My machine isn't that old, but I was wondering if it would be worth it to upgrade my 1TB fusion drive to SSD, and possibly upgrading my CPU to something more newer (very uncertain of how this works). As far as the Fusion Drive to SSD upgrade process goes, it seems fairly straight forward. Open up the machine, switch the drives out, easy.
I would de-fusion the fusion drive first, and leave the 128 SSD attached to the logic board and just replace the HDD with an SSD. Upgrading the CPU is a different story. I've never built a machine, or dealt with CPU installation, as I know you need to match the chip up to a compatible board. I have seen posts of those who have upgraded from an i5 to an i7, on the same year/model of the machine I have, but I was wondering if it would even be possible for me. I have the i7 3.4 GHz 3770 Ivy bridge chip. Is this the best I can get, or could I upgrade to a newer i7?
For context, I work as an application developer/software developer, and I work a lot in Xcode with large projects, many different asset types and all sorts of media (pictures, video) and occasionally do a bit of editing. I mainly work off my MBP but it has been lacking lately, so I wanted to upgrade my iMac, and work off of it. Any guidance would be awesome! SSD is 100% worth it. I upgraded my 2010 and it still holds up. CPU is a different story.
They use different socket types depending on the generation. Your Ivy Bridge CPU uses an LGA 1155 socket type.
Another thing you need to consider is the TDP (power consumption) of the CPU, but that's more or less irrelevant, since you already have the highest rating for that gen. The top performing CPU in that category is the i7 3770k. It runs at 3.5 Ghz and CAN be overclocked, but because you don't have bios access, that's not really possible.
Used on Amazon, this processor is going for $290ish. So no, it's probably not worth it to upgrade that. Edit: you may see similar performance gains as the CPU upgrade simply by putting in better thermal paste.
IMacs are notorious for thermal throttling, so anything you can do to improve thermals will definitely help. I'm searching this sub to find the best SSD upgrade for the Late-2012 27' iMac, so I'm in a similar boat. However, let me tell you that a relatively old Samsung Evo SSD in my Mid-2009 MBP made a HUGE difference. It's like a new computer. I loaded up El Capitan (MacOS Sierra won't run on Mid-2009), and it's incredibly snappy.
That same drive was also put in an older iMac that I use at work (It's a thick iMac, but I don't recall off-hand exactly what model. I think 2010). Either way, even a SATA SDD in an older iMac at work makes it waaaaaaaay easier to use than my 32GB DDR3, 2.9 GHz quad-core i5 at home. My Late-2012 is a joke compared to it. Needless to say, I'm looking to upgrade to an SSD in my personal iMac. You will be happy you did, and you'll never turn back!
Side note: I do a lot of photo editing. I still use Aperture (Don't judge.), but that library is stored on a Lacie 2Big HDD apparatus running in RAID-2. After I upgrade to an SDD, I might edit the photos on the SDD and then just move them to the RAID device. For context, I abuse my iMac at work MUCH more than I abuse it at home (normally). I am a one-man IT shop at a mid-sized organization, and I keep basically everything open all the time (several Safari, Chrome, FF windows with many, many tabs), Cisco ASDM, iMessage, MS Office, Calendar, MS Remote Desktop, Apple Remote Desktop, etc., etc.
TL;DR: I've got SATA SSD's in a 2010 iMac at work and my personal Mid-2009 MBP at home. The upgrade is with any amount of hours you spend doing it. Both devices out-perform my iMac after the upgrade, and I'm only searching this sub to find out the best SSD to put in my Late-2012 27' iMac.
Thank you for your response! I went ahead and made the upgrades last night, choosing a 500GB Samsung Evo 850. It has made an immediate impact. I wish I had taken more metrics before I made the upgrade, but a typical build and run cycle for my project would take 30 seconds. After upgrading to 32 GB RAM and the SSD, it averaged 10 seconds, with incremental builds happening near instantly.
Definitely worth it thus far, programs open instantly, everything seems much snappier. I was worried taking the beast apart at first, but it wasn't too hard, hardest part for me was cutting the bottom adhesive on the screen when taking it off, and lining the screen up when putting it back on.
