Considering a refurbished 24" Imac ... video card question?

I've been a lifelong Microhell Winblows user and am finally ready to move over to an Apple. I don't have a lot of money to drop on a Mac Pro with a separate screen so I've been thinking either a 20" or 24" iMac. Then, of course, bumping it to 4 gigs of RAM. My question is the video card. I occassionally play with Photoshop and Illustrator (for web site design). I watch DVDs and play some games.
My question is whether it is possible (or even necessary) to upgrade the 256 MB video card to a 512 in the iMac 24" (or 20") model? This is the one I am looking at now: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nplm=FA 878LL/A
Any idea's? Issues? Things I should be concerned with? I will be adding on the 3 year AppleCare plan.
Thanks in advance for any all help you can give.

OK. One more question (if you don't mind). They are not made to be user upgradeable. I'm ok with that. Do you know if the motherboard and/or system will accept a larger video card if I have it done by an Apple technician?
Thanks again.

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Receiving New iMac Free - Video Card Question

Much to my relief, Apple is replacing my 2008 24" iMac after I have brought it in to them 3 times for the same issue in a month (failure to startup, they have replaced two video cards, one MLB, and the display but the problem repeats itself within 1-2 weeks). They are replacing it with a newer model that has a 27" display, twice the ram (4 GB) and twice the HD space (1 TB). My question is about the video card in the new iMac, it is a ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256 MB, and the card in my old iMac was a NVIDIA 8800 GS with 512 MB. My primary application for my iMac is gaming, which I believe makes the video card the most important component. Does anyone know the difference between 256 and 512 or anything about this new card? Should I ask them if I can pay to upgrade to the Radeon HD 4850 512 MB before I go in to pick up my new iMac?

crazy00eyes wrote:
Much to my relief, Apple is replacing my 2008 24" iMac after I have brought it in to them 3 times for the same issue in a month (failure to startup, they have replaced two video cards, one MLB, and the display but the problem repeats itself within 1-2 weeks). They are replacing it with a newer model that has a 27" display, twice the ram (4 GB) and twice the HD space (1 TB). My question is about the video card in the new iMac, it is a ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256 MB, and the card in my old iMac was a NVIDIA 8800 GS with 512 MB. My primary application for my iMac is gaming, which I believe makes the video card the most important component. Does anyone know the difference between 256 and 512 or anything about this new card? Should I ask them if I can pay to upgrade to the Radeon HD 4850 512 MB before I go in to pick up my new iMac?
Hi Crazy,
I had the exact same problem... my 18month old 24" iMac (with 512MB Video card) went belly up.
I pointed out that what they wanted to offer me had only the 256Mb Card ? ....and he said; "oops I didn't notice that"... so we will send your new 27" iMac - with a 512MB (ATI 4850) at no charge,
So... buddy you just need to tell them - and they will configure your replacement 27" to equal or better the minimum specification of your faulty unit.

Video card question for new iMac

Howdy all,
I'm about to order a new BTO iMac, and I'm wondering if somebody could give me feedback on the two different video cards available.
Cost is not really a concern here (I would rather spend more on the video card and cut back on something like RAM for now because RAM can be upgraded later). My main concern is performance and the best image quality.
I understand the NVidia would be faster for 3D gaming than the ATI - which I would use a little bit. So the NVidia would seem to be a no-brainer.
However, I've heard a couple people (on various forums) state that although the NVidia is definitaly faster for gaming - it performs slower than the ATI at some tasks like iMovie and iDVD tasks and text scrolling and motion are not as good.
For me, I would love to have the faster 3D gaming speed of the NVidia for the few times I do game...but the most important thing to me is image quality for things like photo and video editing, working with documents etc. Are any of these thoughts regarding the NVidia vs ATI true?
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I had the 20" 2.16 (late 2006 model) with the x1600 128MB and now have the 24" 2.8 2600Pro 256MB and 2G stock RAM. It's night and day with Call of Duty 2. I am able to play COD2 in 16:9 mode, all graphic settings max'd out and the fps? Wow! One most maps it ranges between 190-270fps! That smokes the previous version of 40-90fps. One the most complex maps my 24" drops to 90-110 range. Seriosuly, anything above about 60fps is perfectly playable! I'm thrilled with the stock card. However, COD2 is older, I play it native in OS X and do not game in boot camp. That may change a few things.

IMac video card is busted again. Options?

I have a 27" iMac purchased in 2011. Since this January I've had to take it to Apple Retail Store for video card replacement twice, and now it's busted again. I don't want them to put in another refurbished card and likely break down on me in a short time. So far it's costed me 6 days without my computer which I use for work.
My question is what options do I have to prevent having this problem again and again?
I do get free repairs via Apple Care but I shouldn't have to deal with so much down time. I feel that I should be compensated somehow, or at least be guaranteed a new, not refurbished, video card.

first, call AppleCare and complain in a polite manner so they can document the situation, also have them make an appointment for you in the genius bar and have them give you the case #. Then go to the appointment and ask for a new one after you plead your case about how much you have been inconvenienced. I think you have a pretty strong case.

