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

[Darius Dominicus]

Можно ли заставить iMac12,2 думать, что это iMac13,2?
Is it possible to make iMac12.2 think that it is iMac13,2?

 

[swedry]

Hello and thank you all for this work. I just changed GPU in a 2011 iMac 27" and used a flashed K2100 card. Installed a fresh Catalina with dosdudes method. Everything works except external screens. Is this normal?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hello and thank you all for this work. I just changed GPU in a 2011 iMac 27" and used a flashed K2100 card. Installed a fresh Catalina with dosdudes method. Everything works except external screens. Is this normal?

Just connect the external display to the port near to the thunderbird port, I know this works writing this message from my iMc 2011/K2100M connected to an external Apple Cinema 23" Display. On page one of this thread under point 3 in the very beginning you will find the hint, that only one external display can be connected to the 27" iMacs after GPU upgrade 😎

 

[swedry]

Just connect the external display to the port near to the thunderbird port, I know this works writing this message from my iMc 2011/K2100M connected to an external Apple Cinema 23" Display. On page one of this thread under point 3 in the very beginning you will find the hint, that only one external display can be connected to the 27" iMacs after GPU upgrade 😎

Ok, but I've tried both ports without success and tested two different screens - mini DP to DP cable and mini DP to HDMI adapter. Have you tested another screen? Is the DP signal working or is just thunderbolt working? In that case a thunderbolt adapter or Mac screen is needed I suppose.

 

[passatgt]

Ok, but I've tried both ports without success and tested two different screens - mini DP to DP cable and mini DP to HDMI adapter. Have you tested another screen? Is the DP signal working or is just thunderbolt working? In that case a thunderbolt adapter or Mac screen is needed I suppose.

I'm using a Thunderbolt 1 -> VGA adapter for my testing external monitor and that works fine.

 

[grosmario]

hi,
for those like me who have trouble to flash with ch341a programmer,today i added a little red plier for better connection and all is good,was able to flash right after.

 

[Nikolai Strimban]

Hello guys,
I have couple of questions, I hope u don't mind to answer them:

So I have an iMac 21'5 2011 and I would like to upgrade it a little bit. Couple years ago when I upgraded CPU and RAM there was no info about upgrading GPU so thanks a lot @Nick [D]vB!

I bought a K1100M from eBay for 20 Euros and flashed it with CH341 with this modified VBIOS.

So my plan is:
I. Change the original HDD to an SSD (CD drive is already changed) and I'm going to use 593-0493 B Apple Temp Sensor (it is also 2 pin and I hope it will work)
II. Change the original airport card to an BCM94360CSAX from MacBook Pro 2013 with this adaptor (hope it will work out of box)
III. Reinstall Windows and High Sierra to the new drives and test it.
IV. Upgrade the graphic card to K1100M
V. Test everything again
VI. install Catalina


So my questions are:
1. Do u know if this temperature sensor will work?
2. can the newer AirPort card work in the old iMac with this adaptor out of box?
3. What is the best way to unglue the X-Clamp from the K1100M
4. As I understood, it is better to use the original X-Clamp with drilled holes, is it right?
5. Im not completely sure about boot screen: with the updated VBIOS Ill see the same picture as on original GPU. I mean Apple boot logo, and also the boot menu if I press ALT key?
6. As I understood the brightness control isn't working out of the box, and the only way to get it working is to install the OpenCore boot loader. Im familiar with Hackintosh and Clover, but Im not sure how this is working on a real iMac, and what DSDT Patches should be applied. Is it possible that it will work out of box in next VBIOS versions?
7. Will the brightness control work on Windows?
8. I bought an HP version, will it work the same as a DELL one?

Thank you very much for answering, sorry for so many questions!

And one more time:
Thank you @Nick [D]vB!

 

[passatgt]

Hello guys,
I have couple of questions, I hope u don't mind to answer them:

So I have an iMac 21'5 2011 and I would like to upgrade it a little bit. Couple years ago when I upgraded CPU and RAM there was no info about upgrading GPU so thanks a lot @Nick [D]vB!

I bought a K1100M from eBay for 20 Euros and flashed it with CH341 with this modified VBIOS.

