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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
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Bought two RX5500XT from China, one came in DOA (dead on arrival) and the sender never answered on my request! The other card died after less than 12 months without being used! Casual software development, no video processing and no gaming. So there is no one working on this project any longer and honestly since even M$ announced to rely on AVX2 CPUs there is no desktop OS left other than all these Linux versions for an 2011 SandyBridge system. Looks like we hit a dead end, it is 2025!
On paper this card looks great, in reality your mileage may vary. Like the WX7100 those cards are heavily overpriced. You can get nearly a M4 mini, for sure an older Apple silicon Mac. My M4 consumes 40W including the 27” display while the iMac pulls 120-200W doing the same things. The energy bill alone will pay for the new M4.
Well that’s depressing
my 6970 is working fine on Monterey but I bought this 5500 for the potential of more vram. Shame since the 27” are such powerful machines still. Maybe I’ll run windows then - thanks for all your hard work.
but I haven't been able to test it yet to really know since on my imac the lcd screen is broken so i always just connect to an ext monitor and recently my orginal gpu for my 2010 21.5 inch hd4670 or sum it broke and I was using ubuntu so im quite stumped.... do I boot ubuntu wihtout flashing on my ssd orrrr???
I've looked through the forums and haven;t seen folks with the same issue.. But when i installed my w5170M on my 11,2 imac the boot chime loops. So it won't allow me to go to the GRML usb. (My USB flashes when it's getting read) so idk if its the lack copper shim (Idk how to measure or find the correct copper shim and I don't wanna waste money) or a short.. @piwikiwi you have one of these cards in ur imac. maybe u could help?.
Hi to all!!
I'm facing a problem with my setup I have an iMac 11.1 late 2009 with 860 Intel CPU.
I try install a WX4150 v1.1, with EG bios, this one without dufc temperature sensor and related resistor close.
I have install OCLP and Ventura in dual boot with W11 all work perfectly, except for CPU frequency, throttling at 1.2ghz and the CPU and ODD fan run at full speed.
I've che all temperature sensor and are good I have correct readings in Mac fan control but when I run powermetrics the GPU die temp is -127° and cpuplimits 15 gpuplimits 3.
Anyone can help me?
🙏
I'm facing a problem with my setup I have an iMac 11.1 late 2009 with 860 Intel CPU.
I try install a WX4150 v1.1, with EG bios, this one without dufc temperature sensor and related resistor close.
I have install OCLP and Ventura in dual boot with W11 all work perfectly, except for CPU frequency, throttling at 1.2ghz and the CPU and ODD fan run at full speed.
I've che all temperature sensor and are good I have correct readings in Mac fan control but when I run powermetrics the GPU die temp is -127° and cpuplimits 15 gpuplimits 3.
Anyone can help me?
🙏
Have you tried going into OpenCore settings and selecting 'Disable Throttling'? This can help in some situations, disabling CPUFriend could also help but do this one at your own risk
Hey, folks…
I am going to jump into the middle of this long-a$$ super-thread with a question that has likely been asked and answered many times over now, but I cannot fish through 900+ pages to find what I need. If this is the wrong place to post this, I hope the mods will move it to the appropriate place (and let me know, as otherwise I will never find the answers you guys take the time to type up for me).
Today, I modified my GPU heat sink for my new-to-me GPU install.
mid-2011 iMac 27"
Core i7 2600 (SR00B) @ 3.4 GHz
NVIDIA K4100M
I used my Dremel with a sanding barrel to grind down the pads of the heat sink as per the several photos I have seen for the K4100M, and based on what I can see with my actual IRL components.
I had to stop after I had both heat sinks installed and torqued down to "barely finger tight". The CPU seemed to go well, though I had an issue with getting the heat sink to lie flat on the CPU and the "radiator" portion to contact the flat mounting bracket. (I figured it out, though.)
So I think I may have ruined my three-pipe heat sink by removing too much material. I am hoping someone here can allay my fears, pat me on the head, and send me on my way.
I marked the pads and ground them down as all the various videos and "build threads" show, but this left gaps that were quite large with the smaller, metal-looking chips at the top of the card. I have good quality thermal pad material, but ended up not using it due to this large gap. For the CPU, I used Arctic MX-4. I used that on the GPU chip, too. But once I got a load of the big gap where I ground away the heat sink material, I decided to use enough of the Arctic MX-4 to completely fill the gaps between the chips and the metal sink.
WAS THIS INCORRECT? And, more importantly, is this specific thermal paste okay for use with these smaller chips? I stopped for the evening once I had screwed the heat sinks back onto the logic board, so I can easily take down the GPU section, wipe it all clean, and do this over again if I have screwed up.
