Are the 27" GPU's soldered on?

[juliancs]

If I bought one now, and in April they put in the ATI 5x cards, would there be any way me, or apple, or an apple repair centre, could put in the new chip? Or is it all linked up with the moboard and all that.

 

[Hellhammer]

I think iMacs have MXM interface so they are not soldered to the logic bard except 9400M. The problem is that there is no driver for ATI 5800 series so it might be that your iMac won't even boot with it, so you can't put another card in there

 

[juliancs]

And what if the drivers were made (would be if the started to include them in a refresh in say April), would it work then?

 

[avihappy]

If I bought one now, and in April they put in the ATI 5x cards, would there be any way me, or apple, or an apple repair centre, could put in the new chip? Or is it all linked up with the moboard and all that.

I think I can look at the problem of iMac gaming like this:

Stage 1: Get an iMac 27 inch i7. Use it for medium range gaming and high performance general computing for about 2-3 years.

Stage 2: After 2-3 years, while it will still be a good computer, the 4850 will restrict gaming. At this point, I will build a cheap gaming PC and have it output to the iMac display when I feel like gaming. This is possible because most high end video cards support output to DisplayPort. Otherwise I will use the iMac for all computing.

Stage 3: Once the iMac has been expended of it's utility, then it can function as a display for a Mac Pro (with upgraded video card). Since Mac OS X has to be running while acting as a display, I can have the iMac operate as a file server for the rest of its life.

Assuming the iMac doesn't fail, it has a long life ahead of it. This is why I'm not concerned about USB3, Light Peak, or the 4850.

In response to you question, I have heard the GPU is socketed. But replacing it might a) void your Applecare/warranty, b) prevent it from booting, c) cause problems with heat. Oh, and Apple nor any authorized service center will not do it for you.

 

[MacHamster68]

there is a very important word in your question " IF " but because we are in macrumors
if's are always worth to dream about like if apple would fit a blueray player/writer or if apple fits usb 3.0 or if apple fits eSata in the iMac ....

otherwise you could do what people do when they build a hackintosh ,finding a hack
there are hackintoshs build which even use AMD processors which are not supported and there are no drivers made by apple but it works ,
but for hacks this is i guess the wrong forum

 

[juliancs]

I think I'll just get it. With the new adaptors I can buy an xbox and have the best of both worlds. Only game I really want to play is Company of Heroes, and that runs very well on my MBP, so the imac should have no problems. Quick question - is there a big difference between the 4850 and the 9600gt in the MBPs? I know benchmarks but in the real world?