2011 iMac CPU,GPU,Ram upgrade Plans

etresoft wrote:

The "Lounge Posse" has been known to goad people into that kind of an exchange in hopes of getting them to violate the forum Terms of Use so they can then report the thread to the moderators so it can be removed and the poster banned. Don't fall for that. If people aren't being helpful, just ignore them.

I resent that post, etresoft. I certainly don't gallop into a discussion in order to "goad" anyone into anything.

Most sweeping generalities are not necessarily true in all cases; this one certainly isn't.

From what I can tell, most Level 6s (and up) here are attempting to talk someone out of inadvisable action upon a perfectly innocent iMac, and, more specifically, to plead that the poster not give out the advice to others (who may be far less knowledgeable) to attempt such things. That's why I came aboard, and, as I said, I resent your post attributing dark ulterior motives to our fellow Lounge members (and, especially, to me).

I didn't even realize that there was a topic about this OP in the Lounge. As you can see in the forum sidebar, I am a usual user who posts here and I was the first who posted with a very general statement.

My post was not directed to anyone other than kennyap. I saw things headed in that direction and I wanted to prevent it from happening. I have seen it happen too many times before. I think kennyap would be a valuable contributor to the Apple Support Community and I would prefer he stay here. Too many people in the lounge consider themselves to be self-appointed deputies. There is only one law around these parts and it carries a purple Apple badge.

I realize this forum isn't the place to post topics on non-apple approved procedures. I guess that sums it up.

People posting here on Apple's home territory are expected to provide advice in accordance with the terms of use of the website and basically provide sound and legal advice. We do not represent Apple but are pretty much at the fore of perceived online consumer support so they don't want us making a mess of it 🙂 . With newer Apple hardware under warranty there is the inclination on these forums to play it safe and by the [Apple] book. This extends to not posting anything that might encourage others to void their warranties, then come back here and say, "Look what you made me do and now Apple won't fix it!" Not necessarily you but others. While voiding a warranty isn't illegal, it is breaking any legal support responsibilities Apple has and so may be perceived as 'anti-legal' (so something we do not condone or support), especially as it is not in the interest of the majority of hardware owners to do it.

Now if you were posting about doing this to a 10 year old Mac in the backwaters of the Power Mac forum then you'd see just about all the posts there are about doing things that would have voided the long-expired warranty. Graphics card replacement is standard fare there. If you own a computer that old you pretty much have to be a do-it-yourself-er for anything.

I just read the whole thread. Horrible off the point of this forum.

kennyapps own remark summarizes it all:

"Thanks for your response. I realize this forum isn't the place to post topics on non-apple approved procedures. I guess that sums it up.".

Indeed that sums it up.

We all agree now that kennyapp is a very enthousiast engineer who is also a very good technician, and hobbyist.

But he is on the wrong forum, as he said himself.

Great to hear that it worked for you and thank you for including the warning about voiding the warranty in your post.

It looks like you spent somewhere around $1,200 on the parts plus shipping plus the original cost of the iMac - is that less expensive than simply buying the custom order iMac with the same specs (plus additional RAM from OWC) and including a warranty?

kennyap,

Kudos to you for trying something this bold. I've grown up with Apple products all around me and the only frustration that I have with them is that they booby trap the hardware from being improved.

I opened up my iMac last week and successfully changed the hard drive out. $80 to save a $2000 product. My other options was to sell it for half the price just to spend another 2k. I consider that a win.

If I ever get a Ferrari I will never replace the entire car if the A/C goes out.

Thank you so much for sharing your insight on how to keep our aging Apple products relevant.

From what I've read, there is no way to fool MAS into allowing you to get ML because there is an identifier (I believe on your logic board, but could be somewhere else) that will "telltale" that your iMac cannot support ML no matter what parts you've upgraded to. Several people have tried to no avail (i.e. installed a Core 2 Duo processor - the machine was still identified as having only a Core Duo).

Appreciate that, but, even though I've built audio equipment, o'copes, and color TVs, getting into the innards of one of these beasts is not for the faint of heart. Especially tricky is ensuring that the all the heat and components connectors are disconnected w/o breaking them, that's after collecting the screws holding the display in place. Then, there's ensuring the replacement components are compatible and don't cause issues. Anyway, good luck with your endeavor.