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What can i do with my Old imac?

lexluthermiester said:
What? Where did you find that info?

Did you mean the T2600?
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some random site on the interwebs
probably
its a tad hard cause the mac wont tell me
only telling me 2.16gz core 2 duo
 
Isaac` said:
some random site on the interwebs
probably
its a tad hard cause the mac wont tell me
only telling me 2.16gz core 2 duo
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If you're going to do an upgrade, you'll need to open the system up anyway. So pop it open and let's look at the board, hard drive, RAM, chipset and CPU. You'll have to take the heatsink off, but then we can positively identify what you've got and the upgrade path you can take. Most should be cheap.

My guess is that you've got a T2600. A T2700 would be an upgrade path, but a T7600 would be the best. However, if the chipset can support 800mhz FSB, you will have a TON of better upgrade options. So we gotta get a look at it..
 
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Isaac` said:
I did Claes thing
and its a T7400 667 MHz system bus
and heres the link

iMac "Core 2 Duo" 2.16 20" Specs (Late 2006, MA589LL, iMac5,1, A1207, 2118): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the iMac "Core 2 Duo" 2.16 20". Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.
everymac.com everymac.com
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Yup, T7600 would be your upgrade path. 2x2GB 667mhz DDR2 SoDIMMs would max out the RAM. As that drive is SATA, I'd get an inexpensive SSD for it too. For really cheap you could pimp that thing out!
 
lexluthermiester said:
Yup, T7600 would be your upgrade path. 2x2GB 667mhz DDR2 SoDIMMs would max out the RAM. As that drive is SATA, I'd get an inexpensive SSD for it too. For really cheap you could pimp that thing out!
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Rams been maxxed out
ssd is def on the table
1630147007880.png
I question the CPU though
 
Isaac` said:
the mac is a 20 inch late 2006
it doesnt report its actual cpu model
just 2.16ghz core 2 duo
also X1600
any idea any lightweight 32 bit linuxs i could install and run
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Since MacOS is Darwin, yes linux will run.
 
Isaac` said:
Rams been maxxed out
ssd is def on the table
View attachment 214488 I question the CPU though
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Ok, do the SSD thing and install your OS of choice. Windows XP via bootcamp would make that a great Retro XP gaming system, but Win7 is a great option too. The Linux option I'm not so sure on but if it can be done, Mint XFCE would be a good choice. If the performance is one the edge of not enough, come back and we'll help you figure out the CPU. I've looked into it and think there's a chance that system can take 800mhz C2Ds.

eidairaman1 said:
Since MacOS is Darwin, yes linux will run.
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Ah, This!
 
lexluthermiester said:
That translates to $33USD. For a premium CPU that's not bad. Age is not the focus of context. What is important is what can the system use and is the upgrade relatively cheap.
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I probably just keep thinking of desktop Core 2 Duos (and most Quads) which are basically freebies these days. :cool:

Also, such a small bump isn't just IMO worth the expense. Maybe if with a smaller price... though I agree that a cheap SSD would be a good idea.
 
lexluthermiester said:
A near 12% bump is not that small. It'd worth it in my eyes, but we can argee to disagree on that point.
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If it can run 800FSB CPUs, T7700s are way cheaper, most are under 10EUR in ebay :)
 
Zorin OS Lite should be the Linux OS you can try - https://zorin.com/os/download/

EDIT: Give it some more time for the new version 16 to drop, atm they still keep the older 15.3 version on their site.
 
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I'm pretty sure those first-gen white iMacs can only run 667 MHz CPUs. I've never heard of being able to replace anything higher spec than a T7600 2.33GHz. I did a few of these upgrades years ago but not with the iMacs, only with the Mac Minis which used the same chipset. The mini never shipped even with the T7400 so those were sought after and the T7600 was a unicorn. Still never seen one in person.

BTW SATA bus is only SATA-I so you'll only see about 120MB/sec with an SSD but of course file access time will still be hugely helped by the upgrade so if you're in the case, by all means toss the HDD and install an SSD.

You can easily clone the internal HDD to an external USB-connected SSD and then set that external as the boot drive in Startup Disk to make sure everything went smoothly. If it boots OK, then swap 'em and you're GTG. I use the free Carbon Copy Cloner to do that job but getting an older version that supports OS 10.6 or 10.7 may be a pain.

Edit: High-five to the devs, CCC v3.5.7 for OS 10.6 and 10.7 is still available:

bombich.com

Download CCC - Bombich Software

bombich.com bombich.com
 
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Done this. Have an iMac running dual boots. OSX and Windows. So, update your OSX system. Attach an external SSD to a thunderbolt port, if possible. Otherwise a USB port will work. Download a Windows installer. Download the Parrallels trial program and install a virtual system on the iMac running Windows. While in the virtual Windows system again install Windows but this time on the external SSD and shutdown. When you reboot hold down the Option key and a dialog box will present options to boot to OSX or Windows. Boot to Windows and set up as you like.

mama said:
Done this. Have an iMac running dual boots. OSX and Windows. So, update your OSX system. Attach an external SSD to a thunderbolt port, if possible. Otherwise a USB port will work. Download a Windows installer. Download the Parrallels trial program and install a virtual system on the iMac running Windows. While in the virtual Windows system again install Windows but this time on the external SSD and shutdown. When you reboot hold down the Option key and a dialog box will present options to boot to OSX or Windows. Boot to Windows and set up as you like.
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By the way, I find booting from an external SSD gives the machine a new lease on life. If you want to run OSX on an old iMac, I recommend and external boot. Great way to keep on old Mac running.
 