I have OwlTree thermal pads, Arctic Silver, and some Kryonaut stuff, and I could apply any of them if need be. However, if I need to do this, I need a brief hand-holding session since the pads do not come with any instructions. For instance, does the shiny material peel off both sides? Like, are the pads self-adhesive or something like that?
Further, two of the chips are shiny metal, like the main chip, and they are the two for which I had to clearance the sink. I imagine these must have different temps than the plastic (ceramic?) black chips, but again, I have no idea.
Help?
Anyone?
Bueller?
THANKS!
-- Wade
My cat Mary Ann remains unimpressed…
I am going to jump into the middle of this long-a$$ super-thread with a question that has likely been asked and answered many times over now, but I cannot fish through 900+ pages to find what I need. If this is the wrong place to post this, I hope the mods will move it to the appropriate place (and let me know, as otherwise I will never find the answers you guys take the time to type up for me).
Today, I modified my GPU heat sink for my new-to-me GPU install.
mid-2011 iMac 27"
Core i7 2600 (SR00B) @ 3.4 GHz
NVIDIA K4100M
I used my Dremel with a sanding barrel to grind down the pads of the heat sink as per the several photos I have seen for the K4100M, and based on what I can see with my actual IRL components.
I had to stop after I had both heat sinks installed and torqued down to "barely finger tight". The CPU seemed to go well, though I had an issue with getting the heat sink to lie flat on the CPU and the "radiator" portion to contact the flat mounting bracket. (I figured it out, though.)
So I think I may have ruined my three-pipe heat sink by removing too much material. I am hoping someone here can allay my fears, pat me on the head, and send me on my way.
I marked the pads and ground them down as all the various videos and "build threads" show, but this left gaps that were quite large with the smaller, metal-looking chips at the top of the card. I have good quality thermal pad material, but ended up not using it due to this large gap. For the CPU, I used Arctic MX-4. I used that on the GPU chip, too. But once I got a load of the big gap where I ground away the heat sink material, I decided to use enough of the Arctic MX-4 to completely fill the gaps between the chips and the metal sink.
WAS THIS INCORRECT? And, more importantly, is this specific thermal paste okay for use with these smaller chips? I stopped for the evening once I had screwed the heat sinks back onto the logic board, so I can easily take down the GPU section, wipe it all clean, and do this over again if I have screwed up.
I have OwlTree thermal pads, Arctic Silver, and some Kryonaut stuff, and I could apply any of them if need be. However, if I need to do this, I need a brief hand-holding session since the pads do not come with any instructions. For instance, does the shiny material peel off both sides? Like, are the pads self-adhesive or something like that?
Further, two of the chips are shiny metal, like the main chip, and they are the two for which I had to clearance the sink. I imagine these must have different temps than the plastic (ceramic?) black chips, but again, I have no idea.
Help?
Anyone?
Bueller?
THANKS!
-- Wade
My cat Mary Ann remains unimpressed…
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Hi,
I have an iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011) iMac12,2 too, and I'm using a NVIDIA Quadro K3100M perfectly running Monterey updated.
Okay, I am back. I have some ideas about this now, and hope sincerely that *someone* with an answer finds this soon and can help set me straight.
I now understand that I cannot fill the gap between the two VRMs and the aluminum heatsink plate that I created with my Dremel by using the Arctic MX-4 paste.
I believe the heatsink is usable if I fill that space with either copper shims cut to fit the space just so. I own a brass instrument repair shop, so I have copper sheets of various thicknesses. So that will not be an issue.
Alternatively, I have the OwlTree thermal pad kit. I have one sheet that is thick enough to fit with a tiny bit of compression to the pad. I have read that this will also work, not as well as copper, but well enough, and much easier to work with.
Again, I ask the question I posted above (since there are no instructions included): These pads have shiny faces that are harder than the pad material. Are these like peel-and-stick backing sheets? Do I have to peel off the shiny facing sheets from both sides to apply them, or do I just trim them and place them on the VRMs as they come out of the package? I do not understand how to install these pads because I have never seen them in use on anything before. Until I found a link to them in this super-long thread, I had no idea that such a product existed.
Anyone?
Thank you!
I now understand that I cannot fill the gap between the two VRMs and the aluminum heatsink plate that I created with my Dremel by using the Arctic MX-4 paste.
I believe the heatsink is usable if I fill that space with either copper shims cut to fit the space just so. I own a brass instrument repair shop, so I have copper sheets of various thicknesses. So that will not be an issue.
