The Third Addition to my Family.

[iMac600]

In November 2008, I took delivery of my first relatively new desktop machine, an iMac (Late 2006 CD) that served as my first Intel based Mac. As a matter of fact, it still does. In October 2010 I introduced another machine into the household, an iMac (Early 2006) that had a defective LCD panel which was replaced with the assistance of AppleCare. Today, i'm introducing the third member of the family.

iMac (Early 2006 20-inch)

2.0GHz Intel Core Duo Processor

512mb RAM

ATI Radeon X1600 Graphics

No Drive (Destroyed, Sensitive Data, Retained the Sensors and Mounting Kit)

20" 1680x1050 LCD Display

Acquired this one as a disposed-of machine from the service center. Customer ended up purchasing a new machine after having startup issues with this one, an issue I suspect was isolated to a faulty hard drive. It works fine otherwise. Initially the plan was to strip the computer for its power supply and optical drive, but a last minute change of mind on the behalf of the manager saw the machine remain intact.

This to me seems like a perfect machine. 20-inch display with a decent pixel resolution and some graphics processing horsepower to back it up. (I currently have GMA950s. Even a GeForce2 MX looks good.) Perfect candidate for a CPU transplant up to a Core 2 Duo. A 1TB Hard Disk would certainly be on the cards with drive prices rapidly falling.

Photos will of course be provided once I get it reassembled.

 

[bizzle]

Now that's an iMac worth keeping!

 

[iMac600]

Argh!

Major graphics artifacts and random system lockups. Appearing on an external display as well. Logic board.

Thinking of maybe cooking it with a heat gun to see if it comes good. It's a job for a later date though.

 

[bizzle]

I've had more luck with nVidia GPUs and a heatgun than I have with ATi. I've tried to heatgun a few of those iMacs with x1600 and an x1900 or something from a Mac Pro and they always end up worse. I've fixed one 8600m and an 8400 (maybe, I forget) with no issues and very minimal effort. Let us know how it works out.