you could try DYI Project with iMac casing and turn turn into hackintosh plus it will still look like a Mac on the outside
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2011 iMac - CPU upgrade possibilities.
- Thread starter amanpatel
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you could try DYI Project with iMac casing and turn turn into hackintosh plus it will still look like a Mac on the outside
Just to verify, I upgraded an I5 to an I7 , running now for 6 months no problems at all
I bought a 2010 27 inch iMac with an i3 CPU a few months ago at a reasonably good price on Craigslist, intending to add an SSD and upgrade the CPU to an i7. I went to a local computer shop looking for an i7, and while I was standing in line someone brought out from the back a 27 inch iMac, presumably in for repairs, and handed it over the counter to the iMac owner, telling him that they couldn't fix the iMac. I asked the iMac owner what was the problem, and he said, unhappily, that the video card had failed. [Note that the computer store had already removed the internal hard drive, so his data--he was a video developer--was safe and secure in his hands.]
I told the iMac owner I was in the store right now looking for a used i7 for a 2010 iMac, and asked him if his iMac was a 2010, and if it had an i7. He said yes, and I asked him if he wanted to sell it. He said sure, it's no good to me now. Neither of us knew what it was worth, so I said, Look, I only need the CPU, and offered him $20 (Canadian). He said OK, and asked me if I wanted to buy the RAM also, 4x4GB=16GB. I asked him how much, he didn't know, but the computer store employee said $80 for the RAM was reasonable. I didn't have the cash on me, so we walked to my bank and I paid him $100.
I got home, the 2010 iMac was already apart, waiting for me to install the SSD. I disassembled the new iMac I had just bought, intending to take out the i7. After I got it apart, I realized that the new iMac was not a 2010 Mac at all, but rather a 2011. "Damn" I thought, now I have an iMac with a fried video card. But at least I bought the 16GB RAM at a reasonable price for used RAM.
Then I got to thinking, wondering how much it would cost to replace the fried video card. I checked eBay, and WOW!!! it was $900 Canadian for a new video card for a 2010 iMac. Unfortunately that was at least ten times more than I wanted to pay. I started scrolling through eBay, looking at prices for video cards and came upon an ad claiming to fix a video card for a 2010 iMac for $119, 3-5 days turnaround, 90 day guarantee. (You had to remove the video card yourself, and mail it to the vendor). That seemed like a pretty good deal, so I emailed the eBay vendor to see if this also applied to a 2011 iMac. "Sure, no problem with a 2011 iMac", the vendor said.
An hour or so later I started thinking again, how could someone "fix" a fried video card, guaranteed, with a turnaround of less than a week? How can you "fix" a video card, with ten zillion connections?
All of a sudden, some neglected, long forgotten sectors in the back of my brain fired, and then it struck me; I googled "iMac 27 inch video card oven".
The following video turned up:
It's a long video, but essentially a really nice, believable guy named Evan, from Greece I think, explains in some detail how he fixed a failed video card on his 2011 iMac by putting it in the oven for 8 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (405 degrees F.). It seemed ridiculous, but since I had both iMacs apart, I thought WTF, I've got nothing to lose, why not give it a try?
So I got started. I must admit though, after a lot of painstaking work disassembling the logic board, and then extracting the video card, I felt pretty stupid for a few minutes when I got to the point of actually putting the video card in the oven.
After installing an SSD I had lying around and completely re-assembling the 2011 iMac (nearly a full and very gruelling day!), and starting it up, I waited for twenty or thirty seconds...
And then, I couldn't believe it. The friggin' iMac started right up and the video card was, magically, no longer fried!!!
That was like two months ago, and it's still going. I'm writing this on my salvaged 2011 iMac right now. I have since then installed a 250GB SSD with velcro tape under the optical drive, replaced the original internal hard drive with a 2TB drive, attached a 30 inch Cinema Display monitor, upgraded the RAM to 24GB, and installed macOS High Sierra 10.13.1. I have a bunch of Mac Pros, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, iMacs, etc., of various vintages, plus more than a couple of older PCs, and according to Geekbench 4, this is the fastest computer I currently own, even beating both of my 8 core Mac Pros with dual Xeon processors.
Except that the GPU diode runs quite hot (according to Macs Fan Control nearly 80 degrees Ceisius, yikes!!!), my new $20 2011 27 inch iMac seems to be performing admirably.
Oh yeah, and I eventually found and upgraded the i3 to a compatible i7 ($119 from a local used computer dealer) in my first 2010 iMac, installed an SSD and a 2TB internal drive. The 2010 iMac was also successfully tested with 24GB of RAM.
I'm kind of delighted with all this. As you can probably tell.
I told the iMac owner I was in the store right now looking for a used i7 for a 2010 iMac, and asked him if his iMac was a 2010, and if it had an i7. He said yes, and I asked him if he wanted to sell it. He said sure, it's no good to me now. Neither of us knew what it was worth, so I said, Look, I only need the CPU, and offered him $20 (Canadian). He said OK, and asked me if I wanted to buy the RAM also, 4x4GB=16GB. I asked him how much, he didn't know, but the computer store employee said $80 for the RAM was reasonable. I didn't have the cash on me, so we walked to my bank and I paid him $100.
