During most of these iMac SSD and/or CPU upgrades, it not mentioned about replacing the clock battery while access is available during the motherboard removal. It's only a $5 or less cost for a CR2032 battery and they are normally only a 5 year shelf life on your motherboard, so replace it while you have access to it!
I’m glad you brought that up-you’re absolutely right. While you’re at it, you might as well replace it with a new one. Back when I had those iMacs and replaced components like the SSD, CPU, or RAM, I typically had a brand-new or at most one-year-old iMac's. So, it never occurred to me at the time, but it’s an excellent idea, especially if you’re working on older iMacs now in 2024.
Hi, great job! i took the same Processor and ran into some shutdowns all few days - i switched to i9 9900 (65w TDP) without t and got way better results and stability. I will load up my results in a few days - my 21,5 has now CPU like entry level Mac Pro 💪 and single Core performance like a Champ up to 5,0 GHz. Thx again for testing in 1. Place 👍
How is the thermal performance? That is my concern about a swap like this. And have you done any benchmarks yet to see how it performs compared to the I7 option? I would appreciate if you could post some stats somewhere, I can’t find many people who put a full 9900 in it and I am debating what processor to put in mine.
Hi - thermals are as i7 6 core - i used MX-4 Arctic Thermal paste. 10 times loop Cinebench R20 is at 16 Threats 3.7 ghz all core and 90 degrees Celsius. Fans are on 2800rmp. Geekbench 5 is at single Core betwenn 1230 and 1350 (best score) and Multicore between 7750 and 7950. Dont upgrade from the Base 4 Core Model - i had issues with 9900t and the 9900. With the 6core Base Model everything is fine!
@@Soleythemonk Thanks for the great reply! Thermals sound manageable then. I have the 6-core i5, so I'll be all set. I'll take on the swap once prices head lower later in the year as the 10th gens take over more.
@@MichaelIZi made a Video with full comparison (i7/i9T/i9) which I will upload next 2 days. The upgrade is only worth it in some 4-6 core heavy Tasks or if you need max Single-Core-Performance. Heat is no issue at all if you won't hit the machine 5-6 hrs of full load. But I think people should understand that this machine can't replace a iMac Pro =)
My base i5 8500 3.0 GHz 27 inch 2019 will be out of warranty in August. I plan to replace the stock i5 with an i9 9900KF or 9900K then. Thanks for inspiration! Great video.
You don't need to spend extra for the K version, that K just means it is unlocked i.e. overclockable. You can't take advantage of those overclocking features in a Mac though, as far as I know. Though if you could, I would recommend against overclocking because of the thermal limits of the iMac cooling system. The i9-9900 should work fine, however. It has the same TDP as the highest end CPU that Apple ships in this iMac, which is the i7-8700. The 8700 and the 9900 are both 65W TDP chips. Also, get some high quality thermal paste like Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut.
Christian Calderon thanks for the reply. The K is $485 on Amazon from Intel right now. I speculate that only going with the i9 would be fine since this model could have been configured that way from Apple thus staying in there guidelines of thermals and still getting a nice performance boost. Thanks again 🖥
I will do the same Daniel! update my i5 to an i9 on the 27 iMac, the 9900 is at 95 TDP but it will runs ok as is the cpu used in the top version of the iMac 27 ;)
How many ram slots does this machine have.? Also could you post where to buy the cpu and the nvme........ Parts. I am from Montreal Canada and Will purchase an imac and Jack it up to the gills
2 RAM slots amzn.to/3q6YXAm - NVME bit.ly/3F4dxyX - i9-9900t ES These are not affiliate links as it was taken away due to nobody using my links. I hope this helps
how does fusion drive setup works, to make it as a fusion drive 1 drive has to be spinning drive and another SSD. if its not it only shows as 2 different drives but not as fusion drive.
this is a good question, you can set up any drives as a Fusion Drive, in this case the nvme SSD acts as the boot Drive and whenever I transfer anything in it goes straight to the nvme SSD and in the background a transfer all the data to the SATA SSD but I get the nvme speeds for every day use, it was an amazing setup and I highly recommend it
@@SmallTechReviews Could you clarify the actual benefit of this? A 2TB NVMe drive does not cost that much more than a 1TB NVMe and a 1TB SATA SSD. Is the NVMe less bogged down in this fusion scenario?
