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I have a 21.5” iMac, 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo with a ATI Radeon HD 4670 256MB graphics card. I was wondering if I can upgrade the graphics card to a more powerful one, maybe to the ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512MB. And if so, are there step by step instructions on how to do it?
I have not located anything on upgrading the video card on this machine. I would upgrade to the maximum RAM 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB. I couldn’t see the specs on the hard drive on Apples site but a 7200 rpm hard drive would help and a solid state drive would do even better. I edited this to get in line with bac.
Yes, it is possible to use Radeon HD 4850 graphics card but the problem that it is not possible to fit it inside because 4670 is physically smaller and there just isn’t enough room for it and the larger heat sink. But, you can upgrade to Radeon 5670 and even to 6750 graphics card from a 2011 21.5” iMac. With these the size of these cards & heatsink is the same. The same situation with 27” iMac Core2Duo which have the Radeon 4670 graphics card, there you can use these Radeon cards: 4850, 5670, 6750 and 6770.
No its not possible. The GPU they are using in the Intel iMacs is actually the mobile variant. run a check on windows with the hardware identifier.
Yes you can use any Apple mxm 3 a/b graphics card it’s just plug and play…the letters a/b are the sizes, a/ being the smaller size for 21.5. The b cards although bigger can still fit by removing a piece of plastic, you’ll see what I mean once your in there… It’s really easy get yourself a step by step guide if you haven’t taken one apart before.
I just upgraded my 21.5 inch late 2009 iMac from a ATI 4670 with 256MB to a ATI 6750 with 512MB from a 21.5 inch late 2011 iMac but it just has a black screen with sound i don’t know if it’s a comparability issue or I did something wrong if someone knows something please let me know.
I’m curious about this to, since the GPU is a swappable card it should theoretically work, getting a 4850 will be the only problem or iFixit will make it possible ;) Love to see someone trying this! With the processor upgrade and this one, you can make a though iMac that almost is equal to the i5/i7 model! For the CPU upgrade, see this thread, here we talk about upgrading from a dual-core to a quad-core.
Thomas Meijer or Dave Wu, did either of you have luck with this? I have a late 2009 imac with the integrated NVIDIA Geforce 9400. I’d love to put in a Radeon 4670 or even better go straight to the 5760….. let me know what either of you guys figured out! It’d save my life :)
I bought my 5670 on Gainsaver and it did not work for me at all. I can’t verify whether it was a faulty GPU or that it just wasn’t compatible. There was no boot chime or anything, I even tried a new power supply. I ended up ordering another Radeon 4670 and it ended up working fine for a few days, then it kind of crapped out on me. I can still boot and I think it actually loads up fine, because when I hit the volume, I could hear the clicks! I’m hoping I just messed up the display connector from disconnecting and reconnecting so many times. I ordered the part, but the only place I could find it was some guy in China, so I’ve been waiting on it for a week or two now. If it doesn’t work, I’ve about had it with this thing, and will probably end up just backing up the HD and parting it out.
Hello everyone, I have a late 2013 iMac How to upgrade my graphic card? Pls help
Can I replace the NVIDIA GeForce 9400 graphics card 256MB in my early 2009 iMac with another card? My system has a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
I am sure I can upgrade a Radeon 6750m to a Radeon 6770m on a 2011 iMac right?!
Hello You can now upgrade this card to a larger size 1GB / 2GB iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010) - 3,06 GHz Intel Core i3 ATI Radeon HD 4670 256 MB Thanks
