Graphic Card Upgrade on the Imac 24inch

[Tolkien]

Hi guys,

My Imac 24inch 2.4 intel Core Duo 1g ram was purchased late last year before xmas in 07.

Works perfect.

However, i have immersed myself in the mmorpg AoC and after much consideration...and 2 fps... i really want to upgrade my graphics card!

Any chance this can happen ? Right now - ive got a 256mb ATI Radeon HD2600...

looking to go for a 512 nvidia geforce 8800 GS...Is this possible ?

If not, ill just have to load up with some extra Ram and get use to the poor graphics....Age of Conan is so demanding.

PPS: I've read around....and really what im looking for is...a confirmed NO by a majority of ppl.


Cheers!

 

[tersono]

The iMac does not have a user-replaceable card, so no, sorry

 

[04texag]

I have a late 07 Imac and am playing AoC beautifully! It's a great game and I have had NO problems.

I upgraded from 1 gb to 4 gb of ram for about 85$ shipped. Highly recommend this easy upgrade before you do anything else.

Also, make sure you have the latest bootcamp drivers. I was getting about 20 fps.

Then I was able to get the latest ATI and CCC drivers installed and now my fps, with the same tweaked low settings, almost doubled to mid 30's. I actually upped the textures and viewing distances and now get excellent quality graphics and still mid 20's.

I can run high, turn off shaders and get high teens. Depends on your preferences.

The biggest thing though, no matter how you set the ingame settings, is to turn off the shadows.

Hope this helps.

 

[bedoig]

The iMac does not have a user-replaceable card, so no, sorry

It looks user replaceable to me.

The problem would be actually getting your hands on the 8800. If anyone finds a place to pick one up, I'd give it a shot.

 

[brand]

It looks user replaceable to me.

That's not considered "User Replaceable" just like the hard drive in the MacBook Pro is not considered a "User Replaceable". The key word is User.

 

[bedoig]

That's not considered "User Replaceable" just like the hard drive in the MacBook Pro is not considered a "User Replaceable". The key word is User.

My point was only that it is not soldered to the board. From Apple's stand point I suppose it is not user replaceable, but it is perfectly doable. It might be a little more involved than your typical desktop due to the unique construction of the iMac though.

 

[Tolkien]

It looks user replaceable to me.

The problem would be actually getting your hands on the 8800. If anyone finds a place to pick one up, I'd give it a shot.

Hi mate, were did you find those instructions ? I wouldn't mind having a geez.

 

[Tolkien]

I have a late 07 Imac and am playing AoC beautifully! It's a great game and I have had NO problems.

I upgraded from 1 gb to 4 gb of ram for about 85$ shipped. Highly recommend this easy upgrade before you do anything else.

Also, make sure you have the latest bootcamp drivers. I was getting about 20 fps.

Then I was able to get the latest ATI and CCC drivers installed and now my fps, with the same tweaked low settings, almost doubled to mid 30's. I actually upped the textures and viewing distances and now get excellent quality graphics and still mid 20's.

I can run high, turn off shaders and get high teens. Depends on your preferences.

The biggest thing though, no matter how you set the ingame settings, is to turn off the shadows.

Hope this helps.

Hi mate, AoC is a great game, what server are you on ?

How do i know if i have the latest bootcamp and ATI drivers installed...this could be a problem..

 

[04texag]

Well, from the sounds of it, you probably don't.

The latest bootcamp just came out this spring. Go to apple support and you can find it on the bootcamp page.

For the latest ATI, follow the instructions on this apple support thread, and the link in the page. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1198817

I'm loving AoC, great game. I'm on Wiccana and it is a great community.

 

[tersono]

It looks user replaceable to me.

Not without voiding your warranty, it ain't

 

[robbieduncan]

If you can find another MXM card (it's not a standard PCIe socket) with EFI firmware and OSX drivers you can change it. As none of these exist you can't.

 

[bedoig]

Hi mate, were did you find those instructions ? I wouldn't mind having a geez.

Wide array of Apple service manuals here.

Not without voiding your warranty, it ain't

True, but not everyone is concerned with, or still covered under, their warranty. The point is it's possible.

If you can find another MXM card (it's not a standard PCIe socket) with EFI firmware and OSX drivers you can change it. As none of these exist you can't.

That is the real issue. You'd have to find a genuine Apple card, and there are not many out there yet. It may eventually show up for sale through some 3rd party reseller/refurb shop, but you'd have a hell of a time finding one. Bottom line, it is of course possible, but EXTREMELY unlikely to happen.