Alternatively, I have the OwlTree thermal pad kit. I have one sheet that is thick enough to fit with a tiny bit of compression to the pad. I have read that this will also work, not as well as copper, but well enough, and much easier to work with.
Again, I ask the question I posted above (since there are no instructions included): These pads have shiny faces that are harder than the pad material. Are these like peel-and-stick backing sheets? Do I have to peel off the shiny facing sheets from both sides to apply them, or do I just trim them and place them on the VRMs as they come out of the package? I do not understand how to install these pads because I have never seen them in use on anything before. Until I found a link to them in this super-long thread, I had no idea that such a product existed.
Anyone?
Thank you!
hi , i use this thermal paste to fill gap like apple do,i don t know if it s working but better than nothing....
K5 PRO 10g Viscous Thermal Paste for Thermal Pad Replacement Liquid Thermal Pad Putty Compatible with Apple iMac, Asus ROG, Acer Nitro, MSI laptops, RTX 3080, 2080TI, 3090, PS4, Nintendo Switch, XBOX
**K5 PRO dans son nouveau packaging** Ce nouveau packaging offre une application plus facile et plus rapide puisque vous pourrez appliquer K5-PRO, sur les puces mémoires et les GPUs, directement depuis son contenant sans utiliser de grattoir épandeur. La pâte thermique visqueuse K5-PRO est conçue...
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As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Hi everyone! First time here, i'm kinda new in this upgrade mod on the older iMac, so i'm a little bit confused on which card i can upgrade, because i got confused from what i've searched.
So i got the A1312 iMac 2011 27" inch with the following specs:
Quad-core i5
AMD 6770M 512mb
20GB RAM
1TB SSD
So, what GPUs can i use instead of the OEM one? My iMac is currently having the screen random "blackout" that shuts off the display but the computer keeps running. So, since I got this GPU problem, I would like to know If there is a GPU model that would work and If It is worth upgrading.
Thanks everyone!
So i got the A1312 iMac 2011 27" inch with the following specs:
Quad-core i5
AMD 6770M 512mb
20GB RAM
1TB SSD
So, what GPUs can i use instead of the OEM one? My iMac is currently having the screen random "blackout" that shuts off the display but the computer keeps running. So, since I got this GPU problem, I would like to know If there is a GPU model that would work and If It is worth upgrading.
Thanks everyone!
hi everyone.
what is the best os for imac12,2 3.4ghz k4100m, uprgaded bluetooth and wifi card ?
now using sonoma and feels like it's getting slower eachday.
thanks guys
what is the best os for imac12,2 3.4ghz k4100m, uprgaded bluetooth and wifi card ?
now using sonoma and feels like it's getting slower eachday.
thanks guys
You need to read the first post of this thread. All the basic questions and the majority of any specific technical questions are covered. It condenses and summarizes the knowledge and experiences contained in this massive thread!
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
You need to read the first post of this thread. All the basic questions and the majority of any specific technical questions are covered. It condenses and summarizes the knowledge and experiences contained in this massive thread!
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
Hi everyone! I recently ran into the following problem and I’m not quite sure how to solve it.
I have a late 2009 iMac:
3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Socket 775 (LGA775) E7600
8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
ATI Radeon HD 4670 256 MB
I decided to upgrade the GPU. I installed an 880m (the card is flashed with firmware by @nikey22).
Before the upgrade, the built-in display would sometimes turn off on its own (this got especially bad after updating from Sierra to High Sierra). It could work for 10 minutes or so, sometimes less or more. I swapped the GPU for the 880m and, after the replacement, the display stopped turning on at all. During macOS boot it sometimes flickers, and when entering or exiting sleep it can wake for a short time, but then it turns off again.
I’ve tried everything:
Installed OCLP. Flashed the 880m again. Added NVRAM parameters agdpmod=vit9696, also tried ignore and pikera, did various SMC and NVRAM resets, experimented with parameters like nvda_drv=1, etc., checked the hardware (backlight, LVDS cable, the display board itself) — everything is fine, or it had no effect. Tried different macOS versions (from High Sierra to Big Sur) — still nothing. macOS detects the monitor but doesn’t do anything with it. I honestly don’t know where to look next or what to do. Meanwhile, an external display works without any problems.
Has anyone run into this and how did you solve it? Or is this an unsolvable issue?
I have a late 2009 iMac:
3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Socket 775 (LGA775) E7600
8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
ATI Radeon HD 4670 256 MB
I decided to upgrade the GPU. I installed an 880m (the card is flashed with firmware by @nikey22).
