I did it -- and the tension almost killed me :-) If you want to do it, I have the following tips (you cannot easily see this important part in the video). RAM cage: A very good advice indeed was to remove the RAM cage. This way, putting the heat sink assembly in place is infinitely easier! The problem is, however, that it is next to impossible to put it back on afterwards. Either you need to be very patient and use some brute force, or, you could cut one corner open so you can easily pry it and slide it over the RAM holder. If you cut it exactly between the two adjacent nuts of the RAM cage, it wouldn't affect its stability. Given the extreme fragility of this heat sink assembly, I recommend it. Guiding bracket: There is a metal guiding bracket on the back side of the motherboard, which has two pins coming out of it in order to hold the heat sink assembly exactly in place. Make sure it is firmly in place when you put the heat sink assembly back on. Makes it much safer. In case you asked yourself what is the best order to do things after you removed the old thermal paste residue meticulously: 1) if you dare, remove the plastic RAM cage to have more space. 2) make sure the metal guiding bracket under the motherboard is securely in place 3) carefully put the new processor in place 4) apply the new thermal paste 5) put the heat sink assembly back on, carefully looking out for the guiding pins from under the motherboard. These are my 2 cents. Good luck to all you brave souls and thanks again to Evlain! I like very much the way you handle these things.
Wow Gary, awesome mega comment! Agree with all the points. After all the hassle I was very tempted to Chuck that damn cage away but I was after that factory finish. It did go on with a little persuasive manoeuvring thankfully!
For me since I got a 21.5" it was a little different. I set the processor in place and set the heatsink on top and secured lightly the screws around the gpu and pipe. Then flipped the board over and held in on my leg firmly while placing that bracket on the rear. Then worked one screw gently in a few threads around the cpu then another and so on until all were in. Then just tightened each corner a little a time to spread the force even. All in all it wasn't too bad. But why couldn't they have just put a latch in? Would have made life so much better lol.
My first mod was an Apple II+ motherboard clone that I ordered from an ad in Computer Shopper back in the 80s. I had to burn some eeproms and scrounge up the rest of the parts to get it built. Modding can be nerve racking but if it works, the rewards are way more than the cash you laid out. Congrats on a successful mod! I have two 2019 iMacs on hand and I'm looking forward to the challenge.😃
@@eviain Just a quick follow up. The upgrade, as of this evening, is complete. And yes I did bend some pins so don't feel bad. I was fortunate in that I picked up a headband magnifier with a built in light. It was super useful for straightening out the damaged pins. Then is was just a matter of getting the CPU and the heat sink gently back into place. Also the lever on the microphone connector snapped off. I wedged the cable back into the socket and locked it down with some Capton tape. (American ingenuity kicked in here.) I don't expect it will wiggle loose with the the logic board being secured with 8 plus screws. The rest of the upgrade was a breeze. The NVME drive was pre-staged with an image of the original Fusion Drive and the SATA 2TB drive was pre-formatted and ready to go. One iMac Chime later I was having a tall glass of water in honor of my friend in the UK. It was quickly followed with a shot of Vodka because that's what I just happened to have on hand. As for anyone else reading this post, Evalain is absolutely right. Don't do this because there's a good chance you will muck it up and you will be with out a computer. But then again that's how we learn. ;-)
I did a similar thing to my iMac just today. I had watched your video like a year or two ago when I first planned doing this. Upgraded my 21" from an i5 to i7. I also forgot about the gpu chips being lower lol. Removed the heatsink and cleaned it up again and put on some pads. I just left the cpu attached to the heatsink for that. Luckily it all worked out just fine! My iMac is rocking now and for quite cheap too! This computer is a tough job but I haven't broke it yet lol. So far I've changed the ssd to a 1tb, added a 2tb sata ssd, 32gb ram and now an i7 8700. And my screen is held on with electrical tape cause my double stick ain't holding lol. But good nough!
Mate, thanks! Your video was instrumental in getting this done... Just got my 2019 27inch iMac upgraded from i5 8500 to i9 9900 (non k) and 1TB Firecuda 520 nvme ssd. I am getting drive speeds (R/W) of about 2800 - 3100 MB/s, quite good but far away from the promised 5000 MB/s of this drive. Learnt heaps in the process and got a few adrenaline rushes... Guys (we are all guys aren't we?) ... why do we have to undergo so much pain? ;-) Cheers
I do a lot of iMac upgrades and was interested in the i9 upgrade. First reaction was, the music is not only too loud, it's HORRIBLE! Apart from that it was fairly informative although I think the attitude towards the risky bits was overdone.
I'm ordering the i9 9900kf, adding a M.2 1tb, and swapping the fusion drive for an SSD. Basically doing this same mod on my 2019! Should be blazing fast. Thanks for the video
It lives! Only strange thing is I no longer have the opening boot chime. Don't know why. System seems stable. Also, replace the cracked 2019 screen with a clean 2015 without issue.
@@Holtenstein Awesome did you update to a newer Mac OS, the chime was removed in Catalina. You can add it back in with a command line command or install big sur
I'm 83 and just upgraded a 2012 21.5" iMac to 3.1Ghz i7 CPU, 500Gb OWC Aura SSD (Apple proprietary socket key), 16Gb RAM and 2Tb SSD. No issues, fan is running at 2600rpm - can't hear it and temperature is 40C. I am now looking for a 2019 iMac to put in a i9-9900k. Where do you get the adapter for NVME to Apple socket from?
Nice 👍 it was from amazon similar to this M.2 NVME Macbook SSD Convert Adapter for Upgraded MacBook Air Pro Retina Mid 2013-2017, AHCI SSD Upgraded Kit for A1465 A1466 A1398 A1502 amzn.eu/1QAvDGt
@@eviain thanks the Apple proprietary NVMe SSD's from OWC Aura 6G are considerably more expensive than the Samsung, Gigabyte NVMe M2 ones so an adapter is a cheaper route.
Hi, loved your video. I have a 2019 iMac with the i9 processor and 32gb ram and 3tb fusion drive. Very frustrated with speed so have simply fitted an external 2TB ssd and now use that as boot and storage. It is faster but nowhere near as fast as your iMac. You mention that there are people in the UK doing these sort of upgrades. Can you advise who? I'm in Surrey and would love to find someone to do this for me. Thanks.
Hi thanks! there was a company, but they were offering them whole as new with the upgrade. So you’d probably have to buy one from them and sell your existing one or trade it. Check out macstoreuk.com (tell-em I sent you!)
@@eviain Liked the video, you know there are many shops including apple who say upgrading an imac is impossible. I say ney, not impossible but a lot of work.
Just to say I did the mega upgrade tonight. Used a late 2015 27inch imac and put in a 1tb Samsung 970 M.2 a 2tb crucial SSD, increased the ram to 32GB @1867mhz and put in an i7 6700K. All took me 2hrs from start to finish. I then did a speed test and was amazed the pice gave 2400 write and 2946 read. Many thanks for your help/video as this was a mammoth upgrade and have saved thousands compared to buying a new one.
@@eviain you did!!! but what an achievement..made sure that I didn’t move the cooling block and despite a few swear words putting the screws on the back of the chip it was all done.
@@eviain yes with big sur never had hibernation issue..Under stress the cpu does hit 100c and the fan kicks in and drops to around 85c, not sure if the chip is throttling or not, but a huge improvement on mp4 conversion..previously took 2hrs, now 15 minutes..great machine and in glorious 5k!
Hello! Great job with the upgrades! I've bought the same iMac, with the double ssd upgrade already done but stock i5-8500 yet. My Toshiba NVME drive works flawlessly, but my Crucial MX500 1tb sata ssd has only 250mb/s write and around 60-90mb/s read speed. Do you think it's a faulty unit? I'm really thinking about the i9 9900kf upgrade too, but I'm concerned about the thermal limits caused by throttling. I mainly use the machine for photo editing and I'd love to see faster exporting with Lightroom Classic.
