Help, desktop ATI 2600 xt on iMac alu 20"...

I bought a "standard" ATI 2600xt (with two REGULAR DVI output ports) thinking it would somehow fit the (newest) 20" iMac, but I've heard some stuff which disencourages me to even try... what should I do? Is there even a slim chance I will be able to make it work on the iMac (the one with the 2400xt), or am I an *** for even asking?

Are you saying that you bought an ATI 2600xt video card (presumably one that is intended to be installed internally in a PC) and are wondering if you can make it work in your iMac? If so, then I'm afraid the answer is no. Being an All-In-One style computer, the video card is not upgradeable.

That is exactly what I was asking. But, I was also thinking that maybe, it is not easily replaceable, but that it could somehow be done buying, or even making some adapters and stuff like that... Or, is it possible to use the card of another machine and the processor, display, etc of my iMac to play a game? (I would be running Windows xp in both computers...)

goyin said:

That is exactly what I was asking. But, I was also thinking that maybe, it is not easily replaceable, but that it could somehow be done buying, or even making some adapters and stuff like that... Or, is it possible to use the card of another machine and the processor, display, etc of my iMac to play a game? (I would be running Windows xp in both computers...)

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The GPU (the core of the video card) is essentially soldered to the systemboard on the iMac. Without re-engineering the systemboard, this would be impossible.

Likewise, sharing the video card from another machine is not possible. Have you considered just building a PC as a dedicated gaming machine? That would likely be a lot more cost-effective if gaming is important to you.

Ok... The thing is I had an *** at apple support swearing that the card was NOT soldered to the motherboard... If this were true, would it then be relatively easy??
PD Thanks for both answers.

goyin said:

Ok... The thing is I had an *** at apple support swearing that the card was NOT soldered to the motherboard... If this were true, would it then be relatively easy??
PD Thanks for both answers.

Click to expand...

That may be true, but even if it is a daughterboard, I am absolutely certain it is not a standard PCI-E formfactor card. Also note that disassembly of the iMac will void your warranty.

Ok, thanks... Seems like if I want to play games, PC is the soultion.

goyin said:

Ok, thanks... Seems like if I want to play games, PC is the soultion.

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Absolutely. For what it would cost you in both time and materials (even if you were somehow able to source a newer revision to the proprietary video card in your iMac), you could easily build a decent little gaming box.

Thanks

Ok, thanks... Seems like if I want to play games, PC is the soultion.

Click to expand...

No, you just bought the iMac with the wrong video card. The 2600 is much better than the 2400 for gaming.

Maybe, but I have the 360 (I've owned 4 of them so far, a thing I'm NOT happy with... the service actually has been pretty fast though....) so I don't need to worry about that anymore... It's just that I sent the 360 for repair and they scared me saying it would take about 3 months to get a new one... They only took 10 days!!... So I'm doing fine now...
Thanks though