Mid-2010 iMac - Worth Upgrading?

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

My CPU arrived today.
WX4150 arrived last Monday.

My CH341a clip gone missing....
I still have the HP 800 G1 USDT, but still need the heatsink for this MXM.
Maybe flashing BIOS in DOS won't need a heatsink, but I still want to see the card working in Windows.
Bought an old PC card heatsink, but the 4 holes does not fit to this card.
Some modification needed.....

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

I've been using my 2012 MacBook Pro since, well, 2012. Upgrading to a 2020 iMac is like working on a supercomputer by comparison.

 

[KennyW]

My CPU arrived today.
WX4150 arrived last Monday.

View attachment 951903

View attachment 951904

My CH341a clip gone missing....
I still have the HP 800 G1 USDT, but still need the heatsink for this MXM.
Maybe flashing BIOS in DOS won't need a heatsink, but I still want to see the card working in Windows.
Bought an old PC card heatsink, but the 4 holes does not fit to this card.
Some modification needed.....

Can you tell us whether your flashing of the WX4150 work? Thanks.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Can you tell us whether your flashing of the WX4150 work? Thanks.

I haven't installed it to my iMac 2010 yet.
I break the installation to 2 steps for better trouble shooting if any.
Last Saturday, I just installed the new CPU and SSD. Things worked well.
I used the HP 800G1 USDT to flash the WX4150 with GOP ROM. (the ROM in the link next to WX4170 in the thread about 2011 iMac GPU upgrade).
I used ATIwinflash. The flashing was successful and the MXM card is still inside the USDT.
This Saturday I will install the GPU to the iMac.
Will report in this thread.

 

[KennyW]

I haven't installed it to my iMac 2010 yet.
I break the installation to 2 steps for better trouble shooting if any.
Last Saturday, I just installed the new CPU and SSD. Things worked well.
I used the HP 800G1 USDT to flash the WX4150 with GOP ROM. (the ROM in the link next to WX4170 in the thread about 2011 iMac GPU upgrade).
I used ATIwinflash. The flashing was successful and the MXM card is still inside the USDT.
This Saturday I will install the GPU to the iMac.
Will report in this thread.

Looking forward to your result.

I seem to recall from reading the iMac 2011 Graphic Card Upgrade long thread that the Blue version of WX4150 (which is the one you got of board ID ....-10_02)) can't be recognised in iMac 2009-2011. Only SOME of the Green boards (for Dell) of board ID ,,,,-00_02 or ....-00D-02 would work.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Looking forward to your result.

I seem to recall from reading the iMac 2011 Graphic Card Upgrade long thread that the Blue version of WX4150 (which is the one you got of board ID ....-10_02)) can't be recognised in iMac 2009-2011. Only SOME of the Green boards (for Dell) of board ID ,,,,-00_02 or ....-00D-02 would work.

So this afternoon I did open my iMac 2010 and install the newly flashed HP WX4150 in.
Normal chime, fans run quietly, but the screen is pit black.
This is confirmed as a failure.

Target Display Mode is still working. From a HP 800G1 USDT via DP-mDP cable. Even the sound is working.

May have to wait for the expert to fix the ROM, though.

 

[CooperBox]

I live in Ho Chi Minh City, my friend. Repair shops are plenty and service prices are cheap here.
The other day, I've asked for a quotation for my iMac:
- Thorough dusting.
- Reapplying thermal grease for CPU & GPU
and they offered me 10$ for the service, so I guess for another 20$ they would help me swap the GPU, flashing it as well.

Their website is in the link below, all in Vietnamese. But the shop is just 20min from my house.