How hot does the 9900k run? I have a 27 2019. I just stuck a crucial 4TB NVME. It has a 8500. I'm trying to track down a i9 9900 which is 65w. I'm scared to do the 9900k 95w
The NVMe adapter I got had a layer of tape on it. But it’s not needed because my Mac is a Mac mini 2014, it’s very spacious for an NVMe drive, and even put a heat sink on the drive.
How does it handles the thermals? is there a noticeable difference in speed (real world use, not black magic), open apps, boot time, etc. This is the only question i have to get the 970 evo plus or just keep the apple ssd and change the hhd. Really liked your video, glad you saved the motherboard (little heart attack when saw the pins). Let me know what you think!
Hi glad you enjoyed it, the fan defiantly works harder with the i9 when doing heavy tasks, a little to much if you ask me. The speed is quite something, although I suspect that the main benefits are to be had from the disk upgrade.
Hi! Thanks for the video! Do you know, is it possible to do the CPU upgrade to i9-9900K from the youngest model iMac 27 2019 i5-8500 (Intel i5 3.0 GHZ)?
interesting and useful video. looking at upgrading daughters 27 2017 iMac storage & giving it a new lease of life. current thinking either : a) replace standard disk with ssd and use the small nvme as swap device; or b) upgrade nvme drive with to 2tb & replace standard disk with ssd for backups or just extra storage.
Hi man! Thanks for sharing all the details, it's gold content ! I have a question I have an iMac 27 5K 2017 with Intel core i7 4,2ghz, Radeon Pro 575 4go a. Can I adapt your set up with my iMac ? I want to give him a little upgrade ;) Thanks in advance :))
So your maxed on the processor, no need to bother with that. Still some hefty gains to be had from changing out the disks to an ssd and even adding an nvme though. But like I say.. don’t do it! Unless your prepared to brake it!
Hi Iain, would i9-9900 65W work on 2017 iMac18,3 (Core i7 4.2 GHz)? There seems to be a proven success with 2019 models but can't find relevant info re 2017 models.
I have a lot of doubts: 1- how should i proceed for the software part? i need to split fusion drive before? who i can't lost backup partition. how put os x on new nvme?after i have a fusion or two separate part? 2- i read the base 2019 imac have a 65w TDP instead 95w, not too hot i9? with you think about i7-8700? 3-why temp sensor isn’t required ? bootable installer the see 2
Create a usb MacOS by following this guide from Apple support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201372. Boot from this and install the OS on the nvme or ssd. No need to fuse as the drives are big anyway. Processor is probably not worth touching as much of the performance comes from the faster drives. It does run the fan harder and therefore louder. Temp sensor hasn’t been required for a long, long time, as Apple uses the drives sensor now.
I need your help to advise I bought a CPU I9-9900KF to upgrade to an entry-level machine like yours. But why can't my machine be upgraded and now I have to install the same CPU I5 to use it. do you have any advise?
Thanks for this video! It’s exactly what I needed. Wanted to ask if you needed to install a thermocouple for this SSD? Is your IMAC fan running full blast without it? Or is the fan Speed fine on this 2019 w/out that thermocouple
@@eviain I had one more question for you, I swapped the CPU last, same as you 8500 to I9 9900KF, I assembled everything and Imac would not boot. I dissembled everything and noticed that the CPU was bent from the pressure of the heat sink and back plate. I googled it and it seems some others have had this issue, they unbent the CPU and re-installed it and left some slack on the back plate screws. wanted to ask you if you left any slack on your screws? i will try this method and see if it works, also any tips would be appreciated
Follow up, I unbent the CPU, made sure it was installed without moving the heatsink once they made contact, left about 1mm of slack on the back screws and everything works now! Super happy with it! Thank you for all your help
I have the 2015 iMac, I confirm it's not working well with NVME + adapter. My choice of nvme ssd was Crucial P1 1TB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe. It gives all kinds of trouble regarding nvme kext kernel panic.
I was given one of these new in the box... its not horribly built BUT needs more than 256gb it has and more than 8gbram would be nice along with a couple more upgrades. I'd give it a shot... would've been nice to see more about the screen coming off- that's like the main part people are going to be coming here for wondering about!
I’m not sure, it really depends on how much you can pick up an i9 for. I’m not sure it would be worth it, but if you can pick up the base iMac for cheep then it could still work out
Great Video! I have an iMac 5K 2017 May I ask, I purchased a 1TB Samsung 860 PRO SSD and Samsung 970 PRO 512 GB PCIe NVMe M.2. I wanted to ask, how do I format the NVMe to run as the bootable part of my iMac and the 860 Pro as my main drive for my folder and applications to be saved. I have already formatted the 860 Pro to APFS format and used GUID partition map. What setting shall I undertake to format the 970 PRO 512GB NVMe to run mainly as a bootable side similarly that Apple had with the fusion drive. I really appreciate any help you can provide :)
Hello EvIain, I'm from Brazil and I really liked your video, and I had already done this procedure on an imac 2017, this year I took a 2019 and did the same procedure as yours! my question is that i used the sidecar with an imac, and after this upgrade it does not appear on the screen on my ipad, now i don't know if it was an update to ipados14 or if due to the fact that the kf does not have a video, and can give something , have you done this test?
Is it always necessary to use an adapter to replace the NVME memory? If so, what is the correct name of the adapter? I will try to find it on Aliexpress or on Ebey.
Unless you use some of the OWC branded ones which are specifically made for the Apple connection, but they are slow and expensive in comparison. So yes you do need one. Should be in the description
I changed my ssd 1tb and m.2 1tb drive and after new m.2 drive I cant use bootcamp any more (Catalina mac os) but with Mojave version It’s ok but after setup windows you will see many blue screen because in Mojave you can only use bootcamp when your ssd is not together (cs fusion)
@evlain Can I upgrade 2019 iMac to i9 10th gen 8core or 10 cores processor? Does it support?if yes, Any idea how does it handle the heat? Please provide your suggestion
I doubt the chipset would support 8,9 &10th gen cpus I may be wrong. The 2020 iMac does support 10th gen. heat is a big issue on iMacs the fans do tend to run up on heavy work loads
I haven’t done it but it should be possible there’s an i fixit guide for the 21.5 worth looking in to. The hdd can be replaced easily. I’m not sure if the nvme slots were always there. I think it may depend on if it originally had a fusion drive. Worth checking what the highest spec chip was in that model/year to see what’s possible on the exact cpu you could upgrade too.
Not as such, but do I think there’s thermal throttling happening, yes. I haven’t checked but the fan gets pinned to max rpm at times under heavy workloads, so I’m sure that has an effect on performance. It’s still faster than the previous cpu though.
I installed a OWC AUra 6g NVME type in my 2012 imac and disk speed is around write 490 and read 500 which around the same as the 2Tb Samsung SSD and also the external drive with NVME m2 Samsung or Gigabyte. why are they all about the same? The internal AUra NVME Apple socket should run ~5 times faster according to the specs. This speed issue is what some others have mentioned.
@@eviain Whilst the OWC Aura 6G looks like an NVMe M2 drive, its speed is no different than a standard SSD ~ 480Mb/s not the 2000Mb/s expected froma NVMe drive.
My 2015 iMac has died but the screen is still good. I found a deal on a 2019 with a busted screen. I'm wondering if its possible to use the 2015 screen on the 2019?
Steve Holt all I can say is the connectors looked the same. However I have not compared the two in detail, I believe the panels are different. If you make it work you could make a RUclips video about it!
