Advice on getting an secondhand Intel iMac

Using old iMac's as gaming machine in 2025

The older pre-2021 iMac's can be great machines for gaming and for a kids bedroom. In this page I'll describe what you need to look for when search for a secondhand mac and how to get the most out of it for gaming.

Deciding an what model you want

Think about these things:

• Do you want to use it for gaming?
• If so, what kind of games do you want to run?
• Do you need lots of storage?
  (when you need to extend the high-speed storage externally you'll need the Thunderbolt 3 / USB3 port of a 2017 model)
• Would you prefer an 21" iMac (compact) or 27" iMac (more powerfull)
• The 21" iMac's are ideal for kids bedrooms and having a LAN at home with limited space
• The 27" iMac's (ALL?) have a graphics card, more powerfull ones than in the 21" models
• Ensure it's a model from before 2021 (when they moved to M1 processors)

In short - if you want it for gaming

Consider this when getting a second-hand iMac:

• Consider whether you need a compact (21-inch) model or prefer 27" (which has higher graphics performance)
• Preferable a 2017 model or newer (for USB-C and using that for an external SSD if needed)
• Must have a graphics card if you want to use it for gaming (preferable a 2017 or newer with 4 GB video memory or more)
• Have a model with 16 GB memory or more (so it'll be usefull for a few more years than ones with 8 GB)
• Consider that doing any upgrades to the machine may cost more than just find a second hand model with better specs

Finding a cheap second hand model:

• The 2017 21" iMac might be your best bet for a cheap gaming machine. It won't run the least raytracing miracle games, but older games, casual games etc can work quite good. Also it has USB-C.
• The iMac Pro (2017) is powerful but also expensive even second-hand
• The 2019 21" and 27" models are sold less second-hand and also are more expensive
• The 2020 27" model was the last Intel machine, can have up to 16GB video memory, but is usually quite expensive second-hand

For retro gaming

If you don't need to game or you are ok with very old games (and not having USB-C:

• Ensure it's at least a 2013 model (models before that can have their graphics card fail)
• Check whether size of the build in harddisk or SSD is large enough (unless you like taking it apart to upgrade the storage)

Examples:

• "Diablo II Resurrected" works very well on a iMac 2017 with Radeon Pro 560 (4GB video memory)

Further information on iMac 2017 models

• The iMac 2017 models and newer have Thunderbolt 3 ports which use USB-C connectors and support USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps).
• This means you can use an regular external SSD for more high-speed storage without opening up the iMac.
• (and when using a Thunderbolt device you can even go up to 40 Gbps, but)

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• For 21" iMac's
• • Early 2013 model - SKIP (no graphics card option)
  • Late 2013 model has 1920x1080 and can have NVidia GeForce GT 750M with 1 GB GDDR5
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• For 27" iMac's
  • iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) - NVidia GeForce GT 755M (1 GB), GTX 775M (2 GB) or GTX 780M (4 GB)
• Ensure it has a dedicated graphics card (which probably increases your FPS / gaming performance by 4x !!)
• Ensure it has at least 8 GB, but preferable 16 GB or higher
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Links:

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• Apple Support - Identify the ports on your Mac
• Apple Support - De poorten van je Mac
  https://support.apple.com/nl-nl/109523
• Kingston - What is USB 3.2 Gen 2x2?
  Lists the bandwidth of all USB versions
  https://www.kingston.com/en/blog/personal-storage/usb-3-2-gen2x2