Trung tâm Bảo Hành.com đủ linh kiện ĐT laptop ổ cứng Ssd màn hình pin

Viện thay ngay Lấy liền chậm không trả tiền, cam kết bán đúng giá niêm yết Điện thoại Laptop pc Đồng hồ camera gopro cái gì cũng có quá rẻ

trungtambaohanh.com

I envy you and the repair facilities that you have available at incredibly low prices, it's certainly not the case here although I try and do repairs/refurbishments myself to the Macs in my collection.
(Fwiw, I've visited Vietnam several times in Hanoi on business and loved every moment - especially friendly people and the food!). I wasn't into repairing Macs at the time, otherwise I would certainly have brought back a few useful spare hints after speaking with repair shops.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

GOP ROM was confirmed as working for iMac 27" 2010 and the MXM card HP WX4150 4GB.
High Sierra got the back light issue.
I fixed it with the below solutions. All work fine
1. Target Display Mode then switch back to iMac screen.
2. An external Display (using the mini display Port) => Work very fast. Almost no black-out time.
3. A VGA dummy Plug (mDP to VGA adapter + dummy VGA plug) => black-out time is 10s. Power-off time is slow.

 

[bkook74]

Many thanks! I'm going to go with the iFixIt kit with all the tools and the sensor adapter. I'm normally a "just get the new model" kind of guy, but I don't do nearly enough with this iMac to justify such an expense. For me that's personal growth!

I'm waiting on a FW800-to-USB-C cable so I can make the bootable copy of my current HDD on a sweet little LaCie 1TB external SSD. I have backups through Time Machine but I've run into trouble using them before. New OS versions not playing nice with ancient backups, etc.

Hello~
I am knocking on an old post here, but did you ever get this cable working from firewire to USB-C? I have seen people connecting from USB-C to Firewire device, but not the other way.

 

[bkook74]

I have a 27" 2010 iMac that has served me well since I bought it new. It sees only light duty; web surfing, email, Microsoft Office, and a touch of Photoshop LE. Lately, however, the hard drive is making noises that sound a lot like boiling water. I'm considering a 1TB SSD upgrade from OWC for $220. I've done plenty of hard drive upgrades but never on an iMac. I upgraded the RAM long ago from the original 4GB to 12GB. If I do the SSD upgrade and completely screw the pooch then my upgrade path is clear: new iMac. I'm thinking for $220 it's worth a shot. I also have a new 2020 MacBook Air so I won't be Mac-less if things go horribly wrong.


View attachment 944478

Hello, Rambo47.
Have you finished your upgrade?

 

[rambo47]

Hello, Rambo47.
Have you finished your upgrade?

No, I've put it on hold for now. I'm considering getting a replacement iMac instead, perhaps one of the refurbished iMac Pro's from Apple. I've been on the road for work a lot lately and find I'm using my new MacBook Air mostly.

 

[EugW]

No, I've put it on hold for now. I'm considering getting a replacement iMac instead, perhaps one of the refurbished iMac Pro's from Apple. I've been on the road for work a lot lately and find I'm using my new MacBook Air mostly.

Don't get an iMac Pro. Too old now, and too expensive for what you get. Either wait for the M1X iMac if your workflow would be good with it, or else get a refurb 2020 iMac when they become available. Or else just get a 2020 iMac at full price if necessary if you can't use an Apple Silicon Mac.

 

[rambo47]

Don't get an iMac Pro. Too old now, and too expensive for what you get. Either wait for the M1X iMac if your workflow would be good with it, or else get a refurb 2020 iMac when they become available. Or else just get a 2020 iMac at full price if necessary if you can't use an Apple Silicon Mac.

I'll probably wait for the M1 iMac. Much better pricing than those Pro models with the Xeon processors. Cheers!

 

[mistermacman]

i just bought a 2010 imac 27" off of ebay with NO specs, all it says is it was tested, and the Operating system needs to be reinstalled... $50 bucks... specs tomorrow if i get it loaded up.

 

[dudax]

Good luck.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

i just bought a 2010 imac 27" off of ebay with NO specs, all it says is it was tested, and the Operating system needs to be reinstalled... $50 bucks... specs tomorrow if i get it loaded up.

Good deal if the LCD panel is still working.

 

[Juicy Box]

i just bought a 2010 imac 27" off of ebay with NO specs, all it says is it was tested, and the Operating system needs to be reinstalled... $50 bucks... specs tomorrow if i get it loaded up.

Depending on the condition, $50 is worth it imo, especially considering that these iMacs can be used as external monitors. I was thinking of picking up one to use with one of my AS Mac Minis.

Not energy efficient, but a nice looking display for $50.