Is it possible to replace the processor from 2.4GHz to 3.06GHz?

Yeah, I was worried about firmwares too until I saw on MacTracker that my logicboard is show as being both from 20" and 24" iMacs, so I think there is a hope there. :)

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About the heatsinks my concern is overheating and since the exchange would be made by professionals (no, I don't have the guts to open an iMac :P ) if that happens then I'll be forced to pay again for them to replace it. Worse, since I'm buying from overseas - I'm brazilian - I'll be stuck with a overheating iMac until the heatsink arrives and only then I'll have to pay for the exchange...

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About the difference in sizes, I'm pretty sure they're about the same lenght and width, but I don't know if they have the same thickness (don't know if that's the right word though).

Yeah, I was afraid it wouldn't boot with the new processor or something like that even if it fits.

Also, I'm concerned about temps, do you think it might go too high?

Oh, and I think the performance will be increased not only 'cause I'm replacing the processor but 'cause I'm also changing the HDD to a SSD hybrid so I think this combo will get me a noticeable difference, right?

Thanks for the answer! :)

I do use SMC Fan Control for about 2 years now and yeah, will be a must after the upgrade.

And about the upgrade itself, I decided that if I'm going through the pain of opening my iMac I better make it worth and for that I'll take a step further: will also try to upgrade it's video card. XD

I did a bit of research and apparently mine can be changed and now I have the CPU, the hybrid HDD and am waiting for the vid-card to arrive.

The main drawback is that I live in Brazil ans am buying everything on eBay, which means cheaper parts but also means it takes about 30 days to arrive, so that's why it's taking soooo long for me to actually doing it... :(

That's bonza mate!

Given your efforts, I have taken the plunge and bought the same processor off eBay:

SLAQD Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile E8435 APPLE IMAC

I will document my efforts when I have everything together and will post back to show results :)

Now if someone can come up with a solution for upgrading the graphics card, I'd be floating!

Have you seen this? How can I change Radeon HD 2600 MXM firmware?

BTW: if you don't buy this (http://www.ebay.com/itm/APPLE-661-4663-V...), I probably will :D

To be honest, if you find a answer to that please do share it!

The only thing I could do was to uninstall SMC fan control, reboot and on that reboot, zap the PRAM. That took care of the other two coolers that were also running on max (and greatly reduced the noise) but the CPU fan still is on max up until today.

Curious thing though: while I was trying to make that other video card work the fan was running normal and, when I put the original video card back, it went back on max again, don't really know why...

It took me all day but I had to clean it (3 years worth of dust bunnies :P), change the HDD and tried a different video card, but no, I didn't have any trouble at all with the heatsinks. And I wouldn't let it without thermal paste, in fact I could bet that's why yours is running that hot!

Assuming your iMac IS upgradable (ask Google), you could replace the processor with the same I did, replace those RAMs with 4gb 800mhz and (the hardest part) replace that video card with a 512mb (again, ask Google which one).

But to be honest, unless you plan on upgrading just one item you should consider on buying another computer, it might be cheaper.

Unfortunately, for Alan's generation (A1200, iMac6,1), the upgrades probably aren't worth the expense and stress they'd take to do. That generation has a 667 MHz system bus, and the chipset won't see more than the 3GB of RAM that's already installed. Apple also made this model in a 2.33 GHz model, which I believe is the fastest of the 667 chips; a 5% speed boost probably isn't worth the trouble. Replacing the hard drive with an SSD will produce far more dramatic results.