Upgrade mid 2010 27 inch Apple iMac from a Core i3 3.2GHz (Dual core) to Core i7 2.93GHz (Quad core) processor. I used this guide for disassembly and reassembly. Also added a 3TB SATA drive and 32Gb of RAM to max out this system under Lion 10.7. Update: Removed the 3Tb SATA drive and replaced with 512Gb SSD and upgraded to Mountain Lion 10.8. If you upgrade or change the HD, you will need to buy HDDFanControl software to control the HDD fan which will run at full speed otherwise. April 2013 - 1 year later: This system has been absolutely ROCK SOLID with no crashes, no kernel panics and no freezes!.
April 2014 - 2 years later: now running OS X 10.9 Mavericks successfully with zero issues. System continues to be fast - but is starting to show its age compared to Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge and Haswell architectures! Newer apps are starting to creak at the seams & the beachball is now a fixture.
April 2015 - 3 years later. Yosemite 10.10.3. Continuity works but Handoff does not (lacks built-in Bluetooth LE v4.0). Not as fast as my Haswell Macbook Pro or 2010 Xeon 12 proc Mac Pro, but still rock solid.
With these simple mods, I have gained years of additional service out of this 'obsolete' machine!. May 2016 - 4 years later. Running El Capitan 10.11.5.
Only Handoff does not work (see above) but everything else is rock solid. New Notepad app rocks as does a stable version of Apple Mail (at last), and now that the abomination that was 'discoveryd' is dead and the tried and true 'mDNS-Responder' is back, networking is stellar once again. The system continues to amaze with its longevity. August 2016 - 4+ years later. Now running Sierra 10.12 Beta 2 with zero issues other than the usual beta bugs. November 2017 - It’s been 5 years since I did the upgrade and I still use this iMac in anger every day!
Now running a OWC 1TB SSD and High Sierra 10.13 with APFS. Machine has been absolutely flawless!. September 2018 - It’s been 6 years, yes SIX years!
Since I did the upgrade and I still use this iMac in anger every day! Now running Mojave 10.14 with APFS, using Dosdude's Mojave Patcher. Please note - this 2010 iMac (11,3) built in video card is.NOT.
Metal compatible so video acceleration is DISABLED with Mojave which makes your iMac screen refresh sluggish, Photos to go black and other graphics anomalies but everything else is stellar. Dark Mode makes the upgrade worth it. Ok a word of caution about doing this.
I installed an i7 in my 2010 27' i3 iMac and the system works, it reports the correct stats for the i7 but the cpu fan runs at high speed from boot. I've researched a number of forums and found no way to resolve this, I also know there are a number of people with the same problem. So either I screwed up my logic board or it just doesn't like the i7 processor. It's the correct processor that people have used the i7 870. I'm at a loss and don't want to pull it out because it just runs so much faster for video editing but using the machine as an audio workstation is now impossible because of the noise from the fan. Also be extremely careful with the LCD screen. Just having your shirt brush against it leaves marks and you can't clean it.
If you think gloves will solve this you are wrong. DO NOT touch the lcd and be extremely careful with the connectors. If anyone has any ideas about the fan speed fix please let me know! If you upgrade or change the Apple HD, you will need to buy HDDFanControl software to control the HDD fan which will run at full speed otherwise. I also use smcFanControl to monitor and control the other fans in the system. As with any modification, your mileage may vary. This is a 'Medium' difficulty mod and not recommended for novices to the hobby. Free finale notepad for mac.
I experienced none of the issues your have experienced. I upgraded to Mountain Lion 10.8 when it was released to the Dev community with zero issues - currently at 10.8.2; I use this machine 'in anger' every day. I did these mods 5 months ago, and this system has been absolutely ROCK SOLID with no crashes, no kernel panics and no freezes! If you do the CPU replacement and afterwards the optical drive fan and cpu fan are running at max speed (very loud) then you more than likely didn't plug in the CPU temp sensor. The guide here doesn't talk about it so you can easily forget it!
The connector is on the other side of the board, which is different from all the other temperature connectors and not on the same side as the heatsink screws either. I did this and the computer ran with noisy fans. I used a fan control app to quiet it down, but it was still loud on startup until login. More importantly, the performance without the CPU temp sensor connected was terrible. It was slower than the original i5 CPU.
HD videos would stutter and benchmarks gave very low scores. Make sure you plug in the CPU temperature sensor after you put the heatsink on.
I have a 2010 iMac 27' and did a CPU upgrade from an i5 to an i7-860 as well as installed an SSD using iFixIt's Dual drive kit and guide. They rate the dual drive install as difficult and 45 minutes.
