A list of successful iMac 27" (2012-2019) SSD upgrades

[nileve]

new Samsung 970 EVO Plus has now latest firmware out of the box.

 

[macwizard.ca]

Thank you for posting these results. I have now done 2 identical upgrades with complete success.
Blade upgrade

Device: Late 2013 27" - 14,2 - ME089LL/A (3.4 GHz HDD only)
Blade upgrade: none -> 2TB ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro
CPU upgrade: none
Speed test: approx. 750 MB/s read, approx. 750 MB/s write
OS: Mojave 10.14.6
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Adapter: Sintech NGFF M.2 NVMe Adapter Card for MacBook 2013-2017
Issues after fresh OS install: None. Wakes from sleep with no issues. I removed original HDD and did not replace it.
More details and problems >This adapter is the full length Sintech adapter card. The notch at the end to accept the provided screw to secure to the logicboard does not line up exactly with the threaded hole of the board. You must use a file or hacksaw and slightly elongate the notch accordingly. Not difficult if you take your time. I like the installation video from OWC better than the iFixit instructions, but both are good. Careful warming of the screen's perimeter with a heat gun or hair dryer really helps. I also cut my own adhesive strips with 3M's double sided tape for plastic sheet window insulation kits. <

 

[nileve]

completed successful upgrade:

Blade + HDD removed

Device: Mid 2017 - 18.3 - MNED2ZE/A (3.8 Ghz i5)
Blade upgrade: 128 GB Blade -> 2 TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe (has the latest firmware out of the box) + heatsink.
HDD upgrade: 2 TB SATA HDD -> removed
Speed test: see the screenshot
Adapter: Sintech ST-NGFF2013C (has tape on out of the box)
Location: Estonia
Temperature sensor: did not install
Issues after fresh OS install: no issues

Other issues i encountered: i didn't see anyone mentioning that sandwiching NVMe between the adapter and heatsink, makes it really thick... leaving a pictures as reference (can't screw motherboard to the case cause that sandwich is against the case and pushing the motherboard).
Also, it looks like the vent is always on, can't really rememeber how it was with the HDD inside as it made alot of noise. And the iMac is hot behind but iStat shows temp smt between 55-60 degree. Not sure if that's expected and normal. Any comments on that, appreciated.

 

[mbosse]

completed successful upgrade:

Blade + HDD removed

Device: Mid 2017 - 18.3 - MNED2ZE/A (3.8 Ghz i5)
Blade upgrade: 128 GB Blade -> 2 TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe (has the latest firmware out of the box) + heat sink.
HDD upgrade: 2 TB SATA HDD -> removed
Speed test: 2723 MB/s read, 2913 MB/s write
Adapter: Sintech ST-NGFF2013C (has tape on out of the box)
Location: Estonia
Temperature sensor: did not install
Issues after fresh OS install: no issues

Other issues i encountered to: i didn't see anyone mentioning that sandwiching NVMe between the adapter and heatsink, makes it really thick... leaving a pictures as reference (can't screw motherboard to the case cause that sandwich is against the case and pushing the motherboard).

Well, height of heatsink matters - and 'someone' mentioned: #514

Magnus

 

[nileve]

Well, height of heatsink matters - and 'someone' mentioned: #514

Magnus

thank you very much! don't know how i missed that! i guess redo needs to be scheduled.

 

[mbosse]

thank you very much! don't know how i missed that! i guess redo needs to be scheduled.

I did with success. Try to get a 3mm heatsink - worth it.

 

[iqmac]

Device: 2019 - 19.1 (3.6Ghz i9-9900K, Fusion 2TB HDD)
Blade upgrade: Sabrent Rocket Q 2TB
HDD upgrade: 2 TB Crucial MX500 SSD
Speed test: blade ~ 2800 MB/s write, 2900 MB/s read
OS: Catalina 10.15.7
Adapter: Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter (the little one!)
Issues: NONE

Replaced a 2TB fusion drive with 2TB NVME and 2TB SSD (non-fusionend).

