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Upgrades for iMac 20" Early 2008 MA877?

GameGuru38

GameGuru38

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 7, 2009
148
9
Ohio
I just bought one today off UsedMac so I don't have it yet but I did configure it with 6GB of RAM instead of 2GB on their website. Question, am I able to upgrade the CPU or video card any at all?

Also it comes with a 320GB HDD and will probably want to upgrade that with an SSD, is there a max size this can handle?

This is my first Mac since I sold a G4 years ago so I am excited and want it to purr with Yosemite (if possible, if not I will just stick with Mavericks I guess).

Thanks in advance!
 
You can upgrade the CPU and GPU. They take standard 3.5" desktop sized SATA hard drives. They do not have a capacity limit.
 
If you purchased an MA877, that model is actually a Mid 2007 20-inch, not Early 2008, which is then a MB323/MB324
Not a huge difference, mostly just a speed bump, and the memory bus is slightly faster.
 
DeltaMac said:
If you purchased an MA877, that model is actually a Mid 2007 20-inch, not Early 2008, which is then a MB323/MB324
Not a huge difference, mostly just a speed bump, and the memory bus is slightly faster.
Click to expand...


This is what I just bought, is there site wrong? http://www.usedmac.com/products/ma877-apple-imac-24ghz-1gb-320gb-superdrive-20-pre-owned

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Intell said:
You can upgrade the CPU and GPU. They take standard 3.5" desktop sized SATA hard drives. They do not have a capacity limit.
Click to expand...

Ok what are my options for CPU and GPU?
 
Based on the memory speed and GPU listed in that listing, that is a 2007 iMac. For CPU, you can go up to an Intell X7900 that runs at 2.8Ghz. For GPU, you can go up to the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS that was in the early 2008 24" iMacs.
 
Intell said:
Based on the memory speed and GPU listed in that listing, that is a 2007 iMac. For CPU, you can go up to an Intell X7900 that runs at 2.8Ghz. For GPU, you can go up to the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS that was in the early 2008 24" iMacs.
Click to expand...

Ok doesn't look like the CPU upgrade is that huge but the video card is, the HD 2400 XT gets a 124 and the 8800 GS gets a 549 so I think I definitely want to do this along with a SSD upgrade.

The iMac can only house one storage drive right?

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Hmm, looks like that GPU on eBay is going for $200 to $300 so that isn't in the picture ha ha. Any place else I should look?

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Intell said:
Based on the memory speed and GPU listed in that listing, that is a 2007 iMac.
Click to expand...

So what exactly is UsedMac selling me then since they claim it is an MA877 Early 2008? Am I getting ripped off?
 
There's little price difference between the 2007 and 2008 iMac. For sources of the iMac GPU's, eBay is about the cheapest you'll get. This model iMac has room for one desktop sized 3.5" SATA hard drive and one slot loading PATA optical drive.
 
Intell said:
There's little price difference between the 2007 and 2008 iMac. For sources of the iMac GPU's, eBay is about the cheapest you'll get. This model iMac has room for one desktop sized 3.5" SATA hard drive and one slot loading PATA optical drive.
Click to expand...


That sucks, would have been nice to have a 500GB SSD and then a 2TB HDD. Can I forgo the optical drive and install a second storage drive in there?
 
Yes, but you have to use a optical bay drive carrier that has a built in PATA-SATA adapter. You'll also be limited by the optical bay's ATA/100 bus speeds. Because of that, it would be much better to use the HDD bay's SATA II ports for a SSD and put a laptop sized HDD in the optical drive bay.
 
Intell said:
Yes, but you have to use a optical bay drive carrier that has a built in PATA-SATA adapter. You'll also be limited by the optical bay's ATA/100 bus speeds. Because of that, it would be much better to use the HDD bay's SATA II ports for a SSD and put a laptop sized HDD in the optical drive bay.
Click to expand...

My iMac shipped today, I can't wait to try out a new OS X version! My last Mac was a G4 so Leopard was the last version I used!
 
I have a 128gb SSD (Crucial) in my 2008 iMac and it's blazing fast. On 4gigs of RAM I have Adobe CS6 Photoshop, Illustrator and inDesign open all at once no problems. It's a great upgrade.
 
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