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

[jumpncrash]

Hi again, I have run through the steps a couple times, and read the guide many more, but I am currently redoing the opencore process because I messed up something unrelated and had to reinstall.
I have a 2011 Imac 27" wth a wx7100 in it.

I am confused about this step, more specifically with the part where it says that we will be using an iMacPro1.1 ID.
Where and when does this process take place, because in all the times I have gone through the process my imac has never shown up as anything but a mid 2011 imac in the "about this mac" section

Thanks

 

[BadBiscuit]

Has the OpenCore booter only been published for Nvidia cards? I guess it will work, too. Give it a try! And report back!

I asked because the kext is already present in my OpenCore library and contains the comment "Nvidia only!", which I suppose is why it is unchecked. I could try it, but prefer not to mess things up if known not to work. Thought it worth asking, since it was not clear from @highvoltage12v remarks, but I guess it wasn't.

UPDATE: For those playing at home, enabling the new AppleBlacklightFixup.kext on the AMD WX7100 is not recommended. It doesn't break it, but makes the brightness act wonky (the control shows brightness increasing, while the actual panel's backlight fades in and out).

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi again, I have run through the steps a couple times, and read the guide many more, but I am currently redoing the opencore process because I messed up something unrelated and had to reinstall.
I have a 2011 Imac 27" wth a wx7100 in it.

I am confused about this step, more specifically with the part where it says that we will be using an iMacPro1.1 ID.
Where and when does this process take place, because in all the times I have gone through the process my imac has never shown up as anything but a mid 2011 imac in the "about this mac" section

Thanks
View attachment 936835

Pick the right AMD config.plist and read the doc Nick provided on the Catalina Loader post. Then you are done with this. And go ahead ...

 

[jumpncrash]

Pick the right AMD config.plist and read the doc Nick provided on the Catalina Loader post. Then you are done with this. And go ahead ...

ok, so if I understand correctly it is not a seperate process, and that sentence is simply a statement of the results of the actions that will be taken?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I asked because the kext is already present in my OpenCore library and contains the comment "Nvidia only!", which I suppose is why it is unchecked. I could try it, but prefer not to mess things up if known not to work. Thought it worth asking, since it was not clear from @highvoltage12v remarks, but I guess it wasn't.

View attachment 936837

Guys, @highvoltage and me, we cannot check each and every combination on our own, I would simply do nothing else the whole day.

Give it a try and report. BTW you can enable the Fake_GPU* too as mentioned in the guide and marked as Nvidia only.

 

[GreppMichaels]

Hey Guys, a lot of you might already be aware of this but I just wanted to share something I found while I was searching for replacements for my 27 imac after it's external display output failed and eventually quadro k2100m died. (I replaced the flashed mxm card with the stock radeon hd 1gb, no problems but I'm ready to move on from my iMac)

I was able to purchase a 2x2.26ghz quadcores 2009 mac pro off craigslist in LA for $260 ,they were asking 400 but you can talk these down a lot (came with 4 hdd, one a ssd), you can super easily upgrade the firmware to where it now performs as a 2012, put in a sapphire pulse radeon rx 580 that works outta the box no flash (160 new), get ram to 64gb 1333mhz 60-70 off ebay (upgrade able to 128) and I have two 3.46ghz hex cores on the way that cost me around 100 from china, i'm going to be selling my imac for right around what the build is costing me 500-700, and I will end up with a very powerful mac pro that's way easier to hack and upgrade than our imacs (I know I gotta buy a screen but you can get some beautiful options even a 30in mac cinema display for under 100 that's better than your 1440p imac 27)

Buying these used MXM cards and putting them in is fun, but its a lot of money for not the hugest gains, and huge risk vs reward, if you're salvaging a non-functioning imac I totally understand, but you can salvage a 2009 mac pro for a steal, and end up with a much easier to upgrade WAY more powerful machine. If you wanna make use of existing upgrades you can repurporse your OSXWIFI card from your imac to your mac pro, along with the hdd and ssd as well (ram, no) and still sell your existing machine for good value.

