Can the graphics card of the 24" iMac be upgraded?

Hi, the Nvidea 8800 is only in the 24" imac, the Nvidia 8800 is also nothing like the cards from the other models, if you wish to upgrade your 24" imac (the one with the Nvidia 8800) you have no choice but to replace it with the exact same video card another nvidia 8800. Several reason, if you are interested i will spell them out in my next post.

Can I also just add, if you dont understand what you are taliking about might I suggest that you do not offer advice as it is most off putting, the earlier White Imac had onboard video built onto the motherboard , that is all of them except the 24" 2.1ghs core duo this was fitted with an MXM card either the Nvidia 7300 or 7600.

The aluminium 20" and 24" core duo also have MXM cards but once again not all of them, the odd one was onboard graphics, I have managed to swap cards amongst most of these , except the nvidia 8800 , as the nvidia 8800 was a unique style of MXM, ( all the others were MXM II), I am at this moment in time trying to mod a newer version Nvidia GT130, I am trying to change this card to something beefier like the GT230 or GT250 with more onboard ram, if anyone can help with the EFi for one of these I would be very greatful even if they could point me in the right direction to create my own, I can do the rest once I have it.

the correct discription for the 24" Imac Nvidia 8800 GS is MXM HE, I do believe that you can now get a Nvidia 9800 GTX & a Nvidia GT280, both of these are the MXM HE type, I am guessing that as long as there bios is big enough to take the 8800 GS EFI firmware, then that could be an upgrade route, the card would report a slower clock speed (due to the 8800 EFI firmware) , but am pretty sure it will run ok , I no loger possess this version of the Imac , but would be very tempted to give it a try, you would already need to have windows on there so you were able to update the card, I am pretty sure trying to install this with a faulty card woud be a recepie for disaster.

You could always increase the bios size with a 1 meg bios chip, but again am pretty sure the original will be big enough to hold both the Bios and the EFI.

The 2600 Pro is an MXM II , no way will any other MXM card version work in the slot built for the Nvidia 8800Gs, don't take my word for it, there are plenty of other site's that discuss the compatibility of MXM card versions(you might notice that both logic boards have very different part number).

To be double sure I can confirm that I have tried to make it work without any success.

If you have the 24" Imac with an Nvidia 8800, then there is only the route I have mentioned, if you are lucky enough to have another card in there then you are more likely to have MXM II, you will be able to fit any number of cards in there, but then we are back to the EFI problem

Yes you can upgrade, your card, for best results stick to the options offered for your model

the correct discription for the 24" Imac Nvidia 8800 GS is MXM HE, I do believe that you can now get a Nvidia 9800 GTX & a Nvidia GT280, both of these are the MXM HE type, I am guessing that as long as there bios is big enough to take the 8800 GS EFI firmware, then that could be an upgrade route, the card would report a slower clock speed (due to the 8800 EFI firmware) , but am pretty sure it will run ok , I no loger possess this version of the Imac , but would be very tempted to give it a try, you would already need to have windows on there so you were able to update the card, I am pretty sure trying to install this with a faulty card woud be a recepie for disaster.

You could always increase the bios size with a 1 meg bios chip, but again am pretty sure the original will be big enough to hold both the Bios and the EFI.

The graphics device is a standard mxm ii/iii board that can be removed and is NOT soldered on to the mainboard. theoretically it is exchangable. Some people argue that other gfx boards wont work because Apple needs to modify the bios/efi then. I dont think so, because a plenty of gfx devices that are not sold by apple run on osx by using enbler software.

I have a core dual iMac purchased new in Oct 08. Can the graphics card by upgraded to Nvidia Quadro 500mb ? It currently has a ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro. It's a 24" model

Hi~

Can I replace White Intel iMac (EMC 2111)'s video card from GeForce 7300GT to Aluminum iMac (EMC 2134)Radeon HD 2600 ?

Thanks!

if memory serves no it won’t be changeable as the gpu chip is soldered to the graphics card. You can however try (or get someone to try) to reflow the original card. I’ve had good luck with that. Do NOT try to do a reflow in your oven or with a tea light. Those typically cause more damage than good. You need a reflow machine (very expensive) or a good quality temperature controlled hot air reflow workstations. Good luck! :-)

No, the graphics on this model cannot be upgraded, the GPU is attatches to the logic board, unless you want to replace the whole motherboard

I have a 20" iMac Aluminium MA877 with HD2600 PRO. Just today I update it with new ATI MXM II HD4650 1Gb from Acer (http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-HD-4650-MXM-II-V...) card. Physically it fits very well, the PCB design is pretty much the same. But unfortunately after power on the Mac I've got the black screen.

