Hi Curtis, hope you can give me a moment of your time but first, thank you for these videos, they are VERY helpful. I have an iMac 27 mid 2011 i7 3.4 with a now failed 6970m 2GB VRAM. Here is the question: With the card you added to the 27" iMac and beyond all the new brightness control and boot menu on startup can you still use 2 external displays? This was something I loved about the 6970m but I can't seem to find an answer on this. If you don't know that's ok but I don't want to upgrade past High Sierra 10.13.6 if that helps you better answer my question. … and hey, where have you been lately. Hope all is well and thank you very much for sharing your methods and experiences they really help the community.
@@santospoland Hey Alex! For the upgrade I think you only maintain the ability to use 1 additional external monitor, and I actually didn't test that, so its more of a 'potential' rather than verified. As for making videos - I might make a comeback, with work /family / moving and everything else that has gone down the last year, I just ran short of time to spend playing around with technology!
@@messing-with-computers Thanks for the reply! I hope you do make a come back as your videos are really informative. I can't thank you enough for all the background work you had to go through to make these videos, I know that it took you a lot of time and sharing the experience with your RUclips audience is truly gracious of you. Best wishes on all your immediate responsibilities and I am hoping you find the time to return with some new content … until then, all the best!
Your videos are great. My 2011 iMac 27 is still running strong. Upgraded video card to gtx675mx 4gb (an amazing card, but not as budget conscious as your recommendations). Ram upgraded to 32gb (you can do this after HighSierra). Dual SSD's running in raid0 (to make speeds more like nvme). Upgraded wifi card to add AC speed. Replaced optical drive with a 3rd SSD for TimeMachine backups. I've tried all Mac OS up to Ventura... they all work, but I keep going back to High Sierra because I think it was Apple's best OS.
@@aironwhite6533 a lot of software is still up-to-date or the latest compatible version is still quite usable... however, chrome and firefox are ending support soon... HOWEVER... I've tested Ventura (installed with OpenCore) on the machine and it works PERFECTLY... the only downside is I was using 2 SSD's in RAID0, and the new MacOS's don't support RAID, so I must go back to using a single SSD. otherwise, the machine keeps going strong ツ
I love it when I take something apart and put it back together and find out they included "extra" screws! You can throw them all over the floor and find them by stepping on them again. Such a fun game
Things have changed in three years, it seems. I installed Ventura on my iMac 2011 using OCLP, and didn't need to swap out the GPU to do it. (Good thing, too, as it seems like a rather involved process.)
Hey mate, isn't the performance pretty slow without a metal gpu? Does Ventura not require metal or am i missing something? I installed big sur a while ago but it was almost unusable without a metal gpu
I’ll update on this I’ve got a 2011 iMac running Ventura perfectly fine. You just loose any location services. I have a 1TB SSD, intel core i7 2700k and 16GB memory it ran Ventura just with the SSD alone. I’ve even ran Sonoma on it but have had Bluetooth issues so Ventura is where I’ve stayed. You’re Mac will run a little warmer but I’ve just used different cooling options
Just want to thank you. Inspired on your videos I did my research, bought a GPU and now I have my mid 2011 iMac working with bigsur. It was a difficult task though, as I faced all kind of issues. That’s why I’m proud I managed to do it. Thanks a lot pal!
Hello Enrique! thats very interesting. I have an imac mid 2011 21". With this model i faced a lot of software compatiblity issues as this stuck with osx high sierra. Now im looking forward to upgrade the gpu. May i know what kind of gpu did you put inside?? And is there any occuring problem?
I tried another stock AMD card on my A1311 and it didn’t work. So as I understand - it doesn’t matter what card you had before upgrade and you just plugged K1100m and it worked?
I started this upgrade over year ago. I purchased and flashed (in my PC) a Nvidia K2100M by Nick [D] vB 2048 . I installed it into my Mid 2011 27" iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7. I was able to boot up and it worked fine. When I tried the next step to install Catalina, the processed failed and after a number of trys I gave up and just continued using the computer with High Sierra. Eventually I had to replace the computer (Mac Mini M1) so that I could run the updated version of FCPX.. Last night I pulled out my iMac to remove any old files and reformat the drive. After a clean install I decided to try to upgrade to Catalina one more time. I used DosDude1 Catalina Patcher and it successfully installed Catalina, but them my screen went black. I tried what I could to get a picture with no luck. So I reformatted and reinstalled High Sierra and monitor started working again. I am thinking the cause may be that the latest version of the patcher is designed to work with non-metal video cards??? Is it possible to refresh my card with the method you use, and then run the Catalina Patcher. Your video has been very helpful, and I would appreciate any advice you may have.
Hi Curtis, are you still around by chance? I see that your google drive is down I happened upon your Video after I installed a K2100M gpu and I'm needing help flashing the bios. I think your option to go with Linux seems great! I have tried booting to the menu but with the K2100M I can't until I flash it. Thoughts?
Thanks alot dude ! I'm a real history NUT n a so-so repair guy. When I saw alittle bit of what u were doing, I was very glad cause that's the same iMac I have n I hope u don't mind me saving all your doing cause it's right up my alley. Good Luck dude and keep on doing what u do ...Peace
how come you have so few subscribers this video is insane! the only reason i wish i was living in usa is that i could find old imac parts so easily... working spare parts or just cheap old imacs are so hard to come by in Turkey. :( a 27-inch imac 2011 with i7 3.4ghz would be a dream find for me. i know its old af but i would still very much enjoy the process of finding one and upgrading the gpu with a gtx 780m. i may never get to enjoy/suffer through that process but thanks for doing something similiar :D
I can’t thank you enough for this vid and google docs… I’ve successfully did everything to my iMac 2011 upgrading with K2100m …was able to do the blind USB flashing by using my iPad to log in iMac 👍🏻👍🏻
I noticed in the guide, it said to purchase an SSD cable, but I don't see a step in the guide or video that calls for it... What is the SSD cable for? Snagged a K1100M for $30 and I was planning to upgrade next week, want to make sure I am not missing something.
Are brightness controls also working in system preferences? If not, it means you can’t disable auto brightness! Also, this GPU supports Metal. You can easily patch your device to the latest version of macOS, so further than this!
I think I'll be trying this with my 2009 24" as my GT 130 is dying. Or I could pull the MXM GT 120 from my '09 Xserve and put it in the iMac, then upgrade the Xserve instead.
This video is amazing. All the research has been done and everything is explained step by step. And it’s been proved it works. But I would not recommend anybody with no experience of tinkering with programming to attempt this upgrade. What you will do if you got stuck with something and haven’t got a clue? You will spend hours, days and more looking for a solution and same time fixing it and get it going. I really need this upgrade, badly. But would try to find somebody who is confident with this stuff and would take my imac to him, doing it together. Am I right?
