Any guide on modding iMac to PC ?

[cem-sg]

Hi,
I'm searching for a while and only found some on G3 and G5.

I have an iMac early 2008, 24" with a dead gpu (8800gs !), before I tear it I thought it would make a great PC for my sons.

Is it possible to replace main board and gpu with "PC parts " and still use power, superdrive, LCD etc. ?

Any hint to sites and guides veeery appreciated

thx

[old-wiz]

It's unlikely you could find a PC logic board that would fit in the iMac case. It's very tight in there and unless you have a lot of experience I wouldn't even think about it.

[cem-sg]

thx for replying, I was afraid that this is the trickiest part.

But how is it with the all-in-one PCs from HP, Lenovo or Dell, they are using micro ATX I guess (I have to admit I never looked at one in real life so don't know if they are bigger than the iMacs) ?

or Intel Atom boards (just remembered them ) but they could be quite slow.

[jsolares]

Originally Posted by cem-sg

thx for replying, I was afraid that this is the trickiest part.

But how is it with the all-in-one PCs from HP, Lenovo or Dell, they are using micro ATX I guess (I have to admit I never looked at one in real life so don't know if they are bigger than the iMacs) ?

or Intel Atom boards (just remembered them ) but they could be quite slow.

those all in ones are a bit thicker than the iMac, and apple likes to use custom motherboards so the shape is not standard

[panzer06]

Originally Posted by cem-sg

Hi,
I'm searching for a while and only found some on G3 and G5.

I have an iMac early 2008, 24" with a dead gpu (8800gs !), before I tear it I thought it would make a great PC for my sons.

Is it possible to replace main board and gpu with "PC parts " and still use power, superdrive, LCD etc. ?

Any hint to sites and guides veeery appreciated

thx

Buy a cheap ati 2600 for the iMac and replace the dead 8800 or try to pressure Apple into fixing it out of warranty. Many people have succeeded in getting this done since those 8800 GPUs are known defective.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-iMac-20-...#ht_1320wt_907

I assume the 2600 from a 20" will fit the 24" but you'd need to do more research to be sure. Also I read somewhere the 4850 will work as well but don't know anyone personally who has tried it. There are threads on this board where people have replaced the 8800 with the 2600.

Cheers,