So my plan is:
I. Change the original HDD to an SSD (CD drive is already changed) and I'm going to use 593-0493 B Apple Temp Sensor (it is also 2 pin and I hope it will work)
II. Change the original airport card to an BCM94360CSAX from MacBook Pro 2013 with this adaptor (hope it will work out of box)
III. Reinstall Windows and High Sierra to the new drives and test it.
IV. Upgrade the graphic card to K1100M
V. Test everything again
VI. install Catalina


So my questions are:
1. Do u know if this temperature sensor will work?
2. can the newer AirPort card work in the old iMac with this adaptor out of box?
3. What is the best way to unglue the X-Clamp from the K1100M
4. As I understood, it is better to use the original X-Clamp with drilled holes, is it right?
5. Im not completely sure about boot screen: with the updated VBIOS Ill see the same picture as on original GPU. I mean Apple boot logo, and also the boot menu if I press ALT key?
6. As I understood the brightness control isn't working out of the box, and the only way to get it working is to install the OpenCore boot loader. Im familiar with Hackintosh and Clover, but Im not sure how this is working on a real iMac, and what DSDT Patches should be applied. Is it possible that it will work out of box in next VBIOS versions?
7. Will the brightness control work on Windows?
8. I bought an HP version, will it work the same as a DELL one?

Thank you very much for answering, sorry for so many questions!

And one more time:
Thank you @Nick [D]vB!

1. Do u know if this temperature sensor will work?
The 2011 model doesn't have a sensor input for the HDD(like the 2010 model). It is usingone of the wires in the sata connector or something like that. Either way, you are better of just replacing the SSD and match the fan speed to the drive using Macs Fan Control app(also a good idea to increase the fan speed anyway). So a temp sensor is not a requirement to replace the SSD. Some SSD might even work out-of-the-box(meaning the fan will always be at the lowest temp).

2. can the newer AirPort card work in the old iMac with this adaptor out of box?
Not out of the box. The adapter you mentioned is fine, but it will need power too, usually from the bluetooth cable. Theres a separate thread on this here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e.1780242/page-12?post=28186485#post-28186485
If you want a plug&play solution, theres a guy in china that sells cards with a custom adapter where you can simply plug in the cable from the imac's bluetooth board into the adapter, and you don't need any hardware mod(like antenna adapters, because the BCM94360CSAX has smaller connectors for example). Here is the listing on taobao: https://world.taobao.com/item/40307425283.htm
Do you need handoff/continuity, thats why to upgrade? If not, you might be better off just buying some BT4 and AC wifi usb dongles.

3. What is the best way to unglue the X-Clamp from the K1100M
Heat maybe? But if you are careful, it can be drilled out while its still attached, i did that multiple times. You just need good quality drills.

4. As I understood, it is better to use the original X-Clamp with drilled holes, is it right?
Yes, because the apple bracket is slightly different in shape, it will short some capacitors on the card. You can trim out some parts of it, so its not touching, but its easier to just use the nvidia clamp.

5. Im not completely sure about boot screen: with the updated VBIOS Ill see the same picture as on original GPU. I mean Apple boot logo, and also the boot menu if I press ALT key?
You will only see the apple logo and the boot menu if you hold down the alt key. Of course, you will see the actual apple logo when macos loads, just not the one when you turn on the imac.

6. As I understood the brightness control isn't working out of the box, and the only way to get it working is to install the OpenCore boot loader. Im familiar with Hackintosh and Clover, but Im not sure how this is working on a real iMac, and what DSDT Patches should be applied. Is it possible that it will work out of box in next VBIOS versions?
Might be possible, i'm not sure. I tested this and it is working quite fine, the only issue is that you need to boot from an USB drive(opencore) and the boot screen looks a bit off in this case(no apple logo at all...well, kinda, but not the same as you are used to🙂) But i think Nick and @highvoltage12v will post more details about this. Also worth to mention that i'm working on a plug&play module with a custom app that can control backlight. I'm still testing this, so no more info on this yet.

7. Will the brightness control work on Windows?
I don't remember this one, i already deleted Windows, someone else might report on this. I know that Ubuntu has brightness control even without a flashed GPU.

