Hi
my 2019 21.5” 4k iMac has an
3.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i3 Processor. I’m wanting to upgrade it to an i7 processor.
Im not sure which i7 processor is compatible with my iMac and was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction.
I appreciate any help and thank you
‘Upgradable’ implies too much. It is a 5/5 difficulty job many repair services providers won’t touch with limited replacement options.
The CPU is ‘replaceable’, and the 65W i7-8700 is theoretically a replacement option. Theoretically because while I know i3 to i5-8500 replacements have on rare occasions been done, I haven’t heard of anyone actually using an i7 replacement. (I did find reports of 95W i7-8700K failures, so don’t do that!)
‘Upgradable’ implies too much. It is a 5/5 difficulty job many repair services providers won’t touch with limited replacement options.
The CPU is ‘replaceable’, and the 65W i7-8700 is theoretically a replacement option. Theoretically because while I know i3 to i5-8500 replacements have on rare occasions been done, I haven’t heard of anyone actually using an i7 replacement. (I did find reports of 95W i7-8700K failures, so don’t do that!)
The CPU is not upgradable.
If you want to upgrade, then you need to replace that iMac with one that has a faster CPU.
That model uses an LGA 1151 socket, however:
a) the socket is not considered user accessible
b) iMac firmware usually only supports cpus that originally shipped in your model year, or the i3-8100, i5-8500, or i7-8700 only for a 4k 2019
The iMac with the faster i7 CPU, is only a configure-to-order option available at the time of purchase.
You say that your Mac is an iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019).
iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019) - Technical Specifications - Apple Support
MacTracker indicates that Apple sold those Macs with
If you are looking to speed up the Mac, and you are currently running off an internal hard drive or Fusion Drive, you may want to look into getting and booting from an external SSD.
That Mac has four USB-A (USB 3.0) ports and two USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) ports, so it can support just about any of the external SSDs currently on the market. And it wouldn't have to be a Thunderbolt 3 / NVMe SSD to deliver quite an improvement over a hard drive.
Does this not apply to mine ?
Ah ok. Brilliant. Thanks for your help.
You're welcome.
It’s the 5400 rpm unit. I’ve done a screen off SSD upgrade today and upgraded the RAM to 32gb.
So the CPU is upgradable ?
2019 imac i3 upgrade to i
