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

[Fl0r!an]

I've not done any more or less than replacing the UEFI with the Mac EFI. I'll Double check later that I didn't mess anything up.

The 4GB EFI is exactly the same als the 2GB one, no difference at all.

The Mac EFI is bigger than the PC one, no unusual.

 

[VicLev]

ok, i did brick the card with my experiments and not able to flash it through nvflash, card is not detected, even in the 2nd slot.

how do i short circuit the eeprom? and what are the chances this will help?

I've not done any more or less than replacing the UEFI with the Mac EFI. I'll Double check later that I didn't mess anything up.

The 4GB EFI is exactly the same als the 2GB one, no difference at all.

The Mac EFI is bigger than the PC one, no unusual.

 

[Fl0r!an]

Netkas has written a good tutorial on this here.

Chances are good that this'll help, worst case would be a complete replace of the EEPROM.

 

[MacVidCards]

So very easy to screw up these cards.

I can replace EEPROM if you send it to me, as long as it is SOIC-8 chip. Not soliciting business, would be free as long as you include return postage. Likely only worth the bother if you are in US.

The reason I have repeatedly looked for someone in LA to work on this with. 99% sure I could write some awesome roms for iMacs, don't have space to disassemble.

If you dig through the thread, pretty sure I suggested Web Driver before and it helped.

 

[Fl0r!an]

Likely only worth the bother if you are in US.

I could expand that to Europe
But I guess shorting the EEPROM will already do the job.

@mvc: Did you have a look at the ROMs I uploaded some days ago? Any idea why they won't give bootscreens? I did the exact same thing that works with PC Kepler cards... (Just EFI edits, no DCB table so far, but shouldn't matter for bootscreens from what I've seen so far...

@VicLev: I forgot to ask one thing: Did you have a look at the name of the GPU in the system profiler after flashing it? It should've changed from the GPU's real name to something generic, e.g. 'GK106 board' or something like that.

 

[mhafeez]

Just to let you guys know, my upgraded GPU had no problems with new OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) but still have no initial bootscreen. Cheers

 

[UnknownSouljer]

So very easy to screw up these cards.

I can replace EEPROM if you send it to me, as long as it is SOIC-8 chip. Not soliciting business, would be free as long as you include return postage. Likely only worth the bother if you are in US.

The reason I have repeatedly looked for someone in LA to work on this with. 99% sure I could write some awesome roms for iMacs, don't have space to disassemble.

If you dig through the thread, pretty sure I suggested Web Driver before and it helped.

Joined this forum just to reply in this thread. I have a big interest in installing a better video card in my 2011 iMac. I literally went back and read every post in here. MacVidCards, how long would it take you to develop a ROM if I could provide you with my machine and a Dell/Alienware 780M?

I haven't purchased a card yet, and I admit I may not bother if I can't get a solution that operates flawlessly, or nearly flawlessly. I definitely still want brightness control as well as of course being able to see boot.

 

[ryanhaver]

I am considering a GTX 880m Upgrade in my late 2009 27" iMac. The GTX 880m is essentially a re-branded GTX 780m, with slightly higher clock rate, so I should have similar results to what mhafeez has seen. I've acquired one of the beefier iMac heatsinks, that has 3 heat pipes and will likely be modding airflow a bit as well to keep things cool. My only concern would be if the iMac's power supply can provide enough power for the card and everything else at the same time.

 

[yifuhood]

what about if i just get a GeForce GTX 680MX which it come from a iMac 2012, will that work?

 

[MacVidCards]

All about the device id. The few I have looked at Apple changed device id by one byte.

If PC version not in Apple drivers, a problem. Also this requires the kind souls at Nvidia to write drivers for the wildly different port outputs detailed in PC Cards. Since few bother switching cards, they have little reason to write the drivers.

With no drivers, little incentive to switch cards. Apple wins. Again.

 

[VicLev]

restored the vBios finally and ready for some more action, lol.

so i ve got my hands on imac2011, different nvidia mxm cards, and finally a programmer for eeprom,

if anyone can help - i am ready to soft brick the card as many times as needed. thanks!

 

[UnknownSouljer]

restored the vBios finally and ready for some more action, lol.

so i ve got my hands on imac2011, different nvidia mxm cards, and finally a programmer for eeprom,

if anyone can help - i am ready to soft brick the card as many times as needed. thanks!

You give me hope. Love to hear what you come up with. Dell 780M's are pretty commonly available and "reasonably" priced. That would give me a 4 card generation upgrade, which would be significant in my aging Mac.

 

[yifuhood]

Just to let you guys know, my upgraded GPU had no problems with new OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) but still have no initial bootscreen. Cheers

hi mhafeez

dose your new gtx 780 graphic card took the advantage of Metal? could you show the geek bench scores of your iMac ? thank you

 

[mhafeez]

hi mhafeez

dose your new gtx 780 graphic card took the advantage of Metal? could you show the geek bench scores of your iMac ? thank you

the gtx780m does took the advantage of Metal especially in graphical processing apps (Adobes/FCPX/Lr etc) and gamings but the geekbench scores remain the same as previous OSX (see my attachment)

the only problem is I'm not able to access Recovery mode to disable the System Integrity Protection (SIP)

 

[yifuhood]

the gtx780m does took the advantage of Metal especially in graphical processing apps (Adobes/FCPX/Lr etc) and gamings but the geekbench scores remain the same as previous OSX (see my attachment)

the only problem is I'm not able to access Recovery mode to disable the System Integrity Protection (SIP)

cool, thank.
not able to access the recovery mode it is not a big deal. it Is worth the upgrade.