The CPU mod requires more R&R yet is rated moderate and up to 1 hour. First time into an iMac (but with decades in hardware/software support) and the total project took 3.5 hours. I'd keep this at 1 hour and bump the SSD install to 1 hour with a caveat that it could take longer for first timers. I'd also bump this up to 'difficult' to match the easier SSD install guide rating. My temps are running fine on the system post-mod but the fans do run quickly (but not loudly since the loudest thing in the room is the NAS up on the shelf across the room). Hi there!!Very good!I'm thinking seriously to make that at my mac but i don't know what did you do with the power supply for i7???? The best i3 wants the most 65w continuous at heavy load but the worst i7 needs at least 60w and not under heavy conditions.( have it open for hours rendering.
I'm interesting to know what did you do about this extra wattage. And as you know if you are so good.consumption create heat. What did you do with the extra heat? Did you upgrade the cooling?? Not to offending you ok?:) Just wanted to grab whole project from all sides. Not just working for performance and no reliability:). This Core i7 max thermal envelope is 95watts.
My iMac has been running 24 hours a day for more than a YEAR with zero issues. I use a combination of HDDFanControl (to turn off the HDD fan) and the freeware smcFanControl to control the other fans. My i7 2.93GHz idles at 35 degrees C @ 999rpm. It never rises above 55 degrees C even under very heavy load (video encoding etc.). Compared to my 2011 Mac Mini with Core i5 2.3GHz which idles at 60 degrees and rises to 90 degrees C under load. See my Core i7 Fan settings and Temperature pics here - -.
According to MacTracker, the 27' iMac (Late 2009) offered a Core i7 (860) ('Wolfdale, Lynnfield') on the 2374 using the LGA1156 socket. Intel details here - The i7 (860) uses the same socket as the 875, so it should work. The TDP is the same (95W) but the multiplier is 22x instead of 21x. I do not think that will cause any issues. I have 2309, which is a Core 2 Duo 27' iMac (Late 2009) as well as the 2010 model in this Guide, and that processor cannot be upgraded to anything useful. Thanks for the kudos and please post if your upgrade is successful. Hi, I had a less than successful attempt at this:( I have a mid 2010 21.5' iMac with i3 CPU.
I bought an i7 870 off ebay - used, but from a reliable seller so assuming CPU isn't at fault. Installed the i7 as per the guides and it failed to boot. After changing my underwear:-P I refitted the old i3 and bingo, booted back up as normal. Anyone know why this would work on a 27' iMac and not a 21.5' one? (I'm going to take the CPU to a PC repair shop and see if they can test it, just to be sure) Cheers, David. Hi, I know its an old thread but maybe will be useful in case someone still tries to upgrade cpu in imac 21.5 mid 2010.
So: the i7 870 has TDP of 95W but thats irrelevant the power consumption is of 121W and the 21.5 imac doesn't have the juice for that. The i7 870S (wich is the low-power variant) has the TDP of 82W and squeezes 66.63W from the power source. We have a winner. I can confirm it works, i have the 21.5 mid-2010 imac with the i3 550 (dual core) now housing the quad i7 870S (2.66GHz turbo boost up to 3.6GHz, 8MB L3 cache). 4K video was a no go with i3 now plays smooth on i7, everything is blazing fast and I haven't even upgraded to SSD yet. The only thing I did notice is that in System Report I had 5.86GT/s Processor Interconnect Speed now its 4.8GT/s. Did a lap on cpu before mounting in socket, reports 41 degrees Celsius on all cores never went past 60 in full load.
The i3 had 44-46 on average use and difference of 1-1.5 degrees between cores. @artmihcrafts HI artmihcrafts, i'd like to do the same operation you did on your 21,5 i3 3.2 Ghz mid2010 IMac. Where can I buy the right CPU (i7 870S) can't find it in common e-commerces. Then I'd like to ask you if right now you're satisfied by the Imac performances and if you really can handle and edit 4k stuff in a satisfyng way.
How much Ram increase have you did? Have you upgraded also the video board/video graphics/video card? There are more substitutions or implementations of hardware that you did or you raccomand to do for video editing?
A million thanks! I am in the market for my first desktop and am juggling the options of buying a prebuilt computer, or building my own.
Macbook Processor Upgrade
I never thought the iMac could be upgraded until I came across your article. I've learned the RAM, CPU, and hard drive can be replaced. I like the idea of using an SSD over a HDD. The level of expand-ability is key to what I'm looking for. Even though these things can still be expanded, they still cost nearly twice as much as one built from the ground up.