Had already cloned macOS from the fusion drive onto my new NVME via a USB-NVME adapter and SuperDuper.

No problems, fantastic improvement in Write speeds.

This was my second iMac upgraded, did my older 2013 iMac last January 2020.

IanQ

 

[nileve]

I did with success. Try to get a 3mm heatsink - worth it.

i was searching yesterday for new candidates and also found that many ppl say that EVO 970 is idleing at 55-60. it seems that this line really is hotter. found this response from samsung. i guess i'll just remove the heatsink, that i have right now and leave disk without.

 

[mbosse]

i was searching yesterday for new candidates and also found that many ppl say that EVO 970 is idleing at 55-60. it seems that this line really is hotter. found this response from samsung. i guess i'll just remove the heatsink, that i have right now and leave disk without.

'advanced thermal control solution' means - throttling.

Best,
Magnus

 

[dejonge]

HI - newbie alert ?

Basically I am planning on upgrading the HDD on a Late 2013 27" iMac (1TB HDD model).
I'm fairly confident with tech repairs and upgrades and not too scarred off by the videos on Youtube etc.
The main install upgrades are as follows:

Option 1. 1TB NVMe blade (remove HDD)

Option 2. 1TB SATA SSD (remove HDD)

Option 3. 256GB or 512GB NVMe blade and 1TB SATA SSD (remove HDD)

Option 4. Fusion Drive e.g installing a 256GB or 512GB NVMe blade and leaving the existing 1TB HD in / or swap out HDD with a SATA SSD

I am doing this upgrade for a freind who would be using the mac for personal music production mostly so 1TB should be ample, but I am unsure if a blade NVMe would be worth the tear down... Speeds look mixed from members on here in the same situation. NVMe blades look to be aprox 150-200MB/s gain on read and writes over using a SATA SSD alone, so maybe not worth the while and effort for the small speed difference?

I have also read on some threads about bottlenecks happening due to the older PCIe version on the late 2013 model... again if this is the case then am I better off just focussing on updating the SATA HDD with a SATA SSD...
can anyone help me make my mind up please?

In the near future (after buying the necesarry kit for this upgrade) I plan to upgrade the 32gb part of my 1TB Fusion Drive in my own Late 2015 5K iMac. I use a lot of cloud based storage as I am between my workplace and home so would guess that taking the HDD part out completely might be a good idea and put my money into a bigger faster NVMe due to the PCIe port being more capable than the late 2013... Again any help with the parts and descission making process would be really appreciated please?

These are the drives I have been looking at:

Crucial 1TB P1 M2 NVMe Blade: https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cr...000-mbs-3d-nand-nvme-pcie-m2-for-ps76-3652235

Crucila 1TB MX500 SATA SSD: https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/crucial-mx500-1-tb-to-560-mbs-3652070

 

[iqmac]

HI - newbie alert ?

Basically I am planning on upgrading the HDD on a Late 2013 27" iMac (1TB HDD model).
I'm fairly confident with tech repairs and upgrades and not too scarred off by the videos on Youtube etc.
The main install upgrades are as follows:

Option 1. 1TB NVMe blade (remove HDD)

Option 2. 1TB SATA SSD (remove HDD)

Option 3. 256GB or 512GB NVMe blade and 1TB SATA SSD (remove HDD)

Option 4. Fusion Drive e.g installing a 256GB or 512GB NVMe blade and leaving the existing 1TB HD in / or swap out HDD with a SATA SSD

I am doing this upgrade for a freind who would be using the mac for personal music production mostly so 1TB should be ample, but I am unsure if a blade NVMe would be worth the tear down... Speeds look mixed from members on here in the same situation. NVMe blades look to be aprox 150-200MB/s gain on read and writes over using a SATA SSD alone, so maybe not worth the while and effort for the small speed difference?

I have also read on some threads about bottlenecks happening due to the older PCIe version on the late 2013 model... again if this is the case then am I better off just focussing on updating the SATA HDD with a SATA SSD...
can anyone help me make my mind up please?

