Updating an 27 inch iMac 2017

[el.rafar]

Hello everyone! My name is Rafael Ferreira and i´m from Brazil

 

Last week my company autorized us to go back to a hybrid workplace and now i will home some days a week, it will be great as i can help at home with my 1 year daughter.

 

I was a really long time mac user, using an 2010 base model Macbook Pro, it lasted from college, 3 different jobs and outlived as my wife work computer until late last year when she bought an 2019 base model 21.5 imac mid last year. I have upgraded it with 16GB of 2666 memory and a 500GB SATA SSD from kingston (the black one with DRAM cache). It was pain and suffering opening the screen but it was really worth it. 

 

Now i´m with a 2017 imac 27 inch mid-tier model equipped with an i5-7600k, 24GB of 2666 memory, 2TB Fusion drive (128GB NVMe + 2TB spinning drive) and a 8GB Radeon 580 and i´m really tempted to open it and upgrade everything i can. 

With that i would need an i7-7700k, a samsung 980pro 1TB ssd (with adapter) and a WD Blue 1TB Sata SSD. But here is the question..

 

It would make a significant difference in performance?  i do mainly web based work and some large database querys locally.Doing it with everything new would cost me arround 400 usd. 

Other question, with that combo (980pro + wd blue) would be better using the fusion tech or just run everything separated?

 

If you guys have any other suggestions or different aproaches please feel free to comment.

 

Thanks!

[Crunchy Dragon]

A CPU upgrade would definitely help it along. Unfortunately you're limited to just the CPU, RAM, and storage as far as possible upgrades go. The GPU is soldered onto the motherboard, the only way to upgrade that would be getting a new motherboard entirely.

 

Just make sure you know what you're getting into. The newer iMacs can be a pain to open and work in.

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_27"_2017

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+Retina+4K+Display+2017+Teardown/92170

[Needfuldoer]

Your biggest CPU gain from the i5 to the i7 is Hyperthreading; they both have four physical cores and about the same clock speeds.

 

Upgrading your storage is going to be worth it, especially with databases. 

[el.rafar]

2 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

A CPU upgrade would definitely help it along. Unfortunately you're limited to just the CPU, RAM, and storage as far as possible upgrades go. The GPU is soldered onto the motherboard, the only way to upgrade that would be getting a new motherboard entirely.

 

Just make sure you know what you're getting into. The newer iMacs can be a pain to open and work in.

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_27"_2017

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+Retina+4K+Display+2017+Teardown/92170

Yes i learned the hard way upgrading mi wife 21.5 inch imac... this time i´m going to pay someone to do it.

2 hours ago, Needfuldoer said:

Your biggest CPU gain from the i5 to the i7 is Hyperthreading; they both have four physical cores and about the same clock speeds.

 

Upgrading your storage is going to be worth it, especially with databases. 

Does the base clock upgrade and Hypertheading really makes a diference on everyday workloads??

 

The storage is something i really see that will improve the performance on day to day bases... Does the 980pro + WD Blue a good combo?

 

And also... should i stick to the fusion drive... i really like having just one drive... but if it hurts performance... 

[Crunchy Dragon]

On 2/22/2023 at 12:58 PM, el.rafar said:

Does the base clock upgrade and Hypertheading really makes a diference on everyday workloads??

Faster clock speeds and more threads, especially with just 4 cores, can make a lot of things better.

 

On 2/22/2023 at 12:58 PM, el.rafar said:

The storage is something i really see that will improve the performance on day to day bases... Does the 980pro + WD Blue a good combo?

And also... should i stick to the fusion drive... i really like having just one drive... but if it hurts performance... 

I don't think an SSD + HDD will be faster or slower than the current fusion drive, but more storage is never a bad thing.

[el.rafar]

Just an update to everyone.

 

The SSD upgrade was great. The kingston SC3000 with the adapter worked great. Blackmagic disk test is giving me consistent 2.8GB/s reads and writes. The system is really responsive. I can really recommend this to anyone with an 2017 or 2019 iMac.

 

the cleaning and changing to new thermal past from thermal grisly also helped a lot. The internal heatsink was really dirty. 15* lower temps on idle and on stress.

[DogKnight]

Good to know. SSD's are the best upgrade possible to anything with a mechanical HDD. 

 

Just a note that if you're still thinking of upgrading the CPU, do your research. Most Apple computers use non "K" variants of CPU's. E.g. It would use the i7 7700 and not the i7 7700K. The main thing to look into is the power available to the socket and whether or not the socket can provide for the TDP of the CPU you're planning on using. 

[Noah Wesselby]

Hi mate,

 So just to say, you could put an i9-9900 in it ( non K model due to the top being too high ) and you can put 64gb of DDR4 ram in it. Im not sure about graphics but I would say that you would struggle to find a compatible card due to MacOS restrictions.