1 - Your system can support upto 32GB of RAM
2 - The highest performing CPU your system can support is a 3.9 GHz Core i7 (3770) Ivy Bridge. The systems EFI (BIOS) firmware holds the needed microcode for the CPU each generation of Intel chips use different microcode. Your system can only support Ivy Bridge based CPU’s
3 - Drive upgrades:
- 3.5” HDD port - Upgrading your current HDD to a SSD will require a thermal sensor as Apple had custom drives made setup to use the internal drives diagnostic thermal sensor to report the drives temp to the System Management Controller (SMC). So in replacing the drive you need to supply a new thermal input for the system to work properly iMac Intel 21.5" and 27" (Late 2012-Early 2019) SSD Temperature Sensor and here’s the guide iMac Intel 27" EMC 2546 Hard Drive Replacement
- Blade SSD port - Installing a blade SSD can offer a fair amount of zip! Its just a pain to put in and Apple did their own thing from what the standard group came out with. Here’s more on the Apple blade SSD’s The Ultimate Guide to Apple’s Proprietary SSDs. Sadly its only a mSATA interface which like the HDD’s SATA interface I/O speed is only 6.0 Gb/s. The newer NVMe drives won’t work in this system.
@akaydin - Given your applications I would put my efforts setting up both drives so you can straddle the load across both drives to increase the collective performance given this systems limits.
Now a bit of a downer - Apples newer macOS releases use an improved file system but its intended for PCIe drives not SATA/mSATA !! Sierra is last version of HFS+ file system and High Sierra was the first release of APFS (it has its issues I really recommend going to Mojave if your system can support it).
So let's look at the cost factors here between all of the enhancements is the investment worth it?
I would seriously look at a used newer iMac like a Late 27" 2015 5K system which offers better performance and has a PCIe blade interface to support higher speed drives (NVMe/PCIe 4 lane)
To answer your followup questions:
Stick with the older macOS Sierra if you can, if your apps require something newer stick with Mojave. If you need (desire) Catalina its time to get a new system.
Real RAM vs Virtual RAM (VRAM) - Depending on your usage real RAM is best, but even that has its limits cost wise and the systems limitations. As and example I have a 2013 Mac Pro which I have 128 GB of RAM as the work I was doing required a very large memory space, I had tried using the NVMe/PCIe 4 lane interface with a large 2TB SSD but it was still bottlenecking with all of the I/O I was pressing on it so reducing the need for VRAM made a big difference! But that's my workflow not yours
Who’s SSD? - I prefer Samsung SSD's and they are still the performance/lifespan leader with SATA based SSD drives.
But let's dig a bit into this as people don't get that fact most SATA SSD's read performance is at the limit of the 6.0 Gb/s I/O SATA III interface. So like driving a car that maxes out at the roads speed limit it can't go faster can it! Remember I said Read Write speed is a different issue! Here a quick write operation is no big issue, its the long write operations and the high speed ping-pong that is a concern as well as the drives lifespan.
Adapters! Yes you need a frame to adjust 3.5" HDD bay to support the 2.5" SSD you are putting in Inateck SSD Mounting Bracket 2.5 to 3.5 Adapter
Can I use Samsung 960 Pro blade SSD - Nope! That requires a M.2 PCIe/NVMe interface The Blade interface this system offers is a custom Apple mSATA interface so it just won’t work
You only have the Red side, the Samsung 960 Pro requires the Yellow and Mauve connection pathway. The second issue is Apple’s interface is custom its not M.2 compliant! So you can’t use M.2 drives really in any Mac system. Yes, there are some adapters some people have tried and they do appear to work, but it turns out there’s a bit more that these adapters fail to bring forward as Apples SSD’s have and the M.2 interface/drives doesn’t offer these lines. I’ve pullout a ton of these from systems as they fail when pressed hard. Please use the proper SSD either the Apple custom drives made by Samsung or OWC.
Upgrading CPU’s - As I expressed you are limited to Ivy Bridge CPU’s as your system was not designed to support higher wattage CPU’s as well as the micro-code held in the systems EFI (BIOS) is not able to support anything newer.
Lets think it like this I have an old 1962 VW Beetle with an air cooled engine can I put in a 200 VW Beetle engine? They are both offered as a VW Beetle and they look very similar! So the newer engine should fit, right??
NOPE can’t! The older Beetle engine is in the back, and the newer has the engine in the front!
Basically, its the same issue here! Need to use the proper CPU for your system and no the super powerful Intel Comet Lake i9 won’t work!
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I would first fix your systems before you start buying and replacing things. Without a working baseline you risk spending extra time trying to get your system going needlessly, and you might find the logic board its self is gone.
из Dan