8. I bought an HP version, will it work the same as a DELL one?
Yes, it should work the same.

 

[Nikolai Strimban]

1. Do u know if this temperature sensor will work?
The 2011 model doesn't have a sensor input for the HDD(like the 2010 model). It is usingone of the wires in the sata connector or something like that. Either way, you are better of just replacing the SSD and match the fan speed to the drive using Macs Fan Control app(also a good idea to increase the fan speed anyway). So a temp sensor is not a requirement to replace the SSD. Some SSD might even work out-of-the-box(meaning the fan will always be at the lowest temp).

2. can the newer AirPort card work in the old iMac with this adaptor out of box?
Not out of the box. The adapter you mentioned is fine, but it will need power too, usually from the bluetooth cable. Theres a separate thread on this here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e.1780242/page-12?post=28186485#post-28186485

3. What is the best way to unglue the X-Clamp from the K1100M
Heat maybe? But if you are careful, it can be drilled out while its still attached, i did that multiple times. You just need good quality drills.

4. As I understood, it is better to use the original X-Clamp with drilled holes, is it right?
Yes, because the apple bracket is slightly different in shape, it will short some capacitors on the card. You can trim out some parts of it, so its not touching, but its easier to just use the nvidia clamp.

5. Im not completely sure about boot screen: with the updated VBIOS Ill see the same picture as on original GPU. I mean Apple boot logo, and also the boot menu if I press ALT key?
You will only see the apple logo and the boot menu if you hold down the alt key. Of course, you will see the actual apple logo when macos loads, just not the one when you turn on the imac.

6. As I understood the brightness control isn't working out of the box, and the only way to get it working is to install the OpenCore boot loader. Im familiar with Hackintosh and Clover, but Im not sure how this is working on a real iMac, and what DSDT Patches should be applied. Is it possible that it will work out of box in next VBIOS versions?
Might be possible, i'm not sure. I tested this and it is working quite fine, the only issue is that you need to boot from an USB drive(opencore) and the boot screen looks a bit off in this case(no apple logo at all...well, kinda, but not the same as you are used to🙂) But i think Nick and @highvoltage12v will post more details about this. Also worth to mention that i'm working on a plug&play module with a custom app that can control backlight. I'm still testing this, so no more info on this yet.

7. Will the brightness control work on Windows?
I don't remember this one, i already deleted Windows, someone else might report on this. I know that Ubuntu has brightness control even without a flashed GPU.

8. I bought an HP version, will it work the same as a DELL one?
Yes, it should work the same.

Thank you very much for your answer!

 

[Kaapo Tupas]

Oh yes! Xanderons usb Linux stick worked. Via Asus router. With the readme file. I was little unsure. But I did figure it out. Thanks ! Is it now safe to put Catalina in my 2011 mid ?

 

[LowEndHuman]

Upgrading a 27" Core2Duo from 2009?

The Forum says NO, but I can't determine how firm that NO is.

Does that mean:
A) no never, must use EXACTLY the same card as before?
B) not any Metal capable cards, but yes to any pre-2012 card (like the flakey HD6790 from 2011)?
C) Yes Metal, but none of the patches will work to get the boot screen, etc. working?

I have it apart already. It is just an MXM card.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Does that mean:
A) no never, must use EXACTLY the same card as before?
no, just heat sink must fit with card size and power draw must fit machine type
B) not any Metal capable cards, but yes to any pre-2012 card (like the flakey HD6790 from 2011)?
you may use metal cards, but C
C) Yes Metal, but none of the patches will work to get the boot screen, etc. working?
no boot screen, no effect of the bios patch

I started two month ago with a late 2009 and learned it the hard way, too.

 

[LowEndHuman]

The original C2D came in differe

Yeah, well maybe someone can edit that information into the initial wiki post?

 

[CoMb0BrEaKeR]

I think my test iMac needs adjustment tonight.

 

[CoMb0BrEaKeR]

Now that will be the easiest replacement of a GPU on a 2011 iMac ever! Now I can test all these random GPU boards I have and the cards I am going to flash. Just need to extend the fan for the GPU heatsink.