In the near future (after buying the necesarry kit for this upgrade) I plan to upgrade the 32gb part of my 1TB Fusion Drive in my own Late 2015 5K iMac. I use a lot of cloud based storage as I am between my workplace and home so would guess that taking the HDD part out completely might be a good idea and put my money into a bigger faster NVMe due to the PCIe port being more capable than the late 2013... Again any help with the parts and descission making process would be really appreciated please?

These are the drives I have been looking at:

Crucial 1TB P1 M2 NVMe Blade: https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cr...000-mbs-3d-nand-nvme-pcie-m2-for-ps76-3652235

Crucila 1TB MX500 SATA SSD: https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/crucial-mx500-1-tb-to-560-mbs-3652070

Yup, on the older iMacs, such as the 2013, the NVME upgrade won't give you NVME speeds you get from later iMacs. Here are my results upgrading my 2013 iMac (BlackMagic disk test).

I installed a 2TB Intel 660p NVME, definitely not the fastest blade, but putting in a faster blade in a 2013 is a waste of money due to the older PCIe architecture.

The SSD is a 2TB Crucial MX500.

The FD was the 3TB version, which uses the 128GB Apple blade.

Drive Write Read
FD 301 612
NVME 715 768
SSD 460 513

From a human perspective, I don't feel any difference in speed of any of the 3 drives, but app use could make a difference, I don't run anything that is disk intensive.

As a side note, I just upgraded my 2019 iMac, and the difference in speed of the NVME is quite substantial than the FD, I was getting 730/770 on the 2TB FD, and now get 2800/2900 on the Sabrent Q 2TB NVME I installed. The results for the SSD are about the same as for the 2013 iMac.

IanQ

 

[marceFIN]

Hello, I am also upgrading my late 2013 27" iMac. It now has the fusion disk, and I am planning to replace both the HDD with SSD and the original NVME blade with a bigger one. And also to keep the disks separated, not to fusion them.

Into which drive it is wiser to install the operating system?

 

[marceFIN]

Nevermind, I already did the update and installed the OS to the SATA SSD...

SATA HDD -> SDD, Blade update

Device: Late 2013 27" - 14.2 - (3.2 Ghz i5)
Blade upgrade: Original Apple blade (128gb?) -> Intel 660p 1024 GB + heatsink
HDD upgrade: 1 TB SATA HDD -> Samsung 860 QVO 2 TB
Adapter: Sintech (seemed to have tape on out of the box)
Location: Finland
Temperature sensor: did not install
Issues after fresh OS install: no issues

 

[Andbe]

Thank you for a very interesting thread. I've read all 22 pages and I have a newbie-question:
I plan to upgrade my iMac 27" 13,2 (late 2012) from 1Tb HDD to a SATA SSD (Samsung Evo 870 500Gb) only and leave the NVME "Blade"-slot empty as it always have been. What are the benefits of the OWC heat sensor, since as I can understand from several posts I don't need it. If I install it anyhow, what problems could that give me?

Sorry to bother you but I could not really find a direct answer to this. Thanks in advance!

 

[mbosse]

Thank you for a very interesting thread. I've read all 22 pages and I have a newbie-question:
I plan to upgrade my iMac 27" 13,2 (late 2012) from 1Tb HDD to a SATA SSD (Samsung Evo 870 500Gb) only and leave the NVME "Blade"-slot empty as it always have been. What are the benefits of the OWC heat sensor, since as I can understand from several posts I don't need it. If I install it anyhow, what problems could that give me?

Sorry to bother you but I could not really find a direct answer to this. Thanks in advance!

You don’t need it as the iMac can read the SSD temperature directly. It really makes no sense to install it, you’ll be spending money on thing that add nothing.

Best,
Magnus

 

[Andbe]

You don’t need it as the iMac can read the SSD temperature directly. It really makes no sense to install it, you’ll be spending money on thing that add nothing.

Best,
Magnus

Thank you for an ultra fast answer! I came to think of how to install my iOS on the new SSD when I have it in place... should I beforehand create an USB-"boot-stick" with my iOS (Catalina 10.15.7) and plug it in? Other options? On beforehand, I'm sorry for this newbie question.