But I guess the monitor might be worth it. I would call myself a novice, but I have taken apart an Xbox and other devices completely apart, switched out parts, and put them back together without breaking them. Glad my writeup was helpful!
Apple gets a bad rap for upgradeability, primarily because people compare Apple to generic tower-style PCs. In fact, it would be better to compare Apple computers to other major branded PCs - like HP, Dell, Lenova (formally IBM) etc. Upgrading a HP desktop processor, power supply, on board GPU etc. Is nigh impossible.
The same holds true for most major PC players (Dell/Lenova etc.). This is by design.
Apple is extremely upgradeable - for a major brand - but can never be compared to a home-brew PC which will always be far more flexible, expandable and upgradeable. Price wise, you get what you pay for. The beautiful 27 inch IPS 2560x1440 monitor of the iMac would be around $900-$1000 by itself, but it is never taken into consideration when pricing so-called 'like for like' Macs versus PC prices.
Everyone looks at the latest ASUS i7 Ivy Bridge or Haswell CPU-based motherboard, a $100 case and a $80 power supply and say 'Apple is too expensive and is ripping the fanboys off'. But if you look at ALL of the components plus the packaging, you will find that Apple is very competitive on pricing against major brand (like Dell, HP, Lenova etc.) The iMac is a marvel of engineering, packaging, fit and finish and is upgradeable via CPU, GPU, RAM, hard drive and optical storage.
The trick is not to treat Apple any different from any other major PC vendor. The 2010 27 inch Core i3 iMac is a great bargain at well under $1000 and can be upgraded to the performance of an Ivy Bridge-based iMac with a little patience and money.
Not enough juice. This is exactly why. The motherboards in the 21.5' only are capable of 73w TDP. Found this answer in another iFixit thread: Then I checked for myself: Only came with 3 processors, each were only 73w TDP. Also;.should.
(don't quote me on this) be a list of compatible processors for the 21.5' model I care so much because I almost made the same mistake. Had a i5-760 laying around from and old upgrade elsewhere. I sure am glad I always researched first before I starting disassembling. Regarding the fan issue - it appears to be in the minority based on my limited research; I certainly never experienced any fan issues beyond the self-inflicted ones I created by changing the Apple hard drive (easily fixed by purchasing HDDFanControl). As to if there is a big difference in speed - a resounding 'YES!' After I upgraded to the 2.93GHz i7, my aging iMac felt like a new machine.
The SSD I installed later also played a major part in that impression, but even with the 3Tb hard drive I installed with the processor upgrade, the speed increase was palatable. IPhoto, Aperture, Final Cut Pro, Merlin - everything ran faster, responded faster, rendered faster.
The upgrade added another 3 years of useful service to my primary work machine. Now running Mavericks 10.9, my iMac feels and responds the same as my other, much newer Macs ('11 Mini, '11 & '13 MBAs, '11 MBP). I'm saving my pennies for the new '13 Mac Pro (black trashcan) but until then, this is the fastest Mac I own (even faster than my '08 dual proc Mac Pro). Not sure if anyone can help.
I have just upgraded from an i5 to i7 and everything seems the same as ever temperature-wise and fan speed is fine. However I am getting random lock-ups / freezes. Everything just becomes unresponsive - mouse, keyboard etc. If in sleep mode, it won;t come out of it (but does lock up when not asleep). Bizarrely I have a 2nd monitor and a desktop clock app on that, and the time still keeps going on that whilst the iMac is apparently frozen! I have checked that all wires are where they should be, and just can't work this out.
There is nothing in the logs to point to anything and there isn't a crash log created. I tried to upgrade my iMac 27' 2010 mid with a SSD and 4TB HD. However, when i reassembled the iMac, it won't turn on, instead it keeps beeping around the 5 seconds. After some googling I am afraid that I screwed up the CPU somehow. Or maybe even worse, the logic board itself, but because the CPU is so tucked in tightly I can't even imagine to screw that up. So I'm facing a real problem with a real dilemma how to fix this. Either the logic board is broke or my CPU is faulty.
I need to figure out what's wrong first. I don't have any other motherboards with a socket 1156.
So what is the best bet to figure out what is broken? My first thought is to get an i3-550 core. It's cheap 35 euro's.