@@eviain from what I can tell, after 2015 the smaller of the two cables, is now at a 45° angle. LG, the manufacturer of the panel has made some upgrades over the years in terms of brightness and contrast, but I think I may be able to get the panel to work if I can find a way to not damage the cable
@@eviain thanks for the quick and positive (like your posted work)reply. It is 27, but did not say anythink like ssd or hd on the storage setting just flash storage. Any idea on what type of storage i can install? Thanks again and always
hi, great video. I have thought to do the same with my imac 27. but it's scary. One question: I heard that if you change the cpu, do you have to update the BIOS? Have you updated the BIOS? I imagine your next business. ´´Expert doctor changes i5 for i9´´ regards
I really hate having to take apart anything Apple these days, their earlier stuff wasn’t too bad but as they have made everything smaller there is little room for error. My work machine is a top spec 2015 MacBook Pro but it’s starting to struggle a bit now and I’m running things like Docker which I never used to. Might be time to consider an upgrade, it will be interesting to see how smooth the transition to ARM is, especially for the 3rd party software and tools.
Hi Rob, It’s certainly a challenge! I have an older Mac book too which could use an upgrade although keyboard-gate has put me off. Seems to have been solved in the newest models, maybe try picking one up on apples refurbished site, although the lack of usbs is a little concerning, all the trendy people with macs at work look slightly ridiculous with the dongle plugged in to the thing all the time!
Hi, thanks for the video I used it to upgrade a late 2015 imac. I did this last week, all went well. Except I have backlight bleeding now, nothing terrible but it wasn't there before and it really bothers me now. Do you think it could be solved by ungluing and reattaching the screen? The only reason I could think of is that maybe the screen is under uneven tensions, because I can move the glow around if I apply pressure with my finger. For the rest I handled the screen with great care, but gluing it back wasn't as easy as I expected. In any case, any help or idea will be greatly appreciated.
Well done, (even though i say don't do it!). It's possible that it could be some unevenness as you say. It's quite a job to clean up the surfaces of the screen and case. perhaps there is some small ball of old adhesive creating a distortion. I spent a lot of time cleaning away the old glue with alcohol wipes to ensure the surfaces were good and clean. I think refitting the screen is probably one of the hardest parts of the whole job and is best done with two people to get the best chance of lining everything up.
speed on this WD Black looks to be the same as OWC Aura X2, any other drives that would be better than OWC? What's the best out there? I'm overhauling a 21.5" 2019 iMac with a Vega 20, going to make it a i9 cpu 64GB 2666Mhz, 2TB or 4TB nvme SSD once I figure out what nvme to get. Don't want any hibernation issues, need it to be fully compatible. Any suggestions, please reply.
Hi Evlain. I tried this and got a blank screen on my 27" 2019 i5 iMac. I then took it to to a local Mac authorised repair shop and he said it can't be done because of the Fusion drive aspect. He said he can get rid of the Fushion drive but only fit a 2.5 " ssd. I.e. no NVMe M.2 1tb blade upgrade. Does that sound right to you?
No, not right. You just end up with two separate drives, they won’t be fused. If you have a blank screen that’s not good news, and could be a cable is not connected to the screen. If you have a screen with a icon in the middle then it needs Mac OS installed.
Thanks so much! What I couldn’t figure out is the configuration of your new fusion drive. Or is there any? Do you use your two new silicon drives as one 2TB fusion drive or as two separate drives (3 Tb = 1 Tb + 2 TB)? I guess there is no reason for the fusion drive cache if the NVME disk is big enough to hold your data. Actually no reason at all for a 2TB SSD if your data fits on the NVME drive. Thanks for a short note.
You should pray to god, that the bent of the pins were not that mess... In my case I unfortunately I had a bent pin salad... 😞 So I would not recommend to replace the CPU...
Great video! I have a 27'' IMac 2019 and I tried the same upgrade. I put a 2TB WD Black pcme, a 1TB samsung evo PRO SSD and 32GB of memory and it all worked fine, but the CPU upgrade didn't work for me. I got the original I5-8500 processor replaced by a I9-9900K, but it won't boot. I took the I9 CPU off twice to make sure that everything was in place, but it was no good. When I press the power button nothing happens. So I decided to put the I5-8500 processor back and everything came back to normal and it's working since then! Do you have any idea about what could have gone wrong with the CPU? Any incompatibility with the I9-9900K? Thank you!
One more question. Were there any problems with M.2 SSD + adaptor? Or such setup shows totally stable performance? Are you keeping the OS X system on this SSD memory or on the another drive (2.5" SATA)? Thank you!
EvIain, muito fabuloso! Que trabalho fantastico. Parabéns pelo video e pelo upgrade! Um sonho esse iMac ai. Acho que nem trabalhando a vida toda eu chego a isso.
Celebratory drink of water??? My celebratory drink was Scotch on a rock..rather than ice water.... Did my 2019 Imac 21.5 4k upgrade last night, took about 30 mins to upgrade 1TB SSD, 64gb Ram, I9-9900 CPU. My logic board did not have the NVMe slot, perhaps that the reason why it was easier.
be VERY careful about the wire routing through the speaker, I didn't see it and destroyed the power button... still waiting on a replacement power button to arrive although I have very little expectation that it will run afterwards 😞
Hi mate, ever encountered wherein the two usb c thunderbolt ports stopped working after reassembling? The System Report recognizes both usb c ports but they suddenly cannot detect connected peripherals or hard drives.
Hello, I have a late 2013 imac 27".i hardly ever used the machine, so feel agreived to throw it away for another. Was thinking of a DIY update and you're the only person I've seen do it with an i9 chipset. Wondered whether this would be okay to do on my model?
Maybe im a bit late, but i did the upgrade, put in an i9 9900k, an Samsung 970 Evo Plus, a 6TB HDD, all works as it should except for the fan. They are at like 60-70% speed for no reason. The thermals are okay, i dont see why the fan is spinning so fast. Do you have any idea or is that even normal? I know its not at 100% speed since i maxed the fan speed out with a program and it got louder.
Turn the fan down and see if the thermals are still ok. If the the thermals are ok with the fan at that speed then the fans are doing their job. HDDs run warmer than ssd so that could be the reason it needs a higher fan speed when coupled with the i9 cpu.
I have the same IMac 21,5 with a I3, 1TB hard drive and 8GB of RAM and it’s insanely slow! Can’t open email with it. So I wanted to change it for at least a I5 or I7, an ssd and 16GB RAM. But I asked my local computer repair shop and he told me that if I change the processor I’ll run into problems with my MacOS license and it will not work. Did you have that problem?
I didn’t have any software issues, and I doubt you would. I can’t recall if ram is upgradable on that model but that would really help. An ssd would be the next booster. I’d be tempted to leave the processor but if you do do it, check with everymac.com and see what the max processor was for your model, as you can’t just chuck in any old i5 or i7. It has to be the right generation e.g. 5500, 6500 etc
Great video, been helpful. Do you have any issues reinstalling the OS? I have installed 1TB WD black 850X. Trying to install Monterey from USB and gets stuck at 16 mins and then comes up with error. Any ideas?
Hi and Thanks! No I had no issues. You may want to try a few things. 1 validate the media by installing it on another mac or 2 creating the install disk again. 3 if you have some funky memory installed try with fewer modules.
External thunderbolt 3 to nvme is a much better solution. No need to open your iMac and risk damaging it. You can boot and run your MacOS from external nvme drive without any problem and the speed is up to 40 gb/s. Internal drive can be used as a backup.
I use this method on my new Mac mini, as a secondary drive and I can’t fault it. Not sure it’s content worthy though. Perhaps it has some comedic value!
Hello greetings from Chile. Does this ssd need a temperature sensor? I ask, since I have seen that some technicians install it. Specifically to the 2019 model
Evlain, great instruction video, I'm looking to do this to my 2019 iMac, exact same spec as the one you bought from your friend. Just getting things ordered, missing one item, the adapter you used for the nvme, do you have the. link for that?
I am also going to upgrade ssd only. I hv iMac 27 inch 5k 2017 model. I want to know do i need OWC thermal Sensor? I saw many videos but unable to decide because it is costing 50 USD.
