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TheCaddyMan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 30, 2022
6
4
Somewhere in New Jersey
I recently got my hands on two iMacs, one A1418 21.5" with an i5-3470, the other an A1419 27" with an i5-4670. I got both of them with the screen pre-removed, otherwise I wouldn't even bother. Ideally, I'd like to upgrade both of these units to i7s, I installed an i7-3770s into the A1418. But I was curious, if they're all the same model number, could I theoretically get the latest i7 that was installed in an a1418/a1419 and use that instead of what would've been sold at the time? I intend on using opencore patcher on both machines to run Macos Ventura
 

TheCaddyMan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 30, 2022
6
4
Somewhere in New Jersey
in other words, even though my machines are from 2012 and 2013 respectively, would I be able to fit the i7-7700 Kaby Lake prcoessors in there and essentially have the 18,2? or would I need to get new mainboards from 18,2?
 

Quinten07

macrumors newbie
May 19, 2021
26
21
No, You CANNOT put any i7 cpu's in there other than 3rd gen i7 CPU's. You don't have to stick to the 3770s you can also use the regular i7 3770 3.4Ghz cpu. It is a little bit faster and works just fine in these machines (I had one myself so I can 100% verify this works without thermal or power problems). While you are inside the machine make sure to upgrade the ram to 16GB. You can't do it with the screen attached and it will make your life a lot better than 8GB will.
 

TheCaddyMan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 30, 2022
6
4
Somewhere in New Jersey
Already ordered the 16GB kit, and adapters for the SSDs, I don't want to waste any opportunity while the screens are off.

So if I wanted to upgrade to the 2017 A1418, I'd have to get a 2017 main board? are screens and everything else inside compatible between the two? while I have them open, I might just do that, I'd much rather have the 7th gen than the 3rd.
 

Quinten07

macrumors newbie
May 19, 2021
26
21
No, You can't put in a 2017 main board. These boards are laid out differently and use USB-C connectors on the back instead of USB-A connectors. You can't simply force in a newer motherboard. A 2013-2014 mother MIGHT work. But then again, no guarantees.
 
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