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deviant

macrumors 65816
Oct 27, 2007
1,187
275
still running my 24" 2007 iMac. Obviously put a SSD inside after the original wd blue 320 died (everything after Lion is unusable with HDD, let's be real). i guess i'll have to wait for it to die on me, otherwise i'll never upgrade, haha. still prefer it to my 2012 MBA. the CPU hasn't been a problem for any computer, since , like, 2010 (except people who obviously need very powerful CPUs). the real problem has always been the freaking spinning HDD (which apple STILL puts inside their 1000 bucks iMac, and IIRC it's a 5400 RPM HDD, REALLY APPLE?).

oh, and it's been running pretty much 24/7 for the last 5 years. i don't even know how apple managed to make such a remarkable machine.
 
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sgtbob

macrumors regular
Sep 10, 2008
112
0
Kansas
Still using my iMAC (early 2008) with 4GB Memory, 3.06 Mhz, Intel SATA WDC 7200 and upgraded to El Capitan. Had to replace the graphics card a couple of years ago but otherwise, its been very reliable.

I am unable to download the Windows 10 to use with Parallels - not enough memory. I know - why would anyone choose to use Windows!!! :). I had some Windows programs that I have not been able to find a suitable MAC version to operate and do find it helpful occasionally.

I have 2 GB in each bank for a total of 4GB memory - would I be able to install anything larger? I have read that the maximum would be a 4GB and one of the current 2 GB units for a total of 6GB memory. Any thoughts?
 

mcrazza

macrumors member
Aug 2, 2008
90
21
Hobart, Australia
@sgtbob
The maximum amount of memory the Early 2008 iMac supports is 6GB. Also, why not try Bootcamp or simply partition off your hard drive and install W10 on it?

-------------------

Update:
Last week I finally replaced the 1TB hard drive with a SSD. I can't believe I lived so long without one! lol It's a SanDisk Ultra II 240GB, which was on sale. Storage is clearly a downgrade, however I run a lean machine anyway with movies and iTunes libraries stored on an external hard drive and no games installed (at least on the Mac partition on the previous HDD, I played games on the W10 partition instead). I performed a semi-clean install by migrating network settings, documents etc, but I didn't migrate my apps and chose to reinstall them one-by-one. The whole process made me assess which apps I really need versus which ones I hardly use, and in the end I cut down from 90GB to 50GB with 190GB of free space. That said, I might upgrade to the 480GB model the next time it's on sale.

Anyway, that's one thing taken care of. I have two more projects left: upgrade the CPU from 2.8GHz to 3.06GHz and upgrade the GPU from the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro to the Nvidia 8800GS. I'm well aware of the latter card's problem but fortunately the GPU can be reballed with leaded solder and refitted with a brand new GPU chipset.
 

Brian33

macrumors 65816
Apr 30, 2008
1,471
371
USA (Virginia)
... Had to replace the graphics card a couple of years ago but otherwise, its been very reliable.

Nice to hear your report! My Early 2008 24" iMac's graphics card (ATI) finally gave up a couple of months ago. What did you replace yours with, was it used (probably) or "baked/reflowed", and how long has it lasted? I'm assuming it was one of the two cards available for that machine, either the "ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro" or the NVIDIA card (forgot the number). I'm wondering whether to repair mine or try to turn it into a monitor (which I'm not sure is possible but have seen clues that if you get the correct "controller board" could be done).

I have 2 GB in each bank for a total of 4GB memory - would I be able to install anything larger? I have read that the maximum would be a 4GB and one of the current 2 GB units for a total of 6GB memory. Any thoughts?

If you have the 24" Early 2008 iMac, I'm quite sure it can use 6 GB total RAM, even though Apple's official docs say 4 GB it the max. I did it, verified w/memtest86 (I think), and ran with it for many years. There's lots of corroboration on the 'net. Use one 4 GB SODIMM and one 2 GB SODIMM.
 

sgtbob

macrumors regular
Sep 10, 2008
112
0
Kansas
@sgtbob
The maximum amount of memory the Early 2008 iMac supports is 6GB. Also, why not try Bootcamp or simply partition off your hard drive and install W10 on it?

-------------------

Update:
Last week I finally replaced the 1TB hard drive with a SSD. I can't believe I lived so long without one! lol It's a SanDisk Ultra II 240GB, which was on sale. Storage is clearly a downgrade, however I run a lean machine anyway with movies and iTunes libraries stored on an external hard drive and no games installed (at least on the Mac partition on the previous HDD, I played games on the W10 partition instead). I performed a semi-clean install by migrating network settings, documents etc, but I didn't migrate my apps and chose to reinstall them one-by-one. The whole process made me assess which apps I really need versus which ones I hardly use, and in the end I cut down from 90GB to 50GB with 190GB of free space. That said, I might upgrade to the 480GB model the next time it's on sale.