@@eviain ohhhhh i see. I was considering getting a 2019 imac 21.5 3.0ghz Intel Core i5 6core and putting the biggest cpu i could inside it and adding an nvme and ssd drive like you did on your 27 inch. I like the idea of a smaller yet power house mod.
Hello, Evlain, I take advantage of your experience and your kindness to ask you something that I hope will dissolve my doubts. I'm going to replace hard disk and the small original Apple NVME with another 1 Tb (as for the hard disk from mechanical to SSD, I feel quite calm). About Nvme the choice is wide. What should I watch out for when buying an adapter and an NVME SSD? This is my doubt, I don't know which one to buy. And I won't buy a termal sensor, reading your advices. I hope you will have a suggestion for me. Thank you very much from Italy. Corrado.
Hi, I would stick to nvme ssds that others have succeeded with. The adapters are very basic with no components they are also cheap so I bought a couple of brands just incase. The main thing with the adapters is to use caption tape to prevent them shorting out on the metal socket on the motherboard
@@eviain Ok, thank you. Actually my iMac Is working with an external SSD with operating system. Do you think I can use this one as a startup disk, simply replacing it with the mechanical one? Obviously changing the boot options (sorry, I promise you that's the last question ☺️). Greetings!
Hi Evlain, I have a 2017 iMac 27" and would like to know what WD Black NVME you used as there seems to be a few variations of this item and I don't understand the difference, can you help please.
@@eviain At the weekend, I managed to upgrade the iMac and replaced the apple blade with the 1TB WD Black NVME and the hard drive with a crucial 2TB SSD, all is well and performing like a dream. Thank you very much indeed for your advice, together with a superb video which helped me enormously.
@@eviain good! What i9? Just curious! Oh, and I guess an i9 is likely overkill, and if it's old then it was overkill when released, but it means that you don't see Windows as some ununderstandable garbage, this is good!
@@Zebra_Paw yea sure, it’s a i9 9900k, I’ve never really understood the whole mac vs windows thing they have different uses, Mac’s more “interesting” to take apart.
@@eviain actually I wouldn't say that, because you can add whatever you want in PCs, there are a lot more standards, it's much easier to find parts, they are way more repairable, where as nearly nothing is standard stuff in Macs, and it gets worse with Apple Silicon where nothing is replaceable. I have a 2017 iMac with an i5 7400 and I am missing hyper threading so I would like to put a i7 7700k (or would it support newer gens?) but my only reason to have a Mac is video and music editing, that's it.
Moii Palma temp sensor isn’t required in this model the adapter in this one I tried Sabrent 2.5” SSD & SATA Hard Drive to Desktop 3.5” SATA Bay Converter Mounting Kit (BK-PCBS) www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UN550AC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_FEhxFbJ8KHA6C
I did it -- and the tension almost killed me :-)
If you want to do it, I have the following tips (you cannot easily see this important part in the video).
RAM cage: A very good advice indeed was to remove the RAM cage. This way, putting the heat sink assembly in place is infinitely easier! The problem is, however, that it is next to impossible to put it back on afterwards. Either you need to be very patient and use some brute force, or, you could cut one corner open so you can easily pry it and slide it over the RAM holder. If you cut it exactly between the two adjacent nuts of the RAM cage, it wouldn't affect its stability. Given the extreme fragility of this heat sink assembly, I recommend it.
Guiding bracket: There is a metal guiding bracket on the back side of the motherboard, which has two pins coming out of it in order to hold the heat sink assembly exactly in place. Make sure it is firmly in place when you put the heat sink assembly back on. Makes it much safer.
In case you asked yourself what is the best order to do things after you removed the old thermal paste residue meticulously:
1) if you dare, remove the plastic RAM cage to have more space.
2) make sure the metal guiding bracket under the motherboard is securely in place
3) carefully put the new processor in place
4) apply the new thermal paste
5) put the heat sink assembly back on, carefully looking out for the guiding pins from under the motherboard.
These are my 2 cents. Good luck to all you brave souls and thanks again to Evlain! I like very much the way you handle these things.
Wow Gary, awesome mega comment! Agree with all the points. After all the hassle I was very tempted to Chuck that damn cage away but I was after that factory finish. It did go on with a little persuasive manoeuvring thankfully!
How fast is your machine? I'm very curious to see?
why is there a metal ram cage at all?
For me since I got a 21.5" it was a little different. I set the processor in place and set the heatsink on top and secured lightly the screws around the gpu and pipe. Then flipped the board over and held in on my leg firmly while placing that bracket on the rear. Then worked one screw gently in a few threads around the cpu then another and so on until all were in. Then just tightened each corner a little a time to spread the force even. All in all it wasn't too bad. But why couldn't they have just put a latch in? Would have made life so much better lol.
@@eviain I don't suppose the GPU on this thing upgradable, ha?
My first mod was an Apple II+ motherboard clone that I ordered from an ad in Computer Shopper back in the 80s. I had to burn some eeproms and scrounge up the rest of the parts to get it built. Modding can be nerve racking but if it works, the rewards are way more than the cash you laid out. Congrats on a successful mod! I have two 2019 iMacs on hand and I'm looking forward to the challenge.😃
That’s awesome Robert, it’s really a mark of a great bit of kit if it’s worth stripping down and messing with!
@@eviain Just a quick follow up. The upgrade, as of this evening, is complete. And yes I did bend some pins so don't feel bad. I was fortunate in that I picked up a headband magnifier with a built in light. It was super useful for straightening out the damaged pins. Then is was just a matter of getting the CPU and the heat sink gently back into place. Also the lever on the microphone connector snapped off. I wedged the cable back into the socket and locked it down with some Capton tape. (American ingenuity kicked in here.) I don't expect it will wiggle loose with the the logic board being secured with 8 plus screws. The rest of the upgrade was a breeze. The NVME drive was pre-staged with an image of the original Fusion Drive and the SATA 2TB drive was pre-formatted and ready to go. One iMac Chime later I was having a tall glass of water in honor of my friend in the UK. It was quickly followed with a shot of Vodka because that's what I just happened to have on hand. As for anyone else reading this post, Evalain is absolutely right. Don't do this because there's a good chance you will muck it up and you will be with out a computer. But then again that's how we learn. ;-)
@@hastingb 100% 👍👍👏👏
I did a similar thing to my iMac just today. I had watched your video like a year or two ago when I first planned doing this. Upgraded my 21" from an i5 to i7. I also forgot about the gpu chips being lower lol. Removed the heatsink and cleaned it up again and put on some pads. I just left the cpu attached to the heatsink for that. Luckily it all worked out just fine! My iMac is rocking now and for quite cheap too! This computer is a tough job but I haven't broke it yet lol. So far I've changed the ssd to a 1tb, added a 2tb sata ssd, 32gb ram and now an i7 8700. And my screen is held on with electrical tape cause my double stick ain't holding lol. But good nough!
Mate, thanks! Your video was instrumental in getting this done... Just got my 2019 27inch iMac upgraded from i5 8500 to i9 9900 (non k) and 1TB Firecuda 520 nvme ssd. I am getting drive speeds (R/W) of about 2800 - 3100 MB/s, quite good but far away from the promised 5000 MB/s of this drive. Learnt heaps in the process and got a few adrenaline rushes... Guys (we are all guys aren't we?) ... why do we have to undergo so much pain? ;-) Cheers
How fast is your machine now? Im very curios to see.
@@garyclement5527 it's pretty snappy overall, I use it mostly on Windows. It is still a fine desktop.
@@DownUnderGerar - what software allows you to use it with windows?
@@garyclement5527 no sw needed, windows runs natively on Intel machines
Nice detailed work.Thanks for putting this together.
Cheers! Glad you liked it!
