iMac G5 Screen Upgrade

Created on Oct 25, ’25 ・ Last update on Nov 1, ’25

I recently performed some hardware upgrades on an iMac G5 1.9 GHz 17" (iSight) from late 2005, and I thought I’d share some insight into the process, some pictures, as well as the final result.

The original idea was to replace the screen, which was suffering from the infamous “vertical lines” issue, with a new one. Then I thought I'd take this opportunity to also upgrade the RAM from 1.5 to 4.5 GB, and replace the 3.5" HDD with a 2.5" SSD.

iMac screen with vertical lines — An iMac with the vertical lines issue

Buying new hardware

RAM

As stated on the EveryMac.com website, the official maximum amount of RAM supported is 2.5 GB (the internal 512 MB and an extra 2 GB RAM module). However, as also noted there, it’s very well possible to put a 4 GB RAM module.

The RAM module should have the following specs: 4 GB Samsung 2Rx4 PC2-6400U-666. After some online digging, I settled for the one in the picture below, which I ordered on eBay for $13:

4 GB RAM module — 4 GB Samsung 2Rx4 PC2-6400U-666

SSD

I initially put a Crucial MX500 SSD in the iMac, only to find that it wasn’t recognized by Disk Utility. I tried again with a Samsung 870 EVO 500 GB and it worked perfectly. Cost: $62.

Screen

I bought the 661-3789 Apple LCD Display Panel on DV Warehouse for $89 plus $112 for shipping!

Total cost of the upgrades: $276.

Performing upgrades

Overview

On this page, we can find all iFixit guides for this iMac. However, we are mostly interested in the one for the RAM replacement, the hard drive replacement, and the screen replacement.

These guides are a great resource, so read them carefully! The guides make it look easy, but it’s not so and lots of patience is needed. Removing the white case is a bit of a pain, and disconnecting the iSight camera is equally tricky. Removing the screen is fine, but putting in the new one and reassembling the iMac is the biggest hurdle. Oh, and be mindful not to drop any of the screen screws behind the motherboard!

Changing the RAM doesn’t require opening up the iMac completely, so it can be done either before or after changing the screen and SSD. In order to remove the hard drive, you’ll first need to disconnect the screen. For these reasons, I suggest the following order of things:

Upgrade the RAM.
Open up the iMac: remove the white case, disconnect the iSight camera, and the screen to have access to the hard drive.
Replace the old hard drive with the new 2.5" SSD and secure it with some good duct tape so it doesn’t move. Be sure to reattach the hard drive’s thermal sensor on the SSD, otherwise the iMac’s fans may run at full speed constantly.
This step isn’t shown in the iFixit guide: you’ll need to disassemble the “structure” around the old screen and put it on the new screen, so that the new screen can be screwed back into the iMac (see pictures below).
Reassemble the iMac.
Format the SSD and install Mac OS X. Important: see next section A note on software.
Enjoy!

There are some good YouTube videos showing how to disassemble and reassemble the iMac. Two of them below:

Pictures

Screen with vertical lines — Before the upgrade: 1.5 GB of RAM and vertical lines everywhere on the screen.

Inside the iMac with hard drive — Inside the iMac, before the hard drive removal…

Inside the iMac without hard drive — … and after.

Front of original screen — The front of the original screen.

Back of original screen — The back of the original screen.

Front of new screen — The new screen, notice the absence of the metallic structure and cables that are still on the old screen.

Back of new screen — The new screen, notice the absence of the metallic structure and cables that are still on the old screen.

Close-up details of original screen — Some close ups of the original screen.

New screen with metallic structure and cables — The new screen with the metallic structure and cables around it.

New screen after structure has been screwed in — After the structure has been screwed in. Tape everything.

Front view of new screen assembly with EMI shield — The EMI shield was also moved from the original screen to the new one (the black one, as well as the silver ones on the sides).

Mac OS X installation screen — Is it really working?! Time to install Mac OS X on the SSD. This was quite a pain, as my optical drive worked only about 10% of the time.

Final system specifications — 500 GB SSD, 4.5 GB of RAM and a new screen!

A note on software

Disk Utility

One important thing to keep in mind before formatting the new SSD: Disk Utility in Tiger doesn’t support creating additional partitions without erasing the existing one.

So if you plan to first install Tiger and then add a second partition for Leopard, make sure to create both from the start — unless you have a Leopard install disc, in which case you’ll be able to modify the partition table later without wiping the drive.

HTTPS browser for Tiger

Safari in Tiger doesn’t support modern TLS versions, so most HTTPS websites won’t load. Alternatives include TenFourFox (a fork of Firefox) and InterWebPPC (a fork of TenFourFox). Both are discontinued, but InterWebPPC’s latest version (from 2023) is a bit more recent.

InterWebPPC browser running on Tiger — Browsing the web using InterWebPPC on Tiger

Shuriken and Sorbet Leopard

Shuriken is a collection of scripts for Tiger, mainly aimed at improving system performance. Sorbet Leopard is a modified version of Leopard that includes updated certificates, performance tweaks, and other patches. Both were created by the same developer but are no longer maintained.

Contents of Shuriken — Content of Shuriken

Sorbet App Store running on Sorbet Leopard — The Sorbet App Store on Sorbet Leopard (the Keychron K3 works on both Tiger and Leopard)

Conclusion

I’d been meaning to tackle these upgrades for years, and it’s deeply satisfying to see this iMac running smoothly again!