What GPU's are compatible with iMac 27" 2011?

Most nvidia GPUs will work if you install the web drivers. Take a look at this... https://www.ifixit.com/Story/18646/Succe...

Check this out FIRST before you spend any money:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203787

iMac (27-inch): AMD Radeon 6970M Video Card Replacement Program

Apple has determined that some AMD Radeon HD 6970M video cards used in 27-inch iMac computers with 3.1GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 or 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processors may fail, causing the computer’s display to appear distorted, white or blue with vertical lines, or to turn black. iMac computers with affected video cards were sold between May 2011 and October 2012.

Adding my experience here. I had a 2011 27 iMac’s GPU go bad with the pink vertical lines. I’m in rural South Korea, so there weren’t a lot of options.

I considered baking, but longevity was an issue. This discussion and others like it helped me along. I got this Dell/Alienware GPU from Ebay (below, Apple on the left; new card on the right, note the two silver squares that have “R22” printed on them … those are too high for the heatsink and it’s not a perfect fit) and installed that with iFixit instructions (although there are no instructions specifically for a GPU swap on this model, the dual-drive install instructions got me where I needed to go.

The card is the correct size, but two parts on the card were too tall and left a big gap when the heatsink was put back on (below).

I salvaged two copper squares from the heatsink of an Apple laptop and used them as spacers with a generous helpings of Arctic Silver between each layer.

After that, I screwed the heatsink on tightly. It sits a degree or two off-straight, but works fine (below).

I got everything back together and booted to a black screen and waited (remember, this is the result of no Apple ROM). It all worked perfectly once the iMac reached the login screen. I installed Brightness Slider to adjust the display brightness and it works well enough.

After about 3 hours, the iMac went to sleep and when I woke it back up, the right half of the screen was about 50% darker. On a dead cold boot (e.g. after the weekend), the screen was normal, but then after a short period, the right half of the screen would darken.

I could still see things and get work done, so I put up with this for a few weeks until I had time to deal with it. The iMac itself was running just fine. When I had time to open it and lift the LED, my diagnosis was confirmed: the display data cable was getting too hot. There is tape to prevent, but it was worn/melted slightly (below).

I used more parts salvaged from the laptop to raise the display data cable up more than it had been. You can see in Step 10 of these instructions how the foam is strong and probably does the job right, but mine computer wasn’t like that, it was smushed down quite a bit.

I salvaged tape and the foam from the laptop. I didn’t need it to do much other than keep the heat off of the cable. I assume that because the heatsink didn’t fit properly and I didn’t pack all the chips with thermal compound (I didn’t have any), that excess heat is coming off of the wrong side of the GPU. This is something to deal with later.

The cable got the height needed when I lowered the screen back down.

The iMac works flawlessly now. I’m running High Sierra with the CUDA and web drivers suggested in this post. I did not need to have the drivers installed before swapping the GPU cards. YMMV.

Same $@$* here in Hungary. Apple don't care about customers even they paid a lot to buy the flagship of Apple. It's a shame, in this big company. VW, Toyota etc... called back all the cars, which they put wrong spares. Apple just give 4 extra years, even they proudly says, they know they put wrong sparepart to their most expensive product.

I don't know even why any lawyer doesn't see the business in this easy possibility to get a lot of money from Apple??? :) They &&^&@@ up us easily with a lot of money...

Is there anybody, who bought used Video board to fix it? I sent mine to repair to a specialist company to greece to reballing, but it wasn't help. They tried two times, but finally sent it back with the money. I found lot of used cards on different market sites, but i don't know, how will they work, how long... I don't trust Apple anymore. Now I have an 27" Imac I7 8Gb Ram and cant't use. The complete, used, same, working Imac is 6-7-800 Euros, and used card is 300 euros..

Is there somebody with used card experience?

I've repaired a couple of Mac's by removing the videocard, stripping it from all thermal-fluid, plastic etc. Put in in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius , and putting it back (using new thermal pasta). This will let the soldier melt a little bit so any short-circuits don't appear anymore causing the GPU to work again.

it's difficult and time-consuming but it beats replacing a GPU for a lot of $ (or € in my case :)

And some PC laptops have the exact same problems with the GPU. Sometimes the thermal pasta or copper heatsink won't be doing it's job right causing the GPU to get real hot and fail eventually. A lose connection with one of the chips is mostly the case (also from using environmental friendly soldier)..

I am also an owner of dead imac 27” 2011 with 6970 1gb gpu. And I am wondering is it compatible with previous 2009-2010 imac models? E.g.

2009 iMac

gt120GF 256mb

gt130GF 512mb

9400GF 128mb / 256mb

4670 256mb

4850 512mb

2010 imac

4670 256mb

5670  512mb

5750 1 GB

Or at least with 6750M 256mb/512mb or 6770M 512mb from imac 2011 lower models?

Because used imac 27 costs about $600-700 for now, and spent half of this price for another used 6970 gpu is not a good idea as for me. Especially if I am not needed in 3d graphics

I’ve also found this forum thread to be incredibly helpful in determining the appropriate ROMs, MXM Cards, etc.

• http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?topic=...

Hey all.

I just bought a Mid 2011 27 inch iMac from Gumtree here in Australia.

I know I've well missed the replacement date for the video card change over by Apple.

Can someone please tell me, did Apple simply replace the cards in these iMacs with the exact same video cards? Obviously with newly manufactured ones?

Or did they change to something slightly different?

I don't won't to muck around with flashing ROM’s to a different card or try a temporary bake fix.

Cheers.

