To make matters worse, an excess of thermal paste is often applied to the graphics card from the factory. This sends the computer into panic mode, and it refuses to boot. Eventually a connection is no longer made between the graphics card and the board contact points. Over time the heating and subsequent cooldown of the graphics card leads minuscule cracks to develop in the soldered micro-connection between the GPU chipset and the logic board (or MXM board in this case). So where does all this heat originate? Each time the graphics card is taxed (when the computer is running Photoshop, playing Youtube videos, etc.), hot air builds up. This results in much less effective airflow. Furthermore, all aging iMacs have a substantial amount of dust buildup on all components and most importantly the fan blades. In the iMac the fan is not optimally placed to force out the hot air. In the red desktop graphic card shown for comparison, you’ll notice the fan sits atop the GPU chipset and pushes the hot air directly out the opposite end of the card through large vents on top of the input ports. The fan’s job is to force the hot air out of the computer and away from the graphics card. The fan is situated far away from the cooling fins and is mostly obstructed by the optical drive. You’ll notice in the photo below that the fan sits down and to the right of the graphics card. The copper pipes then transfer heat to the silver cooling fins and out the backside of the iMac through a horizontal cut near the top. In the iMac heat is transferred from the graphics card chipset via copper pipes. Early symptoms are an iMac that fails to wake up from sleep or one that wakes up but only shows a black screen. Due to internal space constraints, many iMacs develop an overheating graphics card issue that results in a black/blue/grey screen while the computer is powered on or a screen that shows vertical stripes or columns. Then again, not everyone buys a 27-inch iMac.Īpple also reportedly instructed Support staff to consider making customers eligible for a refund, should they have replaced the graphics card on their own money, prior to the launch of this program.There is a common flaw in the all-in-one iMac design. The number of customers affected by this issue doesn’t appear to be very big.
#Video graphics card for imac 2011 free
“If the iMac (27-inch) meets these requirements, Apple will replace the video card free of charge for three years after the first retail sale of the computer,” the document states. If your iMac has this video card inside and is exhibiting the issues described above, you can choose one of three options to have your iMac evaluated by a specialist, including the Apple Retail Store, Apple Authorized Service Providers and, of course, Apple Technical Support.Īs usual, the Cupertino giant cautions that customers will need to back up their data before they waltz in with their Mac. “iMac computers with affected video cards were sold between May 2011 and October 2012,” Apple confirms. “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,” according to tech note TS5167.Īs a result of the faulty cards, the computer’s display may “appear distorted, white or blue with vertical lines, or to turn black.” In a tech note posted this past weekend – but without any warning from the mother ship – Apple reveals that it has discovered flaws with said graphics solutions and that it is waiting for “affected” customers with its arms wide open for replacements. Apple has officially debuted its AMD Radeon 6970M Video Card Replacement Program for iMac (27-inch) models shipped between 20.Īcknowledging an issue with the graphics cards inside the high-end iMacs shipped between 20, Apple last week informed Support staffers that a replacement program was being initiated.
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