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

[tabby72]

Hello there @Ausdauersportler,
below I'm adding some info.

I don't know (u r right) why the old vBIOS said 1GB...
Actually, with the stock Dell vBIOS, the graphic card is seen as "AMD Radeon R9 M380 2 GB" by native High Sierra and oclp/Monterey.

About the heatsink, I already grinded and thoroughly tested mine. There's no thermal or electrical issue at all. The temperatures are perfectly under control by sensors and - mainly - I usually don't play games nor stress the GPU. I just went from double check for loose connections of board components and for accidental contact with the heat sink. All is ok and perfectly insulated. As I said before, thermal paste MX6 was recently applied on GPU and K5-PRO on DRAM and other components close to heatsink. I don't think the temperatures are the issue here.

Could it be the (maybe undersized 'cause of its age) power supply?

Amyway, with your last vBIOS my card is correctly detected as ATI Radeon FirePro M6100 2GB. Few seconds, or couple of minutes, from the start, my iMac freezes and reboots. Endlessly.

Do you need any other details or tests from me?
I'm sadly stuck, so just ask or point me at the right direction.

Thanks again for your patience and support.
T.

 

[TIGER48]

Hi, I need help with some issues on the iMac 27 Mid 2011 and it's only on Windows 10. My i7 2600 processor runs at 1600mhz and does not rise above under any load. Also, I don't have a brightness adjustment, k3100m graphics card, but I don't know which bios it is with, but I can go to the boot menu and it displays it. tell me how to solve these problems.
I'll be very happy for your help.

 

[imacker2011]

also ETA -- Sometimes when my imac boots windows with OCLP I have discovered that it won't turn the main display on. I can get turn it on by rebooting the graphics with WIN + CTRL + SHIFT + B. all this time I thought it wasn't loading windows for some reason but it does load windows, it just doesn't turn on any of the monitors for some reason.

I just wanted to share that we were able to mitigate the problem with a K4100m on a 12,2 model by using the latest Geforce GameReady drivers which were provided for Kepler cards. Because these were only released for the desktop versions (not the mobile ones) you need to use NVCleanstall to create a custom driver installer. The process is described in this YT video.

Now our system takes a while to boot up Win11 (while turning backlight on and off several times) but it gets to the desktop every time. In addition, gaming performance seems to have improved in comparison to the latest "official" drivers provided by Nvidia for this card.

 

[pastalord420]

Hi!

It's a bit of a long shot, but was wondering if anybody could tell if there's anything I overlooked with my graphics card upgrade plan (I make a lot of mistakes). I understand that I will probably be told to re-read the documentation, but i could easily have missed a page or something.

currently:

• iMac 11,3 27'' mid-2010
• core i7 870 gpu
• 4x4GB ram (OWC DDR3 1333MHz)
• A400 Kingston SSD
• ATI radeon HD 5670 (original gpu)
• macOS High Sierra (10.13.6)
• backed up the bootrom with GRML Flash
• backed up the old gpu vBios with GRML Flash
• The SSD has no data I care about
• Have prepared a USB Install media through OCLP, with default settings except gpu override->Polaris, and target machine-> imac 11,3)
• Have ordered 0.8mm and 1mm copper shims (I haven't found an exact thickness recommendation), K5 pro putty (ComputerSystems), and arctic MX-6 thermal paste. From what I understood, I can use my two-pipes heatsink as such without a dremmel mod
• Downloaded WX4150_EnableGop.rom in order to flash the GPU once it's installed inside the iMac in order to get the EFI

my goal:

• WX4150 (green PCB, therefore no soldering mods, Dell version, ordered from AliExpress, I assume not pre-flashed). It was delivered with another X-bracket that I plan to remove. Maybe re-using the tape underneath that X-bracket to avoid shorts.
• macOS Sonoma

I plan to:

• Dismount the iMac
• unplug SSD
• install new GPU
• (Possibly replace the current LiteOn power supply with another one from AliExpress. Currently have a PA-2311-02A that has the "chipring sound syndrome", and I have a spare ADP-310AF-B, although I should probably do these separately. I have a vague impression the power supply might not be at fault though, even though the CR2032 battery was changed recently to no avail)
• Remount everything, but leave SSD unplugged (it is the only internal drive). I don't want it to boot into existing High Sierra installation as it'll crash
• Plug in the GRML Flash USB thumb drive, plug ethernet cable (should have no choice and automatically boot into it). At this point, the monitor doesn't work
• Connect to ssh using my PC on windows 11 using putty.
• Flash card
• Re-open iMac, maybe swap the PSU at that point, re-plug the sata SSD.
• I should have the EFI on reboot? to install sonoma using the installer.

Is the WX4150 adequate if I'm just trying to revive my old machine? Is EG a good choice? Is the heatsink going to work for a green WX4150? Is the OCLP install media correct? Did I miss anything obvious?

Cheers and best regards!

 

[StefanAM]

Hello everyone,

For those using a 27-inch iMac 2010 with a 4 GB RX 480 upgrade, could you please confirm the following:

1. Do you get audio through the Mini DisplayPort output?
2. Do you get a normal image on an external monitor connected through Mini DisplayPort?
3. Does this work in macOS, Windows, or both?

Please mention which cable or adapter you are using and, if possible, your VBIOS version.

Thank you!

 

[231com]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum and I can't read through 900 pages of text all at once, so I hope you can help me.

I have an iMac 2011 12,2 (27-inch) and I'm trying to upgrade the GPU to an NVIDIA Quadro M1000M (MXM-A). I found a modified vBIOS on this forum, but it was made for the 12,1 (21.5-inch) model.

I'm running Windows 10 only, and I don't care about the boot screen. However, with this vBIOS, I get a black screen all the time — no internal display, and no output on external monitor via Mini DisplayPort either.

