It's 2020, I have a mid 2011 3.1ghz i core i5 and the vid card just died. (white and grey stripes across screen only, at start up) are there vid cards that could replace the AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2048 MB?
iMac 27″, macOS 10.13
It's a standard MXM-B type laptop GPU, but Apple never produced or blessed an alternative graphics cards.
The only Apple supported hardware would be another iMac Radeon HD 6970M, or possible an iMac Radeon HD 6770M with heat sink (it uses a smaller 2-pipe heat sync than the 6970M).
*PC laptop cards ship with fully or partially incompatible manufacturer vbios files.
More practically, that iMac has live a long full life. Time to tear it down, sell any valuable parts on eBay, recycle the rest, and buy yourself a new model.
[Edited by Moderator]
It's a standard MXM-B type laptop GPU, but Apple never produced or blessed an alternative graphics cards.
The only Apple supported hardware would be another iMac Radeon HD 6970M, or possible an iMac Radeon HD 6770M with heat sink (it uses a smaller 2-pipe heat sync than the 6970M).
*PC laptop cards ship with fully or partially incompatible manufacturer vbios files.
More practically, that iMac has live a long full life. Time to tear it down, sell any valuable parts on eBay, recycle the rest, and buy yourself a new model.
[Edited by Moderator]
Since it's considered obsolete by Apple it will be hard to find anyone to work on it and find parts. This iFixit website had directions on replacing them (if you can find a part): iMac Intel 27" (Late 2009 or Mid 2010) Graphics Card Replacement.
I took my 2011 27" iMac apart to remove the hard drives and it was not an easy job. iFixit classifies it as difficult. Since I was recycling the unit I didn't have to worry about putting back together or damaging cables, etc. Just some food for thought.
No, unless you can repair the current card or find one on e-bay the computer is done and needs to be replaced. The 6970M 2048 MB was a problematic card and Apple even had a replacement program (long since expired) to replace them. My recommendation is it's time for your new Mac.
iMac 27" AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2048 MB - Video Problems
