2009 iMac Upgrade.

[amgff84]

Hello!

A few years ago I bought an early 09 iMac with the GT130 GPU and 3.06 Penryn CPU. I gave it to my mother because she needed something to watch netflix, hulu, and youtube on. It works... Well it works... most of the time. It has symptoms of a bad GPU, where the screen distorts or just goes weird and computer is sometimes unresponsive, but sometimes I can still manage to shut it down through the GUI. I have replaced the TIM and upgraded it, but still no luck. It's minor and only happens on occasion, but I want to rectify it soon. I ordered a new GPU, but while it's apart I would like to replace the cpu.

After some research, I found that the only two viable options are a T9900 and E8600. The T9900 is the same spec CPU, but has a lower TDP and does slightly better in reviews. The E8600 is 3.3ghz and faster FSB, and all around faster (Confirmed working upgrade on late 2009 iMac). I know this computer is old, like, really old, but so are all of mine and I see no need to replace them as my needs are minimal.

It makes a nice conversation piece too.

What I am asking, is what is the fastest CPU I can put in? The GPU I found is an HD 6970. It should work, but who knows, for the price, it would be silly to not try. I was even considering giving my mother my i5 Mac Mini and taking back the iMac, because it's really a neat machine (assuming I could get it to work), and I want her to have something that just works with no tinkering done.

Upgrades already done are SSD and maxed out RAM (8gb) at 1067mhz. For most of what I do, this computer performed pretty good, even when comparing to my old FX8350 Gaming rig. I am a casual user that really only tinkers and watches youtube. When gaming, I use the Shadow app from www.shadow.tech and it works well on all my older core 2 duo machines, so I have no need for anything fancy, plus if I ever need the horsepower, I just use shadow.

I apologize for the long post, I have searched google high and wide, but only came up with hits for the late 09 iMac, as that is the more popular model in 09, due to the redesign.

Andrew.

 

[Roman78]

Don't go for the HD6970, they are dying every day. Those HD6 Series have a design failure. Lots of iMac's 2011 and MacBook Pro 2011 who have this GPU are having problem with the GPU. There are a lots of thread's here about this problem. They all replace the iMacs GPU into a GTX 765M/770M/780M or Quadro K1100M or K2000M. On the MBP the only solution s to replace the GPU or disable it.

And about the CPU. I don't think that the 266Mhz more will make a huge different.

 

[amgff84]

I'm aware of the issue with these cards. I bought it off someone who was like "no one wants to buy it because of it's reputation", so he listed it for $40. I figured I can use it to get the machine going while I hunt for a good deal on the GTX, Then again, I don't need the most powerful GPU, just one more powerful than what it came with. And, with it apart, a 15$ processor wouldn't hurt. I'm not super familiar with the quadro cards, which would you opt for?

Thanks for the response.

Ha! I JUST SEARCHED FOR QUADRO LISTINGS... Came up with some for $30. The gtx cards are significantly more.
[automerge]1574769398[/automerge]
I purchased a k1100m due to the lower tdp over the k2000m, for $20. Thanks for the help! Now I can frame the HD card and mount it on my wall.

 

[amgff84]

I'm aware of the issue with these cards. I bought it off someone who was like "no one wants to buy it because of it's reputation", so he listed it for $40. I figured I can use it to get the machine going while I hunt for a good deal on the GTX, Then again, I don't need the most powerful GPU, just one more powerful than what it came with. And, with it apart, a 15$ processor wouldn't hurt. I'm not super familiar with the quadro cards, which would you opt for?

Thanks for the response.

Ha! I JUST SEARCHED FOR QUADRO LISTINGS... Came up with some for $30. The gtx cards are significantly more.
[automerge]1574769398[/automerge]
I purchased a k1100m due to the lower tdp over the k2000m, for $20. Thanks for the help! Now I can frame the HD card and mount it on my wall.

So, the e8600 is not compatible with this iMacs socket. Minor oversight... At least I have other C2D machines to put it in. The T9900 is too much money for no gain, so I will be keeping this iMac with it's original E8435 CPU.

 

[Roman78]

Hmm indeed. The iMac has a Socket P and the E8435 and T9900 are the fastest at 3.06 Ghz. Althoug there are also quad Cores, the Q9000 (2.0Ghz) Q9100 (2,26Ghz) and the QX9300 (2,53 Ghz), but i am not sure they are compatible whit the iMac. And if, the single clock is much lower. Complete list of Socket-P is here: http://www.cpu-world.com/Related_CPUs/Socket P_Core.html

I had a E8235 in one of mine and replaced it whit the X7900.

 

[amgff84]

I think that the C2Quad units won't work, I have done a lot of searching, and came up with very little information. I did find one post where someone was able to boot the mac into macOS, but it treated it as a regular dual core. It's possible that if they benchmarked it, they would have had better information to offer. I know that in some instances, mac will give the wrong system info. If I find a cheaper quad core, I will try it!

Thanks bud. I'll check that link out.

 

[reukiodo]

Did you ever get to try the QX9300 in the 2009 iMac ?