2010 Imac GPU Broken, what are my options?

[chcoe]

Hi, this is my first time here and i don't have tons of knowledge about imac hardware etc. I have 2010 Imac and the graphics card is broken. At least according to the apple shop. To fix the graphics card is gonna cost a lot of money. Are there any other alternatives? Could I use it as a second screen or is it best to just give it up?

 

[astro90]

You can use it as a external Display You need to have a keyboard connected to the iMac tho.

Copy paste from google:

Follow these steps to start using your iMac as a display:

1. Make sure that your iMac is turned on, and the other Mac is logged in to a macOS user account.
2. Connect the Mini DisplayPort or Thunderbolt cable between the two computers.
3. Press Command-F2 on the keyboard of the iMac that you want to use as a display.

After you press Command-F2, your iMac displays the desktop from the connected Mac


You can also replace the GPU your self by I don't know what is required.

 

[Fishrrman]

At 10 years old, might be time to start shopping for a replacement, new or used.
Mac Mini might be a good choice.

It's not worth putting much (any?) money into a 10-year-old iMac.

 

[ezugaru]

Somewhat a technical Challenge, there is a thread that it's about what happened to You and even install newer versions of OSX in old devices.

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

 

[ezugaru]

Please Start at first post

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hi, this is my first time here and i don't have tons of knowledge about imac hardware etc. I have 2010 Imac and the graphics card is broken. At least according to the apple shop. To fix the graphics card is gonna cost a lot of money. Are there any other alternatives? Could I use it as a second screen or is it best to just give it up?

It depends on how you are willing to do with your iMac:

A. You are willing to open the iMac and replace the GPU yourself. (How worse can it be? It's already dead)
The cost is about 36$ (+ some more for thermal paste & tools) for a working nVidia Quadro 610m + 2 months waiting.
It will take you about half a day to open the iMac, replace the GPU, do some software fix)
There are plenty videos and photo instruction on Youtube and ifixit.com, check it yourself.

B. You are reluctant to open the iMac:
Just give it to the local repair store (not the apple store, they will trash it) and buy another one.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

You can use it as a external Display You need to have a keyboard connected to the iMac tho.

You mean Target Display Mode worked even when the GPU is completely dead, or removed from the machine?
I know that Target Display Mode works even when the GPU has some light issues, but not sure whether it will work when the GPU is completely dead (totaly black screen when power on)

 

[ezugaru]

You mean Target Display Mode worked even when the GPU is completely dead, or removed from the machine?
I know that Target Display Mode works even when the GPU has some light issues, but not sure whether it will work when the GPU is completely dead (totaly black screen when power on)

There is a chance that will work. Some forums claim 27" 2011 imacs works on TDM with faulty GPUs. Maybe the TDM uses processor's Graphics, since being a Display it won't use any extra processing or acceleration, the Main device's GPU Will.

 

[astro90]

You mean Target Display Mode worked even when the GPU is completely dead, or removed from the machine?
I know that Target Display Mode works even when the GPU has some light issues, but not sure whether it will work when the GPU is completely dead (totaly black screen when power on)

Really good question! I guess the display will be powered by the connected Mac GPU, not the iMac GPU? But to be honest im not sure.