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A2115 / 2020 / Processors from 3.1 GHz 6-core i5, up to 3.8 GHz 8-core i7. Released August 4, 2020.

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iMac 20.1 i5 3.3 GHz to i9 10900K upgrade

So the question is simple, I want to upgrade mine machine from i5 10600 to i9, will it work with i9 10900K onboard, I saw people upgrade their iMacs to i9 10850K but I can't find any of those chips on the market. Or my best option is 10700K?
I work in After Effects so CPU performance is very important and two extra cores will be nice.
Thank you in andvance

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I've contacted local shop, and they provided me with the list of all cpus supported by my iMac 27 2020 (20.1). They looked into efi of my iMac so this is all processors to which iMac's logicbord have a microcode for. I think this might be helpful because I was unable so find any list of compatible cpus on the internet.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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@custardpie - Just to clarify the list here is for your given series and matches up with the Comet Lake family of chips and only them.

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Your current CPU:

And the CPU's in question here:

Whats important is the product family as Apple limits its system firmware to the given family, here all three are Comet Lake so thats good and they all have the same socket. While there is a Heat Sink notation as needing a more aggressive cooler you should monitor your systems thermals to make sure you aren't over doing it After Effects can push your system a bit hard if you let it. I would recommend installing a good monitoring app like TG Pro it also allows you to log your thermals over time so you can graph things out.

So while the specs shows this chip is workable, I haven't tried installing the i9 10900K. Most of my graphics clients have moved on to the Mac Studios (wanting bigger displays)! Only the music and students are still using the iMac's and its been a few years since I've done an Intel CPU upgrade and at the time I was installing i9 10850K CPU's.

Also be aware this is a tricky CPU to get in as the springs are quite strong and seating it properly can also be tough!

Don't over do the thermal paste as you'll have issues if it gets into socket. To get an idea how much take a thin sheet of tissue the size of the heat spreader wet your fingers and roll it into a tight ball thats even a bit too much!

Do let us know how it goes!

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Thanks, I've been using TG Pro for couple of years already) Also would've gone to Mac Studio also, but in my country the price of it is just unreasonably high (about double of what it costs in US)

So I'll buy a 10850K and post how are things going, maybe I will ask some local repair shop to help me with this upgrade so that I'll don't screw things up ;)

Thank you for thorough answer, really appreciate you taking your time to help!

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@custardpie - Good Luck!

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Николай Осколков will be eternally grateful.
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