Thanks for the tutorial and info links. Just ordered a k1100m card for my 2010 iMac 27". I've been wanting to upgrade this for a few years now but wasn't sure on what was required. (I actually have done a couple of early Mac Pros by upgrading the video card in the past, along with the Vbios to get the boot screen). I don't really want to go all the way to Catalina yet, as there are quite a few apps that I run that aren't supported in Catalina. I have Mojave on a 2012 MBP 15" that works just fine, so I'll probably go that route. 😉
Love your videos just starting to watch them, I would love to update my mid 2011 iMac 21 inch. Not sure I can do it, that's allot of work getting into it, wish I can get someone to do it.
Hi curtis. I bought a k610 that i want to use for my 27inch mid2011 imac but my problem is that the x bracket from the failing 6970m does not match exactly to the k610m. Some small components are placed right under that bracket... how did you modify the x bracket to match your k610m? Edit - saw that the bracket in the 21.5 inch imac fits well with k610m but the brakcet from 27inch imac does not. Now i dony have an idea what to do.
Thank you for the detailed video ! I was wondering if you knew how different the process would be on a Mid-2010 iMac 21.5-inch computer? Just got one and while I can run Catalina through a patcher, the GPU isn't metal and I'd like to upgrade it. Cheers!
Hi Curtis, thanks for your videos. I was wondering if you could help out. The Catalina Loader file on your guide appears to be compromised as chrome is flagging it as a virus, is there an alternate source? much appriciated.
Superb work - thank you, Curtis. As an idea to expand on this instruction set: I would be very interested to see whether you could manage to successfully flash any one of your highly recommended cards using a pcie to mxm adapter (as you showed as one of the potential avenues that you pursued). The reason for asking: I have a 27" mid 2011 that I have heavily upgraded over the years, which I love, is still working and strategically used as a DAW... However, I am very aware that their 6970 graphics cards break down unexpectedly, and that OSX10.13 will probably go out of support soon. And as the 27" repair seems to involve at least some use of a cutting tool, and holds a bit more risk, I am holding off the graphics card replacement until either of those two occurrences force an upgrade. However, in the meantime, based on your very useful advice, I ordered a K1100M to be on standby for when needed, and would like to check (when it arrives) whether it is alive (without having to take the imac apart just to test it) -- i.e. Check it on a windows / Linux system (which I have available), and possibly to perform the flash updates - that way I could determine whether the card is DOA / ready for action if needed. If you have the time / are willing to do so, it would be very useful if you could explore that avenue and make recommendations based on the lessons you have learnt.
is the HP version of the K160m given the same number? or does it need to be crossed with the K160m? I see on ebay HP Nvidia K160m but nowhere near your stated price. But it is late in the year and given the situation.. Just wondering if I am finding the correct GPU. Also am I able to upgrade the CPU as well with the K160m ? at first I need to fix the graphics as the graphics are burned out.
I love your videos and because of that I took my first mid 2011 21.5" iMac apart to upgrade the HDD to SSD and replaced the CDROM with another SSD. But now I cannot get those damned screws from the LCD back in thanks to these strong magnets. What is your secret? How does one do that? Thanks René
What is the coincidence you came out with this video today and I just decided today to look into upgrading this exact iMac! How about upgrading the RAM & SSD? Would you recommend upgrading the RAM to 32GB? I see that OWC offers a kit called: "32.0GB (8GB x 4) PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz SO-DIMM 204 Pin CL9 SO-DIMM Memory Upgrade Kit" Would an SSD be a good upgrade? Seems like with these 3 upgrades this 2011 iMac might even be better than the current iMac minus any 4K/Retina display, would you agree?
Depends on your workload - I would absolutely get the ssd kit and at least 8gb ram - I usually stick to 16gb unless I am working on 4K files, and then 32gb is necessary. These older iMacs are beasts!
You don't need to buy an expensive owc kit, any so-dimm 1333MHz DDR3 memory will work just fine. Even 1600mhz ones, it will run simply at a lowe clockspeed.
Péter Viszt really? Thanks! Although I’ve tinkered with and upgraded computers before I’m still very much a noob. I haven’t ordered anything yet but I truly was thinking of getting OWC’s 2x8gb RAM and their HDD to SSD replacement kit. That’ll be just under $200 but if you’re saying I can do even cheaper than maybe I should look at Newegg or TigerDirect ;)
@@phillip9263 Yeah - these iMacs are fairly forgiving with the memory choice. Use OWC for custom cables, but not for drives / memory (at least that is my general rule).
Hi, im having an issue, maybe u can help... when starting the iMac, i can hear the chime and then iMac restarts. Chime is heard again and then iMac restarts. This situation repeats over and over, it cant boot normally neither with the option button pressed! Any idea why?
Every product that ages well develops a community of users, hackers/mod-ers and also one who takes it far enough to be a sensei (the one who travels the road beforehand) or might we say a guru. My Mid-2011 iMac 27"er is in pieces next to me and the original graphics card is cooling down in the background. I wish I had found this guru here a little earlier! I would have got out the Dremel and upgraded my GPU, without this now defunkt step of baking my old GPU and having it last weeks/months and then in the end upgrading anyway! BTW the Mac repairer up the road said he had struggled for months to find a solid solution to the ubiquitous Mid-2011 GPU failure and had given up, and even advised me "not to bother trying to repair a computer that would always have this problem". For every person who watches this video and your previous video and upgrades their iMac, you Curtis Gross can take some credit for saving another machine from scrapping for some more years, and for lifting the skills, knowledge base and intellectual attitude of the human race just that little bit. Appropriate to this theme, your videos are far from the typical computer repair faire and more like a younger Eric Bana delivering an advanced yoga lesson and lecture. Very reassuring, but with more than enough information to back your explanation up. Nicely done!
@Curtis Gross saw your post on macrumors... you are selling the iMac featured in the video, huh? Should be an easy sell! I’ve been following the development of this gpu upgrade for months and months. I still have my 6750 in my 27” and it runs cool as a cucumber. I was looking to go for the installation now that Big Sur is supported, but honestly through the development it’s gotten a bit confusing for me. I now don’t know whether I can do NVflash and jump straight to Big Sur patcher or if Catalina had to be installed first then the upgrade with the patcher. Thread on macrumors has turned into a book at nearly 450 pages! I might have to ride it out with my 2012 unibody non-retina, but that screen is horrible next to the imac...
Hey Curtis you might not respond but its worth a shot so is there any cards out there that is better than the Radeon HD 6970m that is fully compatible with the 2011 Imac 27 inch and doesn't need a special heatsink if not I will prob just get the 2gb version of Radeon HD 6970m Thanks for Reading if you did!
Hi. The 2 URL's in the description do not work anymore. Can you provide me the updated URL's?? I'm in the process of following your video for replacement of my failed 6770 GPU. Thank you.
I plan to put a k1100M in a 27” 2011 iMac. I’ve changed out (and “baked” the gpu a couple times) but I’m a newbie with the software. I found the link to your google docs notes no longer works. Oh nooooo!! Any way I can get that?