Before the upgrade, the built-in display would sometimes turn off on its own (this got especially bad after updating from Sierra to High Sierra). It could work for 10 minutes or so, sometimes less or more. I swapped the GPU for the 880m and, after the replacement, the display stopped turning on at all. During macOS boot it sometimes flickers, and when entering or exiting sleep it can wake for a short time, but then it turns off again.
I’ve tried everything:
Installed OCLP. Flashed the 880m again. Added NVRAM parameters agdpmod=vit9696, also tried ignore and pikera, did various SMC and NVRAM resets, experimented with parameters like nvda_drv=1, etc., checked the hardware (backlight, LVDS cable, the display board itself) — everything is fine, or it had no effect. Tried different macOS versions (from High Sierra to Big Sur) — still nothing. macOS detects the monitor but doesn’t do anything with it. I honestly don’t know where to look next or what to do. Meanwhile, an external display works without any problems.
Has anyone run into this and how did you solve it? Or is this an unsolvable issue?
This might be a known display-problem, the worn-out backlight-LEDs sometimes draw too much current which results in a shut-off in the backlight-power supply. It is very random. You can fix it if you are skilled: replace the LEDs in the display, you can buy the strips for about 10 Euros (AliExpress) but the disassembly of the display is tricky. Or you find another display...
What do your internal diagnostic LEDs say?
1 = PSU detects power from the mains
2 = PSU and CPU are communicating
3 = CPU and GPU are communicating
4 = GPU and display are communicating
This can at least tell you whether your GPU is dead/dying. These are all old, used cards (or cheap Chinese ones) and can help you to zero in on where the fault is.
I am betting your replacement GPU might not have taken the flash well or may be damaged like the old one.
It may also be a failing display. If you have it out, of course, the 4th LED will not light up at all, but if you are just pulling the gap open to look in while it is connected, if everything is working correctly, all four *should* light up. This is the easiest and least invasive thing to check first.
Check them next and tell us what you have.
(NOTE that I scanned your post. If you have already posted about the diagnostic LED states, please forgive my haste in replying to you. Best of luck!)
1 = PSU detects power from the mains
2 = PSU and CPU are communicating
3 = CPU and GPU are communicating
4 = GPU and display are communicating
This can at least tell you whether your GPU is dead/dying. These are all old, used cards (or cheap Chinese ones) and can help you to zero in on where the fault is.
I am betting your replacement GPU might not have taken the flash well or may be damaged like the old one.
It may also be a failing display. If you have it out, of course, the 4th LED will not light up at all, but if you are just pulling the gap open to look in while it is connected, if everything is working correctly, all four *should* light up. This is the easiest and least invasive thing to check first.
Check them next and tell us what you have.
(NOTE that I scanned your post. If you have already posted about the diagnostic LED states, please forgive my haste in replying to you. Best of luck!)
I tried to check what was going on with the display and noticed this: internally everything is working — the GPU, the backlight, and the power supply. The problem is clearly somewhere else, not in the hardware (I’ve been everywhere with a multimeter
) ).I shone a flashlight at the screen and by chance noticed that the screen does work — its brightness is just set to 0.
I started digging around forums and came across AppleBacklight and various backlight-related files. I changed a lot of things, even the files themselves, and somewhere along the way I found a post with fixed files for my 2009 iMac. I installed them and, lo and behold, the monitor came to life (well, the backlight did). It kept working until I went to adjust the brightness slider. As soon as I started changing it, the monitor immediately went dark. After a couple of attempts to set the brightness, it went wonky
— or rather, it just went dark and everything went back to how it was before. It flashes for a moment during OS boot again. It also wakes after coming out of sleep, and then it dies againHonestly, I’ve almost given up and have no idea how to fix this — not just within macOS, but overall from EFI boot through the whole system. This is 100% an issue with the 880m and the software part of the backlight and its control. Apparently the 880 just didn’t take on my late 2009. Or I’m missing something I don’t understand or see.
Just a backstory to set the mood. I have been on here way too long but actually never really post but the time has finally come.
So I have this 11,3 27" mid-2010 iMac which I actually have had since 2010. Many moons ago I upgraded the iMac with a 256GB Samsung 840 PRO SSD, 16GB ram and a new internal 1TB HDD, which gave it a new lease on life and lasted me a some more years. It was mainly used for for photo editing and archiving, light graphic work but only as a hobby. The machine always had a place on my desk and was running High Sierra but barely got used anymore due to incompatibility issues.
Then Covid hit and it was the only screen in the house that could be used with my work issue Dell Precision, I "borrowed" a Dell usb-C dock from work and have been using the iMac in Target Display Mode (TDM) for my work at home days since then. It's really nice that this 15 year old Mac is actually still relevant and usable today, if only Apple (shareholders) still thought like this today.
