New iMac Discrete Graphics

[alex.james]

Hey guys,

Apple has been kind enough to replace my few week old iMac i7 with a new, refreshed model.

I've heard that the graphics in the new iMac are discrete and separate from the motherboard.

Does this mean the graphics card will be replaceable, albeit in a rather clumsy way?

 

[Hellhammer]

Theoretically, it's replaceable but I haven't heard anyone doing it because: There are no faster GPU available, there may not be drivers, parts are very hard to find and expensive and replacing it isn't easy. So in real world, no, it's not upgradeable

 

[adrian.oconnor]

Hey guys,

Apple has been kind enough to replace my few week old iMac i7 with a new, refreshed model.

I've heard that the graphics in the new iMac are discrete and separate from the motherboard.

Does this mean the graphics card will be replaceable, albeit in a rather clumsy way?

The graphics in the previous i7 model are also discreet. It was only the bottom model that had 'integrated' graphics (about 3 times slower). I think the new i7 model got a slight update to the graphics, but your graphics card is very good and you have nothing to worry about.

In answer to your question, you can't update discreet graphics. I once looked in to this for an HP laptop, and while they are all the same form factor, they use different ROM programming to tie them to individual types of machine. I guess they do this because they don't want you to put a card in that gets hotter than they designed for.

 

[azza2988]

Hey guys,

Apple has been kind enough to replace my few week old iMac i7 with a new, refreshed model.

I've heard that the graphics in the new iMac are discrete and separate from the motherboard.

Does this mean the graphics card will be replaceable, albeit in a rather clumsy way?

how old was it exactly? and any problems at all like high pitch noise brightness issue? i debating to try get the refresh or not mine is 25 days old upto now was there any re-stock fee?

 

[alex.james]

It was 3 weeks old. What you need to do is send a nice letter to their head office explaining the situation, I included my mobile number and a very pleasant lady called me early this morning and told me Apple would exchange it. No restocking fee.

EDIT: No issues with the iMac