Dissecting an iMAC
iMAC
Today I had the pleasure of dissecting an iMAC. My relative was complaining about flickering graphics issues, along with a sudden crash (freeze). That’s a classic case of over heating folks. So I opened it up and swapped out the thermal paste. I’ll admit, apple had designed that machine to be very user friendly on upgrading the memory; but not opening it. The screws were torx based (instead of the classic flat or Philips head) and I the entire time I felt as if I were opening a laptop.
Unfortunately, there’s no option to upgrade the graphics chip. Unless you were to purchase an all new motherboard that has one built in. The power supply, hard disk, blue tooth adapter, wireless adapter, screen, dvd drive and speakers are upgradeable. It appears you could remove and re socket a new intel chip, but I didn’t try to remove the old one. I was only removing the old thermal paste and dust bunnies. One thing is definite, I did notice poor air circulation within the case. Apple relies on having the heat rise out of the top. There are 3 fans within the iMac, but based on what my relative is suffering through, it is not a good long term design for reliability. One way to improve on the units performance, is to add a case fan in the back by the IMAC words. That is where the CPU and GPU heat-sinks are. The iMac utilizes a heat pipe design, but no direct air flow on the fins. This is terrible. So I’ll run it by her and if she’s ok with it, I’ll do it and post pics. The down side to a mod of such stature, the sleep design in the back will be thrown our the door.