Hi bro!, excellent video. I would like to know which cpu is best for my imac, it's the same as yours but it came with an i7 8700 3,2 ghz and a vega20. It will be running after effects and rendering so, thermals will be an issue… what do you think? Thank you.
Wow. Nice. Tahnx And 1.what about nvme ssd adapter? Any problems? Hibernation? sleep? Cernel panic problems? 2. What about overheating with that i9? What temperature?
the nvme adapter is perfectly fine there is no problems with hibernation or sleep or kernel panics oh, the one issue that I did have was bootcamp would not install on the fusion Drive but that was more of a project so I can't say yes to this 100% only because I personally could not get bootcamp to run but I'm sure there was a simple fix for it I just never figured it out because it wasn't really something I needed
The iMac was amazing (while i had it) No issues with the CPU and depends on what you do with the system i will always say a 4 core and 8 thread processor should be the minimum to avoid any slow downs. The issue with the fusion drive was i was not able to install windows bootcamp, i would avoid making a fusion drive and if you can find this iMac with the vega 20 graphics (which they do have) i would look for that
@@SmallTechReviews Thanks for the video. Especially for the reassurance about the temps. I was going to play it safe & order an i7 like apple reccomends but this is going to be even more exciting. I'll let you know how it turns out! This weekend I upgraded to 64G of RAM. My SSD & i9 arrive tuesday!
would there be any need to worry about future OS updates and compatibility with these upgrades working internally? I was about to buy a 16 inch MacBook Pro but there are so many people say they have issues with it with the t2 chip, glitches, speaker problems, loud fans and I need a solid device for music production, this seems portable enough for me. Iv seen people upgrade the 27 inch, im guessing this is just as compatible with the i9 as the 27 inch too? or also is there a lil more risk with this iMac? thanks so much for any tips
You need to find out the chipset of your motherboard to find the maxed-out CPU for that era. The 2019 27” has the Q370 which allows for 8th and 9th gen and with some research from the Intel website, the i9-9900K is the best CPU you can get for that era. For 2017, it will probably be something like the i7-7700 or similar, but make sure to Google it first
The NVME works great only issue i had was when i combined the NVME and SSD to make it 1 drive i had issues with trying to install windows bootcamp (I was never able to). The heatsink came from eBay.
so with my iMac 4K 2019 21.5 i3, I can install the 9900 w/o T with no problems? according to intels site i3 8100 is also a 65w TDP Chip same as the i9? or would you recommend the T? does it work without shutting down the iMac?
Looking into upgrading my processor on my 21.5 IMac 19.2 3.0ghz I5 with Radeon pro 560x can you point me in the right direction? Please! Already did the Ram but with supplies limited for egpu's and the need to edit 360 vids in 5k and similar files this is all i can do next without breaking the bank and buying another machine one year later
i testet the real i9 9900 and got around 10 % better results than i9 9900t with no shutdowns. Temperatures are around 90 degrees C in 10 times Cinebench r20. Score is at 3800 vs 3700 on 9900t - Fans are maxed out so your system is much noisier but as noisy as i7 3.2 ghz version. Real world Performance is 100 times better with 9900 cause 5 ghz single core and 4.6 vs 4.0 on 6 cores is so much smoother on most Applications. In Final Cut I got regular shutdowns on 9900 t vs no shutdown on 9900 !