I do a lot of iMac upgrades and was interested in the i9 upgrade. First reaction was, the music is not only too loud, it's HORRIBLE! Apart from that it was fairly informative although I think the attitude towards the risky bits was overdone.
I'm ordering the i9 9900kf, adding a M.2 1tb, and swapping the fusion drive for an SSD. Basically doing this same mod on my 2019! Should be blazing fast. Thanks for the video
I keep telling people not to do it! 🤷♂️😂
It lives! Only strange thing is I no longer have the opening boot chime. Don't know why. System seems stable. Also, replace the cracked 2019 screen with a clean 2015 without issue.
@@Holtenstein Awesome did you update to a newer Mac OS, the chime was removed in Catalina. You can add it back in with a command line command or install big sur
@@eviain Well that explains that. Yeah I had my previous system on the m.2 drive.
Where can I read about 2015 screen on 2019 iMac? Thank you for reply
I'm 83 and just upgraded a 2012 21.5" iMac to 3.1Ghz i7 CPU, 500Gb OWC Aura SSD (Apple proprietary socket key), 16Gb RAM and 2Tb SSD. No issues, fan is running at 2600rpm - can't hear it and temperature is 40C. I am now looking for a 2019 iMac to put in a i9-9900k. Where do you get the adapter for NVME to Apple socket from?
Nice 👍 it was from amazon similar to this M.2 NVME Macbook SSD Convert Adapter for Upgraded MacBook Air Pro Retina Mid 2013-2017, AHCI SSD Upgraded Kit for A1465 A1466 A1398 A1502 amzn.eu/1QAvDGt
@@eviain thanks the Apple proprietary NVMe SSD's from OWC Aura 6G are considerably more expensive than the Samsung, Gigabyte NVMe M2 ones so an adapter is a cheaper route.
Hi, loved your video. I have a 2019 iMac with the i9 processor and 32gb ram and 3tb fusion drive. Very frustrated with speed so have simply fitted an external 2TB ssd and now use that as boot and storage. It is faster but nowhere near as fast as your iMac. You mention that there are people in the UK doing these sort of upgrades. Can you advise who? I'm in Surrey and would love to find someone to do this for me. Thanks.
Hi thanks! there was a company, but they were offering them whole as new with the upgrade. So you’d probably have to buy one from them and sell your existing one or trade it. Check out macstoreuk.com (tell-em I sent you!)
@@eviain Liked the video, you know there are many shops including apple who say upgrading an imac is impossible. I say ney, not impossible but a lot of work.
Just to say I did the mega upgrade tonight. Used a late 2015 27inch imac and put in a 1tb Samsung 970 M.2 a 2tb crucial SSD, increased the ram to 32GB @1867mhz and put in an i7 6700K. All took me 2hrs from start to finish. I then did a speed test and was amazed the pice gave 2400 write and 2946 read. Many thanks for your help/video as this was a mammoth upgrade and have saved thousands compared to buying a new one.
Awesome 👏 .. I’m sure I said don’t do it 🤣
@@eviain you did!!! but what an achievement..made sure that I didn’t move the cooling block and despite a few swear words putting the screws on the back of the chip it was all done.
👍👍 great effort! And with big sur no hibernation problems too!
@@eviain yes with big sur never had hibernation issue..Under stress the cpu does hit 100c and the fan kicks in and drops to around 85c, not sure if the chip is throttling or not, but a huge improvement on mp4 conversion..previously took 2hrs, now 15 minutes..great machine and in glorious 5k!
@leenicholson7002 did you install the Operating System on the Pcie or the other SSD ?
Hello! Great job with the upgrades! I've bought the same iMac, with the double ssd upgrade already done but stock i5-8500 yet. My Toshiba NVME drive works flawlessly, but my Crucial MX500 1tb sata ssd has only 250mb/s write and around 60-90mb/s read speed. Do you think it's a faulty unit? I'm really thinking about the i9 9900kf upgrade too, but I'm concerned about the thermal limits caused by throttling. I mainly use the machine for photo editing and I'd love to see faster exporting with Lightroom Classic.
How hot does the 9900k run? I have a 27 2019. I just stuck a crucial 4TB NVME. It has a 8500. I'm trying to track down a i9 9900 which is 65w. I'm scared to do the 9900k 95w
The NVMe adapter I got had a layer of tape on it. But it’s not needed because my Mac is a Mac mini 2014, it’s very spacious for an NVMe drive, and even put a heat sink on the drive.
I have a late 2015 iMac that came with the i7 in it
Can this upgrade to an i9 or i9 10900k?
How does it handles the thermals? is there a noticeable difference in speed (real world use, not black magic), open apps, boot time, etc. This is the only question i have to get the 970 evo plus or just keep the apple ssd and change the hhd. Really liked your video, glad you saved the motherboard (little heart attack when saw the pins). Let me know what you think!
Hi glad you enjoyed it, the fan defiantly works harder with the i9 when doing heavy tasks, a little to much if you ask me. The speed is quite something, although I suspect that the main benefits are to be had from the disk upgrade.
Hi! Thanks for the video! Do you know, is it possible to do the CPU upgrade to i9-9900K from the youngest model iMac 27 2019 i5-8500 (Intel i5 3.0 GHZ)?
That’s what this iMac was. So yes.
@@eviain Awesome! Thank you!
The question was because of the Apple's info:
iMac 27 5K 2019
6‑core Intel Core i5 3,0 Ggz (Turbo Boost 4,1 ГГц) - no upgrade
6‑core Intel Core i5 3,1 Ggz (Turbo Boost 4,3 ГГц) - it's OK to upgrade to i9-9900K
6‑core Intel Core i5 3,7 Ggz (Turbo Boost 4,6 ГГц) - it's OK to upgrade to i9-9900K
interesting and useful video.
looking at upgrading daughters 27 2017 iMac storage & giving it a new lease of life.
current thinking either : a) replace standard disk with ssd and use the small nvme as swap device; or b) upgrade nvme drive with to 2tb & replace standard disk with ssd for backups or just extra storage.
Hi man! Thanks for sharing all the details, it's gold content ! I have a question I have an iMac 27 5K 2017 with Intel core i7 4,2ghz, Radeon Pro 575 4go a. Can I adapt your set up with my iMac ? I want to give him a little upgrade ;)
Thanks in advance :))
So your maxed on the processor, no need to bother with that. Still some hefty gains to be had from changing out the disks to an ssd and even adding an nvme though. But like I say.. don’t do it! Unless your prepared to brake it!
I wish I had a friend like you.
Hi Iain, would i9-9900 65W work on 2017 iMac18,3 (Core i7 4.2 GHz)? There seems to be a proven success with 2019 models but can't find relevant info re 2017 models.
Hi! Unfortunately No. It’s all about the motherboard and the maximum processor it will support. In the 2017 most you could go is a i7-7700k.
Thanks @@eviain, with only a marginal gain with the (K) CPU I'll do at least an internal M.2 SSD upgrade to max out this machine.
I have a lot of doubts:
1- how should i proceed for the software part? i need to split fusion drive before? who i can't lost backup partition. how put os x on new nvme?after i have a fusion or two separate part?
2- i read the base 2019 imac have a 65w TDP instead 95w, not too hot i9? with you think about i7-8700?
3-why temp sensor isn’t required ?
bootable installer the see 2
Create a usb MacOS by following this guide from Apple support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201372. Boot from this and install the OS on the nvme or ssd. No need to fuse as the drives are big anyway.
Processor is probably not worth touching as much of the performance comes from the faster drives. It does run the fan harder and therefore louder.
Temp sensor hasn’t been required for a long, long time, as Apple uses the drives sensor now.
@@eviain thank you very much, i'm doing 3d modeling and a lot of ae render so the baseline i5 it's limited.. but i'm scared from thermal
I need your help to advise I bought a CPU I9-9900KF to upgrade to an entry-level machine like yours. But why can't my machine be upgraded and now I have to install the same CPU I5 to use it. do you have any advise?
