iMac CPU Upgrade

ZENER

I have a 2010 27" iMac with a 2.8GHz i5 CPU. I read online that people have successfully replaced their CPU i5 with an i7 (not Sandybridge). Has anyone here tried it ? Any problems with heat ? Was wondering if a larger heat sink was installed on genuine i7 models ?

Thanks

Ken

K.O.Kiki

The big question though: WHY?

I can't really fathom what increases you could be expecting.

godtabh

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

The big question though: WHY?

I can't really fathom what increases you could be expecting.

Some times its just because you can

ZENER

Exactly !! Why NOT ?!

The i7 has 4 cores with 2 threads per core compared to the i5s 1 thread per core. Result = better performance for a fraction of what Apple charge for the i7 equipped iMac.

I can get an i7 for about 200 euro and results from around the 'net are encouraging though few give a lot of detail about the technicalities like extra heat or power consumption. Basically I'm trying to find someone who has done this to hear their experiences good or bad.

Video tasks seem to benefit greatly from the upgrade, in particular Final Cut and video conversion applications.

Ken

uncle_sam_ie

Looks like you can but, the processor would need to be from the same family. A different family would require a firmware update that your not going to get from Apple. The heat sink and PSU seem to be the same which would make sense for Apple to keep manufacturing costs down. Zener I wouldn't do it. Going at it could risk permanent damage. If you want more power sell the iMac and get the new i7 iMac. Or, use the money to build a monster hackintosh with an i7 ivy and a newer GPU(this is what I'd do.).

ZENER

Thanks uncle sam. I've been down the Hackintosh route and while you certainly get a cheaper machine I could never really trust it. Screwed up several times and had to start from scratch. Hardware compatibility was another issue - difficult to get a graphics card that works perfectly. I tried 3 different cards and all had problems with fine vertical banding or with selecting which port was in use. So in the end I decided I'd rather have a machine I could trust and use my ex-hack as a Linux box.

The iMac is a beautiful piece of kit and I'm very impressed with its performance. I'm not afraid to do the transformation, the iMac is quite well laid out inside and I have a tech background. As for the i7, I'll need to get and i7-870 unit which can be gotten cheaply now with that newer units are available.

Thanks for the info re the PSU and the heatsink. Off to Adverts I go in search of a new processor !

Ken

I always thought that Macs had the processor soldered to the board? I'm probably wrong though.

godtabh

Karsini wrote: »

I always thought that Macs had the processor soldered to the board? I'm probably wrong though.

Wouldnt surprise me.

Just thinking about it I thought the only thing apple let you upgrade yourself is RAM and hard drive

ZENER

The generation of iMac I have has the CPU socketed. I think most Macbooks have the processor soldered though.

Ken

uncle_sam_ie

Karsini wrote: »

I always thought that Macs had the processor soldered to the board? I'm probably wrong though.

I thought so too. http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Upgrade+iMac+Intel+Core+i3+CPU+to+Core+i7/8670/1

I was thinking of building a hackintosh. Was it that much of a pain to get to work?

Edit: If your going to crack it open you should also upgrade the HDD to an SSD. It will make a big difference.

ZENER

Thanks Uncle ! I did search on that site but found nothing !? Seems straight forward enough too.

I think talk about Hacks is verboten here but a quick read through some of the Google results should shed some light on it. It's interesting to do but I just couldn't trust it, updates were the biggest problem and that's after you figure out and obtain the best most compatible hardware is, which can take a lot of experimenting.

You can take some of the pain out by experimenting with VMWare in Windows and installing it there.

Ken