To make a non-apple provided Nvidia graphics card work in macOS Sierra you need to do the following…

Start the computer in safe mode by holding shift.

Get your BoardID by running this command in terminal

echo "<result>$(ioreg -rd1 -c IOPlatformExpertDevice | awk -F'["|"]' '/board-id/{print $4}')</result>"

Open the AppleGraphicsControl Kext using this command

sudo nano /System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy.kext/Contents/Info.plist

Use the arrow keys to go down until you see <key>ConfigMap</key> followed by a bunch of keys and strings.

LOOK FOR YOUR BOARD ID…

IF IT IS LISTED: Change the string to <string>none</string>

IF IT IS NOT LISTED: Add it in the same format as the ones listed.

Save the file by pressing Ctrl+O, then enter.

Exit by pressing Ctrl+X

Rebuild the kernel cache using the following two commands:

sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel

AND

sudo kextcache -system-caches

Have Fun!

Hi all! Same story with my late 2011 imac and the 2Gb 6970M. Took it to an Apple service and told me it had to be replaced, about 800euros. Talked to Apple who refused to replace it through the program according to, first, it was bought in 2011 (more than 4 years ago) and later a superior told me that my imac was from an specific production line that had not the problem and thus not fitting the replacement prog. Though (sigh) my card is dead and I find no reasonable replacement in ebay or similar. Took it to a non official service to do the reballing but it didn't work, it was deformed and not fitting anymore.

Shall you get together to do something with apple or a change.org or something, please let me know! From Spain

Interesting.....

My iMac from the same series went in just last week because the 2Gb card died. Apple Store was very good and said even though it's outside the replacement program dates (it was purchased in Aug 2011), they would cover the cost. It's taking a little longer than their usual timeframes for repair waiting for the part, but at least I'm not out of pocket for the repair (about the same cost as the lowest end iMac). Mind you, our consumer protection laws in Australia are very good and given it was a known issue to this model Apple may not want to test the laws with a denial to repair.

I think I'm in the same boat here. I was thinking of fitting a Radeon 6970M into a 2009 iMac.

My questions are:

Can I use a Windows Laptop (alienware etc) 6970M GPU card and reflow the firmware/EFI chip from an existing 6970m 1gb.

What are the model numbers of the Windows LapTop cards (e,g. 1GB & 2gb versions)?

What is the name of the GPU chipset used on the iMac 6970M? This is incase I were to have a new GPU chip reflowed to the existing video card i have.

I'm in the same boat. *Just got this 2011 iMac 27" and the video card is bad.

Apple will not repair free, $576 @ local Apple store. I called APPL corporate, they guy looked into it and said "no". I even emailed tcook@apple.com and asked for an exception. I believe it's *worth repairing, but I'll also want to add an SSD while the work is done. Still searching for a local repair service... Ugh.

Had mine replaced last week for free. It's the second time it has gone, both times the cards lasted for exactly 2 years and 9 months before failing. Apple initially said no to me in store and were going to charge £500+ until I gave a consumer law argument that the product was sold by apple defective, and then replaced with the same defective part (hence it has failed again). That argument worked for me in the UK, but expires after 6 years so it won't work again! It also only applies where the product was bought from apple direct, as consumer law responsibility applies to point of sale.

I know I've been lucky but it is still not nice to know I have 2 years and 9 months to go now before my iMac (which is otherwise perfect) dies again, and presumably at that point it will be declared vintage and parts unavailable.

My iMac (i7, mid2011 gpu with 2Gb) just died this week. I brought it back to my Apple reseller for repair and hè suggested me to provide the original purchase note, because Apple sometimes because of consumer laws decides to repair this without charging costs. I have had many pc's before I got this iMac and never had a dead GPU.

PS my iMac was part of the series that could have defective GPU's, but I never traded in my iMac since I had no problems. I agree with some of you that Apple should have proactively recalled those iMacs and replaced the GPU's.

Lets see what happens with my repair request..

Hi,

My Mid-2011- 27" i7 iMac graphics card failed and Apple replaced it at n/c.... then 2 yrs later the replacement failed - they wanted $900 to replace it.... I really like my iMac (I had added a 4TB HDD and an SSD)... so I went on ebay and found a used one for <$300 and spent a lot of time on You Tube looking and reading and finding the "special thermal grease" from Greece. It takes time patience, static protection, lots of paper towels, some lighter fluid to clean off the old thermal paste... and luck. It took me a couple days to finish, and it lives again. I also read that the apple fan control system is more for sound than safety - I use Macs Fan Control now and am happy with a noisy/cool iMac to be able to process my work file.

take out your videocard, clean it off, take a heat gun and move it back and forth over the chip for 30 mins put it back in, and pray. im writing this on a imac i repaired this way

Hi all,

i have an 2010 21,5” iMac with a faulty GPU.

I found a cheap GTX 260 from an Alienware Notebook.

I have put this GPU into my iMac, i hear the Startup-Sound, but i got only the first two LED’s light up. Is this normal, if the GPU doen’t have Apple Firmware on it ?

No screen anyway. I have tried High Sierra so far, but no luck. I will try El Capitan/Sierra.

Any updates on this issue? Mine was fixed with new chips 3 times already, but I think a new card is the only proper solution . . . other than the GPU, the iMac is still running fine with its i7 and the later upgraded SSD. Would be a pity to waste it.

Check this out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBxpFwKc...

Video card in late 2009 iMac still going strong after 2.5 years!

I can confirm that HD 4850 from imac 2009 is compatible with imac 2011. I had the whole cooler so you dont need any disassembly just replace the whole gpu with cooler and it works