• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Some mid-2011 iMacs Feature Faulty GPUs, Apple Announces Replacement Program

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
46,283 (7.69/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
Apple announced a GPU Replacement Program along the lines of its HDD Replacement Program, dating back to 2011, for mid-2011 iMacs, which had its run at the markets from May 2011 to October 2012, more specifically, iMacs equipped with AMD Radeon HD 6970M. Apple says that both the 1 GB and 2 GB variants of the graphics boards inside these iMacs could fail. Telltale signs include artifacts on the screen, including white or blue vertical lines or a solid black display. Apple is offering free repair and replacement for affected iMacs, and refunds to people to paid to get the issue fixed, prior to this announcement.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
Last edited:
Joined
Nov 17, 2011
Messages
298 (0.07/day)
System Name Game Raver
Processor Core i7-770K
Motherboard ASRock Z170A-X1
Cooling Coolermaster AIO
Memory 16gb
Video Card(s) GTX 1060
Storage 1TB Crucial SSD. 4TB Seagate HDD
Display(s) AOC 1080p 144Hz
Case NZXT Phantom 410 /w/ Silverstone FN121P-BL fans
Audio Device(s) ASUS Essence STX
Power Supply Corsair AX760
I smell crappy QC tests.
 
D

Deleted member 24505

Guest
Apple quality, fanboys love it, but is it that good?
 

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 6, 2004
Messages
58,413 (8.21/day)
Location
Oystralia
System Name Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory 2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s) Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage 2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s) Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) | Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) | Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s) Logitech G560 | Corsair Void pro RGB |Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores Nyooom.
i'd hazard a guess its another piss-poor cooling job - not faulty per se, but overheating based on the 'symptoms' they listed
 
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Messages
225 (0.04/day)
Processor Phenom II X4 965 BE @4 GHz | NB @2600 MHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3
Cooling Noctua NH-D14
Memory 2x 8GB PC12800 @1600 MHz CL7 1T
Video Card(s) Gigabyte HD 7950
Storage 2 x 500 GB -- HD502HJ & WD5000AACS-00ZUB0
Display(s) Iiyama Prolite E2202WS_WVS
Case Corsair Obsidian 550D
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar D2 w/ Z-5500
Power Supply Seasonic X-750
Mouse Logitech B100
Keyboard Logitech G15 (blue backlight)
Software Windows 7 - SP1 x64
What I like about Apple — and there's not much I like about them — is their systematic replacement programs. Of course, they're not the only one out there to have replacement programs like these, so it's not like it makes them stand out among the crowd, but still... that's a good thing in my book.

That said, I have to agree with the above comments — the quality simply isn't what fanboys make it out to be.
 

Wile E

Power User
Joined
Oct 1, 2006
Messages
24,318 (3.81/day)
System Name The ClusterF**k
Processor 980X @ 4Ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 BIOS F12
Cooling MCR-320, DDC-1 pump w/Bitspower res top (1/2" fittings), Koolance CPU-360
Memory 3x2GB Mushkin Redlines 1600Mhz 6-8-6-24 1T
Video Card(s) Evga GTX 580
Storage Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB, 2xSeagate 320GB RAID0; 2xSeagate 3TB; 2xSamsung 2TB; Samsung 1.5TB
Display(s) HP LP2475w 24" 1920x1200 IPS
Case Technofront Bench Station
Audio Device(s) Auzentech X-Fi Forte into Onkyo SR606 and Polk TSi200's + RM6750
Power Supply ENERMAX Galaxy EVO EGX1250EWT 1250W
Software Win7 Ultimate N x64, OSX 10.8.4
Eh. OEMs release bad shit sometimes. It happens. At least they're remedying the problem.
 
Joined
Oct 30, 2008
Messages
1,757 (0.31/day)
System Name Lailalo
Processor Ryzen 9 5900X Boosts to 4.95Ghz
Motherboard Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WIFI
Cooling Noctua
Memory 32GB DDR4 3200 Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s) XFX 7900XT 20GB
Storage Samsung 970 Pro Plus 1TB, Crucial 1TB MX500 SSD, Segate 3TB
Display(s) LG Ultrawide 29in @ 2560x1080
Case Coolermaster Storm Sniper
Power Supply XPG 1000W
Mouse G602
Keyboard G510s
Software Windows 10 Pro / Windows 10 Home
Likely not Apple's fault but the fault of cheap solder by whoever is making the boards for it in China. Not the first time they've had this issue with GPUs. ATI/NV...both from time to time suffer from this.
 
Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Messages
1,870 (0.32/day)
Processor RyZen R9 3950X
Motherboard ASRock X570 Taichi
Cooling Coolermaster Master Liquid ML240L RGB
Memory 64GB DDR4 3200 (4x16GB)
Video Card(s) RTX 3050
Storage Samsung 2TB SSD
Display(s) Asus VE276Q, VE278Q and VK278Q triple 27” 1920x1080
Case Zulman MS800
Audio Device(s) On Board
Power Supply Seasonic 650W
VR HMD Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest V1, Oculus Quest 2
Software Windows 11 64bit
Yeah,....

