Upgrading an iMac

[crockers]

Hi I have an iMac with 3.06 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo and 8 GB 1067 Mhz DDR3.

Is it possible to upgrade the chip to an i5 or i7 or does the motherboard not allow it?

Thanks

 

[grober]

Almost certainly have a different chipset = different mother board spec.--but I'm guessing.

 

[jepho]

Hi I have an iMac with 3.06 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo and 8 GB 1067 Mhz DDR3.

Is it possible to upgrade the chip to an i5 or i7 or does the motherboard not allow it?

Thanks

Highly unlikely because I think that they use different sockets (does your current CPU use a 1156 socket?) and you not will be able to upgrade the chip easily if the socket is different. This site appears to be saying that it can be done for your particular CPU.

I have the same CPU and 4GB RAM and don't yet feel that it is passed its best... it is not sufficiently bad for me to consider any delicate surgery on my machine. The CPU speed is partly responsible for the 'heavy lifting' when doing CPU intensive stuff but for say... my image processing needs, where I process 21Mb RAW files which open out to 120Mb, it was just as useful to have a very capable graphics processor. I specified the 512Mb GS8800, which benefits from having a 192 bit wide bus for my 24 inch iMac.

It is sometime forgotten that a lightning-fast, 12 cored behemoth; does not improve your typing speed so even if you can type at 120 words per minute and the computer is so efficient that it can display each keyboard input in a nano second, you still cannot type any faster than you type at the moment.

What is your current processing requirement and is there anything you can do to improve the workflow? The latest iMacs are probably set to stay a year or 18 months before a refresh. You could sell your current machine for reasonable money and use the proceeds to fund the purchase of an Apple refurb, if you must have the improved CPU.

It is a better option, in my opinion, rather than undertaking an uncertain pathway. The CPUs you are looking at are currently available at the princely sums of £161 or £233 for i5 and i7 respectively and you can pay more for some sort of turbo boost.

 

[crockers]

No my Imac is fine at the moment - but was just wondering...like one does.

Like you the only intensive processing I do is photographic work - but not at your level etc.

I did specify 8GB Ram so am not suffering any problems running 64 bit programs.

PS - thanks for the NIK tips for plugins - working nicely thanks Just got to master them.

 

[Satch]

This your model?

iMac late 2009 review, buying guide, performance comparison | Mac Guides

If so your possible upgrade path looks like it is limited

 

[jepho]

PS - thanks for the NIK tips for plugins - working nicely thanks Just got to master them.

You're welcome.
Easy to use and very high quality results.

 

[bolide]

I think the best thing to do with iMacs is to sell them on eBay at 2 years old (with one years warranty remaining - you did get 3 years AppleCare, didn't you?) and replace them

I used to keep them to the bitter end (eight year-old 1st Gen iMac, anyone?) but selling them early releases some cash for the upgrade

Nick Froome
Peripheral Vision

 

[219]

A bit like cars really : either run them as long as possible , or keep changing every couple of years .

 

[Satch]

For those of you who wondered what lurked within an iMac wonder no more

iMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2428 Teardown - iFixit

What would give me pause for thought is that in the newer models they have used desktop CPU's (better performance) but because of space constraints had to use the not very wonderful type of cooling found in laptops.

 

[crockers]

A bit like cars really : either run them as long as possible , or keep changing every couple of years .

True. As my car is worth more to me than the trade in price I'll assume the same is true of my iMac. Also the thought of loading in all the software again. Aghh. Or would my time machine fo that for me?

 

[bolide]

Also the thought of loading in all the software again. Aghh. Or would my time machine fo that for me?

I believe most third-party software installs are keyed to the machine hardware so changing the hardware will require reinstallation or reserialisation whatever happens

I think there's a benefit to reinstalling: you install the apps you really want & need and you think hard about upgrades. You also don't carry over all the useless junk you've acquired, tested or downloaded along the way

How many non-Apple apps do you really use? For me it's just Photoshop Elements, Filezilla, VLC and Filemaker. Plus about thirty others. Hmmm...

My best advice when upgrading is to install everything, update it all and then clone the boot drive to an external hard drive using Carbon Copy Cloner. Then, when you break something, you have a fallback position - just reload the system & apps off the clone

If you buy a new machine and really can't face reinstalling everything you can use a Firewire cable and Migration Assistant to transfer the User, apps and Network settings to the new machine. It works extremely well. Normally you have a few apps to reserialise afterwards but it does nearly all the hard work

Nick Froome
Peripheral Vision