I'm sure I applied thermal paste off camera, I would definitely not not apply it. Over all this is the CPU that should be in these iMacs because I had no thermal issues at all whatsoever, close but never thermal throttled
@@SmallTechReviews i5-9600K most likely, because of the STIM (only i9-9900K, i7-9700K, and i5-9600K have STIM). I think I know why your iMac About info doesn't show the updated CPU, the built in BIOS doesn't have your CPU in its list I suppose. Glad 8th & 9th gen are interchangeable. My only concern is when Apple pushes those kernel panic/security vulnerability patches, not sure if it's going to patch these unofficial chips (there might be some sort of check/test you can run to see if it's sort of patched).
You will be able to put all of the CPUs that you just listed, especially that 9600 k, I personally think a lower watt TDP chip is best, just like the one I have on the video, even though it was rated at 35 Watts when I used Intel power Gadget it showed that it peaked at 60 Watts and the cooling was fine but again it would occasionally reach the 80s and 90s on an older machine I did have a 7700 k on an iMac that was meant only for 65 watt TDP chips and it would constantly ramp up the fans so keep that in mind
I was able to upgrade my Mac to 2TB SATA SSD, 2TB NVMe SSD and 40 GB of RAM, but the Core i9-9900K upgrade didn’t work (black screen). Tried 4 times. I have a Core i5-9600K that I was able to put back in and it works. Do you know why the i9 won’t work? Is there something I have to do to the BIOS or anything in preparation?
@@faamlive1340 It was a 2019 27" iMac and turns out I installed the processor incorrectly (which is apparently very easy to do with their spring design). On my fifth try I finally got it.
@@Igor-ce3ul You should be able to figure it out with the notches. It’s just keeping it in place as you put the pressure on the mobo to turn the screws that’s the issue.
@@jamesaltonfilms yeah TnX, it couldn’t Stand incorrect) successfully updated to 9900 2tb owc ssd, + 2 tb ssd from 8500 model, was Nervious, because cpu has bended( but works great)))
@@aminabdo7470 i believe that's why he used the T version with a lower TDP than those processors only issue should be the bios is what the research shows
During most of these iMac SSD and/or CPU upgrades, it not mentioned about replacing the clock battery while access is available during the motherboard removal. It's only a $5 or less cost for a CR2032 battery and they are normally only a 5 year shelf life on your motherboard, so replace it while you have access to it!
I’m glad you brought that up-you’re absolutely right. While you’re at it, you might as well replace it with a new one. Back when I had those iMacs and replaced components like the SSD, CPU, or RAM, I typically had a brand-new or at most one-year-old iMac's. So, it never occurred to me at the time, but it’s an excellent idea, especially if you’re working on older iMacs now in 2024.
Hi, great job!
i took the same Processor and ran into some shutdowns all few days - i switched to i9 9900 (65w TDP) without t and got way better results and stability. I will load up my results in a few days - my 21,5 has now CPU like entry level Mac Pro 💪 and single Core performance like a Champ up to 5,0 GHz. Thx again for testing in 1. Place 👍
How is the thermal performance? That is my concern about a swap like this. And have you done any benchmarks yet to see how it performs compared to the I7 option? I would appreciate if you could post some stats somewhere, I can’t find many people who put a full 9900 in it and I am debating what processor to put in mine.
Hi - thermals are as i7 6 core - i used MX-4 Arctic Thermal paste. 10 times loop Cinebench R20 is at 16 Threats 3.7 ghz all core and 90 degrees Celsius. Fans are on 2800rmp. Geekbench 5 is at single Core betwenn 1230 and 1350 (best score) and Multicore between 7750 and 7950. Dont upgrade from the Base 4 Core Model - i had issues with 9900t and the 9900. With the 6core Base Model everything is fine!
@@Soleythemonk Thanks for the great reply! Thermals sound manageable then. I have the 6-core i5, so I'll be all set. I'll take on the swap once prices head lower later in the year as the 10th gens take over more.
