Imac mid-2011 GPU Upgrade???

[xxbeefydjxx]

Hi everyone

I have recently brought what was presumed to be a dead mac that had no power at all.

Got it home, replaced the french power lead (I live in the UK so it was a converted plug) with the UK Apple plug and boom, it rose like a phoenix.

Now I have never dabbled with Mac before so this is a completely new venture, but I love it!

I want to be able to dual boot using bootcamp, Easy, right!

Techie minded, I want to be able to upgrade it from the i5 2.5ghz to the i7 model cpu, then upgrade it's ram from 4gb to 32gb using the appropriate kit to get the best power I can.

I already have a replacement 1tb hard drive and have the "Thermal Sensor" upgrade on the way too to circumvent the temp sensor problem Imacs have. I also have a samsung 256gb ssd to install when the sensor comes, and have already got the power connection lead for the ssd install.

My main question here, is can I upgrade the GPU from the Radeon series to a Nvidia MXM card.

I have done some googling and I am concerned about getting the EFI bit working so I can have a boot screen to use bootcamp with. The main issue is what cards support the EFI bios. I do not mind having to flash bioses and all that because I used to be an avid overclocker/modifier on the Windows platform.

I was thinking perhaps a 6/7 series GPU with at least 2gb GRAM.

Who has done so and got the boot screen to work and Sierra with no issues?

Thanks!

Edit: I have scoured many threads and seem to be hitting brick walls when it comes to EFI MXM cards, especially Nvidia ones!

Any chance some experts can chip in??????

 

[padams35]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I've never heard of anybody who still had a working boot screen after upgrading a 2011's GPU to an 6xx/7xx Nvidia.

You may want to either read up on using bootcamp without a boot screen or else consider using a thunderbolt eGPU.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

The temperature does not increase ~ the heat sensor kit is to stop the fans revving up to full power with a replacement hard drive. It is the heat sensor not working that sends the fans mad, not the temperature.

 

[xxbeefydjxx]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I've never heard of anybody who still had a working boot screen after upgrading a 2011's GPU to an 6xx/7xx Nvidia.

You may want to either read up on using bootcamp without a boot screen or else consider using a thunderbolt eGPU.

Correct. The issue is not that it's "Impossible"/never heard of, it's just that it's incredibly hard to find a GPU that will be BIOS flashable to Apples GPU Bios on those cards (If there even is one?) or modifying the BIOS to accept Apple EFI.

The temperature does not increase ~ the heat sensor kit is to stop the fans revving up to full power with a replacement hard drive. It is the heat sensor not working that sends the fans mad, not the temperature.

When I said "Temp Issues" I did not mean heat problems, I know about how the HDDs have Apple firmware on to communicate with the Temp Sensor, and that there is 2 extra pins in the power which are for said sensor. And of course because a standard drive A: Does not have the sensor and B: Is not an Apple Drive with the correct Firmware, it causes it to think the sensor is bad and spins full whack to protect itself from possible damage.

Anyway. It'd be real helpful if there was a kind of list, however it seems I am going to have to drudge through the 30+ pages on this forum where the original thread was started about upgrading to a 6xx series with working boot screen...