Hi Curtis! I made an upgrade to de Nvidia card and all flashing process. What about if in an hypothetical situation I need to go back to the previous original video card?
I was able to successfully install an HP branded K1100m and was able to flash the vbios as instructed. The iMac 21.5 video does work IF I hold down option at bootup to turn on video. I believe my next step is to install OpenCore to provide a boot screen and fix brightness controls. Unfortunately, google is now flagging the iMac Opencore Loader.dmg file as infected and is blocking a way to download. I have not been able to locate another source of the file. Are you experiencing the same result when attempting to download the dmg? Thanks for a great video.
Is there a MXM card for a 2011 iMac 27 that runs on Big Sur or later with enabled hardware acceleration? I have such machine running with OC Legacy Patcher with a Quadro K2000 but Big Sur doesn't recognize the card and the machine doesn't have hardware acceleration.
Hello, I have an imac a1311, GPU quadro k3100m 4gb, goes into sleep mode, after that it does not wake up, you need to turn off the power to wait 15 minutes and only then it starts. Fix sleep mode help me? macOS big sur.
so, from the manual, it says that the diagnostic LED's are labeled 1-4 from right to left. If that's true, wouldn't that mean that your GPU diagnostic never turned on? I'm confused, because i've been trying to install the k1100m and the 3rd diagnostic light won't come on. I've tried ssh with the usb stick but nothing. could use a little help please. thanks
IMac 2011 27-inch product is being used. HD6970 1GB GPU. The screen was broken with vertical streaks, and it does not revive even with baking. What can I do? It is enough for me to use only High Sierra. Do I really need to update the ROM? Is this easy? Fixing the heatsink is difficult for me. K2100m = $95 K4100m = $140 780m = $180 HD6970 = $200 I would like to try with a product that will not break. What would you recommend?
Hi, Curtis. Firstly, thanks for your work. How do I fix brightness after install Catalina? Mine is iMac 21.5 2011 with K2100 GPU. You did the fix in HighSierra, but I installed Catalina and after I saw the possibility to fix brightness, so, I’d like to know if it’s possible to fix it from inside Catalina. Thanks!
@@messing-with-computers I did it. It is working, but not the brightness control. Is it possible to fix the brightness control using open core from Catalina, or only from High Sierra?
Hi, great video! I tried the links in the description but they don't seem to work now. Do you have any working links or up to date advice? I have a mid 2011 iMac with a GPU on it's last legs!
Hi Curtis, I must say you have been such a big help. I want to ask if there is any video of AMD WX series cards upgrade to 2011 iMacs as that is pretty different from Nvidia (the software part) please help if you know of any. Thanks
Hi Curtis, this follow-up video is so informational. Great work done here. One thing I want to know is that for a 27" iMac 12,2 with 6770m, do I need to file down the 3 pipe heat sink to fit in nicely (without no risk of high temp) to fit in a GTX765m? Does it need to be Dell card (not HP)? Thanks
You will only need to modify the heat sink with a dremel - no new heat sink needed. For the 765m you will want the dell version, but I would try to get the k4100m instead.
Hello, i’ve a question 🙋🏻♂️ if i upgrade the gpu and update the macOS to catalina. Can i use all the metal functions as the same as the new iMac? Like using the final cut pro with full function. Thanks in advance for the answer
Good afternoon, my imac 2009 i7 is out of order, the video card has been ordered for Ali express gtx 880, the seller showed the photo that it works before sending it, I installed it, there is no black screen, there is a sound on the password and tell me if the seller did not modify the BIOS, the image should displayed? Or do you need a BIOS modification?
You're a wizard Curtis! it looks fly how it works man! I have an issue, maybe you can put me in the right direction, I got my hands on an iMac same year but 27 inch, with a fan noise from the startup, it doesn't stop and no brightness control, which makes me think it may benefit from making a GPU replacement/upgrade ( everything else works fine) ... but I'm guessing about the GPU malfunctioning here, I'm a newbie on this procedure, nothing more than ssd, ram upgrades, screen, keyboard replacements, and just basic knowledge about linux, but I need to know how to correctly diagnose this iMac so I can start fixing it, any suggestions?
sorry for the newbie question but the K610m video card being installed on the iMac 2011 21.5 or 27 inch without flashing the video card i just won't have the imac boot screen but the system should enter normally, correct? Can I consider it the same thing as Mac Pro’s until 2012/2013?
Hi Curtis! Thank you for your time. I had followed your tutorial and now I have a K610M on my Mac 2011. The problem is that I needed to reinstall the OS but it was not possible. It never starts the system even on web recovery or pendrive. I don't know why, but since the day I installed the GPU the fan works at full speed all the time. Tried making the apple hardware test and that shows some kind of problem on the fan that was not there before the new GPU. Now the only OS I can boot on the Mac is Ubuntu. Any idea on how to have MacOS installed again?
Hello, I have tried on my imac 27 final 2009 with gtx 765m and it does not work. To fix the sleep error I have to disable it from the economizer if the mac is turned off. I have flashed the graphics card from windows but I don't have brightness control. I am in High Sierra 10.13.6 I will try to jump to Catalina 10.15.6 if the patch is resolved. I need some programs that don't work in Sierra.
Hi Curtis, Thanks for this video! I just installed Big Sur and now having the acceleration problem in my iMac 27 inc mid 2011. So now planning the GPU upgrade. Just because there are a lot GPU's recommended I was wondering which affordable card would you recommend nowadays? I will use the iMac just for business, maybe some video editing in the future but nothing heavy, not playing heavy games. Can you maybe recommend me some GPU's app to 100$ today? Thanks a lot and have a good 2022!:)
Thaks a lot Curtis for these videos. May I ask if ANY k1100m will work? Or is it necesary to be Dell branded, as it used to be? I'm planning on use Open Core.
Hey, I need some help. I tried installing GTX 780 in two 2011 imacs to make sure that logic boards are fine. After install only one led turns on anod no start up beep at all. After I istaled back old ATI and it powers on. Do you think that I demaged my GPU? I was cerefull and wear gloves. Do you think I need better power supply? Thaks for advices
Very good presentation for a problem I have on my Mid 2011 IMac that does not sleep and other issues you mention! Running Dosdude1 patcher install. Could you outline the best procedure to remove the after install updates? Is the quickest fix to reinstall and not to the post install updates? Thank you for your video! Russell R.
Hey I have a 2001 imac 27" with ssd and a k1100m running Catalina I patched sleep fix not I have reboot loop also on start it always had a black screen until I cleared nvram please help
Hi Curtis, hi All I am trying to install a GTX 780m card into a 2011 27" iMac, but I am start to thinking that the card is broken. Did you upgrade the BIOS before the install the card? I did not do that and the screen do not turn on. Just turn on the first 2 of the 4 diagnostic LEDs light. Thanks in advance
Luis - try removing all the memory except 1 stick, maybe even leave it unplugged for a while and try doing the keyboard commands for 'reset pram' to see if that gets it to the 3rd light!
