Are iMac video card swap outs possible

[pcd2k]

Consider that sometime in the near future while my iMac is still under warranty I'm intending to upgrade the 5200 rpm hdd to a 7200 rpm hdd.

Snow Leopard being a 64 bit os and to get the full benefit from it requires a 64 bit video card and core 2 duo I was wondering if it is at all possible to swap out or upgrade or replace the 32 bit video card in my 2008 core 2 duo with a 64 bit video card ?

 

[robbieduncan]

There is no such thing as a 64 bit video card. Snow Leopard does not require one. And you can't swap GPUs.

 

[Chad H]

Is your iMac white or aluminum? I thought all aluminum models came with 7200rpm HDDs? Also, I don't believe you can change the cards because they are soldered to the board like the macbook pro's. I could be wrong,, which I am alot now a days.

 

[Tallest Skil]

There is no such thing as a 64-bit video card. You cannot change cards.

 

[pcd2k]

This is what it says in the system profiler
ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro:

Chipset Model: ATI,RadeonHD2600
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9583
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B2250F-212
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.212
Displays:
iMac:
Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Depth: 32-Bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Built-In: Yes
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected

so what does 32 bit color mean ?

 

[robbieduncan]

It means that each pixel has 32 bits of colour data. This is nothing like a 64 bit CPU. The 32 bits are generally 8 bits each for red, green and blue and 8 bits of padding (these are alpha bits but at a screen-buffer level this makes no sense). It has nothing to do with the max addressable ram of the GPU which is what makes a CPU 32/64 bit.

In short just ignore it.

 

[pcd2k]

ok thank you Robbieduncan, very well said.