iMac Late 2013 graphics card upgrade

[Cg5050can]

Ok! I am trying to invest my money wisely. I own a Late 2013 iMac with 32GB of RAM (upgraded recently and maxed out), 3.2GHz Quad Core i5, with a GeForce GT 755M 1 GB Graphics Card. I've seen an option for it in which I could possibly upgrade the graphics card. But it says "Configurable to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M with 4GB of GDDR5 memory".
So. 2 questions:
1) What do they mean by "configurable"? Can I Install that video card or is it a clocking aspects of another video card?
2) Is it worth upgrading my Mac considering that the least expensive GTX 780M I've found was $156.00.

My Mac is running fine with the actual hardware but I feel it's getting tired with new installe like plugins and external audio hardware, etc. It does show some lacks hère and there from time to time - basically the main reason why I'm wanting to upgrade. Not sure how much I could get for my iMac but I've seen some used Macs at an affordable price.
Just want to go in the right direction and not invest inefficiently. Please HELP!

[BertKoor]

Ok! I am trying to invest my money wisely. I own a Late 2013 iMac with 32GB of RAM

Then don't spend another dime on this machine.

Upgrading the graphics card? Do you play games on it? Because it does zero for this machine as a DAW.

A 4K retina display of 4096 × 2304 pixels needs only about 38 MB of RAM, so 1 GB is enough for all intents & purposes.

[ghettosynth]

The only thing that might make sense for that machine is an SSD if you don't already have one. Anything else is a waste of money.

[whyterabbyt]

1) What do they mean by "configurable"? Can I Install that video card or is it a clocking aspects of another video card?

probably that you could buy it from the factory with that option built-in. it would appear that that generation of imacs dont have swappable graphics cards.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/55 ... ortBy=best
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/66 ... ortBy=best
etc

[whyterabbyt]

also, even where mac pros etc did have swappable graphic cards, my recollection is that they had to be Apple's version of that card, the more readily availa ble (and cheaper) PC versions wouldnt work.

[Cg5050can]

Upgrading the graphics card? Do you play games on it? Because it does zero for this machine as a DAW.

A 4K retina display of 4096 × 2304 pixels needs only about 38 MB of RAM, so 1 GB is enough for all intents & purposes.

Thanks for the reply.
I use it for the sole purpose of music production. I guess what I need most to know is what is the "factor" that will empower better for music production? Is it more room on the disk? More speed on the memory? More speed on the Hard Drive?
I want to have a more performant unit that will not make my DAW crash at all. By purchasing another PC and/or Mac, what should I look for in the first place?

[Cg5050can]

The only thing that might make sense for that machine is an SSD if you don't already have one. Anything else is a waste of money.

I have an external LaCie HD. All my files, samples and tracks are saved onto it. My DAW, presets and plugins are on the Macintosh - internal - OEM Mac drive.

[chk071]

I don't see any reason why you would upgrade your graphics card. It won't make your plugins run quicker or better. If you don't game or do video editing, it's a complete waste of money, as has already been pointed out. Rather save up for a new Mac.

[Cg5050can]

Upgrading the graphics card? Do you play games on it? Because it does zero for this machine as a DAW.

A 4K retina display of 4096 × 2304 pixels needs only about 38 MB of RAM, so 1 GB is enough for all intents & purposes.

Thanks for the reply.
I use it for the sole purpose of music production. I guess what I need most to know is what is the "factor" that will empower better for music production? Is it more room on the disk? More speed on the memory? More speed on the Hard Drive?
I want to have a more performant unit that will not make my DAW crash at all. By purchasing another PC and/or Mac, what should I look for in the first place?

I should also point out that I am running a secondary monitor and cannot get a full resolution out of it. So the image is always stretched out.

[jdnz]

also, even where mac pros etc did have swappable graphic cards, my recollection is that they had to be Apple's version of that card, the more readily availa ble (and cheaper) PC versions wouldnt work.

not exactly - you needed a card with an 'Apple' video bios to be able to see the boot screen, but once OSX ( or whatever you were running on it ) actually booted the 3rd party card would work fine as long as the OS drivers supports it.

We shoved non-Apple gpus in a few of our old cheesegraters - generally we'd leave the stock gpu in as well just so we could see the boot process ( and/or get into the recovery environment etc ) - worked well ( now most of those of cheesegraters are running ubuntu or win10 since they're long out of support for OSX )

[whyterabbyt]

also, even where mac pros etc did have swappable graphic cards, my recollection is that they had to be Apple's version of that card, the more readily availa ble (and cheaper) PC versions wouldnt work.

not exactly - you needed a card with an 'Apple' video bios to be able to see the boot screen, but once OSX ( or whatever you were running on it ) actually booted the 3rd party card would work fine as long as the OS drivers supports it.

ah, interesting, cheers for the correction...

now most of those of cheesegraters are running ubuntu or win10 since they're long out of support for OSX )

I think we'll wind up doing that too, with a whole load of iMacs we use for installations etc.

[jdnz]

now most of those of cheesegraters are running ubuntu or win10 since they're long out of support for OSX )

I think we'll wind up doing that too, with a whole load of iMacs we use for installations etc.

works well - we've also done it on old minis for similar purposes ( running digital signage ), gets around sending something to landfill just because OSX no longer supports it, the hardware is still perfectly fit for purpose and reliable