@@MichaelIZi made a Video with full comparison (i7/i9T/i9) which I will upload next 2 days. The upgrade is only worth it in some 4-6 core heavy Tasks or if you need max Single-Core-Performance. Heat is no issue at all if you won't hit the machine 5-6 hrs of full load. But I think people should understand that this machine can't replace a iMac Pro =)
MacXperiments great! Looking forward to the video
My base i5 8500 3.0 GHz 27 inch 2019 will be out of warranty in August. I plan to replace the stock i5 with an i9 9900KF or 9900K then. Thanks for inspiration! Great video.
You don't need to spend extra for the K version, that K just means it is unlocked i.e. overclockable. You can't take advantage of those overclocking features in a Mac though, as far as I know. Though if you could, I would recommend against overclocking because of the thermal limits of the iMac cooling system. The i9-9900 should work fine, however. It has the same TDP as the highest end CPU that Apple ships in this iMac, which is the i7-8700. The 8700 and the 9900 are both 65W TDP chips. Also, get some high quality thermal paste like Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut.
Christian Calderon thanks for the reply. The K is $485 on Amazon from Intel right now. I speculate that only going with the i9 would be fine since this model could have been configured that way from Apple thus staying in there guidelines of thermals and still getting a nice performance boost. Thanks again 🖥
I will do the same Daniel! update my i5 to an i9 on the 27 iMac, the 9900 is at 95 TDP but it will runs ok as is the cpu used in the top version of the iMac 27 ;)
@@chriscalderon1337 are u sure that highest is 8700?)))
Thanks for a get video, a link to the parts used would be vey helpful.
Hi SMALL TECH REVIEWS, how's the performance after 6 mos of trial? havent you got any problems having that i9 on 21.5" board?
Any update on how the 19-9900t has been holding up ? Looking to do this upgrade next if its been reliable
Literally what I was looking for, thank you so much for this
Can you post benchmarks thanks
How many ram slots does this machine have.?
Also could you post where to buy the cpu and the nvme........ Parts.
I am from Montreal Canada and Will purchase an imac and Jack it up to the gills
2 RAM slots
amzn.to/3q6YXAm - NVME
bit.ly/3F4dxyX - i9-9900t ES
These are not affiliate links as it was taken away due to nobody using my links. I hope this helps
@Small Tech Reviews Nice Job. Planning for FD upgrade.
Which NVME SSD was used? Did you use any adapter?
how does fusion drive setup works, to make it as a fusion drive 1 drive has to be spinning drive and another SSD. if its not it only shows as 2 different drives but not as fusion drive.
this is a good question, you can set up any drives as a Fusion Drive, in this case the nvme SSD acts as the boot Drive and whenever I transfer anything in it goes straight to the nvme SSD and in the background a transfer all the data to the SATA SSD but I get the nvme speeds for every day use, it was an amazing setup and I highly recommend it
@@SmallTechReviews Could you clarify the actual benefit of this? A 2TB NVMe drive does not cost that much more than a 1TB NVMe and a 1TB SATA SSD. Is the NVMe less bogged down in this fusion scenario?
@@SmallTechReviews Can you do a video on setting up the fusion? Guessing you can still do BootCamp
Hi bro!, excellent video.
I would like to know which cpu is best for my imac, it's the same as yours but it came with an i7 8700 3,2 ghz and a vega20. It will be running after effects and rendering so, thermals will be an issue… what do you think?
Thank you.
Find the T version of the cpu of your choice. I7 8700T or i9 9900T
Can you suggest a good upgrade for my 2017 4k ? Can I install a total of 20 gb RAM ? By keeping 4gb and install 16 in the second slot ? Thanks
Wow. Nice. Tahnx
And
1.what about nvme ssd adapter? Any problems? Hibernation? sleep? Cernel panic problems?
