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Intel Mac mini CPU madness - how (s)low can you go?

Amethyst1

Amethyst1

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...'cause upgrading is boring :p

argh2.JPG
argh1.JPG


This is the slowest socketed CPU the original Intel mini can take.

I've got a couple of other CPUs sitting here/coming in the following days I'll be torturing this little guy with.
 
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LightBulbFun

LightBulbFun

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Amethyst1 said:
...'cause upgrading is boring :p

View attachment 924994 View attachment 924995

This is the slowest socketed CPU the original Intel mini can take.

I've got a couple of other CPUs sitting here/coming in the following days I'll be torturing this little guy with.
Click to expand...

neat stuff! I have often seen slow/whacky CPUs like that and wondered how they would fair in a real mac :)

I want to see a Celeron 445 in a Mac Pro LOL
 
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rampancy

rampancy

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1.46 GHz? I didn't know Intel even made Core Solos that slow. I thought 1.83 Ghz was the lowest they ever went.
 
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MultiFinder17

MultiFinder17

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rampancy said:
1.46 GHz? I didn't know Intel even made Core Solos that slow. I thought 1.83 Ghz was the lowest they ever went.
Click to expand...
Nope! Apple actually put a 1.5GHz Core Solo into the low end original intel mini. I got one of these from a recycle pile a few years back. First thing I did was upgrade the firmware and stick a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo into it for a zippy little machine!

Mac mini "Core Solo" 1.5 Specs (Early 2006, MA205LL/A, Macmini1,1, A1176, 2108): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the Mac mini "Core Solo" 1.5. Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.
everymac.com everymac.com

Part of me has always wanted to stick the Core Solo I pulled from it into my Core Duo iMac just for shiggles...
 
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Anonymous Freak

Anonymous Freak

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I wonder if it would work with a same-generation Celeron 215 which runs at 1.33 GHz, and has 1/4 the cache of the Core Solo...

Or if you want to go whole-hog nutso, solder the BGA Celeron M ULV 423 to a Socket-M adapter and run at a whopping 1.07 GHz!
[automerge]1592541245[/automerge]
rampancy said:
Though I don't think anything could possibly top danamania installing Panther on a Centris 650.
Click to expand...

So what I'm hearing is that I need to install NetBSD on a Macintosh II, run PearPC on that, then run an x86 emulator on *THAT* to boot Catalina?

(You know, I do already have NetBSD running on an SE/30 with 128 MB of RAM and a SCSI2SD adapter...)
 
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Amethyst1

Amethyst1

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rampancy said:
1.46 GHz? I didn't know Intel even made Core Solos that slow. I thought 1.83 Ghz was the lowest they ever went.
Click to expand...

It's not even a full-blown Core Solo - a Celeron has a slower FSB, half the L2 cache and lacks SpeedStep and VT-x.
[automerge]1592552254[/automerge]
Anonymous Freak said:
I wonder if it would work with a same-generation Celeron 215 which runs at 1.33 GHz, and has 1/4 the cache of the Core Solo...
Click to expand...

The 215 was only available soldered to the Intel D201GLY board as far as I'm aware - and Snow Leopard does run on that one, albeit barely. Although if you're going down the Hackintosh route, you might as well throw OS X onto some ~2008 Atom netbook and end up with an even slower machine :p Or the original EwwwwwwPC eeePC with its ~600 MHz Celeron?

Anonymous Freak said:
Or if you want to go whole-hog nutso, solder the BGA Celeron M ULV 423 to a Socket-M adapter and run at a whopping 1.07 GHz!
Click to expand...

I'd go for the Merom-based 933 MHz 523, it should be even slower :)

That being said, I have run Tiger on a 1.07 GHz Core 2 Duo U7500 and it wasn't bad.
 
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Amethyst1

Amethyst1

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MultiFinder17 said:
Nope! Apple actually put a 1.5GHz Core Solo into the low end original intel mini.
Click to expand...

And it was the only machine out there that had the 1.5 GHz one. Others used the 1.66 or faster versions, although I haven't seen a 1.83 or 2.0 anywhere yet.
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DearthnVader said:
So this is what we are down to now, making the slowest Macs we can :mad:
Click to expand...
Better than having it just collect dust.

--- EDIT ---​

MultiFinder17 said:
Part of me has always wanted to stick the Core Solo I pulled from it into my Core Duo iMac just for shiggles...
Click to expand...

I want to do this on a 2006 24" iMac - that would be a unique machine :D
 
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LightBulbFun

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Amethyst1 said:
Although if you're going down the Hackintosh route, you might as well throw OS X onto some ~2008 Atom netbook and end up with an even slower machine :p
Click to expand...

not sure if I ever posted it here, but I did just that a little while ago LOL (now @dosdude1 and @parrotgeek1 got 10.7.5 booting on 32bit only machines I should try hack Lion onto it for maximum misery)

IMG_0174 4.JPG

[automerge]1592589647[/automerge]
just managed to upload its GB result too :)

Asus 1005HA Hackintosh - Geekbench

Benchmark results for a MacBook1,1 with an Intel Atom N270 processor.
browser.geekbench.com

tried to at the time but it failed for some reason
 
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Amethyst1

Amethyst1

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LightBulbFun said:
not sure if I ever posted it here, but I did just that a little while ago LOL
Click to expand...

I ran Snow Leopard on a Dell Mini 9 - same Atom N270 - aeons ago. :) For a while, it was a family member's main machine until that person got an iPad (it was for websurfing only).

And I sure as hell am going to try coaxing Lion onto that Celeron Mac mini of mine :p

Edit: I also briefly played with Leopard on the first Atom mainboard to ever hit the streets - here's my decade-old thread on that oddball thingy for the LOLs

Received the Intel D945GCLF - SPCR

silentpcreview.com silentpcreview.com
 
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dosdude1

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LightBulbFun said:
not sure if I ever posted it here, but I did just that a little while ago LOL (now @dosdude1 and @parrotgeek1 got 10.7.5 booting on 32bit only machines I should try hack Lion onto it for maximum misery)

View attachment 925250
[automerge]1592589647[/automerge]
just managed to upload its GB result too :)

Asus 1005HA Hackintosh - Geekbench

Benchmark results for a MacBook1,1 with an Intel Atom N270 processor.
browser.geekbench.com

tried to at the time but it failed for some reason
Click to expand...
This is the best slow Hackintosh, with a 1.2 GHz Core Solo U1400.

image.jpeg
 
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Project Alice

Project Alice

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Amethyst1 said:
...'cause upgrading is boring :p

View attachment 924994 View attachment 924995

This is the slowest socketed CPU the original Intel mini can take.

I've got a couple of other CPUs sitting here/coming in the following days I'll be torturing this little guy with.
Click to expand...
I’ve always been curious as to how a Core Solo fairs against a PPC. You should run some tests. Lol
 
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