Thanks for this video! It’s exactly what I needed.
Wanted to ask if you needed to install a thermocouple for this SSD? Is your IMAC fan running full blast without it? Or is the fan Speed fine on this 2019 w/out that thermocouple
No need, iMacs haven’t needed these for a long long time
@@eviain thank you for the reply i appreciate it a lot, will tackle this build this month :)
@@eviain I had one more question for you, I swapped the CPU last, same as you 8500 to I9 9900KF, I assembled everything and Imac would not boot. I dissembled everything and noticed that the CPU was bent from the pressure of the heat sink and back plate. I googled it and it seems some others have had this issue, they unbent the CPU and re-installed it and left some slack on the back plate screws. wanted to ask you if you left any slack on your screws? i will try this method and see if it works, also any tips would be appreciated
Follow up, I unbent the CPU, made sure it was installed without moving the heatsink once they made contact, left about 1mm of slack on the back screws and everything works now! Super happy with it! Thank you for all your help
I have the 2015 iMac, I confirm it's not working well with NVME + adapter. My choice of nvme ssd was Crucial P1 1TB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe. It gives all kinds of trouble regarding nvme kext kernel panic.
Ok, please share your products used so that others can learn what products cause issue.
Hi. Thanks for sharing. Do you think it is still worth doing such an upgrade in 2023 ? I am thinking about doin’ the same thing. Thanks
If you can get the parts cheep enough maybe, cpu probably the least worthwhile. I’ve moved on to apple silicon for my macs now
I was given one of these new in the box... its not horribly built BUT needs more than 256gb it has and more than 8gbram would be nice along with a couple more upgrades. I'd give it a shot... would've been nice to see more about the screen coming off- that's like the main part people are going to be coming here for wondering about!
I’d go to ifixit for more detail on the removal process it’s not actually that difficult. Getting it back on however is best done with two
Excellent video- How long did it take to do this entire rebuild? You didn't show how fast this system is? I know its smoking.
A few hours if it had all gone well, it didnt go well, so a few more :)
Great video.I have a late 2015 I want to kind of max out too.I seem to not be able to find that video.
ruclips.net/video/UymV19GBKvY/видео.html
Enhorabuena! Me encanta tu vídeo! Yo tengo un imac 27 2019. El PCIe funciona perfectamente con adaptador? O debería comprarme sin adaptador? Gracias !
El Adaptador es Perfecto
Can you please tell me where did you get the NVME adapter? I only find for Macbook Pro 2013-2015 and nothing for Imac 2019. Thank you.
It’s the same
@@eviain thank you
Great video im considering doing this also do you think its worth now with the m1 and m2 chips?
I’m not sure, it really depends on how much you can pick up an i9 for. I’m not sure it would be worth it, but if you can pick up the base iMac for cheep then it could still work out
what is the temperature of the processor?
Great Video!
I have an iMac 5K 2017
May I ask, I purchased a 1TB Samsung 860 PRO SSD and Samsung 970 PRO 512 GB PCIe NVMe M.2. I wanted to ask, how do I format the NVMe to run as the bootable part of my iMac and the 860 Pro as my main drive for my folder and applications to be saved.
I have already formatted the 860 Pro to APFS format and used GUID partition map. What setting shall I undertake to format the 970 PRO 512GB NVMe to run mainly as a bootable side similarly that Apple had with the fusion drive.
I really appreciate any help you can provide :)
Use a usb stick to configure the drives once all hardware is installed support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
Hello
EvIain, I'm from Brazil and I really liked your video, and I had already done this procedure on an imac 2017, this year I took a 2019 and did the same procedure as yours! my question is that i used the sidecar with an imac, and after this upgrade it does not appear on the screen on my ipad, now i don't know if it was an update to ipados14 or if due to the fact that the kf does not have a video, and can give something , have you done this test?
I haven’t tested that but the genuine i9iMac 🖥 uses the KF cpu
Sidecar need iGPU for HEVC accelerating so if you use 9900kf, it doesn't work
Is it always necessary to use an adapter to replace the NVME memory? If so, what is the correct name of the adapter? I will try to find it on Aliexpress or on Ebey.
Unless you use some of the OWC branded ones which are specifically made for the Apple connection, but they are slow and expensive in comparison. So yes you do need one. Should be in the description
@@eviain I can't find a name of adapter. What name of interface on imac motherboard? mSATA ?
@@surikatas Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter.
I changed my ssd 1tb and m.2 1tb drive and after new m.2 drive I cant use bootcamp any more (Catalina mac os) but with Mojave version It’s ok but after setup windows you will see many blue screen because in Mojave you can only use bootcamp when your ssd is not together (cs fusion)
Nice job 👍🏽
@evlain Can I upgrade 2019 iMac to i9 10th gen 8core or 10 cores processor? Does it support?if yes, Any idea how does it handle the heat? Please provide your suggestion
I doubt the chipset would support 8,9 &10th gen cpus I may be wrong. The 2020 iMac does support 10th gen. heat is a big issue on iMacs the fans do tend to run up on heavy work loads
Have some question. Can the 2019/2020 21.5” 4k retina imac also upgradeable CPU/SSD?
I haven’t done it but it should be possible there’s an i fixit guide for the 21.5 worth looking in to. The hdd can be replaced easily. I’m not sure if the nvme slots were always there. I think it may depend on if it originally had a fusion drive. Worth checking what the highest spec chip was in that model/year to see what’s possible on the exact cpu you could upgrade too.
@@eviain Thanks. Do u know what are the year of imac that already support ddr4 ram? Instead of ddr3.
Checkout this Apple page, shows support for most iMacs support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201191#27inch2019
@@eviain + were there any diff 21.5” & 27” imac heatsink cooler?
Has google crashed😂😂😂😂🤣🤣 Check the different guides on www.ifixit.com. They will be different but will the be worse at cooling who knows 🤷♂️
Have you had any problems with the cpu running too hot?
Not as such, but do I think there’s thermal throttling happening, yes. I haven’t checked but the fan gets pinned to max rpm at times under heavy workloads, so I’m sure that has an effect on performance. It’s still faster than the previous cpu though.
@@eviain Thanks! I have the 2019 i3 and hoping to upgrade the processor.
I installed a OWC AUra 6g NVME type in my 2012 imac and disk speed is around write 490 and read 500 which around the same as the 2Tb Samsung SSD and also the external drive with NVME m2 Samsung or Gigabyte. why are they all about the same? The internal AUra NVME Apple socket should run ~5 times faster according to the specs. This speed issue is what some others have mentioned.
Are you running the test from Mac OS installed on the nvme drive or the ssd? You may not be testing the disc you think you are?
@@eviain Whilst the OWC Aura 6G looks like an NVMe M2 drive, its speed is no different than a standard SSD ~ 480Mb/s not the 2000Mb/s expected froma NVMe drive.
@@davidroberts399 ah yes, I think that is expected behaviour for that drive.
My 2015 iMac has died but the screen is still good. I found a deal on a 2019 with a busted screen. I'm wondering if its possible to use the 2015 screen on the 2019?
Steve Holt all I can say is the connectors looked the same. However I have not compared the two in detail, I believe the panels are different. If you make it work you could make a RUclips video about it!
@@eviain from what I can tell, after 2015 the smaller of the two cables, is now at a 45° angle. LG, the manufacturer of the panel has made some upgrades over the years in terms of brightness and contrast, but I think I may be able to get the panel to work if I can find a way to not damage the cable
If it helps I did a 2015 previously so you may see some shots of the internals
Gpu upgrade?
If it were possible you’d need to desolder the gpu from the motherboard and possibly other components too.
Hi, imac 27 2019 base model support 128gb ram? (specs says only 32gb)
Late 2015 is 32 officially, 2019 is 64 officially. support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201191#27inch2019
Very good!
Thank you! Cheers!