2. What about overheating with that i9? What temperature?
the nvme adapter is perfectly fine there is no problems with hibernation or sleep or kernel panics oh, the one issue that I did have was bootcamp would not install on the fusion Drive but that was more of a project so I can't say yes to this 100% only because I personally could not get bootcamp to run but I'm sure there was a simple fix for it I just never figured it out because it wasn't really something I needed
@@SmallTechReviews Confirm perfect work. Also changet FD to Nvme2 SSD Samsung 960 PRO and it works like magic. Thank you
How well does the iMac run right now? Is there any issue with the CPU? Is CPU upgrading still recommended? Thank you.
The iMac was amazing (while i had it) No issues with the CPU and depends on what you do with the system i will always say a 4 core and 8 thread processor should be the minimum to avoid any slow downs. The issue with the fusion drive was i was not able to install windows bootcamp, i would avoid making a fusion drive and if you can find this iMac with the vega 20 graphics (which they do have) i would look for that
Can 2019 imac base model be upgraded to i9 9900 processor?
Yes it can
Amazing work, i really was looking to put i9-9900t in my 27 iMac, amazing that is actually supported! Hows temps? Is it ramp up the fan?
Very little fan speed, I had a great time with this with no issues
@@SmallTechReviews Thanks for the video. Especially for the reassurance about the temps. I was going to play it safe & order an i7 like apple reccomends but this is going to be even more exciting. I'll let you know how it turns out! This weekend I upgraded to 64G of RAM. My SSD & i9 arrive tuesday!
@@Space_Mike I look forward to your reply, hopefully it works out as well as it did for me
would there be any need to worry about future OS updates and compatibility with these upgrades working internally? I was about to buy a 16 inch MacBook Pro but there are so many people say they have issues with it with the t2 chip, glitches, speaker problems, loud fans and I need a solid device for music production, this seems portable enough for me. Iv seen people upgrade the 27 inch, im guessing this is just as compatible with the i9 as the 27 inch too? or also is there a lil more risk with this iMac?
thanks so much for any tips
Hi there, excellent video as always ;)
Question will this i9 works on the iMac 21.5” 2017?
It will not
You need to find out the chipset of your motherboard to find the maxed-out CPU for that era. The 2019 27” has the Q370 which allows for 8th and 9th gen and with some research from the Intel website, the i9-9900K is the best CPU you can get for that era. For 2017, it will probably be something like the i7-7700 or similar, but make sure to Google it first
@@jamesaltonfilms how did you go about looking up that information?
@@gsxrunit Good question. I think I just looked up the most maxed out CPU from that era using everymac.com and went with that!
@@jamesaltonfilms so the I9-9900t can work without issues ? Looking to do this as the last possible upgrade .
Is nvme still working fine? which heatsink did you use? Thanks
The NVME works great only issue i had was when i combined the NVME and SSD to make it 1 drive i had issues with trying to install windows bootcamp (I was never able to). The heatsink came from eBay.
so with my iMac 4K 2019 21.5 i3, I can install the 9900 w/o T with no problems? according to intels site i3 8100 is also a 65w TDP Chip same as the i9? or would you recommend the T? does it work without shutting down the iMac?
Yes, 9900 would work great, i would recommend a really good thermal paste
Do you know if the Gen 9 i9 9900 retail would work?
edes01 yes it will
Looking into upgrading my processor on my 21.5 IMac 19.2 3.0ghz I5 with Radeon pro 560x can you point me in the right direction? Please! Already did the Ram but with supplies limited for egpu's and the need to edit 360 vids in 5k and similar files this is all i can do next without breaking the bank and buying another machine one year later
just put the 9900 in it. I experienced shutdowns with the T Version - The K Version wont work cause it has way more TDP the the PSU can handle.
Nice job my friend 👍
Does anyone know if 2019 inch supports i9 10the gen 8 or 10 core processor? If yes how How does it handle. Had anyone used it?
The 2019 does not support the 10th GEN processor
Hi. Cool video. I have an iMac 21.5 2019 3.6 Ghz Quad Core Intel Core i3. May I upgrade to 3.2Ghz Hexa Core Intel Core i7?
