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Sebastian · Nov 17, 2015, 11:04 AM

My '09 imac blew out it's graphics card this fall, and i've since replaced it with the skylake imac. i hate to toss the old one, but am not willing to spend $600 to replace a $40 graphics card that's 6 years old.

What fantastically creative ideas does this group have for creative ways to use this beast? it's got such a nice large clear monitor, i'd hate to let it go to waste, but w/o a functional graphics card, i'm struggling. I thought of using it as a monitor for my security system, but that requires - you guessed it - the graphics card!

Thoughts? There's got to be a use for this thing...

Mike Wuerthele · Nov 17, 2015, 04:04 PM

Reflow on the GPU is about $100. A replacement card from eBay is about $200.

Sebastian · Nov 17, 2015, 09:06 PM

Thanks Mike. The lowest ATI 4850 i've been able to find for the iMac is $360 (on eBay)... am i looking for the wrong thing? I'm not seeing anything anywhere near $200...

rocky2 · Nov 17, 2015, 11:13 PM

Got my 2009 iMac GPU reflowed in Tokyo 2 months ago for 6000 yen (US$50). (I removed it from iMac and stripped off heatsink, etc., before taking it to reflow factory.)
IMO, Apple should have replaced these GPUs under extended warranty because it is clearly a cooling design fault in these 2009 iMacs.
I agree, S/H replacement parts are ridiculously expensive and Apple wanted $500 for the repair too.

Mike Wuerthele · Nov 18, 2015, 12:46 AM

Sebastian, when I looked before, there were a few for $200ish, they've since been purchased. I do think a try to get the reflow is worth it, though.

I have seen a bunch of GPU replacements on this era iMac, Rocky, but at this point, its seven years old. I'm not expecting a REA.

P · Nov 18, 2015, 04:34 AM

Originally Posted by rocky2

IMO, Apple should have replaced these GPUs under extended warranty because it is clearly a cooling design fault in these 2009 iMacs.

That's not how it works. If the cooling is insufficient, the GPU should throttle. It should never run hot enough to break itself. This was a feature already back in the Radeon 4x00 series.

Sebastian · Nov 18, 2015, 01:00 PM

Thanks Mike - i'll keep a closer look on it. Excuse the ignorance, but what doe sit mean to reflow the card, and is that a DIY type job, or a send out?

Mike Wuerthele · Nov 18, 2015, 01:32 PM

That's a send-out. A reflow takes the old chip off the daughterboard, and re-makes the connections. Done by machine.

P · Nov 18, 2015, 01:44 PM

Youtube is full of people who do it with toaster ovens, but that is NOT recommended.

Sebastian · Nov 18, 2015, 02:08 PM

Thanks. So to clarify, i'd need to buy a new board and have it reflowed, or would i remove my existing one and have it sent in for a reflow? If the latter, wouldn't that be dicey depending on the lvl of damage the the chip (ie i'm assuming some chips are damaged beyond repair)..

Mike Wuerthele · Nov 18, 2015, 02:40 PM

Originally Posted by Sebastian

Thanks. So to clarify, i'd need to buy a new board and have it reflowed, or would i remove my existing one and have it sent in for a reflow? If the latter, wouldn't that be dicey depending on the lvl of damage the the chip (ie i'm assuming some chips are damaged beyond repair)..

Remove existing board and send it in for a reflow. Yeah, its dicey, but isn't it nonfunctional anyhow?