CPU Upgrade iMac Mid 2011

[358]

hi guys,

my firmware is 87:0:0:0:0 after OCLP Monterey instal (i never checked what it was before), is the official update even applicable?

 

[Marche90]

Kind of a necro-bump, but still decided to share my success story. Bought a Xeon E3-1270 for my 2011 21.5" iMac. Decided for that one since the Wattage requirement isn't as high as a 2600 and was way cheaper than a 2600s. Bought it three weeks ago, came today and installed it in less than an hour (All those times disassembling this computer has definitely paid off...) So far it runs extremely well and haven't noticed any weirdness at all.

 

[Painkiller]

Kind of a necro-bump, but still decided to share my success story. Bought a Xeon E3-1270 for my 2011 21.5" iMac. Decided for that one since the Wattage requirement isn't as high as a 2600 and was way cheaper than a 2600s. Bought it three weeks ago, came today and installed it in less than an hour (All those times disassembling this computer has definitely paid off...) So far it runs extremely well and haven't noticed any weirdness at all.

Does sleep work!

 

[Marche90]

Does sleep work!

Nope. I have to work around it, but it doesn't bother me that much.

 

[m0bil]

I've been testing the last couple of weeks an i7-2600 (non-S part) 95W TDP on my 2011 21.5" iMac 12,1 with
SSD drive, 16GB memory and WX4130 gpu.

So far all is good, I've stressed cpu a lot: vmware virtual machines, multi thread compiling, bechmarking... all works without issues.

Power consumption as measured on wall plug is around 155W, I think power supply is rated at 205W. Temperature does not seem a problem either.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Kind of a necro-bump, but still decided to share my success story. Bought a Xeon E3-1270 for my 2011 21.5" iMac. Decided for that one since the Wattage requirement isn't as high as a 2600 and was way cheaper than a 2600s. Bought it three weeks ago, came today and installed it in less than an hour (All those times disassembling this computer has definitely paid off...) So far it runs extremely well and haven't noticed any weirdness at all.

How is the performance?
According to this Youtube video, Cinebench performance dropped significantly moving from core i5-2400s to Xeon E3-1270.
(benchmark from 6:45)

 

[jay508]

I've been testing the last couple of weeks an i7-2600 (non-S part) 95W TDP on my 2011 21.5" iMac 12,1 with
SSD drive, 16GB memory and WX4130 gpu.

So far all is good, I've stressed cpu a lot: vmware virtual machines, multi thread compiling, bechmarking... all works without issues.

Power consumption as measured on wall plug is around 155W, I think power supply is rated at 205W. Temperature does not seem a problem either.

I also tested i7-2600 3.4ghz 95w on 2011 21.5" iMac 12,1 for a while and added efi boot screen firmware.

Graphics card is m5100 windows macOS everything works fine

 

[Marche90]

How is the performance?
According to this Youtube video, Cinebench performance dropped significantly moving from core i5-2400s to Xeon E3-1270.
(benchmark from 6:45)

So far performance has been rock solid, and my Cinebench scores reflect that, they are slightly above 3000. How odd, maybe there was an issue with the installation.

 

[inck243]

Are there any processors that might work if I use windows only? I don’t plan on using OSX.

I was thinking of trying out the i7-3770. Or, is there a higher processor that will work in the socket and might work on widows? I’d put it in my 27” mid 2011.

 

[kirya]

Are there any processors that might work if I use windows only? I don’t plan on using OSX.

I was thinking of trying out the i7-3770. Or, is there a higher processor that will work in the socket and might work on widows? I’d put it in my 27” mid 2011.

all you need to instal bios in logic board chip

 

[m0bil]

Are there any processors that might work if I use windows only? I don’t plan on using OSX.

I was thinking of trying out the i7-3770. Or, is there a higher processor that will work in the socket and might work on widows? I’d put it in my 27” mid 2011.

Currently no Ivy Bridge cpu will work on 2011 iMacs, no matter the OS (it's a firmware problem).

 

[inck243]

Currently no Ivy Bridge cpu will work on 2011 iMacs, no matter the OS (it's a firmware problem).

OK thank you!! I’m going to get the 2600K and use windows.

 

[Trucach]

Just upgraded imac 11.2 to i7 860s
Can it be delided? Is it soldered? Don’t like the temperatures. Above 90C.

 

[THeKiNGs]

del

 

[THeKiNGs]

Posted in wrong section, an admin please move it to 2011 imac gpu update thread, thanks!

 

[Trucach]

Just upgraded imac 11.2 to i7 860s
Can it be delided? Is it soldered? Don’t like the temperatures. Above 90C.

Can be delided. There is a thermal paste. Renewed it and as the result: -10C. Keep in mind

 

[rjpoisonoak]

Wanted to share a success story with everyone here just for future reference. I have a 27 inch 2011 iMac that I just installed a xeon 1290 3.6 ghz processor into. I only use windows 10 on the machine so can't speak for Mac os but it was plug and play with windows 10. Just needed a pram reset on the first boot and it was a ok. My whole set up just in case anyone was curious is the xeon 1290, GTX 1070 GPU, 32 gb of ram, 1tb SSD, and removed optical drive. This thing is a beast now playing games and just overall daily use and such. Very snappy with high performance to boot!

