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mini core solo to merom upgrade ;)

4JNA

4JNA

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 8, 2006
1,505
1
looking for trash files
well, my T7200 core 2 duo retail cpu just arrived this afternoon, and i spent the last 2 hours or so installing new parts in my core solo base model mini. installed the cpu, 2gb of memory, a UJ-845S superdrive, and a 7200rpm 100gb sata hard drive. :D

not an easy upgrade. lots of really small wires and connectors to remove to get the drive/fan frame off. also needed to take the motherboard out of the base to remove the cpu heatsink. be VERY careful removing the heatsink, as the temp sensor is glued to the bottom of it! the cpu socket is just like any laptop socket, and can be 'opened' and 'closed' with a flat blade screwdriver. the core solo chip and the new core 2 have a really different looking silicon top, so needed to scrape the old compound off the heatsink as it would not have 'matched' the original pad install. used some artic silver 5 when i installed the heatsink. holding the heatsink steady and pushing in the mount pins was a bit of a trick!

so. works! booted right up. no changes/firmware/anything other than removing and installing hardware. 'about' now showing '2Ghz Intel Core 2 CPU T7200'. and now shows 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM. sweet :)

temps have been in the high 40's and low/mid 50's (C) so far. just running update, surfing, etc. going to wait a couple days for the artic silver to complete the thermal bond before running any real benchmarks. right away though... it's fast. really fast. makes using my dual 1.8 G5 seems slow for a 'how it feels' benchmark. and quiet. same as the core solo as far as noise, but will see when i start with the benchmarks.

bootcamp and xp pro are next. will post pictures and benchmarks later. if anyone has benchmark ideas or requests, please let me know and i will try and add them to the list...

peace.
 
Wow, that's awesome. I'm waiting for Core 2 Duo prices to come down a bit before I do my upgrade, but it's nice to see others having success with theirs!

Congratulations on the (on the insides) new machine!
 
Glad to hear it all works. I'm planning a very similar upgrade to my core solo,
but I've been waiting for confirmation that retail Meroms work properly, as all the previous upgrades seem to have been with pre-release engineering samples.

Have you tried any of the Core Duo monitoring utlities that report how the chip is being throttted down in clock speed ?

I've seen speculation that some of the power saving features on Merom are a little different to Yonah, and may not work quite as well/intended in a system with a Firmware/BIOS setup for a Yonah.

I was thinking 2GB, no DVD burner upgrade, Merom T7200, external drive in a SATA enclosure - still need to figure out how to get the internal SATA port ouside as neatly as possible ...
 
Faraday said:
Have you tried any of the Core Duo monitoring utlities that report how the chip is being throttted down in clock speed ?

I was thinking 2GB, no DVD burner upgrade, Merom T7200, external drive in a SATA enclosure - still need to figure out how to get the internal SATA port ouside as neatly as possible ...
Click to expand...

i would love a link/name if you have one. found coreduotemp for the temp monitoring, but this is the only intel mac i have, so not really up on the intel apps yet...:rolleyes:

also wonder about the power management, but as far as i can tell from the mouse end, it all seems good so far. sleep and deep sleep work the same as with the solo chip.

dreaming about ways to route cables when i had it apart, and i am planning to lose the lock slot and route/mount the eSATA connector in that area. didn't really see any other space or place to put anything. really well packed little computer!

into mods, and wondering about this motherboard in a different case. there is some really wild air management going on in there. also some cooling required on both sides of the motherboard. the push-pin heatsink could be replaced, but haven't found any retail socket 479 stuff that would fit yet, so more custom work there also. lots of things to dream about tonight i guess...:rolleyes:

chip was $312 for the T7200, 4mb cache. faster didn't seem like a good value, and slower didn't make any sense as a core duo pull would have been less, so 2ghz it is. the core solo and original memory are already in a barebones laptop, and working well. nice way to sell off the old parts.

pics later if i get a chance. mac/geek pr0n :p
 
pics. lots of take apart guides already out there. used one myself, but took quick pics of the new stuff... now just trying to decide if i should put the core 2 sticker on the front, and maybe a 'built for vista'... :eek:

P1010012.jpg

P1010010.jpg

P1010005.jpg

P1010006.jpg


and a couple of screen grabs just for fun.