If it does work, i'll buy a new i7 core. Or are there some other ways to find out what's is wrong? I'm a missing something? Thanks in advance. I successfully replace my i3 processor with the i7 following this guide (along with this one ). I was with a friend of mine and we both have advanced skills on computer teardown. It took approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes to: 1) remove the ODD; 2) add a SSD (to have the fusion drive); 3) replace the i3 with the i7; Nothing went wrong and the reassembly was fine at the first shot.
I suggest to carefully remember (maybe taking some notes) where the connectors were because some of them can be easily confused. I don't have any fan problem so far and I'm not using any software to speed them down. Moreover, I re-connected the ODD thermal sensor nearby the SSD to prevent any possible error or clash on measured temperature by the OS. This tweak leads to an incredible boost to the iMac. I strongly suggest to do it! Absolutely fantastic.
I picked up a Core i3 27' iMac at a rock bottom price of only $475 and started wondering about upgrading the internals and I run across this! It appears that the iMac I own has a MXM slot, so I might get a little dirty and order the 6970M from the 2011 high end iMac and see if fitting it in here will work out. I am a little worried about the TDP, but I will do my research and see the increase power consumption. I would assume that it won't be too much more.
Either way, great guide and will be attempting this late next week. Should be a fairly simple upgrade as I've worked on older generations of iMacs in the past! Another successful upgrade. Upgraded i3 550, 8GB RAM, 1 TB to: - i7 870 (used) - 3TB Green WD - 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD - 20GB RAM Works perfectly now, incredible increase in speed. Notes from my upgrade that may be useful: - No problems with fan issues, as long as you replace HDD with same brand for Mid2010 model (no longer true for 2011) See: - There is a little gap between the SSD guides and this fixit guide I found: to remove the Logic board it may be helpful to also remove the Optical drive (but not the HDD if you're not changing that) - I had an issue with the OWC install kit: after upgrade my Mac wouldn't start up, the only thing I could hear was the noise from the power supply unit (a ticking). Nothing on the screen. Turned out this was a faulty SATA power cable supplied by OWC.
Hi Jakub, I have done the CPU upgrade as per this forum and so far I am very happy with the results. On that job I installed a sata cable and left it hanging to when I decide to purchase a SSD. I am at that point now and was about to purchase the same 250GB samsung 850 EVO hard drive.
Couple of questions, did you have to do this trim before use and how much do I need to pull out to place this hard drive? I plan to leave the original hdd with all its sensor cable attached as a backup drive but all my system data will move to the SSD. Thanks for your help in advance. Well I've reinstalled the old i3 CPU and same problem: only memory in BANK0 (left slots) is recognised. Only difference is that with the i7 in place I could still start up the iMac with memory in all the 4 slots, with i3 it won't start up if memory in BANK1 (right). I just get the 3 beeps. I might have damaged a contact somewhere on the motherboard as I don't see anything related to the memory that could have been disconnected.
I'm running with 2x4GB on the left, will try to upgrade to 2x8GB not the best solution but will do. Little update (sorry about the monologue): Reinstalled the i7-870 CPU, getting good at it.only took me 20 minutes this time. I've replaced the 2 x 4gb memory in my working slots by 2 x 8gb, they show but don't seem to increase the memory test in Geekbench??
So now my setting is: - i7-870 -2.93ghz CPU (instead of i3-3,2ghz) - 16GB of memory (in left bank) - Replaced the optical drive with a 512GB SSD (Crucial BX100), op. Drive in USB enclosure. Created homemade fusion drive (SSD + original 2TB 7200rpm Seagate) - Running El Capitan (10.11.1) Everything is must faster. On Geekbench 3 I'm running over 2x faster than before;-) Just lost two memory slots in the process. Thanks again for the tutorial, should make my comp.
Last a few more years. Just upgraded my 27' Mid 2010 (2390, BTO w/ SSD& HDD) from - i5-760 to i7-870, - 256GB Toshiba SSD to Samsung Evo 850 1TB - 4x2GB Ram (Samsung) to 4x8GB (Corsair).
I had already replaced the extremely noisy WD FALS 1TB HDD with a Samsung Spinpoint EcoGreen 2TB (cool and quiet) a couple of years ago. I could remove the motherboard immediately after taking out the LCD, the bottom IR sensor, and disconnecting the MB wires. No unmounting of HDD, WiFi, or bluetooth modules.
