2017 iMac Upgrade

[Gastroapple]

Hey guys,

I am new to this forum, first post. Anyway I am Looking to upgrade my iMac Mid 2017 3.4 i5 1TB Fusion Drive, Wanna put a I7 7700K processor and a Apple 512Gb PCIE SSD in it,

Has anyone ever upgraded the PCIE SSD in a 2017 iMac??

 

[Lunder89]

I have not done this myself. But if you have never taken a Mac apart before, I recommend letting a pro do this.

To replace the CPU and the harddrive, you need to do a full teardown, regardless of which iMac size you have.
This is the most recent guide from iFixit, shown on a 2015 5K iMac: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+Retina+5K+Display+Blade+SSD+Replacement/30537

 

[Richdmoore]

How expensive is an Apple 512g SSD? Since they are not a standard consumer part (that I know of), they may be super expensive. I would consider one of the fast thunderbolt 3 external drives instead.

https://9to5mac.com/2018/09/05/revi...lZVEdkZ1R0bkVRRG1jT1ZzQ2VZNzlYY2xDRWx2TEtYV04.

500g model retails for $250 on amazon, 1tb for $400. It sounds like nearly the performance of the internal drive. No risk of opening the iMac and possibly breaking it/voiding warranty or AppleCare.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Portable-SSD-Thunderbolt-MU-PB1T0B/dp/B07GBGG68L?th=1&psc=1

 

[finarfinius]

In theory, (if the firmware would support it)

could you upgrade to more than I7 7700K? like the i9 9900?

the 7700 and 9900 should be both the same socket 1151...

 

[Lunder89]

In theory, (if the firmware would support it)

could you upgrade to more than I7 7700K? like the i9 9900?

the 7700 and 9900 should be both the same socket 1151...

This took a little digging, but the short answer is no.

The name of the game here is chipset. Every processor needs a certain chipset to work correctly. The chipset is sort of the rulebook for the motherboard, so the CPU and chipset needs to match.

The chipset that seems to be in the 2017 iMacs is the Intel z170. That is only compatible to processors in the 6000 and 7000 series Intel core i3/i5/i7 processors.

For the 8000 and 9000 series, you need a 300 series chipset. So anything above 7000 series Intel processors, won't work.

And here are the sources I found:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/imac-18-3-chipset.243474/
https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...0025694/processors/intel-core-processors.html
http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_(chipsets)/Z170.html