Upgrade iMac 27" late 2009 video card?

RyanAlan wrote:

How much of an improvement have you noticed?

For WoW the improvement has been quite a bit over the old 4850. On live i can get 100fps but i cap it at 60 because anything over is just wasted power/heat on the cpu/gpu. On MoP beta i'm getting a solid 40-60 fps with the new shaders added for MoP and it's not even optimized since it's "beta". All settings are between good and ultra.

Sorry, that was a reply to wmaclaurin. He had trouble with hard shutdowns after the install.

That's really encouraging to hear you got it working properly. I'm thinking about doing this sometime next month.

Just make sure you buy one that is an actual apple 27" iMac Radeon HD 6970M replacement part and not just any ol' 6970M. I got mine from http://www.welovemacs.com/6615969.html Comes with the heatsink and apple firmware on it which is needed to work.

So, what steps did you have to take, exactly?

Did you make the same cut as Iliadesign, or did the model you link to fit in as it was received?
Did you have to spoof the model ID to force the video update, or did the new EFI just recognize/run it anyways?

If you did have to force the update, what steps did you take to do this?

You've inspired me to go ahead and do this upgrade, just want to make sure I get it right the first time.

Just getting uber tired of the choppy previewing on my Mac with Adobe Premiere, when my PC blazes through non-rendered playback like a hot knife through butter, so my new upgraded CPU would love a nice new powerful GPU to go in next to it.

The steps i took were the same as any of the teardowns that are easily googled. At first i thought i had to make that same cut cause the heatsink on the 6970 has 3 pipes vs the 2 pipes on the 4850 but the pipes don't even go through that notch, so no clue why he made the notch bigger. I didn't have to install any video updates or anything.

AMD Radeon HD 6970M:

Chipset Model: AMD Radeon HD 6970M

Type: GPU

Bus: PCIe

PCIe Lane Width: x16

VRAM (Total): 2048 MB

Vendor: ATI (0x1002)

Device ID: 0x6720

Revision ID: 0x0000

ROM Revision: 113-C2960K-152

EFI Driver Version: 01.00.507

It just recognized it right away right on the first bootup.

I now just need to figure out what's the fastest CPU i can upgrade to 😝

Hi guys,

Am very happy this thread has been resurected and am very interested in upgrading the graphics in my late 2009 27" iMac to help playing BF3 in bootcamp!

I've seen the 6970M offerred by GrandBuffet but my question is why exactly would a 'normal' MXM card not work? I live in the UK and have found an 6970M MXM on eBay for approx $440 delivered http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMD-Radeon-HD6970M-MXM-3-0b-2GB-DDR5-w-Soldered-Posts- Matching-Screws-/120904328540?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item1c2675a55c#ht_1813w t_1161

Would this not be compatiable with my the existing heat sink in my mac?

I have also seen 5870 1GB MXM cards for sale for significantly less.. thoguhts?

Thanks 😀

It's my understanding that you can't use a normal MXM slot card because apple has specific ROMS and EFI's flashed to their cards. As for te heat sink question, I doubt it, because the one used for the 4850 cards in the late 2009's only have two pipes while the apple 6970 has three pipes in the heat sink. I would imagine the old heat sink would not efficiently cool the 6970.

Thank you wmaclaurin & Grandbuffet for your pioneered GPU upgrades.

I have a late 2009 iMac Core 2 Duo 27" (3.06, Radeon HD 4670) and I've noticed you all had quad core models.

Is this just a coincidence or does the CPU affect the performance of the GPU?

Also, is it safe to assume any Radeon HD card can be used as an upgrade, as long as it has Apple firmware?

As long as it's an official Apple OEM part designed to fit in the same form factor iMac (IE, you'd need a card made for a 21.5") and fits in an MXM slot. I think you'll also find we all have the 27" - as I stated in my other discussion, I'm not sure if the 4670 in the 21.5" 2009 C2D is removable or soldered on board.

As to CPU affecting GPU - in rare instances, the slower of the two units will cause a bottleneck and hinder the other's absolute top potential. But this is primarily in GPU accelerated applications, which are still pretty few and far between. (generally programs that do this type of processing are video editors and heavy photo editors.)

I'll do some more digging around, but I've only seen people upgrade the 27" model GPU. Could just be coincidence, or there may well be a technical reason. There's some pretty fantastic space and heat management happening inside the 27", much less the 21.5". Wouldn't surprise me if they had to go integrated/soldered on board to save space and temperature.