I did all the steps but i cant get the brightness control working u.u i got an error verifying the size of the flashed rom compared to the size of the actual file that could be the problem?
Curtis , do you know where I can buy the USB Stick ready with Linux and all the files to flash The GPU K610m ? With instruction to follow the process of flashing the GPU..
Hi Curtis, thank you for this guide. I had a question. I have an early 2009 imac 24" 2.93ghz. (sierra unsupported is running well) I've upgraded to SSD and the max 8gb ram. current graphics are Geforce gt120 256 gb. I've just ordered the K1100m as no one would ship the k610m to Korea where I'm currently at. Wondering if you have any experience advice on the early 2009 imac and if this process would be similar? I'm more interested in the graphics performance over the OS upgrade as all my old apps still run pretty good in Sierra (CS6, Iwork 09 Etc) Thank you.
I actually haven't had a 2009. Just a few 2007 and a ton of 2011 models. But the process is fairly similar for all of them - search for all the screws, get them loose, raise the motherboard out and flip it over to get to the CPU / GPU. The hardest part is making sure you don't break your monitor cables.
hey mate whats the best plug and play gpu for the imac 2011 without changing bios or without tinkering with the os?. im not worried about the brightness control. i was looking at a wx4170 hp zbook 4gb GPU. will i still need to flash bios? or even the wx7100m not too concerned about cost i just want it to last another 10 years for the wife.
Hi, bios you provided for K610M is full dump? Can I erase old one and write your one with programmer? Also iMac should boot into OS X with original Bios? And last question I noted that there are 2 versions of K610M. One is nvidia code start with 14 and next one start with 15. Your bios should work on both versions? If it work I would like to donate you but cannot find more info where to contact you.
Hi Miroslav - yes, the k610m is a modified vbios dump that will convert a k610m to a imac compatible with boot screens / linux screens / windows. Now, you should still be able to boot into Mac OS even with the original bios, but it won't give you a screen until ~80% of the boot process is done and the nvidia drivers load in. You mention the n14 or n15 variant of the 610m. To be very clear, you want the n15 variant! The n14 is likely 'fermi' based which means it is older.. and not the best version. I don't think nvida sold them as the 'k' variant, but either way - get the k610m n15 version if you see a choice. As for donations - no worries. I guess share the video and subscribe! I do this for fun and as a hobby.
hola estoy actualizando un imac 2011 de 27·· pero en archivo de google drive ya no esta disponible, lo tendras en formato ,bin quisiera intentar desoldar el chip de vbios y flashearlo directamente la grafica es una K2100m
Thanks Curtis! You know what your doing and this tutorial plus the opencore video helped a lot! Only problem I had was due to using a newer version of Catalina that requires replacing Framework and a couple kext files don't need to be installed due to dosdude patcher doing it already, and installing them will ruin the os and will be stuck in loading screen until reinstall. Macrumors page has the instructions/download for that 👍
hi friend, i upgrade imac 21.5 model 12,1 but not have brightness control. can you helpme whit open core options or some apple backligth kext for this problem, i am wait for your help thanks for your time. and excellent video !!
And one last question after i saw Tech it out video. Whats normal gpu temperature in your upgraded build? I would be grateful if you answer all my question. And i cant describe with words how grateful i am now. If i had money i would invest it in your projects.
Be sure to check out the macrumors thread for new updates! forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/
thx for a great walk through! you never mention target display mode.... will this also work with your method here?
You deserved every like, for your hard work! Thank you for spending your time for it ❤
Hi Curtis, hope you can give me a moment of your time but first, thank you for these videos, they are VERY helpful. I have an iMac 27 mid 2011 i7 3.4 with a now failed 6970m 2GB VRAM. Here is the question: With the card you added to the 27" iMac and beyond all the new brightness control and boot menu on startup can you still use 2 external displays? This was something I loved about the 6970m but I can't seem to find an answer on this. If you don't know that's ok but I don't want to upgrade past High Sierra 10.13.6 if that helps you better answer my question.
… and hey, where have you been lately. Hope all is well and thank you very much for sharing your methods and experiences they really help the community.
@@santospoland Hey Alex! For the upgrade I think you only maintain the ability to use 1 additional external monitor, and I actually didn't test that, so its more of a 'potential' rather than verified. As for making videos - I might make a comeback, with work /family / moving and everything else that has gone down the last year, I just ran short of time to spend playing around with technology!
@@messing-with-computers Thanks for the reply! I hope you do make a come back as your videos are really informative. I can't thank you enough for all the background work you had to go through to make these videos, I know that it took you a lot of time and sharing the experience with your RUclips audience is truly gracious of you. Best wishes on all your immediate responsibilities and I am hoping you find the time to return with some new content … until then, all the best!
Your videos are great. My 2011 iMac 27 is still running strong. Upgraded video card to gtx675mx 4gb (an amazing card, but not as budget conscious as your recommendations). Ram upgraded to 32gb (you can do this after HighSierra). Dual SSD's running in raid0 (to make speeds more like nvme). Upgraded wifi card to add AC speed. Replaced optical drive with a 3rd SSD for TimeMachine backups. I've tried all Mac OS up to Ventura... they all work, but I keep going back to High Sierra because I think it was Apple's best OS.
You can do 32gb before high sierra. How are you handling the old os. Any limits?
@@aironwhite6533 a lot of software is still up-to-date or the latest compatible version is still quite usable... however, chrome and firefox are ending support soon... HOWEVER... I've tested Ventura (installed with OpenCore) on the machine and it works PERFECTLY... the only downside is I was using 2 SSD's in RAID0, and the new MacOS's don't support RAID, so I must go back to using a single SSD. otherwise, the machine keeps going strong ツ
Hi. the 2 URL's in the description do not work anymore., is possible, can you provide the updated URL's. Thanks
I love it when I take something apart and put it back together and find out they included "extra" screws!
You can throw them all over the floor and find them by stepping on them again. Such a fun game
I have so many spare Mac / iMac / Macbook screws...
@@messing-with-computers All of them on the floor? 😁
Wee bits. no spares.
Why wee bits?
Throw them and make the noise. Weeeee..........
Hey. If you have extra screws then that means you did a better job putting it together than the manufacturer did
Things have changed in three years, it seems. I installed Ventura on my iMac 2011 using OCLP, and didn't need to swap out the GPU to do it. (Good thing, too, as it seems like a rather involved process.)
interesting, I am looking to do the same. I have 14gb of RAM but I assume I will need to upgrade to an SSD first. Does it run smooth ?
