AMD/ATI Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series graphics acceleration: Currently, it is not possible to achieve full graphics acceleration under Catalina on any machines that use a Radeon HD 5xxx or 6xxx series GPU. If you have a machine with one of these GPUs installed, I'd advise upgrading it if possible (can be done in 2010/2011 iMacs, iMac11,x-12,x), disabling the dedicated GPU if using a 2011 15. If you have a machine with one of these GPUs installed, I'd advise upgrading it if possible (can be done in 2010/2011 iMacs, iMac11,x-12,x), disabling the dedicated GPU if using a 2011 15' or 17' MacBook Pro (MacBookPro8,2/8,3, instructions to do so can be found here), or not installing Catalina. Macs that didn't make Big Sur's list but were on Catalina's included the mid- and late-year 2012 MacBook Pro, mid-2012 MacBook Air, mid-2012 and late-2013 iMac, and late-2012 Mac Mini machines. MacOS Catalina (version 10.15) is the sixteenth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.' S desktop operating system for Macintosh computers. It is the successor to macOS Mojave and was announced at WWDC 2019 on June 3, 2019 and released to the public on October 7, 2019.
A step-by-step guide on how I successfully swap the graphics card to K1100M on my 2011 27″ iMac and install Catalina in this unsupported system. I decided to take on this project due to the infamous Apple AMD GPU failure so that I can continue getting life out of my iMac.
This process applies to my own system, which may or may not work exactly the same for other systems with different specs.
Credit to those in this thread over at MacRumors Flip grip (itch) mac os. for making this project possible.
Disclaimer: These are my personal steps on how I successfully did this swap. I am not responsible for any issues if you choose to take on this project. Use this with caution.
My system:
What works that is usually broken with these swaps:
K1100M vs 6970MGather Necessary Items And FilesItems
![]() Files
Modifying the X bracket of the K1100M
I did not reuse the X bracket from the 6970M since there are tiny surface mounted components on the K1100M card where the bracket would lay on top.
Mating the K1100M card onto the heat sink
Partially Reassemble
Assemble the iMac except for the following:
Flashing the K1100M bios
Finish iMac Reassembly
Create Patched Catalina Installer
The following instructions are for installing a new copy of Catalina on a blank hard drive.
Fix Missing Audio Device
After the installation of the OS, I had noticed that my system did not detect any audio devices, thus no sound was being produced after the macOS has loaded up. The chime still can be heard during boot up, so I knew it was software related and not hardware. Below are the steps on how I fixed this issue.
Fix Black Screen
Space ships(alpha) mac os. Since I installed macOS Catalina version 10.15.6, the screen will remain black the entire time if “option” key is not used during boot up to initiate it to light up. This black screen issue began from version 10.15.4 and up. To fix this issue, follow these steps:
Fix Brightness Control
Below is my exact process, but another guide by herrdude @ MacForums can be found here.
The system has to boot from the Catalina Loader USB thumb drive each time for brightness control to work. What I chose to do was to create a small partition from the macOS drive (Mac OS Extended Journaled), restored the USB thumb drive onto that partition (using Disk Utility) and boot the Catalina Loader from that partitioned drive instead of having to leave the USB thumb drive connected to the iMac.
Fix Wake From Sleep
At this current state, the OS will not wake up from a sleep, but rather hang on a black screen for several minutes until it automatically reboots. The following steps will help fix this issue.
Enabling Intel Quick Sync
![]() Add Fan Control
Fan control for the graphics card is gone after the swap, so a third party fan controller app is needed.
If you're using one of these computers with OS X Mavericks or later, you can install macOS Catalina. Your Mac also needs at least 4GB of memory and 12.5GB of available storage space, or up to 18.5GB of storage space when upgrading from OS X Yosemite or earlier. Learn how to upgrade to macOS Catalina.
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