Fast forward to today (and the previous week), the iMac is running an upgraded i7 870, flashed wx4130 and 32gb ram on Sequoia and all as expected. Still on the list is to swap out the storage for something more recent, replace the CPU fan and upgrade the bluetooth/Airport card. I have been very slowly gathering all these components in the last 2 years and finally found the time to do the upgrade, couldn't be happier.
Until I fired up the work Dell, coffee in hand, hit cmd+F2. Nothing. No screen blink. Tried 50 more times. Nothing.
Luckiliy I had a weekend in front of me, used up all the credit (and some more) I had with the wife to cancel dad duties to make my beloved iMac TDM working again. After a gruesome weekend and all possible solutions you could think of I was ready to just cave in and get a Dell screen until I stumbled onto this excellent post (reading the forum on my phone on the toilet)
This actually worked and I had the display of my Dell back on the iMac! (cannot confim audio)
I am typing this post right now using TDM with the only caveat that TDM ends when the iMac goes to sleep. Which actually isn't all that bad as you can use a "no screen sleep" app with a timer to turn it off automaticly as it saves the hassle of SSH-ing in to run the commands.
Next step will be trying to write some kind of app to make TDM possible again in a more user friendly way than running terminal commands.
-----------
TL;DR
confirmed upgrade 11,3 mid-2010 27" iMac from i3-550 to i7-870 and wx4130 running Mac OS Sequoia with TDM working
Big thanks to all working on these projects extending life on legacy Macs, the OCLP team and anyone I forgot. All the research and contributions done in this thead and elsewhere is what this community is best at. Many many many thanks to all.
So I have this 11,3 27" mid-2010 iMac which I actually have had since 2010. Many moons ago I upgraded the iMac with a 256GB Samsung 840 PRO SSD, 16GB ram and a new internal 1TB HDD, which gave it a new lease on life and lasted me a some more years. It was mainly used for for photo editing and archiving, light graphic work but only as a hobby. The machine always had a place on my desk and was running High Sierra but barely got used anymore due to incompatibility issues.
Then Covid hit and it was the only screen in the house that could be used with my work issue Dell Precision, I "borrowed" a Dell usb-C dock from work and have been using the iMac in Target Display Mode (TDM) for my work at home days since then. It's really nice that this 15 year old Mac is actually still relevant and usable today, if only Apple (shareholders) still thought like this today.
Fast forward to today (and the previous week), the iMac is running an upgraded i7 870, flashed wx4130 and 32gb ram on Sequoia and all as expected. Still on the list is to swap out the storage for something more recent, replace the CPU fan and upgrade the bluetooth/Airport card. I have been very slowly gathering all these components in the last 2 years and finally found the time to do the upgrade, couldn't be happier.
Until I fired up the work Dell, coffee in hand, hit cmd+F2. Nothing. No screen blink. Tried 50 more times. Nothing.
Luckiliy I had a weekend in front of me, used up all the credit (and some more) I had with the wife to cancel dad duties to make my beloved iMac TDM working again. After a gruesome weekend and all possible solutions you could think of I was ready to just cave in and get a Dell screen until I stumbled onto this excellent post (reading the forum on my phone on the toilet)
This actually worked and I had the display of my Dell back on the iMac! (cannot confim audio)
I am typing this post right now using TDM with the only caveat that TDM ends when the iMac goes to sleep. Which actually isn't all that bad as you can use a "no screen sleep" app with a timer to turn it off automaticly as it saves the hassle of SSH-ing in to run the commands.
Next step will be trying to write some kind of app to make TDM possible again in a more user friendly way than running terminal commands.
-----------
TL;DR
confirmed upgrade 11,3 mid-2010 27" iMac from i3-550 to i7-870 and wx4130 running Mac OS Sequoia with TDM working
Big thanks to all working on these projects extending life on legacy Macs, the OCLP team and anyone I forgot. All the research and contributions done in this thead and elsewhere is what this community is best at. Many many many thanks to all.
I checked again to see what might be going on with the monitor and found another interesting quirk: if you set the brightness all the way to zero (everywhere — not just by writing it to NVRAM, but also by turning the slider to 0 in the system itself), then put it to sleep and wake it up, the screen magically comes to life and keeps working fine until the brightness is increased. What could this be?
I am trying to upgrade my iMac 12,2 graphics card and I can’t figure out witch card is the best I have gone through all the documentation that it’s provided, my goal is to have a working iMac with Mac OS sequoia. I made everything work with the original hd6970 until it stopped working today. Does anyone have a working setup like the one I am trying to achieve so I can copy it.