How to upgrade my A1261

[Michael.S]

Hi,

I have recently acquired a
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2008)
2,5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 512 MB

and have been running El Capitan but just switched to High Sierra using dosdude1's patcher.

Two thoughts here:

1. As I a running a mechanical drive here the first thing is to switch to a SSD.
Have not decided which size to go with.
I want also put Linux and WIN on it, so 256 my be a little too small for it. Maybe a 512GB would fit the bill but I also don't want to spend alltoo much money on it.

Have been thinking of a CRUCIAL BX500 or MX500. The first one is cheaper while the latter promises to be more reliable.
Also don't know which size to go with.

Or maybe some other brand that I don't know yet?

What are your thoughts on this?

2. The a1261 has a Penryn CPU inside. It can eat 6GB of RAM max based on it's hardware limits.
Appearently it HAS to be a 667MHz DDR2 RAM otherwise it won't work at all. So I can't use any 800 MHz DDR2 for it.
Single 4GB 667 MHz RAM sticks are not that cheap so I ask myself it 2GB extra would make that much of a difference (have 4GB now).

Or would it suffice to replace the SSD to improve the experience?

Thanks for all serious answers.

 

[eyoungren]

What are your thoughts on this?

I have a rule for myself. If I am replacing a HD or SSD the capacity must match or exceed the capacity of the drive being replaced. That's just what I do. It's never failed me though because I've always had the extra capacity when I needed it.

My Mini and my MBP both have 512GB SSDs and my MacPro has a 1TB SSD.

So I guess what I am suggesting is, it's always better to have more than to discover that you do not have enough.

 

[Amethyst1]

An SSD upgrade is definitely well worth it. I use 240GB Crucial BX500s in both my 2007 MBPs — each have three or four versions of macOS on them plus a separate partition for data.

As for whether 6 GB RAM is worth the premium over 4 GB: I’d consider 4 GB a usable minimum — but with e.g. websites being resource-intensive, the more the better also has some merit.

 

[Michael.S]

I have a rule for myself. If I am replacing a HD or SSD the capacity must match or exceed the capacity of the drive being replaced. That's just what I do. It's never failed me though because I've always had the extra capacity when I needed it.

My Mini and my MBP both have 512GB SSDs and my MacPro has a 1TB SSD.

So I guess what I am suggesting is, it's always better to have more than to discover that you do not have enough.

Good point mate.
Didn't think of that one.

 

[Michael.S]

As for whether 6 GB RAM is worth the premium over 4, I’d consider 4 the usable minimum but with e.g. websites being resource-intensive, the more, the better.

Yes, I fugured that the web browser (using safari and opera) take some time to handle the stuff, but didn't think that could be due to the "small" memory".

 

[Amethyst1]

Yes, I fugured that the web browser (using safari and opera) take some time to handle the stuff, but didn't think that could be due to the "small" memory".

You can check how much RAM the browser is using in Activity Monitor. Try watching this while doing your normal browsing.
You can also check how much of the CPU is gobbled up by the browser.

Does your machine have a working battery?

 

[Michael.S]

You can check how much RAM the browser is using in Activity Monitor. Try watching this while doing your normal browsing.

You're right. I haven't thought about that. Will check.

Does your machine have a working battery?

It's an 3rd party aftermarket one but it works. Yes?
Why'd you ask?

You can also check how much of the CPU is gobbled up by the browser.

How do I look that one up?

 

[Amethyst1]

How do I look that one up?

Activity Monitor’s CPU tab. Check how much load is caused by the browser.

It's an 3rd party aftermarket one but it works. Yes?
Why'd you ask?

MacBooks forcibly underclock the CPU to 1 GHz if the battery is dead or missing.

 

[Aoligei]

This fresh booted MacOS Catalina with only two browser tabs open. 3.36GB has already been used. I won't call 4GB RAM is useable at this stage.

Also if your MacBook comes with 4GB RAM, it most likely would be 2x2GB, so any RAM upgrade would require purchase of 4GB RAM. So it will depends on what kind of things you want to do with this MacBook. If you are just going to browsing few website or watching videos and can be put up with only run one or two application at once, then i think 4GB is still sufficient. However, for me 8GB is sweet spot. If Apple is selling new MacBooks left and rights with 8GB of RAM, 8GB should be enough.

With regarding to hard drive, i wouldn't spend my money on 500GB SSD. I think 250GB is enough, even if you consider do Windows and Linux. At this point 500GB SSD is probably more expensive than 2008 MacBook Pro (Yes, i recently got a 2009 13" MacBook Pro for $40 and 15" 2009 MacBook Pro for $100). I would recommend to take out the SuperDrive and put additional HDD for additional storage need. This is essentially what i did for all my unibody MacBook Pros.

