Upgrading my old 21.5" 2011 iMac

[keysofanxiety]

Hi all!

So I've got an old 21.5" 2011 iMac that I'm looking to upgrade. My current 2012 15" cMBP is on its way out and I don't trust it'll last for a few projects I'm recording.

I'm going to upgrade the hard-drive to an SSD and max the RAM to 32GB, however I was also looking to upgrade the CPU and the GPU.

The current i5-2400S doesn't have the performance I need for Logic, so as it's an LGA1155 socket I was thinking of fitting an i7-3770K in instead. Will this work natively or would I need a different model/earlier gen?

With regards to GPU, I want to upgrade it both as a precautionary repair to the Radeongate issue and upgrade it to something Metal compatible so I get better performance in LPX/FCPX.

TL;DR: I need to squeeze the absolute best out of this machine without any problems with EFI or drivers. Can somebody recommend the best CPU & GPU?

Thanks!

 

[mikehalloran]

I need to squeeze the absolute best out of this machine without any problems with EFI or drivers.

That's not going to happen.

There is a very long thread on the subject of trying to get a Metal Graphics compatible GPU working in a 2011. I suggest reading all 77 pages before deciding if a used 2012 or later is far (far, far) less hassle.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/

 

[mikehalloran]

Look at this 2012. It shouldn't go much higher. Already has 16G RAM and i7. Interesting stand replacing the stock mount should keep the price down.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-iMac...465526?hash=item41fee79ab6:g:zy8AAOSw59JcsK-T

Open it up, throw away the spinning heat pump, replace with an SSD and temp sensor, more RAM and some double-stick tape. Easy...