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Model A1312 / Mid 2010 / 3.2 GHz Core i3 or 2.8 & 3.6 GHz Core i5 or 2.93 GHz Core i7, ID iMac11,3

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Is it possible to change the factory i7 with a Skylake i7?

Hi all,

Does anyone know if it is possible to change the factory 2.93 GHz i7 from a mid-2010 27" iMac to a 4.0 GHz i7 8700K with LGA 1151 slot compatibility? I am looking to do this since I use the machine for a lot of HandBrake encoding and am looking for a speed boost. Would it be feasible?

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Your systems CPU's specs: Intel 2.93 GHz i7-870

Here are the pin compatible CPU's in this series: CPU's related to Intel Core i7-870 note only the low wattage chips can be used.

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the simple answer to you question is no ...

why ? because although it is possible the change the cpu itself it must be of the same socket type. i am quite sure yours is an LGA 1156. Unfortunately an LGA 1151 processor will simply not fit. not only because its bigger or smaller but because of the amount of contact points on the cpu and the socket. if these do not match up it is impossible to use that cpu to run the computer.

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Here is a good reference on SkyLake: Wikipedia - Skylake_(microarchitecture). Your systems socket is LGA1156

As you can see your systems socket is not capable to host any of the Skylake CPU's.

Presently Apples best CPU (Skylake) in the iMac series systems is only in the newest iMac: 5K iMac 27" 4.0 GHz i7 (Late 2015). So if you have your heart set on a Skylake system this is the one.

We had thought long and hard last year thinking what would be the best direction for us with our heavy CAD & video processing. Our direction was to jump to the Mac Pro series of systems so far we now have 12 of these beasts and I can tell you they are sweet! Sure newer model systems will come out but so far the Mac Pro is still at the top of the pile (depending on which version you get).

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Thank you everyone! It appears that I've got pretty much the top of the line of the class and changing it out would be a step back, if anything.

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From what I am reading, the iMacs use odd socket sizes (FCLGA 1156) and that through some experimentation, one user tried upgrading his i7 to a better one of the same socket size, but it would not boot. I don't believe Apple has any firmware restrictions that would prevent you from upgrading, but I think the issue came down to it not providing enough wattage to the new CPU.

Here's an fairly detailed article on the CPU's of your particular line of iMac.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/im...

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I did see that article and a few others, but that was regarding an i3 for i7 change...not i7 for i7. I appreciate your directing me to those resources.

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John La Porta will be eternally grateful.
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