Hey mate, isn't the performance pretty slow without a metal gpu? Does Ventura not require metal or am i missing something? I installed big sur a while ago but it was almost unusable without a metal gpu
I’ll update on this I’ve got a 2011 iMac running Ventura perfectly fine. You just loose any location services. I have a 1TB SSD, intel core i7 2700k and 16GB memory it ran Ventura just with the SSD alone. I’ve even ran Sonoma on it but have had Bluetooth issues so Ventura is where I’ve stayed. You’re Mac will run a little warmer but I’ve just used different cooling options
Just want to thank you. Inspired on your videos I did my research, bought a GPU and now I have my mid 2011 iMac working with bigsur. It was a difficult task though, as I faced all kind of issues. That’s why I’m proud I managed to do it. Thanks a lot pal!
Hello Enrique!
thats very interesting. I have an imac mid 2011 21". With this model i faced a lot of software compatiblity issues as this stuck with osx high sierra. Now im looking forward to upgrade the gpu.
May i know what kind of gpu did you put inside?? And is there any occuring problem?
Just upgraded my gpu in a 2011 21.5" iMac to a K1100m with success. Thanks for the time put into your video and guide.
This is great! But can you run the GPU benchmark?
Hello derek, I had a quick question, is K1100m optimal for gaming?
K1100m works for a 2011 27" too???
did u have software issues
I tried another stock AMD card on my A1311 and it didn’t work. So as I understand - it doesn’t matter what card you had before upgrade and you just plugged K1100m and it worked?
can you please post the docs again. the link is dead with the previous google docs url
I started this upgrade over year ago. I purchased and flashed (in my PC) a Nvidia K2100M by Nick [D] vB 2048 . I installed it into my Mid 2011 27" iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7. I was able to boot up and it worked fine. When I tried the next step to install Catalina, the processed failed and after a number of trys I gave up and just continued using the computer with High Sierra. Eventually I had to replace the computer (Mac Mini M1) so that I could run the updated version of FCPX.. Last night I pulled out my iMac to remove any old files and reformat the drive. After a clean install I decided to try to upgrade to Catalina one more time. I used DosDude1 Catalina Patcher and it successfully installed Catalina, but them my screen went black. I tried what I could to get a picture with no luck. So I reformatted and reinstalled High Sierra and monitor started working again. I am thinking the cause may be that the latest version of the patcher is designed to work with non-metal video cards??? Is it possible to refresh my card with the method you use, and then run the Catalina Patcher. Your video has been very helpful, and I would appreciate any advice you may have.
Hi Curtis, are you still around by chance? I see that your google drive is down I happened upon your Video after I installed a K2100M gpu and I'm needing help flashing the bios. I think your option to go with Linux seems great! I have tried booting to the menu but with the K2100M I can't until I flash it. Thoughts?
Very underated channel for the quality of the content you make
Thanks! I just started recording my strange projects recently, so in time I’m sure it will be even better. Glad you like it!
Thanks alot dude ! I'm a real history NUT n a so-so repair guy. When I saw alittle bit of what u were doing, I was very glad cause that's the same iMac I have n I hope u don't mind me saving all your doing cause it's right up my alley. Good Luck dude and keep on doing what u do ...Peace
how come you have so few subscribers this video is insane! the only reason i wish i was living in usa is that i could find old imac parts so easily... working spare parts or just cheap old imacs are so hard to come by in Turkey. :(
a 27-inch imac 2011 with i7 3.4ghz would be a dream find for me. i know its old af but i would still very much enjoy the process of finding one and upgrading the gpu with a gtx 780m. i may never get to enjoy/suffer through that process but thanks for doing something similiar :D
Thanks for the support, my channel is fairly new, and I don't really share it out much... so maybe some day I will have a bigger set of subs!
Nice 🙌🏻 Thank you . I just got a new K610M from HP. This guide was perfect in timing. 👍🏻 🇸🇪
Enjoy it! It was a fun process and .. it works!
Thank you VERY much for this stuff. I've been looking for this for three years now. Cool!
Why does this guy only have 286 subs?! Come on people!
How do you have so few subs? I thought it said 359k subs until I looked closer. You deserve so many more!
He'll get there in time :)
Sorry for a noob question, but will this video and process pertain to my beloved mid-2011 27 inch? If so, what would be the best GPU out of that list?
I can’t thank you enough for this vid and google docs… I’ve successfully did everything to my iMac 2011 upgrading with K2100m …was able to do the blind USB flashing by using my iPad to log in iMac 👍🏻👍🏻
I noticed in the guide, it said to purchase an SSD cable, but I don't see a step in the guide or video that calls for it... What is the SSD cable for? Snagged a K1100M for $30 and I was planning to upgrade next week, want to make sure I am not missing something.
Did you miss it? Planning on January
Are brightness controls also working in system preferences? If not, it means you can’t disable auto brightness!
Also, this GPU supports Metal. You can easily patch your device to the latest version of macOS, so further than this!
These GPU's are listed in the UK eBay at £95 ($125) for k610m and £125 ($165) for k1100m.
I think I'll be trying this with my 2009 24" as my GT 130 is dying.
Or I could pull the MXM GT 120 from my '09 Xserve and put it in the iMac, then upgrade the Xserve instead.
It works good. I have done the GT 120 with my 24 Imac
This video is amazing. All the research has been done and everything is explained step by step. And it’s been proved it works. But I would not recommend anybody with no experience of tinkering with programming to attempt this upgrade. What you will do if you got stuck with something and haven’t got a clue? You will spend hours, days and more looking for a solution and same time fixing it and get it going. I really need this upgrade, badly. But would try to find somebody who is confident with this stuff and would take my imac to him, doing it together. Am I right?
with stress comes new experience. If its not your main working tool and you have a sidemac have a go
Thanks for the tutorial and info links. Just ordered a k1100m card for my 2010 iMac 27". I've been wanting to upgrade this for a few years now but wasn't sure on what was required. (I actually have done a couple of early Mac Pros by upgrading the video card in the past, along with the Vbios to get the boot screen). I don't really want to go all the way to Catalina yet, as there are quite a few apps that I run that aren't supported in Catalina. I have Mojave on a 2012 MBP 15" that works just fine, so I'll probably go that route. 😉
Mojave is my go-to at the moment for all my computers except my work computer.
Love your videos just starting to watch them, I would love to update my mid 2011 iMac 21 inch. Not sure I can do it, that's allot of work getting into it, wish I can get someone to do it.
Hi curtis. I bought a k610 that i want to use for my 27inch mid2011 imac but my problem is that the x bracket from the failing 6970m does not match exactly to the k610m. Some small components are placed right under that bracket... how did you modify the x bracket to match your k610m?
Edit - saw that the bracket in the 21.5 inch imac fits well with k610m but the brakcet from 27inch imac does not. Now i dony have an idea what to do.
Awesome! Can I use a 4K external display with this graphic card?
Best man!
Has the GTX 780m actually been successfully installed in the meantime or the k3100m?
