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iMac 24" video upgrade
- Thread starter GetUp
- Start date
AFIK, You cannot buy the 7600GT for the Mac from any retailer, at least not right now. it is an upgrade from Apple only. So, I guess "no" would be the answer to your question.Is it possible to upgrade video card (from 7300 to 7600) on iMac
24" AFTER actual buying? Thanks
It may be available as an aftermarket item down the road.
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atari1356
Forum Enthusiast
I don't know the answer to that... but if you already have the iMac (as it sounds like you do), you could just download the Aperture Demo and try it out:Hm, so..Is Aperture is REALLY slow on 7300? (and how it compare to
Ati x1600 on iMac 20")? If you know, of course
http://www.apple.com/aperture/trial/
uwe_r
Veteran Member
It depends on the task. In general the 7300 is comparable to the X1600 (you will not see significant differences with importing, exporting and searching, rating etc.) - it is slower with real-time adjustments and when loading images with many adjustments though. The 7600 is clearly faster than both of them and it does make a difference, but mainly with RT adjustments and loading of adjusted versions. The 7300 on the iMac 24" is socketed - so in theory the upgrade should be no problem, just, in reality you cannot buy this particular version of the 7600 anywhere (AFAIK) and, as the iMac 24" contains no user-serviceable parts except for RAM, you would risk issues with your warranty as well.Hm, so..Is Aperture is REALLY slow on 7300? (and how it compare to
Ati x1600 on iMac 20")? If you know, of course
Cheers,
Uwe
As has been said the 7300 and x1600 are almost identical in performance. The 7300GT might have a small advantage in certain applications, but overall, about the same. Take a look at the Barefeats article here as it has some relative information:Hm, so..Is Aperture is REALLY slow on 7300? (and how it compare to
Ati x1600 on iMac 20")? If you know, of course
http://www.barefeats.com/imcd3.html
I ran Aperture with my old dual 2.0 G5 that had the 9600XT and it ran just fine in terms of speed. The 9600XT is a step down from the 7300GT in quality, so I think you'll be just fine. You'll really see a difference if you beef up your RAM. That's where the real performance will come from.
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John Barone
Member
Interesting comment Uwe. When I was making an iMac purchase decision recently, a local CompUSA Apple rep told me that when the 24" was released, Apple told them in training that the video card was designed to be upgradeable on the 24" only, and upgrades would be made available in the future as new video cards were introduced. Not seeing any kind of port or door to access the card, and having never seen a comment to this effect here, I took his comment as "sales talk" to try and convince me to buy the standard 24" he had to sell me, versus order an upgraded 20" or 24" directly from Apple. Maybe this was credible after all.
Anyone else heard anything similar?
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John
Life is an experience . . . so experience it!
uwe_r
Veteran Member
You can check this thread: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=28012 - if you register with this site you can also view some images in this thread showing the inside of the 24" iMac and the PCI-E MXM slot which holds the GPU. MXM is a proprietary slot designed by nVidia, so if there are any replacement cards coming, they would most likely have to be from nVidia. AFAIK ATI is not using this slot, no idea if they will maybe license it in the future...
Cheers,
Uwe
So, 7300 slower, but on http://www.apple.com/imac/graphics.html it is faster? May be imac20 using slower-than-testinghardwaresites gpu frequency or something?
uwe_r
Veteran Member
As I said - it depends on the task. The charts on the page you have mentioned show game performance (Doom and Quake) and obviously these games stress different components of the GPU than Aperture does. I do not know if the X1600 is underclocked on the 20" iMac, but I do not think so. It is underclocked on the 15" and 17" MBPs (AFAIK, slower on the 15" than on the 17") to reduce energy consumption and heat generation. Real-time adjustments are slower on a MacPro with the 7300 than on my 17" MBP (and this is only the Core Duo, not the Core 2 Duo version) with the X1600 and 256MB VRAM.
Cheers,
Uwe
Thanks! I just can't decide...i can grab basic imac 24 model for ± same money as new imac 20, but only basic model...
uwe_r
Veteran Member
Tough decision. There is a chance that Apple and/or nVidia will offer video upgrades for the 24" model (because it has a socket) in the future. There is definitely no video upgrade for the 20" model and you cannot upgrade the screen to 24" either... I think I would give a slight preference to the 24" model. As long as you do not edit hundreds of images every day the difference in GPU speed will not accumulate to really relevant amounts of time.
Cheers,
Uwe
John Barone
Member
I here you. I was a tough decision for me as well. I didn't feel the performance difference between the ATi and NVidia video cards would really affect my non-pro use of Aperture (on average @150 D70s images per week), as much as RAM and VRAM upgrades. The way I looked at it, I was spending an extra $500 to go from a 20" monitor to a 24" monitor. If I moved on to a new system in a few years, I would be tossing the $500 away. I didn't feel like I needed the 24" that much. In the end i decided to go with the 20", and upgrade to 2GB and 256 MB VRAM. Aperture runs quite acceptably on it for my use. I certainly would rather have the upgraded 20" than the standard 24". If you really want the 24" screen and intend to run Aperture by all means order it with the upgraded RAM and VRAM.
This is my first Mac in 15 yrs, and I admit I was a bit hesitant to spend a lot not knowing how I'd like it. I have been very pleased with the 20". in fact, i've been so pleased, if i had it to do over again today, I might just choose to buy the upgraded 24"
.All that being said, if you are a pro, you should really consider a MacPro to run Aperture.
Hope that helps more than confuses!
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John
Life is an experience . . . so experience it!
John Barone
Member
Thanks for the info Uwe! I don't know how you find the time to keep on top of all the things you do. You are a real asset to this forum. Your responses to other OPs threads was invaluable to helping me to decide to return to the Mac and make a purchasing decision last fall. Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us!
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John
Life is an experience . . . so experience it!
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