They're capable of putting some beastly graphics cards that are much easier to source. Just wanted to share as I went through the whole process of maxing out my imac only to have my mxm card die on me two months in and forced me to revert to my radeon HD card. I can render video, game at full 1080p with 60 fps, and produce music all closer to if not exceeding the mac pro 2013 trash cans, along with being able to upgrade these older models endlessly until the CPU bottlenecks (i'm at 4% bottleneck with the 3.46ghz hexacores, there are people running dual rx 580s and vegas in these mac pros, it's all possible with much minor tweaks compared to modifying heatsinks and flashing gpus)

I just wanted to share this because I was pretty devastated with all my hardwork in my imac going to waste as the mxm card slowly failed (first lost external display, then card completely died, under zero load, months after install and zero hiccups up until this) and maxxing out a 2009 mac pro is more economical and better future proofing. Love you all, good luck with the imacs, and there are a ton of threads on the 2009 if you'd like to see how easy it is to repurpose and max out these powerful babies!

 

[LooseCanonSam]

What was decided regarding the Unigine Valley Benchmark settings? I caught "Quality: Medium" and "Resolution: 1920x1080," but it seemed there was disagreement over "Anti-aliasing: Off" or "x2."

 

[Amsterdamned]

I may get a Quadro K5100m 8Gb from a dell m6800 less than 100 euros

Wow, that’s a great price. I’ve seen them on aliexpress for a lot more and they’re a lot cheaper there than ebay.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Trying to answer:

Most used cards you get cheap had a live before you put it into your iMac, there is always the danger of getting a slowly failing card. Thinking of the high end cards 780M and K4100M this is a even more serious problem. I had to buy five 780M cards before finding two running stable in an iMac for months, now.

In any case you need the Fan Control working to make life better for your MXM card.

The salvage thing is what drive most people here. I got my (GPU dead) iMacs for less than 200 USD including a nearly new 1TB Samsung EVO SSD. Adding a card for 25-55 USB seems reasonable. Some found an iMacs for free in a dumpster.

Talking about prices:

The moment we put and manage a support list on page #1 and post #1 and add a new MXM card the prices rise. Recently the K4100M price went up from 65 USD to 130+ USD on eBay U.S. So it is you - all the silent readers - driving the prices up and demanding at the same time better docs and more support.

Everybody has to do the math on his/her own. Adding a BT 4.2 card you get a 2013 iMac you can still repair unlike the iPhone alike sealed more recent machines...

What was decided regarding the Unigine Valley Benchmark settings? I caught "Quality: Medium" and "Resolution: 1920x1080," but it seemed there was disagreement over "Anti-aliasing: Off" or "x2."
View attachment 936956

Off!

 

[Molfar]

** NVIDIA Quadro K4100M ROM **​

@nikey22 Are you planning to port this "AntiOpenCore" achievement to NVIDIA Quadro K610M? If so, I'll will be among the first testers with iMac 27 mid 2011. This K610M just lies in a box and is waiting for this event.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

@nikey22 Are you planning to port this "AntiOpenCore" achievement to NVIDIA Quadro K610M? If so, I'll will be among the first testers with iMac 27 mid 2011. This K610M just lies in a box and is waiting for this event.

Using OpenCore and spoofing the iMacPro ID with Nvidia cards can make life really easy. If you install a BT4.0 card you do not have to whitelist the iMac board, you do not face all the black screen issues, you have the sound back with Windows 10 UEFI.

 

[jay508]

Hello everyone, I come from Fujian, China. My English is not very bad, is the Chinese translation English, does not know everybody can understand. Sorry!

I have a lot of video cards to test. At present, VBIOS can be used by using ch341a programmer to brush k610m k2100m GTX 780m. However, the system's original brightness can't be adjusted. At present, AMD M4000 can't normally light up the screen. It can be seen from the remote that the video card has been driven, but the black screen cannot be displayed, @ Nick [D] VB and@ Nikkey 22 can share the relevant information to adjust the expenditure. The original boot light screen boot can spend the original brightness adjustment under Mac OS and windows. I have a ch341a programmer that can be used to write VBIOS programs. In this process, I found that some video card VBIOS chip is flat pin clamp can not be clamped, I used physical methods to replace the VBIOS chip with a foot to solve.

User @ xanderon created a prefabricated USB, which can refresh NVIDIA card in IMAC through SSH through Linux. Is this method a way to solve the problem that the ch341a programmer can't clamp the flat foot VBIOS chip to write. This method has not been tested, mainly because we don't know how to use SSH.


Another problem is that the vendor ID manufacturer of the VBIOS information hardware of k610m is apple.

