late 2009 iMac SSD upgrade

[Papa Goose]

Hell guru's

I have a 27" that i upgraded to 16gb ram and it's running ok. I'm now thinking about changing the existing 1TB hard drive for a Scan Disk 960gb SSD. Anyone done this and what was the result? Some say it will speed up the machine, other say unless I change the motherboard it wont really make much difference, and the cost would mean a new machine would be more attractive.

Any feedback appreciated.

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac11,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 16 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: IM111.0034.B04
SMC Version (system): 1.54f36
Serial Number (system): 730190GE5PJ
Hardware UUID: 06F620BE-0C44-570D-8AA1-DC9433D8C2E8

 

[MistrSynistr]

I have a 2008 model that I had a tech install a 128gb SSD in. It's like a brand new machine and I gave it to my parents, they absolutely love it.

 

[Papa Goose]

I have a 2008 model that I had a tech install a 128gb SSD in. It's like a brand new machine and I gave it to my parents, they absolutely love it.

Thats good to hear. Was it a straight install or did you have to change cable etc?

 

[mmomega]

I did this swap with an Intel 80GB SSD back in '09. It is still in that machine being used today and it make's a pretty big difference in speed, the machine just feels so much faster than with the HDD.
And yes it was a straight install, just got to ifixit and look up the instructions.

You will get fans coming on at full speed so you will need to install some sort of fan control software to control fan speeds. They are loud.
Something like smcfancontrol will work, there are other programs out that will allow control over fan speed but this was the one I chose at the time.

Did this in a 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011 models. It made a big difference in all of them.

 

[MadDane]

I have almost the same machine. I replaced the SuperDrive with an 128GB SSD about three years ago and made a Fusion Drive with the HDD (which had been replaced prior to that because the original one died). It makes an enormous difference, despite it being 'only' a Fusion Drive that I have. So going all SSD will have an even greater impact. I have also considered upgrading the internal HDD to a 1TB SSD to gain even more speed. But anyway, go for it. You will not regret it.