To remove the OEM SSD (under GPU heatsink between HDD and ODD, unscrew (but not disconnect) the ODD. The SSD is screwed to a small plastic cradle, which is only fixed to the body with one screw. Cradle flexible enough to be pulled out. For processor replacement, I did not disconnect heatsink temp sensor, just flipped it over carefully and cleaned. All properly recognized and used under OS-X El Capitan.
Geekbench stress test runs with no issues, CPU temp max 68°C, and chills quickly after. All very smooth and responsive. I finally decided to do this to my i3 2010 iMac and completed it yesterday. I also replaced the original hard drive and added a SSD. I purchased the i7 off of Ebay new and still sealed and used Arctic Silver thermal paste, cleaner, & purifier. So far everything works great, but I am concerned with my CPU temperatures compared to the i3.
I monitored my i3 temps and recorded them for a week before the swap and was able to max the i3 out during a Handbrake encode at 155. F at the core and 135. F on the CPU heatsink. The same encode with the i7 yields 193.F at the core and 154.F on the CPU heatsink. I am NOT manually controlling the fans. At roughly 190.F the system kicked the CPU fan up to 1400 RPM which kept it stabilized at 189.F. Mind you this was with 100% usage on all 4 cores.
I'm somewhat concerned at the high temperatures but during idle and regular usage it seems to be in line with what the i3 registered. Would a bad thermal paste job cause this? Really appreciate the post England. Exactly what I was searching for.
Glad to hear that the i3 can be swiped for i7 in a mid 2010 iMac. I am brand new to upgrading. The instructions look clear and logical. Just finished upgrading two MacBooks. Now they are running ElCapitan fast. Many thanks to Brian Tobey and everyone who shared their comments. All the bits -haha- are coming together.
Since the upgrade, operations requiring big file transfers are causing the MacBook Pro to heat up. It might be the fans. I don't know.
Could this be similar to the temperature sensor in the HDD? When upgrading I removed the original HD and replaced it with a Solid State since I did not want to remove the optical drive as some posts suggest (unfortunately still need that one for work) Any thoughts on why this could happen and how it could be fixed? Is it something that needs fixing?
Could this heating up cause hardware damage? Feedback is greatly appreciated. In the meantime I am planning the iMac upgrade. Claudia Ritiu.
Nra convention 2019 location free download for mac. Hi, Just tried this upgrade. Unfortunately it failed and I am trying to work out why.
I have the mid 2010 27 inch Apple iMac with a Core i3 3.2GHz as described which I purchased from apple years ago. I purchased a new Intel Core i7 870 2.93GHz processor as described the tools etc. And followed the directions (I have replaced the HD on this mac before). However when reassembled the screen remained blank, I could hear the fans and hard drive but no sound or any response from the screen. So after repeating every step (except replacing the new processor) a couple times to make sure I got all wiring correct, I gave up and replaced the new i7 with old i3, resembled and everything works again! So what could be the problem?
Is my new processor bad? It is the part listed and I think I installed it correctly.
Safari 9.1 3 download for mac. I tried to run the autodmg-rss.py script to create an updates.plist file but every time it ran it didn't populate the plist with any info. Checked the RSS feed to and it doesn't appear the 9.1.3 Safari update made it's way to the feed for whatever reason. Path to the update along with the other info listed.:/. Sadly I am Github nub and have never done a pull request, nor was I able to determine how to acquire the full. So maybe I was doing something wrong.
Is it possible I have not enough power for the new chip? Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks in advance. Amazing group of people and information.
I just picked up at mid 2010 27' iMac I3. The guy I bought it from said he was original owner.
1TB HD was basically full of pretty disgusting movies and pictures. One thing I found odd was the amount of fan and temp software the guy had on it. I did notice that the back of the machine also got REALLY HOT and at one point the screen just went black. It came back on upon reboot. I bought 16GB of new RAM and a New 2TB hard Drive and a good friend that has done a great deal of upgrades to macs helped me install all of it. We cloned my HD and I was off. Then the screen went black again.
And again, and again. The computer still functioned, external monitor works fine. Researched the problem and replaced the inverter board and LCD Thermal sensor.
Same problem, screen still goes black, computer still works. Talked with a few people and they are saying its most likely the logic board. If so do i upgrade it to the I7? Thanks in advance. If external monitor works fine than the board should not be an issue. I had similar problem on one of the iMacs I worked on not related to the heating and turning off when warm but the screen did not work at all. Connector was ripped off when previously serviced on the motherboard however when it was replaced still the same issue.