Lew Zealand said:
I'm pretty sure those first-gen white iMacs can only run 667 MHz CPUs. I've never heard of being able to replace anything higher spec than a T7600 2.33GHz.
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Yeah, that's what I've been finding too. That kinda sucks. Was hoping we could help give that system a bigger bump.

@Isaac`
I think that T7600 you found is going to be the best you can get and IMHO, it would be a worthy upgrade for the price. You'd then have the max RAM, max CPU and with a 120GB/128GB SSD you get a very snappy experience from it compared to the HDD it came with.

If it were me, I'd do the BootCamp thing and put XP on it to make it into a very solid retro system. Modern SSDs have a self-trimming function so you would not have to worry about XP not having support for Trim.
 
lexluthermiester said:
That translates to $33USD. For a premium CPU that's not bad. Age is not the focus of context. What is important is what can the system use and is the upgrade relatively cheap.
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This "premium" chip is borderline e-waste and also it's just yet another Core 2 Duo Max 10 Euros for it, it's really not worth much. Also if OP already has similar dual core, then it's not even worth upgrading it.

I found another one on fleabay, it's cheaper, but still way too overpriced to be worth considering:
www.ebay.com

Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2.33GHz Dual-Core (LF80537GF0534M) Processor for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2.33GHz Dual-Core (LF80537GF0534M) Processor at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com www.ebay.com
 
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Hi me again
Been playing a bunch of classics on the mac cause why not
ive got a pc that can run it way faster
PFFT who cares
anyway
does anyone know if there is any abilitying to upgrade the gpu in the machine?
 
to the OP, go to macrumors.com forums (https://forums.macrumors.com/) for advice on Apple products. obviously focused on that brand there. This is like the 3rd thread I've ever seen anyone make of Macs on this forum lol. Thanks to that community I learned how to hack my cMP 4,1 model to 5,1 model firmware which allowed me to use later versions of macOS. I have settled on Mojave 10.14.6 as it's the last official supported release for the cMP 5,1. CPU upgrades and all sorts of compatible hardware lists exist there. And the plethora of enthusiasts who have shared their experiences about countless random challenges that have came up during and after all these mods. Netkas is another forum with lots of useful Mac related info, which seems you already found them.

There must be a way to get Win7 on it. When I was running Win7 and Win10 on a 2009 classic Mac Pro (the "cheese grater" as they're endearingly referred to as) I had to a very little bit of hoop jumping

I got dual layer DVDs and made the Win7 install disc like normal. It had to be dual layer because the installs were just over 4GB, or whatever size, it was too big for standard DVD disc. You will want to use a disc to install, if it's like a cMP experience at least. You can also make install discs on a USB drive but it will default Windows to an EFI partition scheme and install as such and that has been proven to be problematic to the Mac hacking community in hindsight. Something about Windows signing secure boot several times....(over my head but here is link for details https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ificates-causing-corrupting-bricking.2244177/) So the proper/safe method to install Windows universally became using a disc because it will default Windows install to CSM and that is the partition scheme and install type you want to use with a machine this old that has no UEFI boot capabilities.

There are a handful of ways to get the bootcamp files you may or may not need. Honestly I never really needed any of the drivers....Windows would download/install what was needed. The ones in the bootcamp package typically are just specific drivers to ensure the Apple/Mac hardware like keyboard and mouse, maybe WiFi and BT, can fully function in a Windows environment. Otherwise all they are doing is bundling in likely very outdated (even for the time of their release) GPU drivers and the such. A program call Brigadier (https://github.com/timsutton/brigadier) will allow you get everything, again, if it's needed. The only reason I installed "bootcamp" was for one of two reasons (bootcamp is just the install assistant really, the drivers in the bootcamp package can be extracted and installed individually so you can grab only what you need). The first reason was to get my Apple Magic Mouse (first gen model) to have all of its touch functions work. The mouse worked, and the buttons worked, but touch functions were not recognized in Windows. Had to install a mouse driver from an iMac Pro to get that working. The only other reason is for the actual bootcamp function, which is the little app that allows you to select which bootdisk to boot to on next boot, or do a restart immediately into that selected boot disk. So this allows you easily to boot from Windows to macOS....there are a lot of people who get stuck in Windows on a Mac because they don't know how to boot from one OS to the other lol. Otherwise, bootcamp is just a lot of fluff that was designed to aid people through a Windows install in my experience. In the end the Windows installation you make will be no different than if it were done on a PC. Hell, I literally took the Windows 10 boot disk out of my 2009 Mac Pro when I got my Z390 system, put it in the Z390, and guess what, it booted right up and ran fine! Of course, with few things not working like my network chip (ie no internet) but that makes sense obviously. Just needed to get the drivers specific for the Z390 system


claes said:
It doesn’t have a traditional BIOS. That’s why you can’t just pop-in a Windows DVD.

You need to install OSX and then bootcamp to get the drivers needed for CSM support. From there you should be able to install Windows and Linux.
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Granted my Apple system is a couple years newer (2009 vs 2006) it too doesn't have a traditional BIOS (didn't think any Apple machine does? hence why OCing Apple systems are practically unheard of) so I'm surprised to read this bit of info....because that's literally what I did. It was no different than installing Windows 7 on a PC in my experience. I didn't need to install bootcamp or CSM drivers, I could pop in the Windows install dics and go to town. Bootcamp..... it's a glorified "Install Wizard" or "Install Assistant" in my opinion. Do you really need special drivers for CSM mode? perhaps this is a difference between the machines and their 2006 and 2009 release dates because mine does have 64bit kernel support and sounds like theirs is 32bit?
 
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