2011 iMac 27" cpu upgrade questions
I have a mid 2011 27” imac with i7-2600 and am wondering if the apple board would support an i7-3xxx like later PC boards do.
Is this a good question?
Score
0
556507
1 Answer
Most Helpful Answer
Rep: 478.9k
35
329
970
Sorry guy you’ve got the best CPU this system will support.
The systems firmware (EFI) won’t let you install anything else and your socket is also a limiting factor.
Was this answer helpful?
Score
1
So Apple DID lock it down then? I’ve got a couple Dell Optiplex’s here that went from 2gen to 3rd gen, so I was hoping Apple would have allowed it.
EFI is a closed BIOS system. Apple only places the resources of the systems its designed to support. Each model release has a unique EFI per the model series (ID). So in your case: iMac12,2
It's not a "lock down" as much as hardware designs move on. The socket used on the motherboard is the limit. The OS also gets optimized to perform with the list of OEM hardware so, unlike Windows, macOS doesn't carry the excess baggage of decades of old hardware support.