I think one of the few things that Apple does well (besides making some people think they are different in some way when they really aren't) is they often address things that go wrong with their products even if the given product is well out of warranty. Not in every case mind you but if it seems to effect a line of products then it is very likely.

Ive seen this with outdated iPods of some considerable vintage and so on.

In contrast, I had an N3250w HDTV from Viewsonic that failed and is now notorious for being part of a line of their products that used cheap failure prone capacitors in the power supply subsystem. They know of the problem and don't really seem to care. The most practical cost effective way to fix such an issue with the N3250w is to simply replace the bad capacitors,.....yourself. It helps to be good with a soldering iron,.... ;)

So no Apple might not fix everything "gratis" but when it has the potential to effect a lot of their customers its in their best interest to make them happy.

Viesonic didn't make me happy and as a result I'll probably never buy one of their products again.
 
Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Messages
6,457 (1.41/day)
Processor Intel® Core™ i7-13700K
Motherboard Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX
Cooling Noctua NH-D15
Memory 32GB(2x16) DDR5@6600MHz G-Skill Trident Z5
Video Card(s) ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 AMP Holo
Storage 2TB SK Platinum P41 SSD + 4TB SanDisk Ultra SSD + 500GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD
Display(s) Acer Predator X34 3440x1440@100Hz G-Sync
Case NZXT PHANTOM410-BK
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium PCIe
Power Supply Corsair 850W
Mouse Logitech Hero G502 SE
Software Windows 11 Pro - 64bit
Benchmark Scores 30FPS in NFS:Rivals
Apple will just cook in the oven the video cards and re-sell them again as refurbished...
 

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop
Joined
Feb 27, 2006
Messages
18,914 (2.86/day)
Location
Piteå
System Name Black MC in Tokyo
Processor Ryzen 5 5600
Motherboard Asrock B450M-HDV
Cooling Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2
Memory 2 x 16GB Kingston Fury 3400mhz
Video Card(s) XFX 6950XT Speedster MERC 319
Storage Kingston A400 240GB | WD Black SN750 2TB |WD Blue 1TB x 2 | Toshiba P300 2TB | Seagate Expansion 8TB
Display(s) Samsung U32J590U 4K + BenQ GL2450HT 1080p
Case Fractal Design Define R4
Audio Device(s) Line6 UX1 + some headphones, Nektar SE61 keyboard
Power Supply Corsair RM850x v3
Mouse Logitech G602
Keyboard Cherry MX Board 1.0 TKL Brown
VR HMD Acer Mixed Reality Headset
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores Rimworld 4K ready!
Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Messages
1,870 (0.32/day)
Processor RyZen R9 3950X
Motherboard ASRock X570 Taichi
Cooling Coolermaster Master Liquid ML240L RGB
Memory 64GB DDR4 3200 (4x16GB)
Video Card(s) RTX 3050
Storage Samsung 2TB SSD
Display(s) Asus VE276Q, VE278Q and VK278Q triple 27” 1920x1080
Case Zulman MS800
Audio Device(s) On Board
Power Supply Seasonic 650W
VR HMD Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest V1, Oculus Quest 2
Software Windows 11 64bit
Apple will just cook in the oven the video cards and re-sell them again as refurbished...

Do the iMac's use MXM video cards,.....?

Not sure they are even removable,...maybe they are integrated into the motherboard.

***edit***

Yeah they use some kind of MXM card for graphics and have a temp probe connected to the heat spreader.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 24, 2009
Messages
435 (0.08/day)
Location
New York
System Name Unobtainium
Processor 3600X
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aorus Elite AX
Cooling DH15 Chromax Black
Memory 32GB Ripjaws 3200MHz
Video Card(s) EVGA 3080 Ti FTW Ultra w/ Alphacool Eiswolf
Storage 500GB SN750 | 3.84TB Micron 7450| 4TB SP XS70
Display(s) Asus 144Hz display + LG Ultrafine 4k
Case Evolv X
Audio Device(s) Schiit Hel + AKG Q701s
Power Supply Seasonic FOCUS PX-750
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard Filco Majestouch II
Software Windows 11
Do the iMac's use MXM video cards,.....?

Not sure they are even removable,...maybe they are integrated into the motherboard.

***edit***

Yeah they use some kind of MXM card for graphics and have a temp probe connected to the heat spreader.

They use MXM boards and they are separate parts within the units. The way the machines are cooled is actually quite well. :) I am an ACMT at a local Apple Authorized Service Provide (I DO NOT WORK FOR APPLE!!!!), so I should know. The cards, from what I can tell, have suffered from a solder joint failure of some kind with how the cards are behaving.

EDIT: As far as temp probes go, they have a probe on the heat spreaders, but also through sensors within the GPU itself. The sensor on the heat spreader is for the GPU proximity sensor.
 
Top