iMac11,2 CPU upgrade?

[h4lp m3]

I have a Mid-2010 21.5" iMac and I want to upgrade the 3.06 i3 CPU to a 2.5GHz i5.

Why not an i7? Because I just happen to have a Core i5-2400s on my desk that I took from a Mid-2011 iMac and I'm wondering if it's possible to upgrade the processors or if they're soldered to the logic board like some other iMacs.

 

[freeuser]

It isn't entirely clear, if you can upgrade:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-aluminum-processor-upgrade-instructions.html

https://de.ifixit.com/

If I were you, I would only change your harddisk to an SSD, much better value.

 

[dtjay7]

I am going to upgrade my 3.06 i3 to the i5 680. I researched it and it seems that you need to use a processor that was used in the iMac originally by Apple. The i5 680 is the best CPU used in the 2010 21.5 iMac. I have read a lot of reports that indicate that that CPU works in the logic board, but other have not worked. I will be doing it this weekend.

 

[wmy5]

I am going to upgrade my 3.06 i3 to the i5 680. I researched it and it seems that you need to use a processor that was used in the iMac originally by Apple. The i5 680 is the best CPU used in the 2010 21.5 iMac. I have read a lot of reports that indicate that that CPU works in the logic board, but other have not worked. I will be doing it this weekend.

I don't think upgrading to a dual-core i5 is worth it. If I were you, I would go for a i7 870, which should work fine according to this article:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-aluminum-processor-upgrade-instructions.html

Form a dual-core to a quad-core with HyperThreading is a huge improvement.

 

[Significant1]

I don't think upgrading to a dual-core i5 is worth it. If I were you, I will go for a i7 870, which should work fine according to this article:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-aluminum-processor-upgrade-instructions.html

Form a dual-core to a quad-core with HyperThreading is a huge improvement.

The article you link to specifically states that i7 870 has proven not to work as a upgrade for "iMac "Core i3" 3.06 21.5" (Mid-2010)" likely due to its higher power requirement (95W as opposed to 74W) and that I5-680 is the fastest possible upgrade.

OP's original suggestion with Core i5-2400s, will not work either, because it is sandy bridge generation chip (2011 iMac), not Nehalem.

 

[wmy5]

The article you link to specifically states that i7 870 has proven not to work as a upgrade for "iMac "Core i3" 3.06 21.5" (Mid-2010)" likely due to its higher power requirement (95W as opposed to 74W) and that I5-680 is the fastest possible upgrade.

OP's original suggestion with Core i5-2400s, will not work either, because it is sandy bridge generation chip (2011 iMac), not Nehalem.

Sorry I didn't read carefully. Then you are right, i5 680 is the fastest compatible option.

 

[jerwin]

There's an 870S and 860S variant-- TDP of 82W.
http://ark.intel.com/products/48498
http://ark.intel.com/products/41318

Will they work? Probably not, but might be an interesting experiment,

 

[wmy5]

There's an 870S and 860S variant-- TDP of 82W.
http://ark.intel.com/products/48498
http://ark.intel.com/products/41318

Will they work? Probably not, but might be an interesting experiment,

Unlikely to work. It shouldn't be an TDP issue, rather, it seems like 2010 iMacs requires an integrated graphics in the CPU.

 

[jerwin]

that's an odd decision. Why not just use the ATI Radeon 4670?

 

[h4lp m3]

I've got the 2.5GHz i5, 24GB RAM and a 512GB SSD installed and it's pretty fast, but what about the video card? I'm not a gamer, but I do a little iMove and usually have anywhere from 5-20 YouTube tabs open in FireFox.

 

[h4lp m3]

By the way, it's a Mid-2011 now because I replaced the entire Logic Board.

 

[iMav]

By the way, it's a Mid-2011 now because I replaced the entire Logic Board.

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to follow up, specifically.

Did you upgrade the entire logic board because the CPU upgrade didn't work? Or did you simply get a good deal on a full logic board that included the CPU??

 

[docdawning]

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to follow up, specifically.

Did you upgrade the entire logic board because the CPU upgrade didn't work? Or did you simply get a good deal on a full logic board that included the CPU??

Yeah, I also would like to know.

 

[StereoNewt]

Alright this is an old thread but i would like to say that the i7-860s is compatible with iMac 11,2

 

[disinfor]

StereoNewt, are you getting any kernel panics from the GPU update?

I'm going to update to the 860s, based on this post and another of 2019 over here: https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/495257/Best+CPU+AND+GPU+Upgrade+for+my+iMac

And then upgrade the RAM as well from 4 to 24 (as I believe the i7 can support up to 32).

GPU is my only real concern.

 

[StereoNewt]

well so far i have not gotten any kernel panics from the GPU, and also according to the Intel Spec Sheet for the i7-860s it can only handle 16gb of DDR3, but if you want to upgrade your GPU i recommend reading the 1st page of this Thread

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

iMac 2009 to 2011 MXM3 graphics card upgrade (Lastest update 10/13/2023 - this is the official documentation page - you found it finally!) This is the single and only documentation post. During the last years we constantly updated this post to reflect the lastet development of vBIOS and OCLP...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Significant1]

according to the Intel Spec Sheet for the i7-860s it can only handle 16gb of DDR3, /[/URL]

I think that was a limitation from the stick size available at the time. I have been running 24Gb since forever with no problems. I am sure it could handle 4x8GB sticks for 32GB too.

 

[TigerA]

I've upgraded a mid-2010 iMac 21.5" from i3-540 to Xeon L3426. It runs well and show all 8 logic cores working under Win10. But it still only show 4 logic cores (out of 8) under macOS. Just wonder if I've missed something?
Geekbench-5 score for Xeon L3426: single-core: 524, multi-core: 1462 running Big Sur 11.6.2