Upgrade Imac 2010

[afmv]

Hi, everyone.

I have one Imac 27" 2010 with I5 2,66Ghz, 6GB RAM, HD4850 512MB and 1TB disk.

I want to know if it's possible to do a Graphic card upgrade??

I know that it's possible to upgrate until 16GB RAM and change disk ou put a new in dvd drive...

Thanks.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hi, everyone.

I have one Imac 27" 2010 with I5 2,66Ghz, 6GB RAM, HD4850 512MB and 1TB disk.

I want to know if it's possible to do a Graphic card upgrade??

I know that it's possible to upgrate until 16GB RAM and change disk ou put a new in dvd drive...

Thanks.

Possible but difficult not guaranteed to work and usually not worth the effort, time and money.

 

[bogg]

You should be able to fit an SSD in it without replacing the Optical Drive, IIRC you should have a spare SATA-port on the logic board just as on the mid-2011 models. (You then place the SSD under the optical drive, there's room for it there)
You can also buy a MXM Graphics card from the mid-2011 iMacs and replace the one in yours for slightly better GPU performance (like the 6970M 2GB).

I think the fastest CPU you can fit is the i7 870 if you want to upgrade that as well.

SSD Upgrade guide: http://www.btobey.com/learn/imac-ssd-install.php

 

[bogg]

About "worth the effort":

You can get the i7 870 for ~$100 if you look around and a decent 240GB SSD for about the same.
Creating a fusion drive with your internal drive or installing the OS on the SSD itself would speed up the computer tremendously, the added beef of the i7 would also increase the performance quite a bit (the i7 would be about 25-30% faster than the current i5 IIRC). This would basically put the CPU to the same as in the top-level mid-2010 model (yours seem to be the late-2009).

This would cost a total of $250 incl. cables to the SSD, the SSD itself and a CPU. Would you notice it in everyday tasks? absolutely. Would it be worth the price? Only you can decide on that.

Upgrading the GPU to 2011 Specs though is a bit more expensive and I wouldn't think that is worth it ($250 or so by itself). But I do believe it is possible as I think all 27" 2009-2011 shared the same MXM-design.

Time to install an SSD and the CPU? Dedicate a couple of hours and you should be set. Not much of an effort really, I opened my 2011 up a few times and it's basically only a unscrewing a few screws holding the screen in place, removing a few cables and loosening some screw to move the logic board. Not really a hard operation if you ask me...

 

[MadDane]

About "worth the effort":

You can get the i7 870 for ~$100 if you look around and a decent 240GB SSD for about the same.
Creating a fusion drive with your internal drive or installing the OS on the SSD itself would speed up the computer tremendously, the added beef of the i7 would also increase the performance quite a bit (the i7 would be about 25-30% faster than the current i5 IIRC). This would basically put the CPU to the same as in the top-level mid-2010 model (yours seem to be the late-2009).

This would cost a total of $250 incl. cables to the SSD, the SSD itself and a CPU. Would you notice it in everyday tasks? absolutely. Would it be worth the price? Only you can decide on that.

Upgrading the GPU to 2011 Specs though is a bit more expensive and I wouldn't think that is worth it ($250 or so by itself). But I do believe it is possible as I think all 27" 2009-2011 shared the same MXM-design.

Time to install an SSD and the CPU? Dedicate a couple of hours and you should be set. Not much of an effort really, I opened my 2011 up a few times and it's basically only a unscrewing a few screws holding the screen in place, removing a few cables and loosening some screw to move the logic board. Not really a hard operation if you ask me...

I think this is a good answer to OP's question.

Who This know that it's possible to upgrate until 16GB RAM and change disk ou put a new in dvd drive...

Thanks.

Officially it only supports 16GB. However, what Apple doesn't tell people, is that up to 32GB is supported. In my own late 2009 iMac I have 20GB RAM, all running at 1333 MHz (instead of the stock 1066 MHz).

 

[DSTOFEL]

You should be able to fit an SSD in it without replacing the Optical Drive, IIRC you should have a spare SATA-port on the logic board just as on the mid-2011 models. (You then place the SSD under the optical drive, there's room for it there)

I did this on my mid-2010 iMac using the toolset and cables from OWC (see link below). OWC has a great video that walks you through the steps of connecting the SSD to the spare SATA port on the logic board and placing the SSD underneath the optical drive. You definitely have to be careful, but the process was fairly simple and only took me a couple of hours....working very slowly.

http://www.amazon.com/OWC-Internal-Apple-Models-Tools/dp/B00BPBJHR0

 

[afmv]

Hi everyone.

I read all your answer and now i have seriuslly doubts if buy a new one it's really an option...

