I hadn’t turned on my iMac for a long time. It was once my backup computer,
running OSX Snow Leopard, The operating system had become very outdated,
with many limitations. I mainly used it for watching movies, editing photos, and creating videos with iMovie.

Recently, I decided to give it a second life by updating it to the latest macOS it officially supports.

OS X El Capitan USB installer to perform a clean installation, and it was successful. After that, I copied VLC Media Player from my Mac Pro, and it was able to play most of my MKV movie files without any issues.

Once El Capitan was installed, I started researching the newest macOS that this iMac could officially run. I then upgraded through each supported version:

Snow Leopard 2009 >> El Capitan 2015 >> Sierra 2016 >> High Sierra 2017

The entire upgrade process took around 1–2 days to complete. The original hard drive was probably the biggest bottleneck, making the installation and updates extremely slow.

Should update HDD >> SSD to get better performance.
* Next target update
1). HDD >> SSD 1TB
2). 4 x 2gb = 8gb >> 4 x 4gb = 16gb

The second thing I did was install OpenEmu, transforming this old iMac into an excellent retro gaming and media system, With a PS4 DualShock controller, it becomes a perfect setup for classic console games while still serving as a great machine for watching movies and everyday use.

After 17 years, this iMac has a new lease on life.
( very enjoying the upgrade process)

For a computer released in 2009, I’m impressed by how capable it still is. With an SSD, 16GB of RAM, and High Sierra, it remains a useful machine for media playback, light creative work, retro gaming, and running many classic applications.

Next, will try install some software and try the old beast limit.