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alanpro Author

Level 1

8 points

Upgrade iMac 27" late 2009 video card?

I have a late-2009 iMac 27" with a Radeon HD 4850 - 512 mb.

Would it be possible to upgrade the graphics card to the ATI Radeon HD 5670 Video Card 512MB GDDR3?

Also, my iMac has 8gbs of ram, where can the ram sticks be purchased and can Apple replace it?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7), iMac 27" late 2009 model

Posted on Apr 30, 2011 9:43 AM

Best reply

Peter Elespuru

Level 1

10 points

Posted on May 7, 2011 10:03 AM

Actually, the posts that state it can't be done are WRONG! And it does NOT require

any soldering or chip removal for the 27" iMacs.

I have the exact same late 2009 27" iMac, and upgraded it to the part from

OWC the you pointed out previously, this one:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/6615578/

You'll be voiding your warranty certainly, but unless you have Apple care you're already

past Apple's 1yr anyway...

It is absolutely possible, and works great. You do not need to touch any firmware, and OS X

already has the drivers for this board. It's entirely a hardware process to upgrade it, i.e. open

the iMac and replace the board and you're done.

The process of upgrading it isn't particularly trivial, but it is absolutely possible, I've been using

the upgraded 5750 1GB board since last Fall (~October) without a single problem in my 27"

High level summary of steps, (there are better more detailed instructions a few places online like iFixit)

(1) remove display cover panel

(2) remove display itself, look online for the details this part can be dicey

(3) disconnect all cables from logic board, tape back near where they came from to get them out of the way and make them easy to reconnect

(4) remove RAM (makes it easier to remove logic board from housing)

(5) unscrew and remove logic board (which has MXM slotted video board attached to it)

(6) set logic board flat on a static safe area

(7) unscrew MXM video board heat sink screws that connect it to logic board, and disconnect it from the logic board

(8) plug in the upgrade/replacement video board

(9) put everything back together

(10) enjoy your faster video card

If you haven't taken your iMac apart before, expect to spend ~90min if you're careful about everything.

If you have, it can be done in ~30-45min.

A couple additional tips, one above was the removing RAM makes it easier to remove the logic board, another

is that when you reinsert the logic board, have a USB cable or similar handy to plug into the back to help

align the logic board when you re-seat it. The last tip is the one about taping the wires back just above where

they get plugged in. I didn't do this the first time through, and one fell down and didn't get plugged back in on

re-assembly. I had to disassemble the whole thing again to dig it out and plug it back in...

Cheers

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217 replies

Hockaday

Level 1

0 points

Dec 18, 2011 8:28 PM in response to alanpro

Have you done the upgrade? I am very interested in upgrading my graphics card...as I think it is the major bottle neck for my iMac in playing some games. How has your fps etc been boosted? Thanks.

Hockaday

Level 1

0 points

Dec 19, 2011 5:26 PM in response to Peter Elespuru

Peter I have a question. Would that work in this iMac? http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac-core-2-duo-3.06-27-inch-al uminum-late-2009-specs.html

Or would anything else ( read newer, better, ) also work? I am unfamiliar in what criteria is needed to know if you can use the card or not.

Jan 28, 2012 2:30 PM in response to Peter Elespuru

Hello Peter,

I appreciate your comments and am interested in upgrading my late 2009 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac. It's model identifier is iMac10,1. Does the graphics card your speaking of have compatibility with my iMac too? In other words, is you iMac's model identifier 10,1 as well. I would appreciate your insight.

Thanks,

Swingdummy