 

[inck243]

Wanted to share a success story with everyone here just for future reference. I have a 27 inch 2011 iMac that I just installed a xeon 1290 3.6 ghz processor into. I only use windows 10 on the machine so can't speak for Mac os but it was plug and play with windows 10. Just needed a pram reset on the first boot and it was a ok. My whole set up just in case anyone was curious is the xeon 1290, GTX 1070 GPU, 32 gb of ram, 1tb SSD, and removed optical drive. This thing is a beast now playing games and just overall daily use and such. Very snappy with high performance to boot!

Thanks for the info!! Do you think this xeon is better than the i7-2600K?

I'm only going to use windows 10 as well in my 27 inch. Might go with the xeon if it's better! I'm looking into some comparison sites now. Also do you know if it's V1/V2/V3 or whatever? I'm not familiar with the Versions labeling on the xeon processors. Or how to determine what version I'm buying on ebay. **edit** i may not be willing to pay the prices on those xenon processors lol I'm trying to get the i7-2600k for 20 or less 😛

 

[rjpoisonoak]

Thanks for the info!! Do you think this xeon is better than the i7-2600K?

I'm only going to use windows 10 as well in my 27 inch. Might go with the xeon if it's better! I'm looking into some comparison sites now.

My computer came stock with a i7 2600 non k variant. The Mac bios doesn't allow overclocking so opting for a k labeled CPU is kind of worthless. As far as benchmarks go I ran Geekbench 5 with the stock i7 2600 and the xeon 1290 and the results have a substantial difference favoring the xeon. Especially in multicore because that's what xeons were designed for. In single core having the extra .2 ghz is noticable in terms of booting, running applications and such like. The 1290 also has the same tdp as the stock i7 2600 so overall better performance with zero power draw or heat issues. The xeon also runs about 5-10 degrees c cooler than the stock i7 did depending on the task. Obviously sleep and wake is broken because the xeons don't have an igpu but I never use sleep I just shut the machine down or leave it running so no issue for me there.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Thanks for the info!! Do you think this xeon is better than the i7-2600K?

I'm only going to use windows 10 as well in my 27 inch. Might go with the xeon if it's better! I'm looking into some comparison sites now. Also do you know if it's V1/V2/V3 or whatever? I'm not familiar with the Versions labeling on the xeon processors. Or how to determine what version I'm buying on ebay. **edit** i may not be willing to pay the prices on those xenon processors lol I'm trying to get the i7-2600k for 20 or less 😛

With no mark, the Xeon E3-12xx is a V1 (LGA 1155 socket)
A Xeon E3-12xx V2 (LGA1155 socket) can be installed in iMac 2011 physically, but the iMac will not boot.
Similarly, Xeon E3-12xx V3 (LGA 1150 socket) is compatible with iMac 2013.

 

[Rendell001]

With no mark, the Xeon E3-12xx is a V1 (LGA 1155 socket)
A Xeon E3-12xx V2 (LGA1155 socket) can be installed in iMac 2011 physically, but the iMac will not boot.
Similarly, Xeon E3-12xx V3 (LGA 1150 socket) is compatible with iMac 2013.

It was a damn shame we couldn't find a solution to that issue - when you have to dabble in microcode, you're in unknown territory!

 

[kirya]

we can use intel xeon e3 1270 v2 but we must to configure intel efi manualy with efiTool )))

[Guide] HowTo extract/insert/replace EFI BIOS Modules

@ all users, who want to manually optimize the UEFI BIOS of their manboard/system: Since the company American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) doesn’t allow to offer their AMI Aptio UEFI MMTools for the public, you may have to use another tool, if you want to manually modify an AMI UEFI BIOS according to...

winraid.level1techs.com

im now interesting how to do this because my stock amd gpu and i5 2400s in imac 12.1 do not work at all from the apple web boot of high sierra 10.13.6 )))))))))))))) iam from Russia and i also read sources https://habr.com/ru/post/211574/
i have try OC Opencore with BigSur but i donot like this hard way want to fix efi boot like it must be

 

[inck243]

This is another model with i7 2700k wx4170 installed

Installed two SSDs, the first sata 2.5 inch SSD installed 10.13.6 and windows 10 system, the second SSD M.2 NGFF Samsung PM871A 1TB installed 11.6.5 12.3.1 system using all normal including sleep

https://forums.macrumors.com/media/img_3182-jpg.832558/

Does anyone know why in a i7-2600K it says 3.5ghz in the system instead of 3.4 when it’s a i7-2600?

Is the K just a little bit faster even though you can’t overclock it?

 

[Amethyst1]

Base clocks for the various i7s are:

2600: 3.4 GHz
2600K: 3.4 GHz
2700K: 3.5 GHz

 

[inck243]

Oh i

Base clocks for the various i7s are:

2600: 3.4 GHz
2600K: 3.4 GHz
2700K: 3.5 GHz

oh thanks — i see now it’s a 2700K. I didn’t realize it might be possible to make that work on the imac. I need to read into this