 

[sheldontung]

I succeed too. No startup screen and no brightness control as expected.

Dell 780m 4gb, device id 10DE-119F.

I tried twice. First time iMac just didn't start. Only one green light lit up on the logic board and nothing happened.

Then I put the old 6970m back, and it started up but nothing appeared on screen!!!! So I tried for the last time. I put 780m in again. This time iMac started and about 20 seconds later the log-in screen appeared.

I did install Nvidia Web Drive as suggested. But now my iMac won't identify any external display including Apple Thunderbolt Display.

I have reboot iMac many times, and still worried it can't startup like the first time.

Thanks all of you guys. Especially mhafeez and MacVidCards !

 

[oxenbridge]

Hi everyone, I have a complete newbie question: I'd like to upgrade my mid-2011 AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512 Mo GPU to something more powerful in order to enjoy more recent games at a decent framerate (Witcher II, Shadow of Mordor etc.).

What would be my best most simple options?

Thanks

 

[sheldontung]

Hi everyone, I have a complete newbie question: I'd like to upgrade my mid-2011 AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512 Mo GPU to something more powerful in order to enjoy more recent games at a decent framerate (Witcher II, Shadow of Mordor etc.).

What would be my best most simple options?

Thanks

If GTX 980 (Notebook version) is OK, that will be awesome.
But iMac's max power supply is 310W as I remember.

 

[flopticalcube]

Looks like the 770M and 780M have had the most luck. Both of these cards draw more power than the 6750m though.

 

[thebig_picture]

Hi - Thought I would share. imac 27" i7 2011 3.4 El Capitan. Inserted a used s/h gtx675mx 4GB from clevo (ebay). Had to mod the heatsink (6970 2GB ) by milling 2 small areas of alloy metal away to fit. (Used a pillar drill and a 6mm milling bit going slow with cutting paste to keep cutter cool.) Cleaned pasted and thermal padded I fitted to imac and zilch - nothing no boot, one led light, no fans no post, (even if RAM removed no beep) nothing. Then I removed the screen and attached acer monitor via Thunderbolt and HDMI adapter. Hit the power button a few times and the fans started to go : ) hit power again and hey presto 'chime' and start up. No start up screen and after about 4/5 minutes on the monitor there we were all up and running full screen Dock the lot! GPU card was recognised for what it was in About This Mac inc. 4GB! (very exciting) ran super smoothly but fans at full pelt mind (poss' because no screen sensor attached) In iStat GPU Die just had a dash next to it? but GPU heatsink stayed really nice and cool - around 36 degrees C - super cool?. Restarted - all good. Shut down and restarted all good - I was even getting second part of boot screen - what ? - apple and progress bar? - wow played DVDs everything was good - really good. Popped main screen back on. Again nothing - No Boot - one led light - nothing. Tried removing each cable from screen one at a time - temp sensor - nothing - back light nothing - lcd ribbon - bingo - start up!. Now doubting the screen or thinking I might have damaged screen ribbon cable on removal etc I removed 675mx card - popped 6970 2GB back in and it is all working well booting perfectly first press. Would love to get this 675mx card fully working with my main screen but for some reason attaching the screen ribbon to the logic board sends some message to the imac before it posts that all is not well which does not happen via a screen attached to Thunderbold port with this particular card. I hope my experiences might somehow help someone experimenting and hopefully give someone a eureka moment while trying to get some cards which seem like complete non-runners to run by removing the screen and attaching an external display via thunderbolt. Any help or light shed of course much appreciated. Best David

 

[madeirabhoy]

can i ask someone to be gentle with me and tell me what my options are. this is a long thread and there's lots of information but my brain is scrambled.

mine is a 27" 2011 with a gb 6970m. id love to upgrade the card but i want to keep using my screen. even a 2gb card would at least get me the minimum requirements for fallout 3 etc....

whats the best/easiest/cheapest option?

looking on ebay i see this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/For-Apple-i...187205?hash=item25b12b2ec5:g:bJUAAOSw3ydVv4wy

good idea? good price?

 

[sheldontung]

can i ask someone to be gentle with me and tell me what my options are. this is a long thread and there's lots of information but my brain is scrambled.

mine is a 27" 2011 with a gb 6970m. id love to upgrade the card but i want to keep using my screen. even a 2gb card would at least get me the minimum requirements for fallout 3 etc....

whats the best/easiest/cheapest option?

looking on ebay i see this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/For-Apple-i...187205?hash=item25b12b2ec5:g:bJUAAOSw3ydVv4wy

good idea? good price?

6970m 2gb it is. Your best choice.

I choose 780m because I don't mind putting 6970m back when it's needed.

For most people, I think, the huge performance improvement is always the priority.

 

[Meleeman777]

Hey everyone I just wanted to see if this thread was still alive. My AMD GPU just went out (I had it working the other day then it froze and died) and I was wondering if I could use a Quadro series MXM 3.0 card from a Dell laptop. From my understanding, there are Quadro cards available for the MacPro so I was wondering if that would work? I don't have too much money at the moment and can't fork out $400+ for a GTX 780M card so do u think you could offer insight?

 

[ivoruest]

How's everyone that upgraded doing with temps? I can imagine given the larger die size of the upgraded cards, did they fit in the stock cooling solution? How are fans working?

 

[madeirabhoy]

6970m 2gb it is. Your best choice.

I choose 780m because I don't mind putting 6970m back when it's needed.

For most people, I think, the huge performance improvement is always the priority.

since its the same type of card would it basically just slot in?