I got home, the 2010 iMac was already apart, waiting for me to install the SSD. I disassembled the new iMac I had just bought, intending to take out the i7. After I got it apart, I realized that the new iMac was not a 2010 Mac at all, but rather a 2011. "Damn" I thought, now I have an iMac with a fried video card. But at least I bought the 16GB RAM at a reasonable price for used RAM.
Then I got to thinking, wondering how much it would cost to replace the fried video card. I checked eBay, and WOW!!! it was $900 Canadian for a new video card for a 2010 iMac. Unfortunately that was at least ten times more than I wanted to pay. I started scrolling through eBay, looking at prices for video cards and came upon an ad claiming to fix a video card for a 2010 iMac for $119, 3-5 days turnaround, 90 day guarantee. (You had to remove the video card yourself, and mail it to the vendor). That seemed like a pretty good deal, so I emailed the eBay vendor to see if this also applied to a 2011 iMac. "Sure, no problem with a 2011 iMac", the vendor said.
An hour or so later I started thinking again, how could someone "fix" a fried video card, guaranteed, with a turnaround of less than a week? How can you "fix" a video card, with ten zillion connections?
All of a sudden, some neglected, long forgotten sectors in the back of my brain fired, and then it struck me; I googled "iMac 27 inch video card oven".
The following video turned up:
It's a long video, but essentially a really nice, believable guy named Evan, from Greece I think, explains in some detail how he fixed a failed video card on his 2011 iMac by putting it in the oven for 8 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (405 degrees F.). It seemed ridiculous, but since I had both iMacs apart, I thought WTF, I've got nothing to lose, why not give it a try?
So I got started. I must admit though, after a lot of painstaking work disassembling the logic board, and then extracting the video card, I felt pretty stupid for a few minutes when I got to the point of actually putting the video card in the oven.
After installing an SSD I had lying around and completely re-assembling the 2011 iMac (nearly a full and very gruelling day!), and starting it up, I waited for twenty or thirty seconds...
And then, I couldn't believe it. The friggin' iMac started right up and the video card was, magically, no longer fried!!!
That was like two months ago, and it's still going. I'm writing this on my salvaged 2011 iMac right now. I have since then installed a 250GB SSD with velcro tape under the optical drive, replaced the original internal hard drive with a 2TB drive, attached a 30 inch Cinema Display monitor, upgraded the RAM to 24GB, and installed macOS High Sierra 10.13.1. I have a bunch of Mac Pros, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, iMacs, etc., of various vintages, plus more than a couple of older PCs, and according to Geekbench 4, this is the fastest computer I currently own, even beating both of my 8 core Mac Pros with dual Xeon processors.
Except that the GPU diode runs quite hot (according to Macs Fan Control nearly 80 degrees Ceisius, yikes!!!), my new $20 2011 27 inch iMac seems to be performing admirably.
Oh yeah, and I eventually found and upgraded the i3 to a compatible i7 ($119 from a local used computer dealer) in my first 2010 iMac, installed an SSD and a 2TB internal drive. The 2010 iMac was also successfully tested with 24GB of RAM.
I'm kind of delighted with all this. As you can probably tell.
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Just did this process with the Xeon 1240 for $45!!! This cpu is a Non-iGPU i7 equivalent (4 cores 8 threads). Got my machine running with a k2100m and in Catalina. Sleep mode is busted, but everything else from opencore, brightness controls and most importantly - great performance - is there!
There is no reason that the entire lineup for 1155 socket Sandy Bridge cpus shouldn't work (at least in the 27 imac which has a bit more power available).
That means the 1230, 1240, 1245, 1260L, 1270, 1275, 1280, 1290 - all quad core eight thread beasts should work.
Check my sig for the video.
There is no reason that the entire lineup for 1155 socket Sandy Bridge cpus shouldn't work (at least in the 27 imac which has a bit more power available).
That means the 1230, 1240, 1245, 1260L, 1270, 1275, 1280, 1290 - all quad core eight thread beasts should work.
Check my sig for the video.
I was able to upgrade the CPU of my 21.5 iMac with a Xeon E1275. It's a preliminary result but til now, the iMac looks pretty stable. I also upgraded the GPU with a K610M.
I now have 3 "old" macs and want to try this. I am just getting started combing through the threads. Got any advice?
If you want to test to see it yourself whether Xeon CPU may runs in your iMac, then go for it.
Performance gain comparing with your current core i7 will be marginal.
For the dead iMac, if the screen is still working, you may try to hook it up an ITX flat board and Hackintosh it to a fake 2017 Imac.... It will be a lot of work to do, but worth trying.
Is this still stable looking to do this so my IMac keeps its sleep feature. Do you also have SSD installed?
Do you remember with which Blu-Ray reader/burner you replaced the DVD player/CD burner model no. ????