Thank you for the detailed video ! I was wondering if you knew how different the process would be on a Mid-2010 iMac 21.5-inch computer? Just got one and while I can run Catalina through a patcher, the GPU isn't metal and I'd like to upgrade it. Cheers!
Dear Curtis, excellent job. I'd like to know if have you got the display port working with K610?
Hi Curtis, thanks for your videos. I was wondering if you could help out. The Catalina Loader file on your guide appears to be compromised as chrome is flagging it as a virus, is there an alternate source? much appriciated.
Superb work - thank you, Curtis. As an idea to expand on this instruction set: I would be very interested to see whether you could manage to successfully flash any one of your highly recommended cards using a pcie to mxm adapter (as you showed as one of the potential avenues that you pursued). The reason for asking: I have a 27" mid 2011 that I have heavily upgraded over the years, which I love, is still working and strategically used as a DAW... However, I am very aware that their 6970 graphics cards break down unexpectedly, and that OSX10.13 will probably go out of support soon. And as the 27" repair seems to involve at least some use of a cutting tool, and holds a bit more risk, I am holding off the graphics card replacement until either of those two occurrences force an upgrade. However, in the meantime, based on your very useful advice, I ordered a K1100M to be on standby for when needed, and would like to check (when it arrives) whether it is alive (without having to take the imac apart just to test it) -- i.e. Check it on a windows / Linux system (which I have available), and possibly to perform the flash updates - that way I could determine whether the card is DOA / ready for action if needed. If you have the time / are willing to do so, it would be very useful if you could explore that avenue and make recommendations based on the lessons you have learnt.
Stewart Watson - I got another k610m today, going to try it with the mxm adapter again.
Thank you, sir - much appreciated indeed.
Literally just watched your vid from a couple years ago this is awesome that there is a fix
Been using mine for a month now - and it works great!
Great video. I wanna do this myself but the links in your description to the guide and the files don't work.
is the HP version of the K160m given the same number? or does it need to be crossed with the K160m? I see on ebay HP Nvidia K160m but nowhere near your stated price. But it is late in the year and given the situation.. Just wondering if I am finding the correct GPU. Also am I able to upgrade the CPU as well with the K160m ? at first I need to fix the graphics as the graphics are burned out.
I love your videos and because of that I took my first mid 2011 21.5" iMac apart to upgrade the HDD to SSD and replaced the CDROM with another SSD.
But now I cannot get those damned screws from the LCD back in thanks to these strong magnets. What is your secret? How does one do that?
Thanks René
I only use the holes that are furthest from the magnets and leave the others out. I use two on top and bottom of each side. That’s it.
@@messing-with-computers Thanks that makes sense
or you can lay it on its back plate and get screws in their nest with tweezers aiming and screwdriver pushing. The most reliable way so far.
hey thanks for the video. But your google docs is deletes!? :(
Good morning Master! Congratulations on the video.
Would the k610m board be more recommended for the Imac 21.5-inch, Mid 2011?
Hi Curtis, thanks for sharing the video. The files and guide are no longer available. Is it possible to get them in another address? Thanks.
What is the coincidence you came out with this video today and I just decided today to look into upgrading this exact iMac!
How about upgrading the RAM & SSD?
Would you recommend upgrading the RAM to 32GB? I see that OWC offers a kit called: "32.0GB (8GB x 4) PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz SO-DIMM 204 Pin CL9 SO-DIMM Memory Upgrade Kit"
Would an SSD be a good upgrade?
Seems like with these 3 upgrades this 2011 iMac might even be better than the current iMac minus any 4K/Retina display, would you agree?
Depends on your workload - I would absolutely get the ssd kit and at least 8gb ram - I usually stick to 16gb unless I am working on 4K files, and then 32gb is necessary. These older iMacs are beasts!
@@messing-with-computers That makes sense. So I'll save the money and go for the 16gb. Thanks for the reply!
You don't need to buy an expensive owc kit, any so-dimm 1333MHz DDR3 memory will work just fine. Even 1600mhz ones, it will run simply at a lowe clockspeed.
Péter Viszt really? Thanks! Although I’ve tinkered with and upgraded computers before I’m still very much a noob. I haven’t ordered anything yet but I truly was thinking of getting OWC’s 2x8gb RAM and their HDD to SSD replacement kit. That’ll be just under $200 but if you’re saying I can do even cheaper than maybe I should look at Newegg or TigerDirect ;)
@@phillip9263 Yeah - these iMacs are fairly forgiving with the memory choice. Use OWC for custom cables, but not for drives / memory (at least that is my general rule).
Hi, im having an issue, maybe u can help... when starting the iMac, i can hear the chime and then iMac restarts. Chime is heard again and then iMac restarts. This situation repeats over and over, it cant boot normally neither with the option button pressed! Any idea why?
Every product that ages well develops a community of users, hackers/mod-ers and also one who takes it far enough to be a sensei (the one who travels the road beforehand) or might we say a guru. My Mid-2011 iMac 27"er is in pieces next to me and the original graphics card is cooling down in the background. I wish I had found this guru here a little earlier! I would have got out the Dremel and upgraded my GPU, without this now defunkt step of baking my old GPU and having it last weeks/months and then in the end upgrading anyway! BTW the Mac repairer up the road said he had struggled for months to find a solid solution to the ubiquitous Mid-2011 GPU failure and had given up, and even advised me "not to bother trying to repair a computer that would always have this problem". For every person who watches this video and your previous video and upgrades their iMac, you Curtis Gross can take some credit for saving another machine from scrapping for some more years, and for lifting the skills, knowledge base and intellectual attitude of the human race just that little bit. Appropriate to this theme, your videos are far from the typical computer repair faire and more like a younger Eric Bana delivering an advanced yoga lesson and lecture. Very reassuring, but with more than enough information to back your explanation up. Nicely done!
@Curtis Gross saw your post on macrumors... you are selling the iMac featured in the video, huh? Should be an easy sell! I’ve been following the development of this gpu upgrade for months and months. I still have my 6750 in my 27” and it runs cool as a cucumber. I was looking to go for the installation now that Big Sur is supported, but honestly through the development it’s gotten a bit confusing for me. I now don’t know whether I can do NVflash and jump straight to Big Sur patcher or if Catalina had to be installed first then the upgrade with the patcher. Thread on macrumors has turned into a book at nearly 450 pages! I might have to ride it out with my 2012 unibody non-retina, but that screen is horrible next to the imac...
Hey Curtis you might not respond but its worth a shot so is there any cards out there that is better than the Radeon HD 6970m that is fully compatible with the 2011 Imac 27 inch and doesn't need a special heatsink if not I will prob just get the 2gb version of Radeon HD 6970m Thanks for Reading if you did!
Hi. The 2 URL's in the description do not work anymore. Can you provide me the updated URL's?? I'm in the process of following your video for replacement of my failed 6770 GPU. Thank you.
