Hello folks,
I have been following the thread about graphics card upgrade 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade for some time, and someone mentioned that he has upgraded to USB3.
So I started my own USB3 project, and succeeded, at a cost of around US$ 20, plus around 3 hours work.
I replaced the WLAN card (mini PCI-E) with a mini-PCIE to PCI-E adapter card, plus a 2-port USB3 PCI-E card (small enough). This is located in the DVD drive bay, together with a SSD.
For the SSD upgrade, you need to remove the logic board. This also gives you more options to prepare the power for the USB3 card.
If you only upgrade to USB3 card, you can use a SATA power splitter from your HDD drive to your USB3 card. There is no need to remove the logic board.
The biggest difficulty is to cut the holes for the USB3 ports. This cost me 1.5 hours alone, mainly using Dremel and lots of patience. You can also use a Swiss army knife! I have created an instruction with links to the items I purchased (Aliexpress, Taobao).
The result is fantastic.
The USB3 card supports 5 Gbit/s speed, so you have full USB3.0 speeds with SSDs, USB3 thumb drives, etc. Finally a fast way to make backups and copy data for on the go.
See details in the attached file.
If you need help with getting the parts, let me know. I am enthusiast same as you, willing to help out.
UPDATE 14.Sept. 2020: The USB card is sold out at my Taobao supplier. Try to get your own card.
You can also bring down the ports to the bottom of your iMac using a USB extender:
If you use this extender and don't want the ports at the DVD bay, you can use a card without ports, like this:
Note that the one shown is with the NEC chip, which will need some driver mod. I do not know whether you can get such card with FRESCO FL1100 chip. Check this thread for info on above NEC card:
USB3 to 2009 iMac
Note that for 2011 model, you would need a mini-PCIE to mini-PCIE extender card, as this card is mini-PCIE like the original wifi, and you can't put this card at the location of the original wifi card due to space limits. The 2009 model has the socket at a different location.
Issues that you need to work around:
- No more wifi card (can use copper ethernet, or wifi dongle. I bought this item and it works with the driver from here)
- iMac can't boot from these added USB3 ports (maybe due to bootrom?)
- When iMac goes to sleep, the ports become unpowered, no matter your source of the 5V (I also tried the original 5V USB2 source). The consequence of this is: when iMac wakes up, it complains that the USB stick was improperly removed, and the stick is no longer present. So you need to remove it and plug it back to be detected again.
I have been following the thread about graphics card upgrade 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade for some time, and someone mentioned that he has upgraded to USB3.
So I started my own USB3 project, and succeeded, at a cost of around US$ 20, plus around 3 hours work.
I replaced the WLAN card (mini PCI-E) with a mini-PCIE to PCI-E adapter card, plus a 2-port USB3 PCI-E card (small enough). This is located in the DVD drive bay, together with a SSD.
For the SSD upgrade, you need to remove the logic board. This also gives you more options to prepare the power for the USB3 card.
If you only upgrade to USB3 card, you can use a SATA power splitter from your HDD drive to your USB3 card. There is no need to remove the logic board.
The biggest difficulty is to cut the holes for the USB3 ports. This cost me 1.5 hours alone, mainly using Dremel and lots of patience. You can also use a Swiss army knife! I have created an instruction with links to the items I purchased (Aliexpress, Taobao).
The result is fantastic.
The USB3 card supports 5 Gbit/s speed, so you have full USB3.0 speeds with SSDs, USB3 thumb drives, etc. Finally a fast way to make backups and copy data for on the go.
See details in the attached file.
UPDATE 14.Sept. 2020: The USB card is sold out at my Taobao supplier. Try to get your own card.
You can also bring down the ports to the bottom of your iMac using a USB extender:
If you use this extender and don't want the ports at the DVD bay, you can use a card without ports, like this:
Note that the one shown is with the NEC chip, which will need some driver mod. I do not know whether you can get such card with FRESCO FL1100 chip. Check this thread for info on above NEC card:
USB3 to 2009 iMac
Note that for 2011 model, you would need a mini-PCIE to mini-PCIE extender card, as this card is mini-PCIE like the original wifi, and you can't put this card at the location of the original wifi card due to space limits. The 2009 model has the socket at a different location.
Issues that you need to work around:
- No more wifi card (can use copper ethernet, or wifi dongle. I bought this item and it works with the driver from here)
- iMac can't boot from these added USB3 ports (maybe due to bootrom?)
- When iMac goes to sleep, the ports become unpowered, no matter your source of the 5V (I also tried the original 5V USB2 source). The consequence of this is: when iMac wakes up, it complains that the USB stick was improperly removed, and the stick is no longer present. So you need to remove it and plug it back to be detected again.
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