Can you UPGRADE THE CPU in an Aluminum iMac? (Early 2008)

[lPHONE]

I have a 2.8GHz taken apart for HDD upgrade.
Wanted to know if I could upgrade the CPU upgrade while I was in here.

 

[Hellhammer]

No, you can't. The CPU is iMac only and soldered into the mother board

 

[BubbaJones]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/221112/

 

[lPHONE]

okay now, which it is, socketed or soldered?

 

[bimmerfreak0]

BOTH...muahahahah hahahahahah ahahahahaaaaaa

 

[peskaa]

Soldered on the Alu iMacs, socketed on the white iMacs and Mac Minis (ie: Core Duo and early Core 2). Sockets on the new iMac range.

 

[BubbaJones]

Here is a tear down

Oops. Didn't see "Aluminum" in the title. Sounds like your SOL

 

[lPHONE]

DAMMIT!

Ban solder!

 

[Hellhammer]

okay now, which it is, socketed or soldered?

The CPU your iMac uses is iMac only (=not available) and even though it uses the Socket P which is quite popular laptop socket but, the fastest CPU you can use is either 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo T9900 (=no difference from your current) or 2.53GHz Core 2 Quad QX9300. Both are extremely hard to find because they are not sold in many places and because of that, VERY expensive.

Even if it was possible, it NOT worth it

 

[300D]

The only iMac with a removable CPU are the current i5/i7 models.

 

[flopticalcube]

The only iMac with a removable CPU are the current i5/i7 models.

The C2Ds are also socketed, as were the old white Intel iMacs.

 

[300D]

No they weren't.

 

[flopticalcube]

No they weren't.

Mine (17" C2D) is socketed (ZIF socket) so I don't know about yours . The current C2Ds use a desktop socket LGA 775 Socket T: http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...uo-3.06-21-inch-aluminum-late-2009-specs.html

 

[lPHONE]

i pulled the Logic Board (which is a 820-2301-a) and it is indeed socketed!

now to track down a T9900 or QX9300...

 

[Hellhammer]

i pulled the Logic Board (which is a 820-2301-a) and it is indeed socketed!

now to track down a T9900 or QX9300...

T9900 ISN'T worth it! It's just 260MHz faster and you'll notice noting. QX9300 may be faster but that costs like 1000$

 

[Hexley]

Was the Socket P processor upgrade successful?

If the QX9300 and T9900 dont work these other chips may. These were shorlisted for being quad core, extreme and being clocked beyond 3GHz.

Quad-Core Notebook processors
2.53 GHz Core 2 Extreme QX9300
2.27 GHz Core 2 Quad Q9100
2 GHz Core 2 Quad Q9000

Dual-Core Notebook processors
3.07 GHz Core 2 Extreme X9100
2.8 GHz Core 2 Extreme X9000
2.8 GHz Core 2 Extreme X7900
2.6 GHz Core 2 Extreme X7800
3.07 GHz Core 2 Duo T9900

I'm looking to upgrade my mid 2007 iMac's 2GHz T7300 to the best chip will allow.

 

[ToroidalZeus]

Was the Socket P processor upgrade successful?

I upgraded my 2008 iMac with the T9900 processor.

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/compare/471957?baseline=460032

But now I am having a wake up issue form deeper sleep mode.

 

[Hexley]

I upgraded my 2008 iMac with the T9900 processor.

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/compare/471957?baseline=460032

But now I am having a wake up issue form deeper sleep mode.

Clean install of Mavericks?