just switch over to the forum thread I mentioned above, and read the very first post. Search for the Linux flash method there, follow the link. Create a USB stick, boot it and follow the guide posted...if you are there and fail you may come back with more detailed questions.