2007 Aluminum Imac Video Card upgrade

I asked this before but I think i didnt ask the question correct. I have a 2007 Aluminuim imac.
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Please check out this blog (scroll all the way to the bottom)
http://www.amfiteatar.org/content/view/155/57/lang,en/
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IMac Video Card in 20" and 24"

Hello,
I want to thank everyone in advance for posting here.
I am deciding between the 24" and 20" iMac but will be doing the video card upgrade regardless of which system I buy.
Can anyone tell me the difference between the upgrade options (nvidia geforce 1600 gt in the 24" and the ATI Radeon X1600?
My primary applications of use are Final Cut Pro 5, DVD Studio Pro 4, and Adobe Photoshop CS2. I don't care about render time, except for in Photoshop.
If anyone can help...please do. I recognize they both have the same VRAM, but if there wasn't a difference, they wouldn't be different upgrade options.
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Hello,
I want to thank everyone in advance for posting
here.
I am deciding between the 24" and 20" iMac but will
be doing the video card upgrade regardless of which
system I buy.
Can anyone tell me the difference between the upgrade
options (nvidia geforce 1600 gt in the 24" and the
ATI Radeon X1600?
Actually, if you look at the specs at the online Apple store, you will see that the 20" offers the x1600 with a choice of 128 or 256MB of video ram. The 24" offers the Nividea 7300 w/128MB or the 7600 with 256. IF you are going to be doing video editing and photography, I would get the upgraded model no matter what system you get. Though it may be theoretically possible, it will be very impractible to upgrade the card later. You will need the ram,especially if you want to play any games,or get into Aperature for photo management and processing as well as CS2 also, I think it would also impact video editing as well.
BTW, the 24" screen is great.

So which 27" iMac Video card to go with???

Hey gang-
Lucky me- my wife said that I've been good enough to ask for a new iMac this Christmas! I'll be replacing my trusty old Mid-2007 24" with one of the new Late-2013 27" models. To my surprise, it seems my go-to source for reviews- MacWorld magazine- has yet to publish any print review of the Late-2013 models- so I'm guessing they aren't going to.
I know I'll be going with a Fusion Drive upgrade, but where I'm stuck is on the Video card. Thoughts on the NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M/1GB, or the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M/2GB, or the mac-daddy NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M/4GB?
I've seen a few threads with new owners of Late-2013 iMacs already enquiring about upgrading their video cards, so don't want to underbuy.
Any thoughts or maybe anyone found a good review since MacWorld hasn't?
Thanks!
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What are you going to use your new iMac for?
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IMac Video Card Replacement

Is there anyway to get the video card replaced in my iMac? Apple Care has expired and they replaced it just last year before it was over but it appears to have gone out again. I have a 24" Intel iMac which I purchased in Feb of 2010. I read online that it is not possible to replace myself because its sealed in but I recall when Apple replaced it last year the Genius telling me they just pop it out and replace but maybe I misunderstood.
I'm not sure why it has gone out again we barely use it as I mostly use my MacBook. However, the MacBook also seems to be having issues with its video card.

You will need to take it in for repair. You don't even know that the GPU has gone bad. It could be something else. If you attempt to repair it yourself, then Apple will no longer provide any future support whatsoever. Let them do the repair for you.

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I'm having the same issue here too. I'm using a mid 2007 iMac 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB of SDRAM and ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB.
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When using a single monitor, does the addition of
more video cards enhance the power of graphics?
No
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I have a G5 and a pc Video card not to sure what the speed is on it, but would like to know if it would work wit a G5.
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I am purchasing a new computer and was wondering if anyone had any opinions on whether nVidia or AMD would be better for use with Photoshop CS6. In my previous computers, I've only ever had an integrated video card and they worked okay enough with Photoshop. But now I have the opportunity to purchase a computer with an nVidia/2 Gig Vram or an AMD Radeon/1 gig VRAM video card.
This is very generalized since I know so much depends on the cpu speed, ram, whether or not you have multiple hard drives, etcetera.
I've got a clear idea of what I want for all the other components of the computer, but I have no working knowledge of video cards.
I use Photoshop for photo editing and I also want to eventually use it for High Definition Photography editing.
FYI, I don't do any gaming.
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Photoshop loves working with a video card that scores 1000 or higher on this chart:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
-Noel

Upgrading mac pro video card questions

I want to upgrade my video card, I currently have a 7300 gt, and my mac pro is a 2007. Will any video card that uses the same type of pci slot work or does the card have to be specially made for macs. Also what would be the best upgrade for my mac, i read the 8800 gtx wont work, will radeon 2600 work?

Yes, the video card has to be made to work with Mac Pros and I upgraded my 2007 Mac with the 2600 XT and it works great. A version of the 8800 is suppose to be in the works, but a release date is unknown.
Keith

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Considering a refurbished 24" Imac ... video card question?

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