 

[mbosse]

Thank you for an ultra fast answer! I came to think of how to install my iOS on the new SSD when I have it in place... should I beforehand create an USB-"boot-stick" with my iOS (Catalina 10.15.7) and plug it in? Other options? On beforehand, I'm sorry for this newbie question.

You can either do that or use Internet Recovery ('other macOS installation options':

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

You can use macOS Recovery, your computer's built-in recovery system, to reinstall the Mac operating system. Reinstalling macOS doesn't remove your personal data.

support.apple.com

Best,
Magnus

 

[Godiexx]

Hello everyone,!! thank you all for the wonderful information, I've read carefully the 22 pages.
I recently purchased an immaculate Late 2015, 27", 1Tb fusion iMac (17,1), which I wish to turn into a fast machine.
My firmware is 429.80.1.0.0.
I already purchased the Sintech long adapter (which I will protect with Kapton tape), an EVO 860 to replace the SATA HDD, and am still undecided whether to get the 970 EVO PLUS, or the WD Black 750.

My plan was to clone my current system (only 100Gb) onto the EVO860 vía CCC (which I did, and works perfectly booting from external enclosure), instal such disk and the NMVe internally, and from there clone the OS onto the blade.
But I'm not sure that this would work, I'm worried that the cloned SSD might not be recognized. And can't find any information about it.
Do you guys recommend this procedure? Did anyone tried it? Would it be safer to do it from an bootable USB?

Thank you very much for your help and any other advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mbosse]

Hello everyone,!! thank you all for the wonderful information, I've read carefully the 22 pages.
I recently purchased an immaculate Late 2015, 27", 1Tb fusion iMac (17,1), which I wish to turn into a fast machine.
My firmware is 429.80.1.0.0.
I already purchased the Sintech long adapter (which I will protect with Kapton tape), an EVO 860 to replace the SATA HDD, and am still undecided whether to get the 970 EVO PLUS, or the WD Black 750.

My plan was to clone my current system (only 100Gb) onto the EVO860 vía CCC (which I did, and works perfectly booting from external enclosure), instal such disk and the NMVe internally, and from there clone the OS onto the blade.
But I'm not sure that this would work, I'm worried that the cloned SSD might not be recognized. And can't find any information about it.
Do you guys recommend this procedure? Did anyone tried it? Would it be safer to do it from an bootable USB?

Thank you very much for your help and any other advice would be greatly appreciated!

You will need to format the NVMe drive, you can do this either from the Samsung Evo as internal drive or from a bootstick.

 

[Godiexx]

You will need to format the NVMe drive, you can do this either from the Samsung Evo as internal drive or from a bootstick.

Thank you! Yes, that's understood.

I've read somewhere else in macrumors, a case where the Imac wouldn't recognize the cloned SSD, he had to take it out, erase it and put back in. Then it was recognized. That's why I'm a little concerned.

Besides, do you you notice anything else I could be missing?

 

[mbosse]

[...]

Besides, do you you notice anything else I could be missing?

Take good note of this #514 - the WD with heatsink might be too thick.

 

[Godiexx]

Take good note of this #514 - the WD with heatsink might be too thick.

Good point.
In this video, at around 9:30, he shows that a 14,4 mm heatsink sandwich does actually work.

The WD with heatsink is 8.1mm thick. Plus the adaptor, I think it should work?

 

[mbosse]

Good point.
In this video, at around 9:30, he shows that a 14,4 mm heatsink sandwich does actually work.

The WD with heatsink is 8.1mm thick. Plus the adaptor, I think it should work?

There is a reason they put the 3mm heatsink on top... ;-)

 

[Godiexx]

There is a reason they put the 3mm heatsink on top... ;-)

Haha You're absolutely right! Thanks man

 

[Godiexx]

Guys, for the rest, can you confirm that since the latests firmware updates, all sleep/wake issues were resolved for the Late 2015 iMacs (for either the EVO Plus or the WD Black 750)?