New iMac Pro - upgrade to Vega 64 after purchase?

[Greymarch]

I bought the standard build 2017 iMac Pro with the Vega 56 video card. If I take the machine to an Apple store, can they replace the video card in the machine with the Vega 64 card?

 

[MacRS4]

No, I don't believe you can. For a start, the Apple stores themselves don't do *any* upgrades - certainly not in the UK. They'll throw you out to an AASP. When I complained about them twice taking my machine in to upgrade the RAM they eventually just gave me a new machine with the RAM in.

Anyway, I don't believe the Vega can be upgraded without replacing the motherboard.

 

[Scary Spice]

I bought the standard build 2017 iMac Pro with the Vega 56 video card. If I take the machine to an Apple store, can they replace the video card in the machine with the Vega 64 card?

LOLOLOLOL

No

 

[Polymorphic]

No, I don't believe you can. For a start, the Apple stores themselves don't do *any* upgrades - certainly not in the UK. They'll throw you out to an AASP. When I complained about them twice taking my machine in to upgrade the RAM they eventually just gave me a new machine with the RAM in.

Anyway, I don't believe the Vega can be upgraded without replacing the motherboard.

I don't know what Apple was smoking when they designed a "professional" iMac that can be serviced in theory only.

 

[Peter_M]

The GPU is soldered to the mainboard, so no. The CPU can be upgraded in theory, however.

 

[MacRS4]

I don't know what Apple was smoking when they designed a "professional" iMac that can be serviced in theory only.

Agreed, it's a bit bonkers. Even the local AASP's aren't qualified/certified for the iMac Pro anyway so can't buy the parts. Apparently the certification isn't available yet.

Seems a bit stupid doesn't it.

 

[alien3dx]

No, I don't believe you can. For a start, the Apple stores themselves don't do *any* upgrades - certainly not in the UK. They'll throw you out to an AASP. When I complained about them twice taking my machine in to upgrade the RAM they eventually just gave me a new machine with the RAM in.

Anyway, I don't believe the Vega can be upgraded without replacing the motherboard.

which mean you need to backup upon sending to AASP? Dam, a bit scary.

 

[BeatCrazy]

I've been trying to understand all this recent talk about how an eGPU could be used to accelerate the internal display of the iMac Pro. It seems like the highest-end external GPU that is officially supported is the Vega 64. But with the overhead (how much?) of TB3, you may not get much improvement of an external Vega 64 compared to the internal 56.

But I don't know what will happen in a few years? Is something like the Vega 64 enough to saturate the TB3 bus?

 

[mpe]

egpu obviously cannot accelerate graphics rendering on the built-in screen (thus connecting one isn’t really an upgrade of the GPU). It can accelerate GPU assisted computing though. Such as those many professional apps use.

Given by rather insignificant difference between Vega56 and Vega64 it is not worth of the hassle. It might be an option in few years though.

 

[anonymous161]

I bought the standard build 2017 iMac Pro with the Vega 56 video card. If I take the machine to an Apple store, can they replace the video card in the machine with the Vega 64 card?

Out of curiosity, what are doing that you need the 64 over the 56? My Pro has handled everything I've thrown at it so far. It seems like a pretty great GPU.

 

[bplein]

which mean you need to backup upon sending to AASP? Dam, a bit scary.

You need to backup anyhow.

All
The
Time

Backing up before service should be a no-op. It should already be done.