I had a spare LED backlight board I tried. Same problem persisted. Thermal sensor might create a problem but I have never seen it so far. So after closely inspecting the motherboard and testing it I realized that motherboard could not be an issue so I closely inspected the Lcd.
And Lcd board. The problem was on the display connector on the Lcd board itself so every single connection on the board has to be checked. I found this out since I tried another Lcd from same iMac. I know it is hard for some of us to test it in this manner, not everybody has couple of iMacs laying around, however take a closer look at both connectors and Lcd cable itself. Hi I bought a second hand macbook air i7, 8GB etc checked the on screen serial code and it came with with the information the seller had told me. Then when I got home and connected to the internet it came up an i5 with 4GB etc I wish I could attach photos to show what I found on the screen. From advice from a computer friend he told me to open up the Terminal but it wouldn't.
Eventually he showed me how to get something similar and when we checked through it showed an i5 and i7. Really confused, feeling very ripped off and I saved for so long to buy this computer. Here's a bit of what I did. In terminal I typed.
Sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brandstring.and. Systemprofiler grep Processor 1st said I5, 2nd said I7 Any ideas? I just upgraded my mid-2010 27' iMac, and also upgraded the LED display driver board, as I had screen blanking issues also. Just booted it up, and it is running fine! About this mac shows I7 2.93ghz processor, and I also have 16gb ram. The screen is bright, and the driver board is from 2011-2012 and is a HF-604 model instead of the 601 that is stock in the 2010 iMac's.
I will test it out for a few days, and report back. Thanks again for the write-up and the confidence to do this, and it only took about 1 1/2 hours, as I had to go slow not to miss any connectors more than once lol. Well, so far, all is good!
No screen blanking issues yet, and the machine works well. I am using it to type this now!
I ran a NovaBench test with about 15 browser windows and tabs open, along with an IP Cam V4 running with two IPcams, along with Mail program. Here are the results. Novabench Score: 500 2016-12-29 14:31:28 +0000 Mac OS X 10.12.2 Intel Core i7 @ 2930 MHz Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 5670 16384 MB System RAM (Score: 186) - RAM Speed: 1670 MB/s CPU Tests (Score: 245) - Floating Point Operations/Second: 104578896 - Integer Operations/Second: 197394704 - MD5 Hashes Calculated/Second: 343796 Graphics Tests (Score: 49) - 3D Frames Per Second: 113 Hardware Tests (Score: 20) - Primary Partition Capacity: 930 GB - Drive Write Speed: 63 MB/s Not bad, I have no before testing, and I think if I close all running programs, the scores would increase. I may try it later. Thank you very much for this excellent guide. Just upgraded a mid 2010 27' iMac with no issues (except one heart stopping moment when I powered on and it just constantly slow beeped at me- this was because I had put the 2 x DIMMS back in the wrong slots at towards the front of the case). I replaced the DVD and created the fusion drive using a Samsung EVO 250GB drive located in an optical drive caddy off eBay (approx £4).
This appeared as disk0 which is perfect for fusion. Removing the CPU is a bit tricky- I found it easier to hold the rear screws on the heatsink with my finger and unscrew the big screws on the front. Also be careful removing the CPU, I didn't realise that the retaining clamp arm bends outwards to release the pressure- do NOT undo the single screw that holds the clamp down. Reseating the motherboard is a bit tricky too, take your time to get the rear sockets line up with case.
It does not require much pressure just jiggling. It is easier if you stand the mac up at that point. Regards, Russ. Ok I have been back into the imac today and cleaned the CPU and heatsink and re-applied thermal compound EXACTLY as directed. I was very careful to get the right amount on in an even spread. Temperatures held out pretty well to start with as they did before, but after perlonged use they were once again at 90C. I am using bootcamp and windows 10 which is not officially supported so I’m not sure the fans are keeping the temps right.
I Dowloaded a fan utility for macs on windows and set the CPU fan to 100%. I can get the temps to stick around 80C, still a little high in my oppinion. Everything works as it should it’s just the high temps. I’m at a loss as to what is causing the high temps albeit I do tend to thrash my CPU a little with Fruity Loops. The only thing I can think of is the chip it’s self may be faulty? It was second hand out of an Imac with some other hardware error. Here’s my experience with this mod: 1.
The motherboard disassembly link provided above is for the 2011 iMac. Components and screws layouts are similar between the 2011 and 2010 models but not identical. I thus recommend searching for YouTube videos specific for the mid-2010 iMac. A very helpful reference is the official “Apple Technician Guide” for the 27-inch mid-2010 iMac (pdf, page 206 onwards on motherboard disassembly/reassembly).
