I can see everyone is talking but no one actually spent 1000£ just to try it, well I did and the answer is No. In my case I tryed to upgrade the 3.06 i3 processor mid 2010 iMac with the i7 860. The processor fits all right and the iMac starts but it does not boot, wich means somehow the bios does not recognise the processor. Could be a power issue wich I'm not 100% sure because it starts. But also could be the nm issue. The i3 is 32 nm the i7 is 45nm. It deffinetly works with a processor that has the same socket , nm, and power as the existent one wich means an i5 but that's not too much of an upgrade is it?
C0L3 ST. J0HN