 

[snam11]

6. As I understood the brightness control isn't working out of the box, and the only way to get it working is to install the OpenCore boot loader. Im familiar with Hackintosh and Clover, but Im not sure how this is working on a real iMac, and what DSDT Patches should be applied. Is it possible that it will work out of box in next VBIOS versions?
Might be possible, i'm not sure. I tested this and it is working quite fine, the only issue is that you need to boot from an USB drive(opencore) and the boot screen looks a bit off in this case(no apple logo at all...well, kinda, but not the same as you are used to🙂) But i think Nick and @highvoltage12v will post more details about this. Also worth to mention that i'm working on a plug&play module with a custom app that can control backlight. I'm still testing this, so no more info on this yet.

i'm an hackintosher too, so i hope @highvoltage12v will give us opencore instructions soon, so we can test it on our machines too.
i was wondering why on external usb, and not on efi hidden partition...

 

[MysticIce]

Hi! Has anyone tried using a HP or MSI card with success?

 

[Jake F.]

Hi everyone!

I upgraded my GPU with a K1100 and now running Catalina pretty well.

The problem is that the sleep mode does not work fine, since while the screen is off, the iMac is still running sometimes (I can hear the fans). Sometimes it just wakes up, goes to the login screen, the optical drive makes noise, and then the screen turns off again.

Is that normal?

Thank u! 🙂

 

[NOTNlCE]

Hi everyone!

I upgraded my GPU with a K1100 and now running Catalina pretty well.

The problem is that the sleep mode does not work fine, since while the screen is off, the iMac is still running sometimes (I can hear the fans). Sometimes it just wakes up, goes to the login screen, the optical drive makes noise, and then the screen turns off again.

Is that normal?

Thank u! 🙂

Please read post 1 - have you installed the required SandyBridge kexts for Catalina? If no, please do. If yes, try a reinstall of the kexts; it's possible they are not working correctly or permissions got funky during your first install. Sleep should work just fine with those.

 

[highvoltage12v]

i'm an hackintosher too, so i hope @highvoltage12v will give us opencore instructions soon, so we can test it on our machines too.
i was wondering why on external usb, and not on efi hidden partition...

We are using the Open Core bootloader that was based on @Rastafabi Mac Pro's bootloader. It's cloned over to look like a Time Machine Drive. Not 100% sure why we couldn't make it internal if we wanted too. I think if being booted from internal EFI partition it has the chance of damaging the iMacs bootrom like Clover did, I don't want to screw around with that. The best way I boot Open Core with my iMacs is with an SD card so it doesn't use up any of my USB ports.

 

[markfoody]

I have both a DELL K2100M and a HP K2100M for both my 21.5" machines.
I can confirm they BOTH work equally well as long as the Quadro_Beta 1.2 ROM is flashed to them. There should be no difference, component-wise appear similar.

I've received my board, I am trying to flash them with a ch341A (note, I believe, at the very least, this needs a 'mod' in order to make it work at 3v, see https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/ch341a-serial-memory-programmer-power-supply-fix/). However, I now see that pin 4, the write protect, is tied to GND, and I can't program it. At least, this is what I think happens.

Has anybody else experienced anything similar? Is there a fix? - I'm guessing, yes, cut the pin, then solder back to GND when done....?

 

[SKYNET-1]

hey everyone... somebody has tried the GTX 9xx series in a 2011 imac? works? n mood bios available for?

actually i look out for a GTX 780M for my 2011 21.5", will modify the TDP of the card via maxwell bios tweaker from 122W TDP to 75W TDP(around 20-25% less performance vs. 38% less power consumption), but when a 980m would work n a bios is available, i would choose those 🙂

or better a pascal or turing GPU... a 1060m has the same speed like the 980m but only need 80W instead of 122W from the 980m, the 2060m is 50% faster with 80W

 

[NOTNlCE]

hey everyone... somebody has tried the GTX 9xx series in a 2011 imac? works? n mood bios available for?

actually i look out for a GTX 780M for my 2011 21.5", will modify the TDP of the card via maxwell bios tweaker from 122W TDP to 75W TDP(around 20-25% less performance vs. 38% less power consumption), but when a 980m would work n a bios is available, i would choose those 🙂

or better a pascal or turing GPU... a 1060m has the same speed like the 980m but only need 80W instead of 122W from the 980m, the 2060m is 50% faster with 80W

Maxwell and Pascal cards are not being pursued due to lack of drivers in macOS and because of previous issues with the cards. The 900 series cards were tried by many and had a wide array of issues from no internal display to no backlight.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Ooze said:
What does the process look like for installing a wx4170?

