Upgrade iMac CPU i3 3.06 GHz to i5

Windows Server 2008 R2 is EoL'ed so getting support for it is almost nil. The iMac was never qualified as a Windows Server system with this release so I really don't know if it would even run with this older release. Even still Windows Server (any release) will have its issues running on an iMac.

As for running Windows Server 2012 R2 here's a YouTube vid on how to do it: Tutorial: How to install Windows Server 2012 R2 on a Mac with Boot Camp.

As it stands you can run it with your i3 CPU you don't need to upgrade the CPU to run it. Yes, your system will be limited here as you only have a dual core CPU (i3) without virtual threads which would give you 4 virtual cores with either a i5 or i7 CPU. But the amount of performance gain is not as much here due to the other hardware limits of the support chips in this system to make the effort to swap out the CPU. Besides its a big job and getting the needed CPU will be hard here.

If you are trying to run virtual instances of different OS or multiple instances of the same OS. You don't need to run Windows Server to get that. There are other VM services like VMware which use less resources and allow you to run many different combinations as long as your system has the needed resources (Memory & HD Storage).

jordi @jordi25222 Rep: 1 1 1 1 · Answer 2 · 2015-09-25T14:40:34-07:00

jordi @jordi25222

Rep: 1

1

Posted: Sep 25, 2015

Options

Hello.

I try to do this job on iMac 27" mid 2010 i7 2,93 ghz and I can explain my experience :

Upgrade to a Xeon x3480 is possible and the machine work perfectly. The only issue is that the machine inform that is a i3 at 3,06ghz but if you run some test machine software you can see that de processor is working with all 4 processors (8 virtual) at is a x3480.

The same test on a iMac 21" mid 2010 with a i3 processor when I was install a Xeon 3480 didn't work.

Was this answer helpful?

Yes No

Score 0

Add a comment