This card was originally HP's, and how @ Nick [D] VB and @ nikkey22 were changed. The vendor ID manufacturer of GTX 780m k2100m VBIOS information hardware is Dell. Can you change the hardware vendor ID manufacturer information of other cards such as k2100m GTX 780m to apple?

 

[jay508]

Hi guys!
I'm a university student from Beijing,China.
I have been following this post for some time. Sorry for my poor English. I hope you guys can understand what i mean.
I'm using a 2011 iMac 27’ with AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB, and actually my graphics card works well, except when I using applications like Adobe Illustrator it warns that it's out of graphic memory, my graphics card must be more than 1GB. So I want to change a grapic card. View attachment 935967
I bought the WX7100 with109-C95847-00C 02 from Alibaba, but unfortunately it doesn't work properly.
The fan only turns on for one second when I touch power on, and the screen stays black. View attachment 935969
I observed some anomalies on the motherboard. Under normal condition, there will be three regular lights on the host LED lamp, but only the first one on the left will be on after the replacement of WX7100, and the power supply has a subtle ticking sound, like the sound of a clock's second hand turning. View attachment 935970 View attachment 935971
In addition, I didn't use the GOP ROM of @ Nick [D] VB because I didn't have any other computers to flash the ROM……

（I guess it's probably the lack of power supply? Because the power of the wx7100 is much higher than the original amd radon HD 6770m）

（The seller tested the card works well in a Dell laptop before he sent it to me……But he allowed me to replace it）

Now, I'm going to replace wx4170. Can someone give me some details? Are all models available for normal use or must it be a specific version number?

Thank you all，
Have a nice day!

Benham
July 21, 2020

Hello, I'm from Fujian, China. My English is really poor. It's all about translation. Has your graphics card been lit up. I have the same machine as you. I have several video cards that have been successful. If you haven't lit it yet. You can send me to write VBIOS test for you. Contact Penguin QQ: 826 889 83

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hello everyone, I come from Fujian, China. My English is not very bad, is the Chinese translation English, does not know everybody can understand. Sorry!


I have a lot of video cards to test. At present, VBIOS can be used by using ch341a programmer to brush k610m k2100m GTX 780m. However, the system's original brightness can't be adjusted. At present, AMD M4000 can't normally light up the screen. It can be seen from the remote that the video card has been driven, but the black screen cannot be displayed, @ Nick [D] VB and@ Nikkey 22 can share the relevant information to adjust the expenditure. The original boot light screen boot can spend the original brightness adjustment under Mac OS and windows. I have a ch341a programmer that can be used to write VBIOS programs. In this process, I found that some video card VBIOS chip is flat pin clamp can not be clamped, I used physical methods to replace the VBIOS chip with a foot to solve.


User @ xanderon created a prefabricated USB, which can refresh NVIDIA card in IMAC through SSH through Linux. Is this method a way to solve the problem that the ch341a programmer can't clamp the flat foot VBIOS chip to write. This method has not been tested, mainly because we don't know how to use SSH.


Another problem is that the vendor ID manufacturer of the VBIOS information hardware of k610m is apple. is card was originally HP's, and how @ Nick [D] VB and @ nikkey22 were changed. The vendor ID manufacturer of GTX 780m k2100m VBIOS information hardware is Dell. Can you change the hardware vendor ID manufacturer information of other cards such as k2100m GTX 780m to apple?

Just a short answer from an non video bios editor:

Your M4000 is a Maxwell (this is the family code name Nvidia used to identify this product) based Nvidia card and will not work in any Mac because Apple does not include driver support for Maxwell cards into MacOS.

Your other cards are Kepler bases (another GPU family) and these cards will work even without a special BIOS.

Changing the vendor name does not change anything related to the functionality of a video BIOS.

All of this has been written down long, long ago in this thread and you will find a lot of valuable information starting an page one and post #1 to read - there is our condensed sublimate of 7 years of exploring and work. You will find a lot of links and if you want to start video editing you might use the search button on top of the page and limit the results to this thread.

 

[Cordonblu]

Hello everyone, I come from Fujian, China. My English is not very bad, is the Chinese translation English, does not know everybody can understand. Sorry!

