Q: Upgrade/replace Motherboard on Late 2009 iMac?
Hi I have a late 2009 model iMac. The 27 inch screen is BEAUTIFUL and the case is in perfect condition, but unfortunately I am not able to upgrade the OS, and I'd like a much faster CPU. Is it possible to replace my entire motherboard with a current one? If so, can you please guide me to a list of motherboards that might work? Lastly, is this something I need to have done at the Apple store, or could it be done at home by carefully following the directions?
Specs on my iMac are listed below:
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac10,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 3.06 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 16 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: IM101.00CC.B00
3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo (E7600)
Intro Date: October 20, 2009 Disc Date: July 27, 2010
Order No: MB952LL/A Model No: A1312 (EMC 2309)
Subfamily: Late 2009 Model ID: iMac10,1
Std RAM: 4 GB Std VRAM: 256 MB
Std Storage: 1 TB (7200 RPM) Std Optical: 8X DL "SuperDrive"
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
Posted on Sep 27, 2014 12:51 PM
You are mistaken about many things.
There are NO ways to change the logic board or the CPU or GPU.
iMacs are not upgradeable at all..by user or Apple.
The only thing that is user upgradable is RAM and given that your year iMac is a 2009 model, you can, probably, replace (through an Apple authorized reseller/repair center, NOT Apple or an Apple Store) the internal hard drive of your iMac with a faster internal SSD (Soild State Flash Drive).
I have the same identical iMac with the same identical specs as you and I am running OS X 10.9.4 Mavericks fine.
The only thing that is an issue is that the startup time takes longer, but once my iMac is up and running on OS X Mavericks, everything is running fine and dandy.
Your 2009 iMac should run OS X 10.9 Mavericks fine as long as you do not have any commercial antivirus apps installed, no "cleaning" or "optimizing" software of any type and you will need to update any installed software to Mavericks compatible versions.
If you have any commercial antivirus installed and/or hard drive cleaning apps installed on your Mac, like MacKeeper, CleanMyMac, TuneUpMyMac, MacCleanse, etc. now would be a good time to completely uninstall this apps by doing a Google search to learn how to properly uninstall these types of apps.
These types of apps will only cause your Mac issues later after the install of the new OS X version and you will have to completely uninstall these types of apps later.
If you run any older Mac software from the earlier PowerPC Macs, then none of this software will work with the newer OS X versions (10.7 and onward). OS X Snow Leopard had a magical and invisible PowerPC emulation application, called Rosetta, that worked seamlessly in the background that still allowed older PowerPC coded software to still operate in a Intel CPU Mac. The use of Rosetta ended with OS X Snow Leopard as the Rosetta application was licensed to Apple from a company which got bought out, I believe by Micrsoft and Appe could no longer secure their rights to continue to use Rosetta in later versions of OS X. So, you would need to check to see if you have software on your Mac that maybe older than, say, 2006 or older.
Also, check for app compatibilty here.
Before embarking on a major OS upgrade, it would be wise, advisable and very prudent if you backup your current system to an external connected and Mac formatted Flash drive OR externally connected USB, Thunderbolt or FireWire 800, Mac formatted hard drive. Then, use either OS X Time Machine app to backup your entire system to the external drive OR purchase, install and use a data cloning app, like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, to make an exact and bootable copy (clone) of your entire Mac's internal hard drive. This step is really needed in case something goes wrong with the install of the new OS or you simply do not like the new OS, you have a very easy way/procedure to return your Mac to its former working state.
Once you have determined all of this, you should be able to find the latest version of Mavericks by clicking on the Mac App Store icon in the OS X Dock and then login to the Mac App Store using your Apple ID and password.
You can then begin the download and installation process of installing OS X 10.9 Mavericks from the Mac App Store.
Posted on Sep 27, 2014 5:28 PM