Per your CPU query: http://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/7814/I+am+thinking+of+upgrading+the+current+C ore+2+Duo+3.33GHz+to+Quadcore#answer13420

And per your GPU query:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-iMac-Intel-20-Inch-EMC-2133-and-22 10-Video-Card/1014/1

Should be enough to get you started.

However, let me add: this is a labor of love I'd only undertake if selling your old model and pitching in a few hundred for the newer one is totally out of the question or way beyond what you need.

Once you're done buying the new GPU (500$) and CPU (150$) and Memory (100$) and a decent SSD (250$) you've racked up enough expenses that a newer model would definitely be a smarter choice. (Thunderbolt, quad cores from the start, better GPU included, better iSight)

Thanks again Brandon for respodnig to my post(s)!

I do have a 27" 2009 iMac, but it is the Core2Duo model (3.06Ghz). I was looking into performing the same 2GB GPU upgrade that you and the other members performed and wanted to know if there would be any hiccups since by model was slightly inferior to the i5's you all performed your upgrade on, but it seems there won't be. I asked about the Processor upgrade just for addinional insight/POC while we were on the topic.

If I werent using this as a media center, then it would be more cost-effective to sell as apposed to scrutenizing over upgrades that would result in minute performance boosts as I already have 16GB RAM & a 2TB 7200RPM HDD. I've recently tooken up more gaming now that I have the iMac so I came here to investigate upgrading the GPU, and lo and behold, it seems you can. A couple titles on my machine that would SIGNIFICANTLY benefit from this upgrade are Dues Ex, Diablo III, Alan wake, etc...

you stated:

BrandonFromTX wrote:

...However, let me add: this is a labor of love I'd only undertake if selling your old model and pitching in a few hundred for the newer one is totally out of the question or way beyond what you need.

I'm very experienced in hardware mods so the labor isn't a problem. My assumption is that upgrading the GPU will be enough to get the playback I desire in my gaming (My processor isn't THAT outdated... is it?).In addition, selling my iMac + the money I would spend on the GPU upgrade (at most $1500) wouldn't get me a newer model WITH the 2GB VRAM I'm looking for. So all signs point to a new GPU as this is primarily a media center.

Any objections?

Good to see we have other experienced techies who like gutting Apple's beautiful hardware! Haha.

No your processor isn't that outdated at all. My black MacBook with a C2D 2.0ghz is still running beautifully after 6 years and surviving a fire and being smashed by a pedestrian. Core 2 might not be the freshest apple in the patch, but they still process and do day to day lightweight media and browsing like a champ. The 7600 was a good processor, had one in my gaming rig until I got an 8400 (just before I built my new i7-2600k monster)

I found a picture of the logic board in question on dvwarehouse and it looks like the same MXM-B slot. As your Core 2 Duo 7600 has a lower TDP than our i5s, as long as the power supply is good to go you're set on the upgrade once you have the part in hand. Not sure what the draw is on the 6970, but I think Apple used the same 130 watt PSU in all their 2009-2011, and my iMac handled it like a champ. So at least from this hobbyist, no objections at all.

I will add this before you get wrist deep in iMac guts: when dismantling the lower portion and removing your logic board from the case, the IR receiver is obnoxiously well integrated. I actually believe I damaged mine, because you have to wiggle it completely up before you move the memory slots out of place. I never use the remote, so no big loss for me, but as yours is a media center I'd be very careful.

The guide from HardMac shows this step with very little emphasis, but it was the biggest frustration for me.

I got one question: I have a late 2009 iMac, i7 which I am in the process to upgrade with a SSD. I also ordered the new graphics card described above to try the upgrade. Now I saw that the graphics board is screwed to the main board, but from which side? Is it really necessary to remove the whole main board or can you remove it from the bottom of it? I saw 3 screws to the metal pieces which looked all I need to remove it.

I made a pic of the backside of the Radeon:

http://i.imgur.com/9WG23.jpg

As you can see there are 3 screws, are those all to unlock the card? I am just hesitant to remove all of the interiors just for this 🙂

Those three screws hold the video card to the mainboard. Remove those, the one at the top near the heat sink and unplug the temperature sensor (underside of the mainboard at the top edge to the right of the picture you took) and the card just slides out.

Once you remove the heatsink and attach the new card, you just slide it back in using those three screws as guides. The hardest part was getting the tempature sensor cable back in !!