How do I get the miniport with external monitor to work after updating to Catalina ?
+1 for this issue
hi curtis it would be awesome if you made a couple of videos on installing newer versions of mac os on these 2011 imacs
I plan to put a k1100M in a 27” 2011 iMac. I’ve changed out (and “baked” the gpu a couple times) but I’m a newbie with the software. I found the link to your google docs notes no longer works. Oh nooooo!! Any way I can get that?
Hi Curtis! I made an upgrade to de Nvidia card and all flashing process. What about if in an hypothetical situation I need to go back to the previous original video card?
I was able to successfully install an HP branded K1100m and was able to flash the vbios as instructed. The iMac 21.5 video does work IF I hold down option at bootup to turn on video. I believe my next step is to install OpenCore to provide a boot screen and fix brightness controls. Unfortunately, google is now flagging the iMac Opencore Loader.dmg file as infected and is blocking a way to download. I have not been able to locate another source of the file. Are you experiencing the same result when attempting to download the dmg? Thanks for a great video.
Is there a MXM card for a 2011 iMac 27 that runs on Big Sur or later with enabled hardware acceleration? I have such machine running with OC Legacy Patcher with a Quadro K2000 but Big Sur doesn't recognize the card and the machine doesn't have hardware acceleration.
Hello, I have an imac a1311, GPU quadro k3100m 4gb, goes into sleep mode, after that it does not wake up, you need to turn off the power to wait 15 minutes and only then it starts. Fix sleep mode help me? macOS big sur.
so, from the manual, it says that the diagnostic LED's are labeled 1-4 from right to left. If that's true, wouldn't that mean that your GPU diagnostic never turned on? I'm confused, because i've been trying to install the k1100m and the 3rd diagnostic light won't come on. I've tried ssh with the usb stick but nothing. could use a little help please. thanks
IMac 2011 27-inch product is being used.
HD6970 1GB GPU. The screen was broken with vertical streaks, and it does not revive even with baking.
What can I do?
It is enough for me to use only High Sierra.
Do I really need to update the ROM? Is this easy?
Fixing the heatsink is difficult for me.
K2100m = $95
K4100m = $140
780m = $180
HD6970 = $200
I would like to try with a product that will not break.
What would you recommend?
Hi, Curtis. Firstly, thanks for your work. How do I fix brightness after install Catalina? Mine is iMac 21.5 2011 with K2100 GPU. You did the fix in HighSierra, but I installed Catalina and after I saw the possibility to fix brightness, so, I’d like to know if it’s possible to fix it from inside Catalina. Thanks!
Did you flash the GPU? The flashing process is pretty easy (done via linux stick - check this out: ruclips.net/video/sn5K2SKXrJg/видео.html )
@@messing-with-computers I did it. It is working, but not the brightness control. Is it possible to fix the brightness control using open core from Catalina, or only from High Sierra?
Hi, great video! I tried the links in the description but they don't seem to work now. Do you have any working links or up to date advice? I have a mid 2011 iMac with a GPU on it's last legs!
Great Job!, Thanks a Lot, now mi iMac 2011 it's over BigSur, i'm trying Brightness control, have you any update
for BigSur?
Hi Ivan, does it all still runs smooth?
Hello Curtis, I wanted to ask you if this GPU fits also an iMac 27” 2010? Besides that, thank you for your videos, they’re amazing!
Hi Curtis, I must say you have been such a big help. I want to ask if there is any video of AMD WX series cards upgrade to 2011 iMacs as that is pretty different from Nvidia (the software part) please help if you know of any. Thanks
Hi Curtis, this follow-up video is so informational. Great work done here. One thing I want to know is that for a 27" iMac 12,2 with 6770m, do I need to file down the 3 pipe heat sink to fit in nicely (without no risk of high temp) to fit in a GTX765m? Does it need to be Dell card (not HP)? Thanks
You will only need to modify the heat sink with a dremel - no new heat sink needed. For the 765m you will want the dell version, but I would try to get the k4100m instead.
Can you connect an external monitor using an adapter via displayport/thunderbolt after the gpu upgrade?
This is important for those of us who are using a pen display tablet!
Hello, i’ve a question 🙋🏻♂️ if i upgrade the gpu and update the macOS to catalina. Can i use all the metal functions as the same as the new iMac? Like using the final cut pro with full function. Thanks in advance for the answer
Good afternoon, my imac 2009 i7 is out of order, the video card has been ordered for Ali express gtx 880, the seller showed the photo that it works before sending it, I installed it, there is no black screen, there is a sound on the password and tell me if the seller did not modify the BIOS, the image should displayed? Or do you need a BIOS modification?
Just installed the k4100m into my 2010 iMac 27. Upgraded the ram to 32gb. i7 cpu with 1tb SSD. This machine screams!
Hello Curtis, i have a mac pro mid 2010 and i need to upgrade my graphics. This process is the same for mac pros?
You're a wizard Curtis! it looks fly how it works man! I have an issue, maybe you can put me in the right direction, I got my hands on an iMac same year but 27 inch, with a fan noise from the startup, it doesn't stop and no brightness control, which makes me think it may benefit from making a GPU replacement/upgrade ( everything else works fine) ... but I'm guessing about the GPU malfunctioning here, I'm a newbie on this procedure, nothing more than ssd, ram upgrades, screen, keyboard replacements, and just basic knowledge about linux, but I need to know how to correctly diagnose this iMac so I can start fixing it, any suggestions?
can you put a m1 mini in there or on the back, and use the monitor, sd card, ports, sad, dvd, by using the tb ports, etc?
sorry for the newbie question but the K610m video card being installed on the iMac 2011 21.5 or 27 inch without flashing the video card i just won't have the imac boot screen but the system should enter normally, correct? Can I consider it the same thing as Mac Pro’s until 2012/2013?
Hi Curtis! Thank you for your time. I had followed your tutorial and now I have a K610M on my Mac 2011. The problem is that I needed to reinstall the OS but it was not possible. It never starts the system even on web recovery or pendrive. I don't know why, but since the day I installed the GPU the fan works at full speed all the time. Tried making the apple hardware test and that shows some kind of problem on the fan that was not there before the new GPU. Now the only OS I can boot on the Mac is Ubuntu. Any idea on how to have MacOS installed again?
Hello, I have tried on my imac 27 final 2009 with gtx 765m and it does not work. To fix the sleep error I have to disable it from the economizer if the mac is turned off.
I have flashed the graphics card from windows but I don't have brightness control. I am in High Sierra 10.13.6 I will try to jump to Catalina 10.15.6 if the patch is resolved. I need some programs that don't work in Sierra.
Hi Curtis, Thanks for this video! I just installed Big Sur and now having the acceleration problem in my iMac 27 inc mid 2011. So now planning the GPU upgrade. Just because there are a lot GPU's recommended I was wondering which affordable card would you recommend nowadays?
