Hacker Upgraded Intel Mac Mini with Merom/Core 2 Duo Chip

techster82 · Jun 14, 2006

Taken from macrumors.com:

Macrumors is reporting that a hacker with access to a Core 2 Duo "Merom" CPU clocked at 2.16 GHz has successfully upgraded his Mac Mini. According to the hacker's benchmarks, the upgraded Mini beat out a Dual 2.5 GHz G5 in an iTunes encoding test by 15%. Note that these benchmarks could not be confirmed by MacRumors.

Depending on what the chip prices level out to a few months after being introduced, a Merom upgraded Mac Mini may be a wolf in sheeps clothing. This also boads well for those of us with an intel imac. 3 years from now when Applecare is up, a cheap processor upgrade can be done to get even more life out of our machines.

Update: Just found the same post in the Mac Mini forum on these boards so sorry for the duplicate but more people may see it here. Also, here is the link to Macenstein who has some detailed benchmarks : Link

kaidomac · Jun 14, 2006

I got antsy

techster82 · Jun 14, 2006

kaidomac said:
I got antsy

bad link kaido.

kaidomac · Jun 14, 2006

techster82 said:
bad link kaido.

fixed, thanks. forgot it sometimes doesn't like certain referrers

coach_z · Jun 14, 2006

i dont think i would call him a hacker, but that looks like good news!!!

i wonder how that is dealing with the heat?
-chris

kaidomac · Jun 14, 2006

coach_z said:
i dont think i would call him a hacker, but that looks like good news!!!

i wonder how that is dealing with the heat?
-chris

Just fine. There's some overall power increase based on a Kill-a-watt measurement from the wall (A/C), but there haven't been any heat issues that I've heard of with either the Yonah or Merom chips. Fugger of the Xtreme Systems forums also tested out a Merom successfully.

mraya · Jun 14, 2006

[sorry, just an error]

techster82 · Jun 15, 2006

kaidomac said:
Just fine. There's some overall power increase based on a Kill-a-watt measurement from the wall (A/C), but there haven't been any heat issues that I've heard of with either the Yonah or Merom chips. Fugger of the Xtreme Systems forums also tested out a Merom successfully.

Man I envy your little project with the Mini, looks like it is going to be a beast. If you don't mind me asking, what did the new processor set you back?

Also, are you upgrading from a core solo or a slower core duo?

kaidomac · Jun 15, 2006

techster82 said:
Man I envy your little project with the Mini, looks like it is going to be a beast. If you don't mind me asking, what did the new processor set you back?

Also, are you upgrading from a core solo or a slower core duo?

The 2ghz Core Duo was about $320 shipped from Newegg; the prices really dropped recently because the Meroms are coming soon. Decent price for the chip. I am upgrading from the 1.5ghz Core Solo chip. Later I will be adding a 10,000rpm hard drive and a full-size 16x 5.25" DVD burner, I'll post when I'm finished with it. Waiting for the Meroms to come out before I start that project

techster82 · Jun 15, 2006

kaidomac said:
The 2ghz Core Duo was about $320 shipped from Newegg; the prices really dropped recently because the Meroms are coming soon. Decent price for the chip. I am upgrading from the 1.5ghz Core Solo chip. Later I will be adding a 10,000rpm hard drive and a full-size 16x 5.25" DVD burner, I'll post when I'm finished with it. Waiting for the Meroms to come out before I start that project

Is there a notebook 10,000rpm hard drive out there? And I am guessing you are adding a firewire external burner?

Also, don't know if you would be interested but there are a few guys selling Merom processors over at notebookforums.com in the $400-$500 range.

coltssaturday · Jun 15, 2006

I already posted this one. Techster82 follow your avatar. Kidding.

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36263

D3v1L80Y · Jun 15, 2006

coach_z said:
i dont think i would call him a hacker,

Yeah, I LOVE how that word gets tossed around sometimes.

*rolls eyes*

kaidomac · Jun 15, 2006

techster82 said:
Is there a notebook 10,000rpm hard drive out there? And I am guessing you are adding a firewire external burner?

Also, don't know if you would be interested but there are a few guys selling Merom processors over at notebookforums.com in the $400-$500 range.

Nope, none that are SATA, at least. I'm hacking the Mini into a full-sized tower case (G4 Quicksilver case, actually). The drives are both full-size, will both be connected directly to the SATA and ATA busses, and will run off an ATX power supply. Right now I have a dual power switch design setup but I want to run it off a single switch (Mini + drives off the PSU). Still working on that problem as well as waiting for the Merom.

You got a link to the Merom for sale post? I'm betting it's an engineering sample and probably a 2.16ghz chip based on what I've seen before. If it's a 2.33ghz non-ES Merom I'd definately be interested! Also, what forum sections do you frequent over there? I'm a regular in the Gateway section

techster82 · Jun 15, 2006

D3v1L80Y said:
Yeah, I LOVE how that word gets tossed around sometimes.

*rolls eyes*

Yeah he isnt a hacker, hes a modder. I copied the text from Macrumors and thats who deemed him a hacker.

Kaidomac, the meroms for sale were 2.16ghz engineering samples. There was one for $475 that is now sold. I will keep my eyes open for the other model.

kaidomac · Jun 15, 2006

techster82 said:
Yeah he isnt a hacker, hes a modder. I copied the text from Macrumors and thats who deemed him a hacker.

Kaidomac, the meroms for sale were 2.16ghz engineering samples. There was one for $475 that is now sold. I will keep my eyes open for the other model.

Don't worry about notifying me; I have a 2ghz Core Duo sitting on my desk begging to be installed tonight

My plan is to enjoy the chip along with Parallels for the next couple of months until the Meroms are released, then to buy a 2.33ghz Merom with a 4mb l2 cache when the initial price drops to a more reasonable amount. Once that happens I'll pick up a nice Raptor hard drive and start modding my tower case

techster82 · Jun 15, 2006

You have got me thinking about picking up a Core Solo mini and doing some upgrades. I will have to wait till processor prices come down though. Keep us updated as to how the install goes.

kaidomac · Jun 15, 2006

techster82 said:
You have got me thinking about picking up a Core Solo mini and doing some upgrades. I will have to wait till processor prices come down though. Keep us updated as to how the install goes.

Will do! If the upgrade is as easy as I think it's going to be, I'll make a video tutorial of it too. There are four basic internal upgrades you can do to an Intel Mini:

1. Processor (Core Solo, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo)
2. Ram (Up to 2 gigs; uses 667mhz sodimms)
3. Hard drive (2.5" SATA; 4200, 5400, 7200rpm; capacities currently up to 200gb)
4. Optical drive (12.7mm slimline; 8x dual-layer CD/DVD burners available)

Assuming you're picking up a base Intel Mini with the 1.5ghz Core Solo chip, you're looking about about $1,300 for this setup. For the same price you can buy the 17" iMac with a 1.83ghz Core Duo but only 512mb ram. The advantage is you get an integrated 17" widescreen plus a 128mb x1600 video card, as well as a 160gb hard drive. If you're looking into a cost-effective solution, this probably isn't it. However, if you want to start out cheap and do incremental upgrades, the Mini is a nice option. Also, you can use any display up to 1920x1080 (such as a 24" Dell LCD) and also upgrade the processor pretty easily (nice for adding a powerful Merom down the road). Not to mention the Mini has a nice small size. There are some tradeoffs with either route. Personally I chose to go with the Mini because I love the compact form factor and I didn't want to have a spare 17" sitting on my desk (I don't like dual displays). I also didn't need the nicer video card that the iMac has. Food for thought