The RX560 is a bit tricky, there are at least two versions of the WX4170 card, the one I found had a blank vbios chip that you can “blind flash” in windows using remote access (TeamViewer etc) or with a programmer clip. But, the version in most eBay listings are actually missing a vbios chip, so you would need to solder one on. You would then also need to do the back-light mod. There’s a small chance the WX4150 cards could work in a late 2009 iMac, it was actually detected in an early 2009 iMac (A1225) but couldn't output to its LVDS screen. They might also work in a 2009 Xserve?

...

First dump the iMac bootrom (make a back-up copy!) then use UEFI Tool to inject the CoreEG2 & EDID Parser (DXE drivers from the iMac 17,1). Expand the first volume in the bios region, scroll down and insert both drivers at the end before the free space, then save the file. Flash the modded bootrom and the vbios for your card (patched with a GOP taken from the MBP 14,3) then do a NVRAM reset and you should see a boot-screen! 8)

Venturing slightly off-topic to focus on the 2009 Xserve comment...

I recently acquired a free (xserve3,1 single proc) and have been looking at the options for it, I'd like to have a modern GPU in it and ideally do it via the MXM slot to replace GT120. So that brings me to iMac options as they have MXM cards and there are a few on ebay.

Before I found this thread I had located a chart that suggested macOS would detect and use WX 4100 series cards so I hunted around ebay and found 4130, 4150, 4170 MXM format cards.

Ironically the 4130 is more expensive than the 4150 .. in any case, assuming these are the actual photos of the 4130/4150 GPUs appear, to my untrained eyes, to have all chips in place, suggesting that it would have a vbios chip on it already. The photo of the 4170 seems to lack vbios chip.

4130: https://www.ebay.com/itm/233284533268

4150: https://www.ebay.com/itm/254480739902

4170: https://www.ebay.com/itm/333275848289

Assuming I was to select the 4150 and put it in the Xserve ...
Would one expect the miniDP output to work OOTB?
If not, would a vbios flash be the likely answer? (which leads to next question)
I notice that you include a ROM for 4170 ...
Would that be flashable to the 4150 as is?
Assuming it cannot, could it be modified for the 4150?
Does the 4150 use a GOP style ROM?

4150 if it can work in xserve3,1 seems ideal due to supposedly the same 50w TDP design as GT120 and the best price.

Would the xserve bootrom need any modifications to it?

I know you included 2 'ffs' files to be added to the iMac bootrom but they seem to be related to getting the card to work with the internal iMac display, but i'm not sure if they would be required (nor even compatible with xserve bootrom).

I'm also considering going to the cMP5,1 144 bootrom on the xserve for westmere/apfs/nvme support at which point it would basically be a MP4,1 with MXM slot on 5,1 firmware 😂
Perhaps going to cMP5,1 firmware would be the answer as it should work with GOP GPUs using opencore 0.5.5+ ... anyways lots of thoughts with few answers.

 

[SKYNET-1]

Maxwell and Pascal cards are not being pursued due to lack of drivers in macOS and because of previous issues with the cards. The 900 series cards were tried by many and had a wide array of issues from no internal display to no backlight.

so a GTX 780 will be the fastest working GPU update on a 21.1 without issues?

n btw. someone a idea for a more power full PSU? will fit(maybe with modding) the 250W form a 24"?

edit: i think i can solve the PSU problem easly: may a pico psu with 6pin PCIe connector, its possible to bridge with the main PSU / powerbutton... on standard PC works fine with 2 PSUs... but not sure, when the 6 pin connector from the imac PSU is not connected with the card connector on the mainboard, will start or just say "something is wrong, i will not start" 🤨