Here in company, the marketing guy works with illustrator, inDesign and Photoshop... Sometime all them together..

A lot of times, he reports to me that the iMac breaks a lot of times and their performance it's weak. I'm thinking... Graphic card only have 512MB Ram... This softwares uses more graphic or other resource?

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hi everyone.

I read all your answer and now i have seriuslly doubts if buy a new one it's really an option...

Here in company, the marketing guy works with illustrator, inDesign and Photoshop... Sometime all them together..

A lot of times, he reports to me that the iMac breaks a lot of times and their performance it's weak. I'm thinking... Graphic card only have 512MB Ram... This softwares uses more graphic or other resource?

No one else answered your graphics card question that is the sticking point and probably what is holding you back.....

If this is for a business then break out your IT replacement budget and get a new computer they will pay for themselves within weeks at a design company just by being so much faster. You can get a fairly powerful new Windows machine with a decent screen for less money than it would cost you to try and upgrade that old Mac.

 

[afmv]

No one else answered your graphics card question that is the sticking point and probably what is holding you back.....

If this is for a business then break out your IT replacement budget and get a new computer they will pay for themselves within weeks at a design company just by being so much faster. You can get a fairly powerful new Windows machine with a decent screen for less money than it would cost you to try and upgrade that old Mac.

I'm think about buy a new one with Windows, but the problem it's with Adobe CS license.. It's only for Mac..

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I'm think about buy a new one with Windows, but the problem it's with Adobe CS license.. It's only for Mac..

Well if you add together the cost of a new Windows machine, a decent monitor and a new CS license , you are well up towards the $2000-2500 sort of mark you could just. Get a new 5k 27inch iMac for that sort of money or at least an apple refurbished one....

 

[afmv]

Yeap..

But i really want to now about this "...Graphic card only have 512MB Ram... This softwares uses more graphic or other resource?"

Until i know it uses graphic, cpu and disk...

 

[Hazmat142]

I see a lot of people having success upgrading their GPU in the 2011 and older iMacs, but all seem to be using Nvidia cards. Has anybody tried using AMD cards? I have come across a Radeon R9 m290x MXM 3.0, I know that chipset is used in newer iMacs. I have a 2011 27" with the Radeon HD 6770m 512mb, don't use Adobe, just casual gaming and video editing. thanks

 

[briloronmacrumo]

But i really want to now about this "...Graphic card only have 512MB...Until i know it uses graphic...

You can go to the product websites to find out if it requires ( or would strongly benefit from ) a graphics card ( probably a dGPU ). For example the specifications for Illustrator recommend 2GB+ GPU. IIRC Photoshop and InDesign have GPU recommendations too.

 

[elseven]

I think this is a good answer to OP's question.

Officially it only supports 16GB. However, what Apple doesn't tell people, is that up to 32GB is supported. In my own late 2009 iMac I have 20GB RAM, all running at 1333 MHz (instead of the stock 1066 MHz).

Hi MadDane, I am looking upgrade my RAM on my iMac. Did you have to do anything other than just install the additional RAM for the iMac to recognise it? Just curious as Apple state 16GB is the max RAM.

Cheers

 

[MadDane]

Hi MadDane, I am looking upgrade my RAM on my iMac. Did you have to do anything other than just install the additional RAM for the iMac to recognise it? Just curious as Apple state 16GB is the max RAM.

Cheers

No, I just installed the RAM and that was it. It was not necessary to do anything else and it has worked perfect for about 4 years now.

 

[redheeler]

Hi MadDane, I am looking upgrade my RAM on my iMac. Did you have to do anything other than just install the additional RAM for the iMac to recognise it? Just curious as Apple state 16GB is the max RAM.

Cheers

I also have 20 GB RAM in my Mid 2010 iMac (removed 2 x 2 GB and replaced with 2 x 8 GB). Nothing else is necessary, simply install the RAM and it should be recognized fine.

 

[Significant1]

My radeon 4850 512MB in 2009 iMac failed and I got hold of a second hand 5750 with 1GB of memory. It has made a tremendous difference daily use, especially mission control no longer stutter, and it runs much cooler. Actually I never feel it lacking in speed for my use. A 6970 would have been twice as expensive and have it is own known problems.

 

[verdejt]

I have a mid 2010 iMac 27". I want to upgrade the Bluetooth to 4.0 to take advantage of handoff etc. I was looking at the osxwifi option. Also my graphics card is failing. It currently has the 5750 Radeon 1gb. Is there another video card that will fit and work well? Has anyone used the osxwifi option? If so can you post how well it works and maybe the instructions.