I have a lot of video cards to test. At present, VBIOS can be used by using ch341a programmer to brush k610m k2100m GTX 780m. However, the system's original brightness can't be adjusted. At present, AMD M4000 can't normally light up the screen. It can be seen from the remote that the video card has been driven, but the black screen cannot be displayed, @ Nick [D] VB and@ Nikkey 22 can share the relevant information to adjust the expenditure. The original boot light screen boot can spend the original brightness adjustment under Mac OS and windows. I have a ch341a programmer that can be used to write VBIOS programs. In this process, I found that some video card VBIOS chip is flat pin clamp can not be clamped, I used physical methods to replace the VBIOS chip with a foot to solve.

User @ xanderon created a prefabricated USB, which can refresh NVIDIA card in IMAC through SSH through Linux. Is this method a way to solve the problem that the ch341a programmer can't clamp the flat foot VBIOS chip to write. This method has not been tested, mainly because we don't know how to use SSH.


Another problem is that the vendor ID manufacturer of the VBIOS information hardware of k610m is apple.

This card was originally HP's, and how @ Nick [D] VB and @ nikkey22 were changed. The vendor ID manufacturer of GTX 780m k2100m VBIOS information hardware is Dell. Can you change the hardware vendor ID manufacturer information of other cards such as k2100m GTX 780m to apple?

Hi, what chip model did you use when you changed the stock wson chip to a soic?

Cheers.
[automerge]1595621678[/automerge]

Using OpenCore and spoofing the iMacPro ID with Nvidia cards can make life really easy. If you install a BT4.0 card you do not have to whitelist the iMac board, you do not face all the black screen issues, you have the sound back with Windows 10 UEFI.

So for the opencore-less K4100M with the stock wifi we have to still spoof the macID, are there any guide about doing this? I have some experience when I did my T420 hackintosh back when el crapitan was brand new, but this things just are out of my knowledge.
I have searched in #1 for more info but that post assumes that you are going to use opencore.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi, what chip model did you use when you changed the stock wson chip to a soic?

Cheers.
[automerge]1595621678[/automerge]

So for the opencore-less K4100M with the stock wifi we have to still spoof the macID, are there any guide about doing this? I have some experience when I did my T420 hackintosh back when el crapitan was brand new, but this things just are out of my knowledge.
I have searched in #1 for more info but that post assumes that you are going to use opencore.

Nobody has said this! It was just a reply to the guy asking for an OpenCore less BIOS for the K610M. My point here is: By using Catalina or Mojave we are deep in the grey space of Apple Software Support. Even the guys working on bringing Big Sur to unsupported machines use OpenCore, now.

If you use the BT 4.0 you will have to whitelist your iMac board-ID - or you use a newer one from a recent machine known to work with the latest and greatest software features Apple introduces with new machines and new MacOS versions, I guess it is called HandOff

This is done with the AMD config.plist on the Catalina loader, too! And yes, it has been explained several times in posts linked from post #1.

Having this wonderful K4100M bios is really great, but I am afraid at the very end we will face OpenCore sooner or later when trying to run new MacOS versions on unsupported hardware.

Wait: I use the iMacProID with Nvidia cards right now, too. Unreleased software, changed my config.plist manually.

Wait, wait: This is not the OpenCore thread

 

[Wania]

If you use the BT 4.0 you will have to whitelist your iMac board-ID ...

Wait: I use the iMacProID with Nvidia cards right now, too. Unreleased software, changed my config.plist manually.

can you tell me how to do it manually in config.plist? because i am just going to install BCM94331CD in my iMac 2011 with K4100M

 

[Cordonblu]

Nobody has said this! It was just a reply to the guy asking for an OpenCore less BIOS for the K610M. My point here is: By using Catalina or Mojave we are deep in the grey space of Apple Software Support. Even the guys working on bringing Big Sur to unsupported machines use OpenCore, now.

If you use the BT 4.0 you will have to whitelist your iMac board-ID - or you use a newer one from a recent machine known to work with the latest and greatest software features Apple introduces with new machines and new MacOS versions, I guess it is called HandOff

This is done with the AMD config.plist on the Catalina loader, too! And yes, it has been explained several times in posts linked from post #1.

Having this wonderful K4100M bios is really great, but I am afraid at the very end we will face OpenCore sooner or later when trying to run new MacOS versions on unsupported hardware.

Wait: I use the iMacProID with Nvidia cards right now, too. Unreleased software, changed my config.plist manually.