I will use the iMac just for business, maybe some video editing in the future but nothing heavy, not playing heavy games. Can you maybe recommend me some GPU's app to 100$ today?
Thanks a lot and have a good 2022!:)
for brightness controls it is not possible to download open loader! "a virus has been detected, so you cannot download this file"! can you help me ?
This GPU is compatible with Metal. Could Big Sur also be installed on Catalina? Is GPU hardware acceleration complete?
Thanks
The opencoreloader DMG in google drive has been marked as virus. No longer downloadable.
Hi... Just asking because I can't find a definitive answer, will the k2100 work in the 21.5 inch from 2011?
hey man, could you reupload those files? cheers
Thaks a lot Curtis for these videos. May I ask if ANY k1100m will work? Or is it necesary to be Dell branded, as it used to be? I'm planning on use Open Core.
If you flash it - any brand works.
Hey, I need some help. I tried installing GTX 780 in two 2011 imacs to make sure that logic boards are fine. After install only one led turns on anod no start up beep at all. After I istaled back old ATI and it powers on. Do you think that I demaged my GPU? I was cerefull and wear gloves. Do you think I need better power supply?
Thaks for advices
Very good presentation for a problem I have on my Mid 2011 IMac that does not sleep and other issues you mention! Running Dosdude1 patcher install. Could you outline the best procedure to remove the after install updates? Is the quickest fix to reinstall and not to the post install updates? Thank you for your video! Russell R.
Hi , on mac rumors i saw the AMD WX4150 on Ebay new $59.99 , would you recommend this GPU and will it work with Catalina ?
I wonder, will this method also work on 21" 2010 iMac, with upgraded CPU Intel Core i7 860s? I want to install the K1100m.
Hey I have a 2001 imac 27" with ssd and a k1100m running Catalina I patched sleep fix not I have reboot loop also on start it always had a black screen until I cleared nvram please help
Will this repair the infamous 27" iMac dead GPU issue? That is, the "black screen?"
Hi, Thinking of trying this. I have the K610 GPU. Wondering what the SSD cable your recommend purchasing is for, exactly.
Hi Curtis, hi All
I am trying to install a GTX 780m card into a 2011 27" iMac, but I am start to thinking that the card is broken. Did you upgrade the BIOS before the install the card? I did not do that and the screen do not turn on. Just turn on the first 2 of the 4 diagnostic LEDs light.
Thanks in advance
Luis - try removing all the memory except 1 stick, maybe even leave it unplugged for a while and try doing the keyboard commands for 'reset pram' to see if that gets it to the 3rd light!
@@messing-with-computers Thanks! I'll try ;)
Just finished this with a k1100m on a 27” and it’s perfect!
Snowcuber04 glad to hear!
Did you get brightness control with this steps?
666DRAKUL you will!
I did all the steps but i cant get the brightness control working u.u i got an error verifying the size of the flashed rom compared to the size of the actual file that could be the problem?
did you use the x bracket from your previous amd gpu into the k1100m?
Curtis , do you know where I can buy the USB Stick ready with Linux and all the files to flash
The GPU K610m ? With instruction to follow the process of flashing the GPU..
Hi Curtis, thank you for this guide. I had a question. I have an early 2009 imac 24" 2.93ghz. (sierra unsupported is running well) I've upgraded to SSD and the max 8gb ram. current graphics are Geforce gt120 256 gb. I've just ordered the K1100m as no one would ship the k610m to Korea where I'm currently at. Wondering if you have any experience advice on the early 2009 imac and if this process would be similar? I'm more interested in the graphics performance over the OS upgrade as all my old apps still run pretty good in Sierra (CS6, Iwork 09 Etc) Thank you.
I actually haven't had a 2009. Just a few 2007 and a ton of 2011 models. But the process is fairly similar for all of them - search for all the screws, get them loose, raise the motherboard out and flip it over to get to the CPU / GPU. The hardest part is making sure you don't break your monitor cables.
I have iMac 27" mid-2011 and I bought Quadro K1100m. The heatsink doesn't fit with the GPU...
can you help me? Thank you!
Really great , I did it many times thanks of this instructions but NOW I have problem with password during SSH , password didn't accepted , any help ?
hey mate whats the best plug and play gpu for the imac 2011 without changing bios or without tinkering with the os?. im not worried about the brightness control. i was looking at a wx4170 hp zbook 4gb GPU. will i still need to flash bios? or even the wx7100m not too concerned about cost i just want it to last another 10 years for the wife.
Hi, bios you provided for K610M is full dump? Can I erase old one and write your one with programmer? Also iMac should boot into OS X with original Bios? And last question I noted that there are 2 versions of K610M. One is nvidia code start with 14 and next one start with 15. Your bios should work on both versions? If it work I would like to donate you but cannot find more info where to contact you.
Hi Miroslav - yes, the k610m is a modified vbios dump that will convert a k610m to a imac compatible with boot screens / linux screens / windows. Now, you should still be able to boot into Mac OS even with the original bios, but it won't give you a screen until ~80% of the boot process is done and the nvidia drivers load in. You mention the n14 or n15 variant of the 610m. To be very clear, you want the n15 variant! The n14 is likely 'fermi' based which means it is older.. and not the best version. I don't think nvida sold them as the 'k' variant, but either way - get the k610m n15 version if you see a choice. As for donations - no worries. I guess share the video and subscribe! I do this for fun and as a hobby.
I have mid 2011 imac with nvidia quadro k3100m 4gb everything works no problems. You just need to flash the vbios.
rafal osip nice! Do you have the vbios file link? I would be interested in the k4100m and k5100m too.
@@messing-with-computers I get this card long time ago on ebay it was flashed for this imac.
@@messing-with-computers how do you update to latest version 10.15.5
Curtis, I have got a k2100m for my imac 2011 21.5" inch, i dont want to upgrade the OS, this works good in High Sierra?
hola estoy actualizando un imac 2011 de 27·· pero en archivo de google drive ya no esta disponible, lo tendras en formato ,bin quisiera intentar desoldar el chip de vbios y flashearlo directamente
la grafica es una K2100m
Thanks Curtis! You know what your doing and this tutorial plus the opencore video helped a lot! Only problem I had was due to using a newer version of Catalina that requires replacing Framework and a couple kext files don't need to be installed due to dosdude patcher doing it already, and installing them will ruin the os and will be stuck in loading screen until reinstall. Macrumors page has the instructions/download for that 👍
Hi. I am wanting to try the upgrade. Any new links for the files? They are not working.
hi friend, i upgrade imac 21.5 model 12,1 but not have brightness control. can you helpme whit open core options or some apple backligth kext for this problem, i am wait for your help thanks for your time. and excellent video !!
And one last question after i saw Tech it out video. Whats normal gpu temperature in your upgraded build? I would be grateful if you answer all my question. And i cant describe with words how grateful i am now. If i had money i would invest it in your projects.