 

[Amethyst1]

If Apple is selling new MacBooks left and rights with 8GB of RAM, 8GB should be enough.

Some Macs have in the past come with very low amounts of base RAM. For instance, in early 2005 the base iBook and Mac mini were sold with just 256 MB, which wasn't nearly enough. Nonetheless, I agree that 8 GB is still OK for most uses these days.

 

[Aoligei]

Activity Monitor’s CPU tab. Check how much load is caused by the browser.


MacBooks forcibly underclock the CPU to 1 GHz if the battery is dead or missing.

How will that affect Windows installation. Will CPU also be underclocked to 1GHz?

 

[Amethyst1]

How will that affect Windows installation. Will CPU also be underclocked to 1GHz?

Since it’s done by firmware: yes. But maybe you can override it in the power management settings; there are options for CPU speed.

 

[Michael.S]

I found an old 64 GB SSD in my old black macbook and installed it in the A1261 to try out how big the speed difference would be.

Well, I have to say I am REALLY impressed.
The whole system was really sluggish before now it is really snappy.

But what is really strange:
I needed to replace the RAM as it was not recognized anymore (3 beeps at start = failed memory integrity check, then after swapping the banks I got 1 beep = memory not recognized at all) and now I have only 2 GB instead of 4 GB. Still really snappy all the way.

 

[Amethyst1]

Just asking. I hate to be that person, but…

Are you aware of the NVIDIA GPU failures that plague 2007/2008 (non-unibody) MacBook Pros?

If your MacBook Pro doesn’t have a revised GPU — a revised GPU is indicated either by a green dot sticker on the RAM bridge or by the chip’s revision which should be “G84-603-A2” — this is a time bomb. When it fires, the system is unusable until the chip is replaced.

 

[Michael.S]

Just asking. I hate to be that person, but…

Are you aware of the NVIDIA GPU failures that plague 2007/2008 (non-unibody) MacBook Pros?

If your MacBook Pro doesn’t have a revised GPU — a revised GPU is indicated either by a green dot sticker on the RAM bridge or by the chip’s revision which should be “G84-603-A2” — this is a time bomb. When it fires, the system is unusable until the chip is replaced.

Yes, i read about the NVIDIA GPU failures on these MB Pros.

But I don't know if my MB PRO has a revised chip.
Is there a way to find out the GPU revision version?

Where is the RAM bridge located so I can check?

 

[rampancy]

Yes, i read about the NVIDIA GPU failures on these MB Pros.

But I don't know if my MB PRO has a revised chip.
Is there a way to find out the GPU revision version?

Where is the RAM bridge located so I can check?

IMO, this is the most important thing to look for before thinking of putting any significant amount time, or money into upgrading an A1261 MacBook Pro.

Basically all you need to do is remove the battery and take off the RAM shield. On the top RAM socket itself should be a small sticker in the form of a green dot. That's a symbol that Apple replaced the GPU revision with a chip that is reliable.

If you don't have one (unless you had your motherboard fixed by dosdude1), your MacBook Pro is living on borrowed time, and will eventually die from GPU failure in the near future.

 

[Michael.S]

IMO, this is the most important thing to look for before thinking of putting any significant amount time, or money into upgrading an A1261 MacBook Pro.

Basically all you need to do is remove the battery and take off the RAM shield. On the top RAM socket itself should be a small sticker in the form of a green dot. That's a symbol that Apple replaced the GPU revision with a chip that is reliable.

I‘ve found a video from dosdude1, that explains what the difference is between the revised and non revised version of the GPU.
And you can also see the green dot you mentioned:

 

[Amethyst1]

I‘ve found a video from dosdude1, that explains what the difference is between the revised and non revised version of the GPU.
And you can also see the green dot you mentioned:

Does yours have the revised GPU then?

 

[Michael.S]

According to this picture no 🙁
To be certain I would need to remove the logic board and look on the GPU itself.

Unfortunately I don’t live in the US so I won’t be able to send it to dosdude1 to replace it in case it fails.

 

[Michael.S]

But it seems I have another problem:
I just removed the ram module to take a better look and put them back again.
And now this RAM doesn’t pass the memory integrity check = 3 x beep.

Also putting other RAM modules in that suppose to work - because they were yesterday - gives the same results.

Maybe I need to clean the contacts to the RAM modules.