Mid 2010 27" iMax Project (Pun Intended) until new iMac hits

[GCtravellerguy]

Hi Guys new to the forums but reasonably long term Apple enthusiast (I got Apple Store to give me a running total since I started my iTunes account ohh dear I could have bought a $246000AUD House by now oopsie)

As mentioned in the title I sold my 2018 5K Retina machine expecting the New Gen iMac to be released but am now needing a machine til it is released. I manage to locate a 2010 Core i3 27" iMac in base model config for $250 Aussie and it was in Mint condition just no mouse or keyboard (as I was told wifi/bt was faulty) took home and machine it fired up first go fine connecting with a spare Apple Magic Keyboard & Mouse I had (score). Anyways after much research and a few alcohol fuelled eBay sessions I have amassed the following parts for install this weekend

Intel Core i7-870 Quad Core CPU
16Gb Timec Ram + 8Gb in Machine currently
OWC 500Gb 6G SSD + Newtech Adaptor Drive (OWC was $135 on special)
Nvidia Quadro K1100m 2Gb GPU
OWC 2nd HDD install kit / Cables
Articlean & Arctic Silver Thermal Paste
Broadcom 4.0 wifi / BT card + aerial extender
iFixit toolkit and antistatic mat + ancilaries


Basically just a thought before I undertake it any comments thought or errors I may overlooked?

Total investment so far is $851 AUD including machine

 

[Berenod]

i7-870 I would assume, as the 2010 27" came (optionally) with that i7?

I still have the one of those standing around, upgraded i5 to the i7-870, total of 16GB ram, didn't touch the bluetooth, and swapped the HDD with a 500GB SSD.

Stuck a GTX780m in, runs a dream. Didn't flash the vbios yet, so no bootscreen, if I ever need the bootscreen (read if the ssd crashes or something) I'll stick the original AMD back in...Might fiddle around with the vbios, have the programmer + clip just delivered out of China...Just a tad worried bricking the rather valuable GPU card!

A fast SSD is a waste of money as the port on the 2010 is only sata 2 (maxing out at just under 300 Mbps).

No special adapter used (owc is stupid price for a 1$ temp sensor!), simply stick MacFanControl on the machine and no issues with fans in hyperdrive, apart from the short time during booting, blows the dust out the machine every boot

 

[GCtravellerguy]

i7-870 I would assume, as the 2010 27" came (optionally) with that i7?

I still have the one of those standing around, upgraded i5 to the i7-870, total of 16GB ram, didn't touch the bluetooth, and swapped the HDD with a 500GB SSD.

Stuck a GTX780m in, runs a dream. Didn't flash the vbios yet, so no bootscreen, if I ever need the bootscreen (read if the ssd crashes or something) I'll stick the original AMD back in...Might fiddle around with the vbios, have the programmer + clip just delivered out of China...Just a tad worried bricking the rather valuable GPU card!

A fast SSD is a waste of money as the port on the 2010 is only sata 2 (maxing out at just under 300 Mbps).

No special adapter used (owc is stupid price for a 1$ temp sensor!), simply stick MacFanControl on the machine and no issues with fans in hyperdrive, apart from the short time during booting, blows the dust out the machine every boot

Yup the Core i7-870 was having a blonde moment when I wrote that....
Yeah possibly should have investigated the cheaper way to do it then off the shelf kits

 

[jay508]

Hello, I'm from Fujian, China. I have a 2011 27 inch IMAC i5 2400 16g 2.5 SATA 500g SSD. I have several VBIOS cards with @ Nick [D] VB and @ nikkey22, which can be used with k610m k2100m GTX 780m, and many other graphics cards of various models can be tested. It's very convenient to buy these in China. Recently, I'm looking for materials to learn how to modify VBIOS of other models of video cards to support the use of bright screen instead of black screen for help. My English is basically not based on translation.

 

[GCtravellerguy]

As an update completed this over the week and removing the logic board in and out is a right bastard to not damage it but somehow I managed not to turn it into expensive plastic... I do however have a failed AIrport card now and I was going to update to a Broadcom 4.0 any suggestions?