02-19-2012, 08:22 AM

I have an early 2006 17" iMac 1.83 that I put a T7200 Core 2 Duo chip in. The Profiler shows it to be a Core 2 Duo 2.0 But I still can't get it to accept more than 2 Gigs. I thought that the limit was on the processor. The MOBO's interchange in the 17" models AFAIK.

02-19-2012, 08:27 AM

It's limited by the chipset, and yes, 2GB is the limit for that model.

02-19-2012, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by cwa107

It's limited by the chipset, and yes, 2GB is the limit for that model.

I have a 20" Core Duo 2.0 that I wanted to put a Core 2 Duo T7400 2.16 chip into also, but I guess there's not really any gain as happened in the 17"? Would the 20" have the same limit?

02-19-2012, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by FatherTime

I have a 20" Core Duo 2.0 that I wanted to put a Core 2 Duo T7400 2.16 chip into also, but I guess there's not really any gain as happened in the 17"? Would the 20" have the same limit?

I don't believe the chipset in your iMac supports the Core 2 Duo. Aside from being a 64-bit CPU, it's also a different design.

The chipset and CPU are paired for the most part. Although you can usually upgrade to a different CPU in the same line, that's usually not true for major revisions or newer chip revisions.

02-19-2012, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by cwa107

I don't believe the chipset in your iMac supports the Core 2 Duo. Aside from being a 64-bit CPU, it's also a different design.

The chipset and CPU are paired for the most part. Although you can usually upgrade to a different CPU in the same line, that's usually not true for major revisions or newer chip revisions.

So a logic board would be in order in this case? Would there be any advantage to doing this swap? Like the "Core Duo" vs "Core 2 Duo"

02-19-2012, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by FatherTime

So a logic board would be in order in this case? Would there be any advantage to doing this swap? Like the "Core Duo" vs "Core 2 Duo"

Yes, the logic board would need to be swapped. But since Apple uses highly proprietary designs, there's no way to know whether this is feasible. It would likely be more cost-effective to sell the machine as is, and purchase a newer generation model.

02-19-2012, 04:06 PM

While it would be great to upgrade the processor in my Core Duo 20" 2ghz machine, I don't think there is any feasible way to do it. Instead, I upgraded the HDD to an SSD, and that made a huge difference. I also was finally able to upgrade the RAM as I only have one working slot, but I could put a 2gb stick in it, something that I was told wouldn't work. When I tried though it did work.

If you must have a 64 bit machine, just buy one. The whole machine is built around the mobo and nothing you do will change that.