Wait, wait: This is not the OpenCore thread

I was asking because since i got a BCM94360CDPAX kit from HK and I'm trying to recollect as much information as I can to make a step by step guide for sharing with everyone, since some of my friends want to do the same upgrade.
In Spain Apple products have great value even if they are old and broken. ( I've seen old iMac G5, PowerPC Mac Pro and similiar not even working actually sold for 300+ or more )

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I was asking because since i got a BCM94360CDPAX kit from HK and I'm trying to recollect as much information as I can to make a step by step guide for sharing with everyone, since some of my friends want to do the same upgrade.
In Spain Apple products have great value even if they are old and broken. ( I've seen old iMac G5, PowerPC Mac Pro and similiar not even working actually sold for 300+ or more )

Have you read this?

iMac Mid 2011 Bluetooth 4.0 internal upgrade

Post Updated October 23rd, 2021 0. Preamble This is in fact an iMac Late 2007 to Mid 2011 Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi 802.11ac upgrade thread - which some minor adjustments one can use the guides posted here to apply this upgrade even on older iMacs and MacPro systems. Until this first post will...

forums.macrumors.com

On page 12 is a guide...

 

[jay508]

Just a short answer from an non video bios editor:

Your M4000 is a Maxwell (this is the family code name Nvidia used to identify this product) based Nvidia card and will not work in any Mac because Apple does not include driver support for Maxwell cards into MacOS.

Your other cards are Kepler bases (another GPU family) and these cards will work even without a special BIOS.

Changing the vendor name does not change anything related to the functionality of a video BIOS.

All of this has been written down long, long ago in this thread and you will find a lot of valuable information starting an page one and post #1 to read - there is our condensed sublimate of 7 years of exploring and work. You will find a lot of links and if you want to start video editing you might use the search button on top of the page and limit the results to this thread.

Hello: my M4000 is the original professional graphics card AMD FirePro M4000 vest card of Dell m4700. Under the Mac OS, the driver display is ADM HD 7770m, not Maxwell's n card m4000m
[automerge]1595645009[/automerge]

Hi, what chip model did you use when you changed the stock wson chip to a soic?

Cheers.
[automerge]1595621678[/automerge]

So for the opencore-less K4100M with the stock wifi we have to still spoof the macID, are there any guide about doing this? I have some experience when I did my T420 hackintosh back when el crapitan was brand new, but this things just are out of my knowledge.
I have searched in #1 for more info but that post assumes that you are going to use opencore.

Hello, Huabang w25x20clsnig Winbond / Huabang memory model: w25x20clsnig

Manufacturer: Winbond package: sop8, I think k610m is used on this type of memory, capacity is 256K, in China to buy this is very convenient and very cheap, RMB more than a yuan about it.

 

[Cordonblu]

Have you read this?

iMac Mid 2011 Bluetooth 4.0 internal upgrade

Post Updated October 23rd, 2021 0. Preamble This is in fact an iMac Late 2007 to Mid 2011 Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi 802.11ac upgrade thread - which some minor adjustments one can use the guides posted here to apply this upgrade even on older iMacs and MacPro systems. Until this first post will...

forums.macrumors.com

On page 12 is a guide...

Yes I did read it but my kit isn't even close to arrive, so I have to run the stock card in Mojave for a while, that's why I was asking about the whitelist. Just read the post in 12 page, didn't saw the blacklist part.

 

[jmilan0302]

Your M4000 is a Maxwell (this is the family code name Nvidia used to identify this product) based Nvidia card and will not work in any Mac because Apple does not include driver support for Maxwell cards into MacOS.

It's an AMD card...

 

[bokkow]

Excited! Today in the mail, ready to be installed, covered maybe too many components with K5 but better too many than too few I guess. Going to install it tomorrow.

 

[rodolfo.araujo]

Considering the K4100m ROM posted a few days back is working "out-of-the-box" does anyone think it makes sense to think the K2100m ROM could receive such upgrade?

 

[jay508]

View attachment 937338

View attachment 937339

View attachment 937340

View attachment 937341

Excited! Today in the mail, ready to be installed, covered maybe too many components with K5 but better too many than too few I guess. Going to install it tomorrow.

Do you want to paste the memory pad on the back of k4100?
[automerge]1595698734[/automerge]

Considering the K4100m ROM posted a few days back is working "out-of-the-box" does anyone think it makes sense to think the K2100m ROM could receive such upgrade?

The tested video card k610m k200m k2100m k3100m gtx780m can have "out of the box" VBIOS better. I am looking forward to it