Great vid thanks
What's better i9 9900K or 9900KF and why?
Ilian Hris theres a link in the description that has all that info. Lower temperature is the main benifit of the kf
can I upgrade 1TB flash storage imac 2019?
It’s possible if it’s a 27” if it’s the smaller one then it may depend if it has a small flash drive already
@@eviain thanks for the quick and positive (like your posted work)reply. It is 27, but did not say anythink like ssd or hd on the storage setting just flash storage. Any idea on what type of storage i can install? Thanks again and always
@@MohammedAli-bj9jk 27” have all connectors present on the motherboard so you can put a flash nvme (with adapter) and ssd via sata cable
@@eviain thanks for your kind response. I think i would go with just ssd installment as for now. Respect and with Kind regards.
Thx
In spite of you saying "don't do it", i'm going to do it! And if I mess it up I'll come and dump it in your garden after lockdown!
😂
$1000 for 64gb of ram. Literally probably less than $100 worth of harware. Unbelievable.
Thank you for helpful video. Does 9900kf works? like a 9900k...
Yes but seems to run a little cooler
drama
Good work! You are helping us all when you take these chances!
What was the stock cpu an i3 or i5?
I5 8500
some came with I3 and some with I5.
hi, great video.
I have thought to do the same with my imac 27. but it's scary.
One question: I heard that if you change the cpu, do you have to update the BIOS?
Have you updated the BIOS?
I imagine your next business.
´´Expert doctor changes i5 for i9´´
regards
jose angel Granado hi thanks! no bios update was needed plug and play
I really hate having to take apart anything Apple these days, their earlier stuff wasn’t too bad but as they have made everything smaller there is little room for error. My work machine is a top spec 2015 MacBook Pro but it’s starting to struggle a bit now and I’m running things like Docker which I never used to. Might be time to consider an upgrade, it will be interesting to see how smooth the transition to ARM is, especially for the 3rd party software and tools.
Hi Rob, It’s certainly a challenge! I have an older Mac book too which could use an upgrade although keyboard-gate has put me off. Seems to have been solved in the newest models, maybe try picking one up on apples refurbished site, although the lack of usbs is a little concerning, all the trendy people with macs at work look slightly ridiculous with the dongle plugged in to the thing all the time!
Hi, thanks for the video I used it to upgrade a late 2015 imac. I did this last week, all went well. Except I have backlight bleeding now, nothing terrible but it wasn't there before and it really bothers me now. Do you think it could be solved by ungluing and reattaching the screen? The only reason I could think of is that maybe the screen is under uneven tensions, because I can move the glow around if I apply pressure with my finger. For the rest I handled the screen with great care, but gluing it back wasn't as easy as I expected.
In any case, any help or idea will be greatly appreciated.
Well done, (even though i say don't do it!). It's possible that it could be some unevenness as you say. It's quite a job to clean up the surfaces of the screen and case. perhaps there is some small ball of old adhesive creating a distortion. I spent a lot of time cleaning away the old glue with alcohol wipes to ensure the surfaces were good and clean. I think refitting the screen is probably one of the hardest parts of the whole job and is best done with two people to get the best chance of lining everything up.
@@eviain thank you very much for the quick response! I'll re do the job with extra care this time around.
speed on this WD Black looks to be the same as OWC Aura X2, any other drives that would be better than OWC? What's the best out there? I'm overhauling a 21.5" 2019 iMac with a Vega 20, going to make it a i9 cpu 64GB 2666Mhz, 2TB or 4TB nvme SSD once I figure out what nvme to get. Don't want any hibernation issues, need it to be fully compatible. Any suggestions, please reply.
Hi Evlain. I tried this and got a blank screen on my 27" 2019 i5 iMac. I then took it to to a local Mac authorised repair shop and he said it can't be done because of the Fusion drive aspect. He said he can get rid of the Fushion drive but only fit a 2.5 " ssd. I.e. no NVMe M.2 1tb blade upgrade. Does that sound right to you?
No, not right. You just end up with two separate drives, they won’t be fused. If you have a blank screen that’s not good news, and could be a cable is not connected to the screen. If you have a screen with a icon in the middle then it needs Mac OS installed.
My Imac working with CPU i9-9900KF already thanks you for this VDO so much.
Thanks so much! What I couldn’t figure out is the configuration of your new fusion drive. Or is there any? Do you use your two new silicon drives as one 2TB fusion drive or as two separate drives (3 Tb = 1 Tb + 2 TB)? I guess there is no reason for the fusion drive cache if the NVME disk is big enough to hold your data. Actually no reason at all for a 2TB SSD if your data fits on the NVME drive.
Thanks for a short note.
Hi, I’ve heard it’s possible to merge them but as you say there’s no real need to do so. So I have two separate drives presented.
You should pray to god, that the bent of the pins were not that mess... In my case I unfortunately I had a bent pin salad... 😞
So I would not recommend to replace the CPU...
I do have 27 imac 2019 but with flash storage. In case wanting to install ssd? Does it come with sata cable?
Can I put a i9 in my iMac 2015 27 inch
No
Great video! I have a 27'' IMac 2019 and I tried the same upgrade. I put a 2TB WD Black pcme, a 1TB samsung evo PRO SSD and 32GB of memory and it all worked fine, but the CPU upgrade didn't work for me. I got the original I5-8500 processor replaced by a I9-9900K, but it won't boot. I took the I9 CPU off twice to make sure that everything was in place, but it was no good. When I press the power button nothing happens. So I decided to put the I5-8500 processor back and everything came back to normal and it's working since then! Do you have any idea about what could have gone wrong with the CPU? Any incompatibility with the I9-9900K? Thank you!
It should work, i would try the i9 in a PC just incase the cpu is bad. Check for bent pins some may not be used on the i5 but are on the i9.
@@eviain Thanks Evlain!
I just shat on a turtle! (Austin Powers reference) 💩 🐢
One more question. Were there any problems with M.2 SSD + adaptor? Or such setup shows totally stable performance?
Are you keeping the OS X system on this SSD memory or on the another drive (2.5" SATA)?
Thank you!
No, other than using caption tape to stop it shorting out on the slot on the iMac logic board. Yea OS X os on that drive
@@eviain thanks! I’ll try to do the same with my iMac
Hello i have i mac 27 inch 2019 i5 processor so what next processor i can update?
I9 9900k, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. Storage and memory are the biggest performance gains
You didn't cost your time, you always make interesting videos, well done
G ramps thanks chap 👍 It’s only a couple of hours at most (if you don’t bend anything!)
EvIain, muito fabuloso! Que trabalho fantastico. Parabéns pelo video e pelo upgrade! Um sonho esse iMac ai. Acho que nem trabalhando a vida toda eu chego a isso.
Muito obrigado!
I got 30 gigs of ram on my iMac I’m gonna open it and clean and put thermal paste
Celebratory drink of water??? My celebratory drink was Scotch on a rock..rather than ice water.... Did my 2019 Imac 21.5 4k upgrade last night, took about 30 mins to upgrade 1TB SSD, 64gb Ram, I9-9900 CPU. My logic board did not have the NVMe slot, perhaps that the reason why it was easier.
be VERY careful about the wire routing through the speaker, I didn't see it and destroyed the power button... still waiting on a replacement power button to arrive although I have very little expectation that it will run afterwards 😞
Hi mate, ever encountered wherein the two usb c thunderbolt ports stopped working after reassembling? The System Report recognizes both usb c ports but they suddenly cannot detect connected peripherals or hard drives.
Hello! Please tell me where to buy such an ssd adapter?
Amazon
How is your iMac now??? any issues?
I sold it, no issues.
Can this be done to a late 2015 model?
Yes but not an i9 9900. I did it here Late 2015 iMac MEGA UPGRADE!
ruclips.net/video/UymV19GBKvY/видео.html
Nvme pcie 4.0 is compatibile with dame model you hai assembly?
