[WIP] 2006 20" iMac Intel case mod.

[craighazan]

No 2006 iMac had a PPC G5 chip in it. The seller may have mis-represented what you got. Any way you can find an actual serial number on the iMac to check it online ?

Just found it under the stand, I'll look it up now. I think he sent me the wrong iMac, the description said the screen doesn't work and the back is broken. None of those two things are true.

 

[trs96]

Just found it under the stand, I'll look it up now. I think he sent me the wrong iMac, the description said the screen doesn't work and the back is broken. None of those two things are true.

Post a pic of the back side of the iMac. I want to see where the USB ports are located. You should also see the year here:

2005 PPC iMacs were Model # A1706

 

[craighazan]

 

[trs96]

That looks like the 2006 Core 2 Duo version. That is a year newer and better. You can install Snow Leopard on it due to the Intel CPU. See the specs, 3 USB 2.0 ports and two Firewire. Definitely a 2006 iMac.

 

[craighazan]

All the info is on the bottom of the stand, it says 2006.

 

[trs96]

All the info is on the bottom of the stand, it says 2006.

Return the DVD you purchased, get a Snow Leopard DVD and install that. Should run perfectly well. 2GB of ram is enough for SL to work. If the display is good you could still surf the internet with it.

 

[craighazan]

I found a boxed copy of Mac OS X 10.6.3 Snow leopard on eBay, I'll return the other one. I'm planning on modding this one into a Hackintosh, I'm looking for USFF Ivy-bridge motherboard to fit inside.

 

[craighazan]

My Mac OS X Snow Leopard installer arrived today!. So far everything works, I have installed all the updates and all is well. There were three pixel stripes across the screen when I first installed 10.6.3, but after the updates I haven't seen any screen issues. It's quick too, considering it's on a HDD, everything feels responsive, I'm connected to my wireless network and can use my Mighty Mouse with it. I'm not sure I want to take this apart now, I'll save it for the future. For a $2 iMac, I'm quite happy, alright postage was $30 and the Snow Leopard installer $35!. But lets not get bogged down with details a fully working 2006 intel dual core iMac for $2 is pretty good, it's 14 years old!.

 

[trs96]

iMac for $2 is pretty good, it's 14 years old!.

Amazing how far ahead of Windows 7 Snow Leopard was back in 2009. Great OS X version.

 

[craighazan]

@phunguss mentioned on my 2009 Mac mini thread that he's thinking of trying this out with an old Mac mini, I decided to try it out with my 2006 iMac. The 'Beast' has a Nvidia GeForce GT710 parked in the x16 slot and is connected to the PCIe slot on the motherboard, that was occupied by the AirPort Extreme card, the one dangling next to the Beast. System Report picked it up but was lacking in information, idk why I thought it would recognize a card that didn't exist when this iMac was built, oh well!. I don't have a Hackintosh to try this on at the moment.