Has anyone successfully got the M1000M working in a 27-inch iMac 2011 (12,2)? Is there a working vBIOS for this specific model?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[pastalord420]

Hi!

It's a bit of a long shot, but was wondering if anybody could tell if there's anything I overlooked with my graphics card upgrade plan (I make a lot of mistakes). I understand that I will probably be told to re-read the documentation, but i could easily have missed a page or something.

currently:

• iMac 11,3 27'' mid-2010
• core i7 870 gpu
• 4x4GB ram (OWC DDR3 1333MHz)
• A400 Kingston SSD
• ATI radeon HD 5670 (original gpu)
• macOS High Sierra (10.13.6)
• backed up the bootrom with GRML Flash
• backed up the old gpu vBios with GRML Flash
• The SSD has no data I care about
• Have prepared a USB Install media through OCLP, with default settings except gpu override->Polaris, and target machine-> imac 11,3)
• Have ordered 0.8mm and 1mm copper shims (I haven't found an exact thickness recommendation), K5 pro putty (ComputerSystems), and arctic MX-6 thermal paste. From what I understood, I can use my two-pipes heatsink as such without a dremmel mod
• Downloaded WX4150_EnableGop.rom in order to flash the GPU once it's installed inside the iMac in order to get the EFI

my goal:

• WX4150 (green PCB, therefore no soldering mods, Dell version, ordered from AliExpress, I assume not pre-flashed). It was delivered with another X-bracket that I plan to remove. Maybe re-using the tape underneath that X-bracket to avoid shorts.
• macOS Sonoma

I plan to:

• Dismount the iMac
• unplug SSD
• install new GPU
• (Possibly replace the current LiteOn power supply with another one from AliExpress. Currently have a PA-2311-02A that has the "chipring sound syndrome", and I have a spare ADP-310AF-B, although I should probably do these separately. I have a vague impression the power supply might not be at fault though, even though the CR2032 battery was changed recently to no avail)
• Remount everything, but leave SSD unplugged (it is the only internal drive). I don't want it to boot into existing High Sierra installation as it'll crash
• Plug in the GRML Flash USB thumb drive, plug ethernet cable (should have no choice and automatically boot into it). At this point, the monitor doesn't work
• Connect to ssh using my PC on windows 11 using putty.
• Flash card
• Re-open iMac, maybe swap the PSU at that point, re-plug the sata SSD.
• I should have the EFI on reboot? to install sonoma using the installer.

Is the WX4150 adequate if I'm just trying to revive my old machine? Is EG a good choice? Is the heatsink going to work for a green WX4150? Is the OCLP install media correct? Did I miss anything obvious?

Cheers and best regards!

Ended up having trouble booting up the GRML Flash Bootable USB (it would show an IP adress on my router page, but unreachable/unpingable, so no SSH possible). Went instead with the Ubuntu server option mentioned by @terabay in this post, which not only booted correctly, but also happened to not need any blind manips, as display just worked. Flashed the card anyway, using the linux binary for amdvbflash and the EG file WX4150_EnabledGOP_ALT. The GPU in question is a Pegatron with 4GB VRam, Samsung (K4G80325FC-HC25).

Struggled installing Sonoma for a while (it would of course crash right at the end of installation), tried multiple variations of OCLP EFI settings, multiple VBIOS (although the one mentioned above is the one I stuck with). Then randomly stumbled upon @dorninko's post, installed Monterey instead, works fine, except it obviously breaks the Wifi, which I'm planning to fix by installing a BCM943602CDPAX_2. I'll possibly give an update when that and the Sonoma upgrade are done.

In any case, I cannot thank this community enough for the help + documentation provided!!

 

[howardc64]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum and I can't read through 900 pages of text all at once, so I hope you can help me.

I have an iMac 2011 12,2 (27-inch) and I'm trying to upgrade the GPU to an NVIDIA Quadro M1000M (MXM-A). I found a modified vBIOS on this forum, but it was made for the 12,1 (21.5-inch) model.

vBIOS is independent of 12,1/12,2
vBIOS link for K1000M is post #14499 and works for 12,1 and 12,2

I'm running Windows 10 only, and I don't care about the boot screen. However, with this vBIOS, I get a black screen all the time — no internal display, and no output on external monitor via Mini DisplayPort either.

Has anyone successfully got the M1000M working in a 27-inch iMac 2011 (12,2)? Is there a working vBIOS for this specific model?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Did you try OCLP macOS first?

 

[231com]

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

1. I do not use macOS at all, only Windows 10.
2. I have already flashed the vBIOS for the M1000M. The iMac shows no image at all — neither on the internal display nor on an external monitor via Mini DisplayPort.

If I understood correctly, the link you provided points to a vBIOS for the K1000M, but I need one for the M1000M.

I downloaded the BIOS from here:

iMac 2011 Maxwell and Pascal GPU upgrade

Yeah, i still don't have installed an OS. (new SSD) Sure thing, here are the vbios files.

forums.macrumors.com

I suspect the issue is related to eDP/LVDS differences between the 12,1 (21.5") and 12,2 (27") models.

Has anyone successfully got the M1000M working on a 27-inch iMac 2011 (12,2)? Is there a working vBIOS for this specific combination?

Thanks in advance!

 

[231com]

I'm trying to figure out how to add the GOP module to the M1000M vBIOS myself, but I don't have much time due to work and family commitments.

My current plan is to analyze the M2000M vBIOS (which is confirmed to work on the 27-inch iMac), extract the GOP block from it, and insert it into the M1000M BIOS.

I'm not sure if this is the right approach...

Has anyone tried this before? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[231com]

Thanks in advance!