Upgrade iMac 27" late 2009 video card?

i have read this tread and i find it really interesting. I also got a question.

Is any of these upgrades possible to do in my Imac 21.5 model 10.1 I think its early 2009?

Now i got the radeon hd 4670 card with 256 mb VRAM.

It would be really nice to add some extra speed with an SSD and perhaps a better graphicscard.

Thanx!

/Mikael

So I'm replacing the video card in my late 2009 27", not for better performance, but because the original 4850 bit the dust. I'm not a gamer, and I don't *think* I'm running any apps that take advantage of OpenCL. I'm definitely not going to spend the cash for a 6970. Will I notice a difference in desktop/2D performance if I drop down to a 256MB 4670? Would I be better off with a 512MB 6750, or does anyone want to sell me their 4850 for cheap? 🙂

Returning to the AirPlay topic for a moment:

Us hack-graders are out of luck! The feature uses the Intel integrated graphics as the driver for AirPlay.

The first gen i5 and i7 lacked this.

Even my iMac 27" core i7 880 (pretty sure it's the only one on earth!) can't pull it off, and it's the fastest possible in the iMacs of yore.

We did trick the software into displaying the option by some registry mods, but the results weren't there.

We would only get black screens or white screens, which were apparently the software trying to switch to those Intel graphics.

If anyone wants to pursue it further (perhaps by modding Mountain Lion's/AirPlay's registry?) I will happily share what progress my partner and I made.

We did posture that maybe somehow spoofing a 2011 27"'s ID and imitate an "always use discrete - never use integrated" mode we could make it happen, but we couldn't find out how to spoof settings on spoofed models.

Best of luck, hackers and modders.

Hey Teut,

Sorry I havent replied to this thread but I'd probably be happy to jump on that offer and buy your old Card.

Would you email me at amichott@gmail.com to arrange details? (I dont see any kind of private messaging on this forum)

Thanks

My 4850 fried (Green lines at apple grey screen, then checkered pattern when booting) so I took the opportunity to upgrade to a 6770.

The 6770 does not have the same size as the 4850 and the PCB holes for screws do not align with the motherboard, so only the heatsink screws are keeping everything in place.

Long story short, I rebooted, heard a chime, and ... black screen 😟

I might have damaged the LED sync ribbon cable, but I have to report utter failure. Gutted, as I already performed the optibay/SSD hack with success 6 months ago.

Any tips on troubleshooting a blank screen?

Can I run the iMac headless and try to connect through SSH?

Hello,

I think it should not be mixed with radiators MXM cards, each radiator is designed for its own PCB.
If you must replace the graphics card, then you must buy the complete PCB heatsink already brand-mounted, like this : http://applecomponents.com/items/661-5967_card-video-amd-radeon-hd-6770m-512mb/0 000005111?pn=1&s=661-5967&per_page=30
You should be sure that the model of the card are compatible with your 27" model.

Finally, it is very easy to "bad-pluging" the V-sync cable, it is very fine, it's best to have a one in rescue !!

Try to plug again correctly ...
Last time I had the same as you, gray screen boot => it was the V-sync cable.
If you want my HD4850 ​​in good condition, i can sell you?
I live in France.

Thanks for the tip,

I eventually realized I didn't slot the card all the way through - the pcb / girder screws now line-up properly.

I also fixed the LED ribbon cable (a connector looked quite dodgy) by cutting a couple of mm off.

Rebooted, all is fine and well with the world now 🙂

Thanks!

A very interesting thread…

Question, how it looks with a video card upgrade at early 2009 24” iMacs? According to my information they have also a second generation MXM slot, - so physically it should be possible. But I don’t know if there exist any version issues with EFI / vbios. Such an EFI version conflict was the reason for the incompatibility of the Radeon HD 2x00 series in polycarbonate 24” iMacs. (Physically they will fit perfectly because they have the same first generation MXM slot.)

However, if that all will work, - an other problem will be the heatsink. There was optional only available a radeon HD 4850 card, - is it possible to use a heatsink of that with a recent Radeon HD 6xxx card?

Hi everyone

This is a very interesting topic, a nice piece of information indeed! Thank you everyone. I would like to ask you a question. Now I have an iMac 27" late 2009 intel core 2 duo(low end) with a 256Gb SSD and ATI HD4670 with 256 Mb. I am having slow and choppy animations with Mission Control since I updated to ML, so after checking everything (clean install and so all) I suppose upgrading my video card to an 512 Mb such as the ATI HD5670 (mid 2010) will do the trick.

Would I have any problem upgrading to this card? I suppose the shape of the card will be more similar to the 4670 than the 6970, isn't it? Would it be a noticeable difference in performance between the 5670 and the 4850? Does anyone want to sell me their 4850? I am from Spain.

Thanks!

So in the end, since I am renewing an old thread, the 6970 is the card to go to if you have the cash. Correct? IF this is so anyone have a good experience to share on where to acquire this card? I like to give business to those that have a good track record.

Depends where you live. In USA there are plenty of sources, in Europe not so many.

Heres one:

http://www.dvwarehouse.com/Video-Card-AMD-Radeon-HD-6970M-2GB-for-iMac-27-Mid-20 11-661-5969---NEW-p-40083.html

I bought it here as I am in Europe:

http://www.thebookyard.com/parts_imac_intel_27.php?cPath=34_166_173

Hello Teut, i'd seen your guide in the ifixit web and i'd found it very interesting. I'm thinking in doing the same with my Imac late 2009, but i'm worried about overheating. After a couple of months, is your system working well? No problem with that? Another question: you buy the video card at ThebookYard. Does it was a recycled piece? Thank you for your help.

No the card was brand new. And no heating issues IF you don't ruin the heat sensor cables in any way (which I did). If you experience loud fan noise which doesnt go away then you ripped of the heat sensor cable of the display. It can be fixed, but simply be careful when lifting up the display and disconnecting the cables.

As I said: no issues at all.

Hi there,

I finally bought Teut's graphics card and succesfully updated my iMac 2009 with an ATI HD 4670 256Mb to his ATI HD 4850 512Mb.

All the process went straight forward, the only problem was the sync ribbon LCD cable which is anything but tough. I had to straighten it a bit with a pair of tweezers before I put it back. Watch out with it!

Regards and thanks to Teut!

Actually yes,

I didn't want to upgrade it because of games, just for a better performance when working with Aperture, Photoshop, Adobe Premier...and for smoother animations in Mission Control or Launch pad.

It definately performs much much better.

PD: Starcraft II now runs quite smooth on ULTRA graphic settings at 1080p