Is GPU upgrade possible on mid-2011 iMac?

[Happy Marsden]

I have a 21.5" mid-2011 iMac (12,1) with the AMD Radeon 6770M GPU. I would like to attempt "dosdude's" installer hacks to install Big Sur?/Catalina?, by upgrading the GPU to the recommended NVidia K610M. Will this work?! I'm reading conflicting information... ie. You can't disable the AMD GPU on an iMac, and that maybe you can by deleting a kext file or something?? I don't know! Does anyone? Or am I really stuck on High Sierra with this machine?

 

[padams35]

Q1: Can you upgrade the GPU:
Short version: Yes.
Long version.... https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/

(Also the K610M is less 'the recommended option' so much as 'at one point the cheapest option'.)

Q2: Can you disable the AMD GPU.
A: No. The 2011 does not have a fully functional iGPU, so of the dGPU was disabled you then have no GPU. However, see replacement.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I have a 21.5" mid-2011 iMac (12,1) with the AMD Radeon 6770M GPU. I would like to attempt "dosdude's" installer hacks to install Big Sur?/Catalina?, by upgrading the GPU to the recommended NVidia K610M. Will this work?! I'm reading conflicting information... ie. You can't disable the AMD GPU on an iMac, and that maybe you can by deleting a kext file or something?? I don't know! Does anyone? Or am I really stuck on High Sierra with this machine?

I could disable the AMD on my iMac, by removing it completely.
My iMac would start normally, but of course, no image on the screen.

 

[MRxROBOT]

Can any of these GPUs be had for under $50? I don’t want to invest too much for such an old machine.

Base model 2011 21.5”

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Can any of these GPUs be had for under $50? I don’t want to invest too much for such an old machine.

Base model 2011 21.5”

Yes. There are some still sold at around 35$ like W5170m or M5100, but they are a little difficult to manage on the iMac 2011.
Other cheap cards like Quadro K1100m, K2100m will depend on your local market.
Search around for them.

 

[MRxROBOT]

Yes. There are some still sold at around 35$ like W5170m or M5100, but they are a little difficult to manage on the iMac 2011.
Other cheap cards like Quadro K1100m, K2100m will depend on your local market.
Search around for them.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate the help. I’ve now got a good starting point for my search.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate the help. I’ve now got a good starting point for my search.

Last week I sold my quadro K1100m to a guy living nearby and helped him replace the dead GPU in his 27" iMac 2011.
I charged him 65$ for all.
The reason was I upgraded the GPUs in my 2 iMacs late 2009 to Quadro M4000m (only High Sierra) and M6100m (for Montery, I hope)
But mine are 27", which are easier to handle the MXM-B cards.

 

[MRxROBOT]

Last week I sold my quadro K1100m to a guy living nearby and helped him replace the dead GPU in his 27" iMac 2011.
I charged him 65$ for all.
The reason was I upgraded the GPUs in my 2 iMacs late 2009 to Quadro M4000m (only High Sierra) and M6100m (for Montery, I hope)
But mine are 27", which are easier to handle the MXM-B cards.

Just bought a 2100m for $50 ?.

Time to breathe some new life into this machine.

 

[MRxROBOT]

Welp! Went down the rabbit hole. In addition to the k2100m, I’m going to replace the 3.5” with another SSD to run them in raid (not concerned with data loss, I’ve got networked backups and USB backups). Picked up a 2600s for the extra threads, picked up another 2 sticks of matching RAM. This machine should get a few more years of light use. All in for $150. I believe the investment is a bargain when considering the starting prices of any new machine. Besides there’s a certain level of satisfaction to keeping a computer running and not designating it to more e-waste.

I contemplated updating the airport card but I have the iMac networked via Ethernet and Bluetooth has not been an issue yet.