Sergio Andres Giraldo Guerrero You should be able to upgrade to consumer 8th and 9th gen Intel CPUs (no pentium) what i7 you looking into?
@@SmallTechReviews
I saw this one on Amazon "Intel CM8068403358316 Core i7-8700 Hexa-core (6 núcleos) 3.2 GHz Socket H4 LGA-1151OEM"
how does this compare to the real i9 9900? can you let us kniw the difference of speed between these two?
I unfortunately don't have both chips to give you an answer to your question
i testet the real i9 9900 and got around 10 % better results than i9 9900t with no shutdowns. Temperatures are around 90 degrees C in 10 times Cinebench r20. Score is at 3800 vs 3700 on 9900t - Fans are maxed out so your system is much noisier but as noisy as i7 3.2 ghz version. Real world Performance is 100 times better with 9900 cause 5 ghz single core and 4.6 vs 4.0 on 6 cores is so much smoother on most Applications. In Final Cut I got regular shutdowns on 9900 t vs no shutdown on 9900 !
@@Soleythemonk is that on a 21.5 or a 27 inch Imac ?
Do you have heat problems with no thermal paste on the gpu?
I'm sure I applied thermal paste off camera, I would definitely not not apply it. Over all this is the CPU that should be in these iMacs because I had no thermal issues at all whatsoever, close but never thermal throttled
@@SmallTechReviews what applications fo you mainly use it for and how much difference are the benchmarks compared to the I5?
Damn! Do you happen to know any other 9th gen chips compatible?
What do you have in mind?
@@SmallTechReviews i5-9600K most likely, because of the STIM (only i9-9900K, i7-9700K, and i5-9600K have STIM). I think I know why your iMac About info doesn't show the updated CPU, the built in BIOS doesn't have your CPU in its list I suppose. Glad 8th & 9th gen are interchangeable. My only concern is when Apple pushes those kernel panic/security vulnerability patches, not sure if it's going to patch these unofficial chips (there might be some sort of check/test you can run to see if it's sort of patched).
You will be able to put all of the CPUs that you just listed, especially that 9600 k, I personally think a lower watt TDP chip is best, just like the one I have on the video, even though it was rated at 35 Watts when I used Intel power Gadget it showed that it peaked at 60 Watts and the cooling was fine but again it would occasionally reach the 80s and 90s on an older machine I did have a 7700 k on an iMac that was meant only for 65 watt TDP chips and it would constantly ramp up the fans so keep that in mind
@@SmallTechReviews got cha, which SSUBX nvme did you get to upgrade?
thank you so fucking much! i have a 4k 2019 imac too and the i3 is horrible, i couldnt know if an i9 would work until i found your video
I was able to upgrade my Mac to 2TB SATA SSD, 2TB NVMe SSD and 40 GB of RAM, but the Core i9-9900K upgrade didn’t work (black screen). Tried 4 times. I have a Core i5-9600K that I was able to put back in and it works. Do you know why the i9 won’t work? Is there something I have to do to the BIOS or anything in preparation?
the 21.5inch imac doesn't support high tdp i9
@@faamlive1340 It was a 2019 27" iMac and turns out I installed the processor incorrectly (which is apparently very easy to do with their spring design). On my fifth try I finally got it.
Do u remember correct position, had to right it before)
@@Igor-ce3ul You should be able to figure it out with the notches. It’s just keeping it in place as you put the pressure on the mobo to turn the screws that’s the issue.
@@jamesaltonfilms yeah TnX, it couldn’t Stand incorrect) successfully updated to 9900 2tb owc ssd, + 2 tb ssd from 8500 model, was Nervious, because cpu has bended( but works great)))
Dude you are crazy the motherboard of the imac jus support i3, i5 and i7 cpu the i9 cpu is going to heat the computer.
Just let him enjoy the moment
@@aminabdo7470 i believe that's why he used the T version with a lower TDP than those processors only issue should be the bios is what the research shows
Hi