Hello, great video:) Where to buy screen adhesive tapes?
you are a professional
Hello, I have a late 2013 imac 27".i hardly ever used the machine, so feel agreived to throw it away for another. Was thinking of a DIY update and you're the only person I've seen do it with an i9 chipset. Wondered whether this would be okay to do on my model?
No the i9 9900 are 9th generation for 2019 iMacs. Best look at the maximum model specifications for that model you have. Everymac.com has this.
Maybe im a bit late, but i did the upgrade, put in an i9 9900k, an Samsung 970 Evo Plus, a 6TB HDD, all works as it should except for the fan. They are at like 60-70% speed for no reason. The thermals are okay, i dont see why the fan is spinning so fast. Do you have any idea or is that even normal?
I know its not at 100% speed since i maxed the fan speed out with a program and it got louder.
Turn the fan down and see if the thermals are still ok. If the the thermals are ok with the fan at that speed then the fans are doing their job. HDDs run warmer than ssd so that could be the reason it needs a higher fan speed when coupled with the i9 cpu.
I have the same IMac 21,5 with a I3, 1TB hard drive and 8GB of RAM and it’s insanely slow! Can’t open email with it. So I wanted to change it for at least a I5 or I7, an ssd and 16GB RAM. But I asked my local computer repair shop and he told me that if I change the processor I’ll run into problems with my MacOS license and it will not work. Did you have that problem?
I didn’t have any software issues, and I doubt you would. I can’t recall if ram is upgradable on that model but that would really help. An ssd would be the next booster. I’d be tempted to leave the processor but if you do do it, check with everymac.com and see what the max processor was for your model, as you can’t just chuck in any old i5 or i7. It has to be the right generation e.g. 5500, 6500 etc
Great video, been helpful. Do you have any issues reinstalling the OS? I have installed 1TB WD black 850X. Trying to install Monterey from USB and gets stuck at 16 mins and then comes up with error. Any ideas?
Hi and Thanks! No I had no issues. You may want to try a few things. 1 validate the media by installing it on another mac or 2 creating the install disk again. 3 if you have some funky memory installed try with fewer modules.
External thunderbolt 3 to nvme is a much better solution. No need to open your iMac and risk damaging it. You can boot and run your MacOS from external nvme drive without any problem and the speed is up to 40 gb/s. Internal drive can be used as a backup.
I use this method on my new Mac mini, as a secondary drive and I can’t fault it. Not sure it’s content worthy though. Perhaps it has some comedic value!
Hello greetings from Chile.
Does this ssd need a temperature sensor?
I ask, since I have seen that some technicians install it. Specifically to the 2019 model
No it hasn’t been needed for a few models now
Did u change the core of the iMac?
The only issue with upgrading such a new machine is the warranty is gone, if you have AppleCare+ on it that voids that warranty as well.
Correct, although unless it is vaporised, there’s lots of salvage parts that could be sold.
do you think is possible change the motherboard? because I want to upgrade my gpu (radeon pro 570x)to Vega 48
Yes, if you can find one from the same model year for reasonable money.
Evlain, great instruction video, I'm looking to do this to my 2019 iMac, exact same spec as the one you bought from your friend. Just getting things ordered, missing one item, the adapter you used for the nvme, do you have the. link for that?
First instruction don’t do it!! But I used a sintech ngff m.2 nvme ssd adapter
I am also going to upgrade ssd only. I hv iMac 27 inch 5k 2017 model. I want to know do i need OWC thermal Sensor? I saw many videos but unable to decide because it is costing 50 USD.
No Not needed
@@eviain thank you so much
is it possible for 21inch iMac too???? thanks
I believe the m.2 slot is only there if it had a fusion drive on the 21inch
Dear Sir, I have 2019 27inch baseline model imac. Can i upgrade from i5 8th generation my cpu to i9 9900KF?
Yes you could, but it’s not for the faint of heart!
@@eviain Thank You Sir. Can I do this process right now
Something tells me it is not a 2019 imac 21.5 due to the ram cover.
What i know the 2019 only has 2 slots
It’s a 27”
@@eviain ohhhhh i see.
I was considering getting a 2019 imac 21.5 3.0ghz Intel Core i5 6core and putting the biggest cpu i could inside it and adding an nvme and ssd drive like you did on your 27 inch.
I like the idea of a smaller yet power house mod.
@Evlain did you install the Operating System on the Pcie SSD or the other SSD ?
The nvme ssd
Thank you 🙏
Hello, Evlain, I take advantage of your experience and your kindness to ask you something that I hope will dissolve my doubts. I'm going to replace hard disk and the small original Apple NVME with another 1 Tb (as for the hard disk from mechanical to SSD, I feel quite calm). About Nvme the choice is wide. What should I watch out for when buying an adapter and an NVME SSD? This is my doubt, I don't know which one to buy. And I won't buy a termal sensor, reading your advices. I hope you will have a suggestion for me. Thank you very much from Italy. Corrado.
Hi, I would stick to nvme ssds that others have succeeded with. The adapters are very basic with no components they are also cheap so I bought a couple of brands just incase. The main thing with the adapters is to use caption tape to prevent them shorting out on the metal socket on the motherboard
@@eviain Ok, thank you. Actually my iMac Is working with an external SSD with operating system. Do you think I can use this one as a startup disk, simply replacing it with the mechanical one? Obviously changing the boot options (sorry, I promise you that's the last question ☺️). Greetings!
@@string071 yes you should be able to do that
@@eviain Thanks for your kindness.
Hi Evlain, I have a 2017 iMac 27" and would like to know what WD Black NVME you used as there seems to be a few variations of this item and I don't understand the difference, can you help please.
It’s normally performance related. The one I got was WD_BLACK SN750 1TB , M.2 NVMe Gen 3 , Up to 3,470 MB/s , Standard
@@eviain Thank you very much indeed for your reply and the advice.
@@eviain At the weekend, I managed to upgrade the iMac and replaced the apple blade with the 1TB WD Black NVME and the hard drive with a crucial 2TB SSD, all is well and performing like a dream. Thank you very much indeed for your advice, together with a superb video which helped me enormously.
Awesome 👏 although I’m sure I keep telling people not to do it! 😃
Can 2019 imac base model be upgraded to i9 9900 processor?
This was a base model of the 27” iMac.
Yes!
I mean it’s cool but over the years this costs a lot more for the performance than just getting used to Windows once and then use PCs forever!
I have a i9 windows pc sitting right next to it
@@eviain good! What i9? Just curious!
Oh, and I guess an i9 is likely overkill, and if it's old then it was overkill when released, but it means that you don't see Windows as some ununderstandable garbage, this is good!
@@Zebra_Paw yea sure, it’s a i9 9900k, I’ve never really understood the whole mac vs windows thing they have different uses, Mac’s more “interesting” to take apart.
@@eviain actually I wouldn't say that, because you can add whatever you want in PCs, there are a lot more standards, it's much easier to find parts, they are way more repairable, where as nearly nothing is standard stuff in Macs, and it gets worse with Apple Silicon where nothing is replaceable.
I have a 2017 iMac with an i5 7400 and I am missing hyper threading so I would like to put a i7 7700k (or would it support newer gens?) but my only reason to have a Mac is video and music editing, that's it.
@@Zebra_Paw exactly my point
How did you run the first boot after finish the upgrade? From an external drive?
Moii Palma indeed, you can create a bootable installer of Mac OS support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201372
EvIain thanks! And which adaptor did you use to hold the SSD into the HD slot? Did you use a sensor temp?
Moii Palma temp sensor isn’t required in this model the adapter in this one I tried Sabrent 2.5” SSD & SATA Hard Drive to Desktop 3.5” SATA Bay Converter Mounting Kit (BK-PCBS) www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UN550AC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_FEhxFbJ8KHA6C
EvIain thnks bro!