2011 iMac CPU,GPU,Ram upgrade Plans

I have mounted a SSD and replaced disk drives and hard drives on imac 24 and imac 27, so im familiar with that process, so i guess ifixit is the keyword here?

Any pointers with links to what parts i need will be greatly apreciated...

ifixit.com usually tells you what parts are needed for a particular repair for which they offer the steps. In fact, they often will be happy to sell you the parts in a kit if they have them.

brutalrey,
Siento tu post no obtuvo una respuesta. En tiempo de computadora que ha sido desde hace mucho tiempo ...
Tal vez ayuda a otras personas, de la búsqueda en iFixit y MacRumors. Para aquellos que tratan, doy mi esperanza para el éxito.
Los ingenieros de Apple luchar por la perfección con la mano lo que tienen. En el futuro lo que pasa que no controlan.
Salud y Felicidad

6970m work instead of 6770m?

Hey Kenny,

Thank you for the original post. As "not wanted" as it may have been, I have been looking around at upgrading my 4 year old (NOT under any sort of warranty iMac.)

It is amazing to me how you were getting spoken to a couple of years back. Now three years later, Apple is definitely closing the doors on user upgrades (especially the "looked down upon" "hacks", See the new Mac mini and the new MacBook.)

It is funny how just because you mentioned you were doing this project, if some "sheep" were to try this and screw up their machine, it would somehow be implied it was semi-your fault. If someone is completely inexperienced in taking apart a Mac (laptop/desktop, whatever) and they choose to take it on... It is no one else's responsibility but their own.

I do appreciate the "homework" you did in order to allow others who are interested in upgrading their iMacs. If you do have pics or guides, that would be amazing to see.

Thank you again.

I understand that you are a "Level 7", but commenting and not actually helping people in this thread says a lot. Yep, I probably show up as a "new" post/member, but it also says nothing about my experience and decades working with Macs. All it says is that I am new on here, not that my opinion and knowledge matters any less than your own.

For me, the definition of "user serviceable" parts differs. If I can remove it, than it is User serviceable. I know that is not what Apple uses as a definition, where they just consider the RAM as user serviceable. What I don't understand from some of your comments, is that you're mentioning that a bad GPU or CPU (and iMacs are known for having replaceable CPUs, as they've been in the upgrade/replace scene since 2006 and it is almost more rare for apple to have soldered them to the board, until recent years, where this thread wouldn't exist for those models.) requires the replacement of the entire logic board. Funny thing is, if you google for say, a 2010 or 2011(the original posters model year) logic board, it wont come with a CPU (you'd still need to replace it separately.) or GPU.

I don't even feel that had the original poster had in BOLD "DIY'er beware, do at your own risk!!" that you would have reacted any differently.

It always makes me sick to my stomach when someone asks about their "old" Mac and what they can do to fix it (instead of spending $1200+ to replace) and almost everyone says "buy a new one".

There are of course newer machines that do have said soldered CPU/GPU, however, this specific thread would not have existed had the original poster not done his research and confirmed what could be done...

Interesting read. I read this entire thread. Thanks for being very cavalier on the topic of upgrading your iMac. I am a PC person and have bout a few apples over the years for my son. I am used to conducting my own upgrades as well. Would love to see you replicate this via video. I know this is an old thread, but I hope you weren't discouraged by the community. Hope to see your reply.

Thanks.

I have the same iMac and plan on doing something similar to it. Computers should be made to be upgraded. Great job.

I too have a mid 2011.

2.7ghz i5

radeon 6770m 512mb 😟

12gb ram

1tb HDD

I've thought many times about upgrading the graphics card, and thought I'd do a bit of research today, rehashing my old desires.

Realizing I'm reaching well beyond your intended audience of 4 years ago, the only thing I would say this far out is I cannot believe this card (radeon 6970m 2gb) still retails at well over $250 in most cases. 😮 Found used on ebay for $269.00. This is now considerably old tech, albeit (for reasons we've all seen throughout this thread) in what I would imagine is limited availability and demand.

In light of having read the thread in its hilarious entirety, I hope your upgrade has held out well over the years. 😉

You are advised to use an i7-2600S processor, rather than a i7-2700K, with the Mid 2011 iMac...

The 2600S is a low power version of the 2600, and the motherboard may not support the power and thermal demands of a 2700K or 2600, unless your already running a 2400..

The 2700K is an unclocked chip, and while it works with older versions of OS X, newer ones have failed to boot...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMac_(Intel-based)#Unibody_iMac

Wow, this thread was very interesting to read through. I'd like to say to kennyap, that I am indeed impressed with his determination on going through with his project. I viewed this because I've been doing some research on this to find out whether I wanted to buy a 2011 iMac and upgrade the processor, but be sure it was possible. It is good to be confirmed although I already knew because I have a Dell Optiplex 990 MT in the house with a Socket LGA 1155 H2, same as this mac, but I just wanted to change to Macs because I know they are very dependable. Anyways, always good to see people doing these upgrades on Macintosh computers and finding out what they are really capable of.