Anyway, that's one thing taken care of. I have two more projects left: upgrade the CPU from 2.8GHz to 3.06GHz and upgrade the GPU from the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro to the Nvidia 8800GS. I'm well aware of the latter card's problem but fortunately the GPU can be reballed with leaded solder and refitted with a brand new GPU chipset.


I don't suppose I could buy one 4 GB memory and install it in one slot?

I've used Parallels so I could transfer between the MAC and Windows without having to shut down and restart if I use Bootstrap. Your suggestion has merit and I might try the partition. Thanks for the info.
 

Brian33

macrumors 65816
Apr 30, 2008
1,471
371
USA (Virginia)
I don't suppose I could buy one 4 GB memory and install it in one slot?

Yes, you can, if it's the correct spec SO-DIMM. Actually, I have the package from the 4 GB DIMM I used successfully, and it has the following markings:

Patriot Memory
PSD24G8002S
4GB PC2-6400 800MHz CL6 SoDimm

I used the 4 GB one above in one slot, and a 2 GB DIMM from OCZ (different brand) in the other slot, and had no problems.
 

ATC

macrumors 65816
Apr 25, 2008
1,185
433
Canada
We have a 2009 24" iMac in our office that still works great. 8gb ram and stock HD. We're putting a SSD in it next week and will be using it for interns and guests.

Have the same generation 24" iMac and all I've done was upgraded the RAM to 8GB and it's running great. Would love to build up the courage to open it up and install an SSD in place of the spinner.
 
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mcrazza

macrumors member
Aug 2, 2008
90
21
Hobart, Australia
Would love to build up the courage to open it up and install an SSD in place of the spinner.
Honestly, it's simple and straight forward. All it requires is a set of torx screw drivers (T6, T8 & T10) and a couple of suction cups. Here is the service manual for your model which has all the instructions and information you need.

May I suggest you buy the NewerTech AdaptaDrive to fit the SSD in before you install it. Make sure to enable TRIM too.

And anyone who owns the Early 2008 model like mine and are thinking about opening up their mac, here is the service manual. If you have a dust problem like I did, read this post.
 
Last edited:
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ATC

macrumors 65816
Apr 25, 2008
1,185
433
Canada
Honestly, it's simple and straight forward. All it requires is a set of torx screw drivers (T6, T8 & T10) and a couple of suction cups. Here is the service manual for your model which has all the instructions and information you need.

May I suggest you buy the NewerTech AdaptaDrive to fit the SSD in before you install it. Make sure to enable TRIM too.

And anyone who owns the Early 2008 model like mine and are thinking about opening up their mac, here is the service manual. If you have a dust problem like I did, read this post.
Thanks for the links and good info.
 

push/pull

macrumors newbie
Oct 31, 2013
26
0
My mother has my old 2008 24" iMac. 8gb Ram and original hdd. Other than the super drive going bad it works great. She will replace the derive with an external one. As long as she can surf the web, play solitaire, and watch dvd's she will keep it
 

talmy

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2009
4,727
337
Oregon
Last time I posted to this thread was 1.5 years ago. Let me say that both my wife's early 2009 24" iMac (now sold to a friend) and my daughter's early 2008 24" iMac are "still going strong" as is my 2006 24" white iMac which I gave to a friend. That one wasn't working at the time I gave it to him, but he fixed it.

If we don't consider just 24" iMacs, as far as I know the 17" 2004 G4 iMac, our first Mac, is still working. My wife and I have now moved on to 27" iMacs, my 2009 iMac I gave to my wife when I purchased a 2014 27" Retina iMac.
 

infantrytrophy

macrumors regular
Oct 27, 2013
230
61
Have the same generation 24" iMac and all I've done was upgraded the RAM to 8GB and it's running great. Would love to build up the courage to open it up and install an SSD in place of the spinner.
Just do it! I replaced the HDD in my wife's early 2009 24" iMac with a 500GB SSD last year and it works great - much faster now than before. I pondered upgrading her 4GB RAM to 8GB, but opted for the SDD instead. The particular type of RAM required was expensive when I last looked, and the SDD turned out to be a much bigger improvement.

I used the same Newertech Adaptadrive bracket mentioned by ATC (above) and recommend this also.
 
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rotlex

macrumors 6502a
May 1, 2003
695
504
PA
Been a while since I posted here too. Mid 2007 2.8Ghz\4GB 24" iMac still going strong. I really keep trying to justify a new machine. I don't know, maybe my idea of usable is different than most, but this things still does everything I need just fine. Including managing a 100K image Lightroom database\library. No, it's doesn't open in 3 seconds, but honestly, it handles all functions just fine.

Honestly, other than Lightroom, I swear when I visit the Apple store looking at the 5k iMacs they don't seem to be all that much faster at doing any common tasks. i.e. Safari, Mail, standard apps etc. I keep feeling I'm going to drop $2500 and just not see that much of a difference, lol.

