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
So I did it. I replaced my DvD drive with a 256GB SSD and my old late 2009 iMac Radeon 4 series with the latest Radeon 6 series of the new imac.
Everything works and I had some trouble with a couple of things:
- installing bootcamp (which I need) with no DvD drive is a pain. If you ever replace your DvD drive install it first!
- My fans are spinning high (OOD and CPU, HDD seems ok), why I dont know, seems I broke the connector of the LCD temp sensor? Is that possible?
- I no longer remember how to connect the HD temp sensor correctly, its a connector with 6 pins and 4 possible solutions as the HD has 8 pins and the connector can be moved left or right. iFixit says close to the SATA conectors and the black cable to the LCD ... problem is I dont know if thats right as my fans spin max.
Any help? I will post photos soon.
Ok fixed my fan noise, the LCD temp sensor wasn't stuck correctly in place.
The hardest part of the graphics upgrade was the temperature cable of the card. It belongs underneath the motherboard and is hard ot plug back in. Note: you do NOT need to remove the motherboard to install the graphics card, you can do so directly after removing the display.
As said in the beginning the initial poster claimed he had to cut a plastic piece. That is correct for late iMac 2009's only. iMacs 2010 above have the right plastic piece. Its not really difficult and easy to do:
Why you need to cut it? Because the three heatpipes of the 6 series card are slightly higher than the 2 of the 4 series:
Mistakes I did:
I had to reopen the iMac often for the fan noise and once I forget the temp sensor cable and it snapped away slightly bending the connector on the motherboard. Luckily I could bend them back and connect it.
Second the vsynch cable (flat ribbon) has very fragile contacts which come of the plastic and get lose. I suggest utter carefulness with that cable. Luckily you can buy replacements for $20.
The HD temperatur sensor cable has 4 possible positions to get reconected. Luckily ifixit noticed and has a tip how to reconect: it has to be as close as possible to the SATA connector and the black cable has to be up pointing to the LCD (if its in place).
I got 2 small things with my card which I can't place, anyone knows what they are:
Heres my iMAc open with graphics card slightly removed:
Here is my iMac with the card removed:
Heres a closeup of that HD temp sensor cable and the back of the HD:
And finally the backside of the graphics card you have to remove and reapply to the new one:
The plastic piece nearly removed which I had to cut, notices: its simply glued to the surface with sticky stuff, easy to reapply:
The most difficult reconnect you have to do:
See the temp sensor cable? I hope you have fine fingers 🙂
And finally, the reward for all the work:
<Image Containing S/N Edited By Host>
If anyone needs tips how to install Win7 with no DvD drive let me know, it took me 2 days to find out 😟
Yes, the 4850 and I upgraded to the 6970 with 2GB.
I solved the fan problem but now left with an additonal one: the right fan is noisy, thats where the graphics card is. Seems the new one is hotter? Temp reading programs can'T read the sensor properly, they show 137.000° 🙂 But the sensor of the card is plugged in. Further investigation needed :/
I want to do the same thing as you : upgrading my imac 27 late 2009 with a 6970 (from a 4850). But where did you bought the graphic card? And how much is it?
Is everything working well? Is there a great difference between the two cards in video games?
I bought it here:
http://www.welovemacs.com/6615969.html
Add tax and import tax on top. I had to pay 109 euro on top
Performance is noticable. I can now play many games on high detail which I werent able to before.
The system is hotter though and the fan turns on sooner than before.
I browsed through this thread and started thinking about upgrading my video card. However it seems this thread only says upgrading 2009 model is possible. What about 2010 model with 5750? Can i upgrade that to 6970M? 1GB or 2GB version... doesn't really matter
I want to do the SSD upgrade I am doing a lot more motion graphics these days and would love the extra speed.
How difficult was that upgrade? I also have a late 09 imac 27 and from everything I read it looks like it requires a lot of modifications.
Did you find a guide on the web?
Thanks in advance.
Korey
my hard drive just died so I ordered a new one, I am not opposed to getting rid of my dvd drive at all, I cannot remember the last time I used it.
What model ssd did you get? I am having trouble finding the right info on ifixit.
Yes thats the one. But that part is easy, the little difficult part is taking apart the display, but once you done it its easy.
And yes, its plug and play. I switched the drive, attached the sendor, reassembled everything and could format the SSD with the disk tools.
Dang I dont know if I should wait and do both at the same time, I cant snag this new combo for a few weeks but my other new hard drive will be here friday.
Should I risk pulling it apart twice, I just feel like I would be a pro the second time around, but take the chance of doing possible damage.
anyway, thanks for the help.
I bet your machine is cruising pretty quick now?
Yes the machien is fast - but you should minimize the "tear aparts" as the cables from display to machine might get damaged (I broke my V-Synch cable - $37 replacement).
So if you replace your HD do the SSD with ti. Then do the Graphics card extra
With the late iMac you can book from any internal device (you can't boot from external DvD's though)
You can move your install to SSD or install fresh.
Heres the kicker: how do you install OSX with no DvD drive? Remember you can't boot from an external drive.
Tip: install it on your internal first with the DvD mounted, then install SSD and copy the partition or reinstall from an image
I've searched everywhere and nobody is asking (or answering) the question of whether AirPlay Mirroring will work on pre mid 2011 mac (would have to be iMac) that has had an upgraded video card.
If I understand correctly, the primary limitation is the video processing capabilities which prevent pre-mid 2011 iMacs from supporting mirroring. In theory, if you remove the limitation, AirPlay should work.
I assume that there would have to be a hack to bypass the system definition (is that what it is called?) to trick the os into thinking that the imac is a newer model.
I would love to hear back from those who have upgraded to know what they've done to try and get AirPlay mirroring working.
Why is nobody asking this question?
AirPlay mirroring does not work on anything earlier than mid 2011 iMac. The video processing leverages the CPU, not the GPU. My iMac is a late 2009 i7 with a 6970, mirroring is not available.
If there is a workaround I'm sure the community would like to know!
-cheers!
Me and a friend are working on this.
We've gotten as far as it presenting the option to AirPlay, but the functionality isn't there. We either get nothing or a white screen (Using 2nd gen Apple TV, 2009 27" iMac core i7 880, Radeon 6970 2gig).
It could be an actual chip that's missing from the chipset on the 09' boards, or AirPlay could be relying on the check for ivy/sandy bridge. All us first gen i3, i5, i7s might just be out of luck.
But again, we haven't given up yet!
I'll post here if there's any change.
Upgrade iMac 27" late 2009 video card?
