Mac Mini Merom upgrade success

[reeses]

http://www.astrogoth.com/files/about_this_merom.gif

I upgraded my Mac Mini to a Merom T7200 2.0Ghz 4MB L2 Core 2 Duo (that's a lot to type) today and posted some early benchmarks and experiences. Regular applications are slightly faster, but I haven't done anything hardcore such as encoding HDTV to h.264 or any video editing yet. Fan noise is definitely a bigger issue now than it was before, but I don't know how much is due to cramming in a 20% faster CPU with more transistors and how much is due to the 10.4.8 OS upgrade.

I have some quick benchmarks and more description at http://www.astrogoth.com/mac-mini-merom-upgrade-success-finally-or-do-i-speak-too-soon

:woot:

[afireinside]

Firefox (with its multiple windows with 30-70 tabs each)

Holy crap dude why do you have 70 pages at once?

[reeses]

Because if I'm reading an article, I'll hit "open in new tab" for any interesting looking links. Unfortunately, my eyes are bigger than my stomach and I don't get around to reading them as fast as I should. The bathtub fills up faster than the drain lets it out. :-)

[ugp]

Nice work. Only if the CPUs in MacBooks could be upgraded as well. That would be awesome then.

[lowfat]

A merom only puts 4 more watts of heat than a yonah.. it shouldb't be much louder..

did you try resetting the SMC? It is what controls the fan speeds.

[reeses]

I just did the Apple trick of putting on too much heatsink goo and closing it back up. Problem, umm, solved?

I must have missed something when reconnecting everything the last time, and got it right this time, but it's definitely quieter. I put a smoke alarm near it just in case. ;>

[Choppaface]

Does the T7600 (2.33ghz) work as well? I forgot which chip Fugger tried... is there any hardware limitation on which Merom chips will work or should any Merom book OK?

oh, and do you have the latest firmware or did you have to stay with the original version?

I've got my 1.5 solo mini running on a Raptor X right now (damn that drive is fast!!), can't wait to get a T7600 if it'll work.

[Charles Wirth]

Good job, I did this upgrade back in March.

There is a connector next to the battery at the front of the machine. If that connector is left off the fan will run at high speed.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=91459

[ShootStraight]

Does the T7600 (2.33ghz) work as well? I forgot which chip Fugger tried... is there any hardware limitation on which Merom chips will work or should any Merom book OK?

oh, and do you have the latest firmware or did you have to stay with the original version?

I've got my 1.5 solo mini running on a Raptor X right now (damn that drive is fast!!), can't wait to get a T7600 if it'll work.

I can verify that all manner of Merom C2D work very nicely with the mini. I believe it didnt matter which version of firmware. Just drop and lock.

Happy T7600 hunting.:)

-SS

[flavoraid]

how are these mac minis for overall use?

they got junkie onboard video but what does that effect other than gaming?

id wanna look into getting virtual turntables (music files on the mac mini) and the tables spin as normal but there is no vinal. and then cleaning up sound files like guitar booboos if someone hits the wrong string and what not.

Photoshop, video encoding..

[Iverieli]

Good job, I did this upgrade back in March.

There is a connector next to the battery at the front of the machine. If that connector is left off the fan will run at high speed.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=91459

You are the man. :) I saw months ago your thread and it helped me to do same. I did it two days ago and now have Mac mini Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz with 2GB DDR2 5300 memory. Mac mini runs fast and fine. I did disconect small connector and fan was so loud. Thats not better way to cooling. Then I found some small application "smc-0.001". You can change fan speed from 1500 to 4000 and manage it. My mac's fan now rans 3500 and the temperature is stable on 43C. Thats cool.

If somebody knows better way for fans please write down.

[Vapor]

smc apps are, by a landslide, the best and easiest way to control the fan speed :)

[apt403]

Nice work. Only if the CPUs in MacBooks could be upgraded as well. That would be awesome then.

i would kill to be able to do that, your looking at a post typed with a core duo macbook, stock black one.

[STEvil]

whats your heatsink look like? Put a T7400 in my laptop and running TAT I can push it over 95c easily. No GPU load (x1800 mobile).

[elec999]

Did you by any chance add some as5. Is the fan way louder then before.
Thanks