Who knows; if I can get another 2 years out of this thing I might finally pull the plug.
 

mcrazza

macrumors member
Aug 2, 2008
90
21
Hobart, Australia
It will be sad day for me when my mac is left off the list of compatible devices that support the latest iteration of OS X or macOS. I think we'll get another couple years of support at most.
 
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talmy

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2009
4,727
337
Oregon
Honestly, other than Lightroom, I swear when I visit the Apple store looking at the 5k iMacs they don't seem to be all that much faster at doing any common tasks.

With Lightroom (or any other photo app) it's not so much the speed improvement, which is there, but that 5K display. It's the display that will drive you to upgrading.
 
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TheGrudge

macrumors member
Feb 22, 2010
77
7
My 2007 iMac (20") has been extremely slow for the past year. We've since purchased a new Macbook Air, but my wife and I are both taking courses in the evening so having a second computer was becoming a must.

Reluctant to spend $1500 or more on a new machine (CAD), I decided to see how far swapping my 5400RPM (320GB) hard drive with an SSD would get me. I ended up going with a 480GB SSD and threw El Capitain on it. Luckily, I had upgraded to 4GB RAM when I bought the machine.

Anyway, I've done homework, written emails, listened to music, worked in Evernote - sometimes all at the same time and this thing FLIES! It's like a new computer. Before the SSD I would stare at the pinwheel for several minutes just to open a web browser. Now I can open up my 100GB+ photo library in PHOTOS and it's quick and responsive.

I learned a couple of things in all of this.

1) I no longer require a new iMac
2) I will never own a computer again that doesn't have a SSD.
3) My next computer will be an iMac
 

deviant

macrumors 65816
Oct 27, 2007
1,187
275
Damn, scary night today. I opened my iMac to remove the ODD (it died like 5 years ago and I hated its mechanical noise when restarting iMac), decided to clean it a little (preparing for a hot summer, don't want it to die, lol), blew off all the dust, cleaned it real well etc, turned it on and it started making really loud cringing noises. I then figured it was the cpu fan. Couple of minutes and it returned to normal... A couple of minutes and cringing noises again. Ugh. Resetted Pram, SMC, nothing helped. Opened it up again, unscrewed the cpu fan, opened it, cleaned it really well, put back again, then it on, EVEN WORSE. Really loud noises.. I thought it was KO'd, after almost 9 years I'd expect that but I felt bad that it could have been me that caused it. I left it running for 20 minutes and bam, dead silent again. Havent restarted it yet (it made the loudest noises when restarting).. Will let it run for a day and then see. I don't want to lose it, I still love this machine. It traveled with me all the 9 years. College, various apartments..
If it's noisy again what could it be? Faulty fan? But if it's faulty why does it run silent right now? Could it be the faulty controller? Btw when it was making noises it was at constant 1200rmp, i.e. The speed wasn't changing AT ALL. I can't find fan replacements here in Italy. There are some used on eBay, dunno if I can trust them though. I'd swap the fan just to see if the fan itself is the problem or it's the motherboard that's not sending constant voltage and causes it to freak out.

Ideas?
 

baypharm

macrumors 68000
Nov 15, 2007
1,951
973
Just do it! I replaced the HDD in my wife's early 2009 24" iMac with a 500GB SSD last year and it works great - much faster now than before. I pondered upgrading her 4GB RAM to 8GB, but opted for the SDD instead. The particular type of RAM required was expensive when I last looked, and the SDD turned out to be a much bigger improvement.

I used the same Newertech Adaptadrive bracket mentioned by ATC (above) and recommend this also.

Question: when you took out the original drive, was it a 3.5 inch model or something else?
 

deviant

macrumors 65816
Oct 27, 2007
1,187
275
Yup. I'm bitterly disappointed Sierra won't run on my mac, which effectively makes it obsolete.


Nope. lol

But there's nothing special about Sierra that makes our Macs without it obsolete.
Snow Leo is obsolete because there's no proper iCloud support. As of right now, every major future (I don't count Siri as major) works and, which is the important part - syncs with idevices. Perfect.
 

talmy

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2009
4,727
337
Oregon
Yup. I'm bitterly disappointed Sierra won't run on my mac, which effectively makes it obsolete.

Sierra adds little in useful features so is hardly a reason to stop using older systems. Expect one or two additional years of support for El Capitan.

And as to the original topic, one of the two aluminum 24" iMacs I originally bought (a 2008) finally died, but the other (a 2009) is still running strong.
 

deviant

macrumors 65816
Oct 27, 2007
1,187
275
Sierra adds little in useful features so is hardly a reason to stop using older systems. Expect one or two additional years of support for El Capitan.

And as to the original topic, one of the two aluminum 24" iMacs I originally bought (a 2008) finally died, but the other (a 2009) is still running strong.
How did it die? The 2009 one is nice. Love it's screen. 2007 iMac screen is like looking at the sun. Plus you can put 16 gb of almost cheap ram in the 2009. Good year for an iMac
 
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