Googling I found that may be I need the EFI update for this card.

Could someone help me to make it work?

If there is an Nvidia 8800 in your machine , then that is the only card that will go into it, I have had all of these imacs, they have different fittings for different cards, any upgraded card will require a flash with the relevent EFi, it may be a wise idea to check the size of the bios on the card first as the EFI requires 1meg most cards are fitted with a 512 chip, this is also possible to exchange, but none of this is easy.

Ok, so I hear conflicting stories about whether you can or cannot upgrade an early 2008 24" iMac's GPU.

Assuming you can, is the 8800 the limit? Mine has recently worn out. I hear the 8800 is now known for wearing out quickly and getting heat damage. Either I get Apple to repair it or do it myself (as my AppleCare has run out) but I don't want another NVidia GeForce 8800 in there due to its known faults.

I have 24" iMac with video card issues - my diagnosis was confirmed at Apple store :)

I know what card I need but there is no guide for 24" iMac video card on here - only 20"

If I follow that guide will it be close enough?

Thanks!

Has anyone considered the possibility of using Nvidia drivers from one of the OSX86 projects to make some of these cards work without flashing the BIOS with EFI? The list of compatible cards is here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/wiki/index.php...

In my mind the process would be to first install the necessary kexts (kernel extensions) for the Nvidia support, and then perform surgery on your iMac to install the new card (an MXM HE card, of course).

I have an iMac 24" Early 2008 with an Nvidia 8800gs and I am considering trying this to allow me to install a card with more RAM so that I can run GPU-enabled Adobe apps such as Premiere which require at least 768mb RAM.

Hello

French user od an iMac 24" my graphic card is dying !

Can you look to the following infos and say me what model of card I can reinstall

for the vido card

ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro :

Jeu de composants : ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro

Type : Processeur graphique (GPU)

Bus : PCIe

Longueur de la voie PCIe : x16

VRAM (totale) : 256 Mo

Fournisseur : ATI (0x1002)

Identifiant du périphérique : 0x9583

Identifiant de révision : 0x0000

Révision de la ROM : 113-B2250L-259

Version du gestionnaire EFI : 01.00.259

Moniteurs :

iMac :

Type de moniteur : LCD

Résolution : 1920 x 1200

Profondeur de pixels : Couleurs 32 bits (ARGB8888)

Moniteur principal : Oui

Miroir : Désactivé

Connecté : Oui

Intégré : Oui

VK191 :

Résolution : 1440 x 900 @ 75 Hz

Profondeur de pixels : Couleurs 32 bits (ARGB8888)

Numéro de série du moniteur : 86LMMS000084

Miroir : Désactivé

Connecté : Oui

Rotation : Géré

For the computer itself

Informations matériel :

Nom du modèle : iMac

Identifiant du modèle : iMac8,1

Nom du processeur : Intel Core 2 Duo

Vitesse du processeur : 2,8 GHz

Nombre de processeurs : 1

Nombre total de cœurs : 2

Cache de niveau 2 : 6 Mo

Mémoire : 4 Go

Vitesse du bus : 1,07 GHz

Version de la ROM de démarrage : IM81.00C1.B00

Version SMC (système) : 1.30f1

Numéro de série (système) : YM8412ZYZE4

UUID du matériel : 0A9DEA4E-FE6D-5FFF-B233-1C3F5FE5E161

Thanks for your interest

@dubau : as tu trouvé une carte graphique compatible ?

did you find a compliant graphics ?

Merci. / thanks

Hi. I have a imac 24 a1225 model. Nvidia Geforce 7600 GT is compatible?, and geforce GT210 is compatible ?. I expect an answer. Thank you

if i have a imac 20 inch mid 2007 what are my upgrade path for graphics card ?

that's the graphics card inside now ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM

i would like 512mb at least but 256 will do the job

Hi there.

I have an iMac 8.1 24”, with nVidia 8800GS gpu. Since it starts to fade, I would like to know, if it is possible to upgrade to Quadro FX3700M, as they both share the same bus interface (MXM-HE):

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/qu...

Please, any info would be really helpful, i really want my mac to keep running…