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[WIP] 2006 20" iMac Intel case mod.

I've narrowed down my choice of Intel Q77 Express / Ivy-Bridge motherboards to these two. One from a HP Compaq Elite 8300 All-in-One #657097-001, 657097-501, 657097-601. $16 on eBay, I have attached the 'Parts & Service Map' below. My other option is from the Dell OptiPlex 9010 All-In-One (Touch) #CRWCR. $19 on eBay. Link to owners manual. I'm also watching trs96 development thread on the 8300 Elite USDT w/Iternal Desktop GPU as another option. The 9010 motherboard looks much friendlier shape wise for 2006 iMac case, but it doesn't have as many connections as the HP Elite AIO motherboard.


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Attachments

  • HPElite8300AIO.pdf
    1.5 MB · Views: 123
Internals from the 2006 20" iMac.


IMG_2295.jpg
 
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
Try some of the NVIDIA web drivers from this site to see you can get the GT710 to work.
 
Try some of the NVIDIA web drivers from this site to see you can get the GT710 to work.

I couldn't install the earliest version 313.01.01f03 for Mountain Lion, so I went to Nvidia site and was able to install CUDA Driver Version 4.2.10, GPU Driver Version 1.6.36.10 (256.00.35f11). How do I know if it's working or can do anything?.

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Open up GeekBench5, and you can choose which video card to test.
I can only download GB3, I get the prohibited symbol on GB4 and GB5. I'm running in Snow Leopard and it's 32 Bit.

GB3.png

GB3sc.png
 
Do you have a monitor hooked to the external card?

Found on google:

Graphics acceleration can be verified through the following (non-exhaustive) actions:
  • Translucent Finder's bar (most visible from Snow Leopard to Mavericks)
  • LaunchPad through Dock icon (clicking in and out of LaunchPad should be quick and totally smooth)
  • DVD player app -> Help Menu -> Show Supported Features (all should be enabled)
  • Desktop switching through Ctrl-Up/Ctrl-Down/Ctrl-Left/Ctrl-Right (should be quick and smooth)
  • Desktop and Screen Saver PrefPane (all desktop pictures and screen savers should show Ok)
Without graphics acceleration, system will feel laggy and graphics glitches will occur.
 
Do you have a monitor hooked to the external card?

Found on google:

Graphics acceleration can be verified through the following (non-exhaustive) actions:
  • Translucent Finder's bar (most visible from Snow Leopard to Mavericks)
  • LaunchPad through Dock icon (clicking in and out of LaunchPad should be quick and totally smooth)
  • DVD player app -> Help Menu -> Show Supported Features (all should be enabled)
  • Desktop switching through Ctrl-Up/Ctrl-Down/Ctrl-Left/Ctrl-Right (should be quick and smooth)
  • Desktop and Screen Saver PrefPane (all desktop pictures and screen savers should show Ok)
Without graphics acceleration, system will feel laggy and graphics glitches will occur.

Here's an Xbench score. Looking through that list of graphics acceleration checks, everything looks super smooth I have noticed that the text looks sharper in finder. I tried another monitor plugged into the graphics card but I just got a black screen. Just logged into the App Store and noticed I have Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitan available for download.

Xbench.png
 
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Even Mt. Lion can't be installed on the 2006 iMac.

In the company's promo copy, Apple officially notes that the following general Macs support OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion:
  • iMac (Mid-2007 or newer)
  • MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
 
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