It can be found easily on the net. You’ll notice several small crucial details, such as the fact that not all screws are of equal length, recommendations to plug USB cables in the back connectors upon reassembly and to remove the memory modules. I recommend labelling all cables, connectors and screws with small numbered stickers before you disconnect them, in addition to taking photos of the cables original routing: when it’s time to reassemble the motherboard you’ll thank yourself for having gone through this tedious process. Temp its like others reported 90-92C after 20min of full 100% usage all 4 cores on handbrake or similar task.
Done some research and turns out this its actually normal most of these chips will go turbo until reached 90C and them they will start dropping back frequency and voltage(u can check the voltage it drops gradually up and down keeping the temp small steps) so it doesn’t go pass that. The iMac cooling its insufficient to maintain 3.6Ghz X4 at full throttle for extended periods unless your house its very cold.
It will not burn just slow down a bit to maintain the temperature as the cooling system can almost make it. In the other hand the point where most of the chips will shutdown before damage its 130C. After reading for a while I also find out that the same model chip my have a different set point by intel of maximum temp where it starts to slow down to keep that temp.
PC manufactures have a choice depending what kind of system they are going to use it on. So max Temp will vary depending of chip set point this days. Intel specs for this chip Tcase(point where starts slowing down) 72.7C but it also says it may vary from chip to chip. Most i7 and Xeons are 90C or 95C and looks like some chips are set lower and won’t allow you to squeeze the last Mhz for a extended period on this cooling system.
Im planning to mod the cooling system adding small flat heat pipes and small dissipator in the space near the top next to the air outlet. The temp will probably still be about the same but my video processing time will be faster as the machine will be able the keep full turbo clock. Same thing happen with my MacBook pro. I test it at room temp and them next to the A/C blasting cold air on it, same video 38min at room temp 29min with A/C. Was able to stay full turbo while room temp start gradually slowing down 4 min.
Excuse my english. I own a 27” 2010 iMac with the i5 and large GPU. I had to replace the motherboard because mine was dead.
I replaced it with a motherboard from an i3 and switched the GPU and CPU heatsinks and processors. Now, I have two issues. Firstly, the fans run wild. I could adjust this with the application Macs Fan Control which reports temperatures and fan speeds. The second issue is the sound. If I plug in both speakers then the right speaker (seen from front) is making distorted sounds (already on startup chime) while the left speaker (the one with the subwoofer) stays silent. The wird thing is: when I plug OUT the left speaker then the right speaker sounds good!
When I plug in just the left speaker, then there is no sound at all. I checked the resistance (Ohm) on both speakers and it is the same (5 Ohm and 10 Ohm), so apparently, no short circuit on the left speaker (as suspected). SMC and PRAM reset did not solve the problem. Hello I have an IMAC 27 'mid 2010, I ran your guide to the letter, I also added an SSD with the ifixit kit everything works, the processor is recognized, but the CPU fan goes to maximum, why?? I tried to bring everything back as before, but nothing has changed, the fan always goes to the maximum macfun tells me fan speed 0 RPM I do not understand anything anymore, can you help me? I saw that my logic board did not re-install, but one person told me that my MB never had it installed, possible?
I am considering buying a used mac pro 5,1. However, I want to know what chipset the mac pro has before I buy.
The only place I could find the chipset listed was on Wikipedia and it was wrong because according to intel, that chipset(X58) supports few to none of the listed cpus the mac pro can come with from the factory. I was wondering if anybody who has a mac pro 4,1 or 5,1 could tell me what chipset it has so I can check on intel's site to see ALL of the possible cpus the mac pro 5,1 could have.
If you purchase Mac Pro 2010 or 2012 with two processors (2x6=12 cores), I suggest you to upgrade its CPU into Intel Xeon X5690 (3.46GHz). Till I write down this today, the price of X5690 on ebay is around 400$ for a pair (two) of CPU alone or, around 600$ for a pair of CPU plus kits. This price is not included the service. You can find 'how to' instructions on YouTube or other place. You can buy the lowest Mac Pro with 2.4GHz (around 1000-1500 now ) then upgrade its CPU by your self. Don't forget to upgrade its RAM too!
But, be careful to choose the right one since many (!) Mac Pro 5.1 is actually the upgraded Mac Pro 2009 (4.1).
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