Picture 1.png

Picture 2.png
 
Sweet thread, I would like more pictures. Apple should really offer more CPU & GPU options for Mini. Waiting to see some benches. Looks to me like its better to get a old solo & upgrade vs going after a new 1.83 coreduo. 2.0 Core2Duo should rev the heck out of the GMA 950. Congrats & thanks for sharing.:)
 
Dont Hurt Me said:
I wonder where that GMA 950 chipset is? backside of the motherboard?
Click to expand...

seems to be the chip beside the cpu socket under the smaller black 'slope' heatsink. chip on the backside was intel, and about the same size, but didn't have enough cooling to be the chipset. will take a pic when i pull it apart again.

the backside cooling solution is one of the 'pink rubber' pads that is stuck to the bottom metal shield. really similar to the old g4/sawtooth/backside thing. air coming into the case from the bottom slots is drawn over the metal shield, across the memory/chipset heatsink, into the cpu fan, and then blown out the back. reallllly trick layout.

Dont Hurt Me said:
... I would like more pictures.
Click to expand...

of what? i've a crappy camera, am a photo 'hack', but if you want something specific i will give it a go when it comes apart again...
 
Dont Hurt Me said:
You need to start running some tests, games, benches whatever.
Click to expand...

starting to run stuff now, still no extended stuff, but ran xbench and found someone with a T7400 to compare it to. results HERE.

edit: did more looking and found stock core sole to compare to here.

xp installed without a problem. hardware profile showing both cores. screen grab attached.

will start loading games/bench programs tommorow. still running 40s/50s (C) for temps. saw a high of 67 on the xbench run. still silent. or at least i can't hear it over the other computers in the room...:rolleyes:

XP cpu.JPG
 
4JNA said:
will start loading games/bench programs tommorow. still running 40s/50s (C) for temps. saw a high of 67 on the xbench run. still silent. or at least i can't hear it over the other computers in the room...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

That's great news. My Core Solo idles in the upper 50's, and under 100% load will stay at around 78-79 degrees. Good to know that the added speed increase won't come at the cost of hotter-running components.
 
games...

not a WoW fan, but downloaded the 10 day trial. running around outside i am getting 58-60 fps. inside/busy scenes drop some. have seen a low of 38, but again, not a player, so take this for what it's worth.

farcry. loves me some farcry. demo loop on 800x600 all low is showing 285 fps, all medium is 268 fps, and high is 247 fps. smooth, and fairly good render/texture. playing the game on 800 x 600 all low is smooth, but having a weird problem where the ground/texture is all blue. hard to tell the water from the ground. other than that, plays great! higher resolution does cause some stutter, and is not much fun to play. higher video settings also cause some problems.

so more actual benchmarks when i get time. as a side note, the artic silver 5 seems to have set, as i am getting lower temps after several days of running. now idle/low use is 42-48 C, and benchmarks/games run the temp into the 62-65 C degree range. running for 3 days at near 100% cpu usage (folding) with no problems. sweet, fast, and quiet. what else is there?!
 
Looks like the mini is MUCH easier to upgrade then the iMac. I have the service manual too. =3

I'll have to look into buying a used/refurbished Core Solo to upgrade and tinker with. Nice benchmarks on that GMA950 too.
 
Hi,

I picked up a 1.5ghz solo cheap used, and want to upgrade the CPU to a Duo. Is the socket 478 or 479? A search of forums doesn't reveal too much of a consensus. The Intel website says that the Core 2 and Core Duo's are available in both 478 and 479 pin varieties.

I looked up the serial# shown in the photos for the T7200 shown in the pics in this thread and the Intel site says it's a 478 pin. However, a lot of information says that the socket is 479. What gives?



TIA.
 
Aviron said:
Hi,

I picked up a 1.5ghz solo cheap used, and want to upgrade the CPU to a Duo. Is the socket 478 or 479? A search of forums doesn't reveal too much of a consensus. The Intel website says that the Core 2 and Core Duo's are available in both 478 and 479 pin varieties.

I looked up the serial# shown in the photos for the T7200 shown in the pics in this thread and the Intel site says it's a 478 pin. However, a lot of information says that the socket is 479. What gives?



TIA.
Click to expand...
Here's a comparison:

mobile_pins.jpg


Note the difference in the pins.
 
Thanks for the pics Bill, but I'm still confused.

Honestly, I picked up a T2500 cheap too and according to the serial# it has 478 pins. The Intel site says that the T2500 is available in 478 and 479 pin packages. It's also still in transit... so I don't have it on hand.

Did I pick up the wrong version (478 pin) of the T2500?

Thanks!
 
Aviron said:
Thanks for the pics Bill, but I'm still confused.

Honestly, I picked up a T2500 cheap too and according to the serial# it has 478 pins. The Intel site says that the T2500 is available in 478 and 479 pin packages. It's also still in transit... so I don't have it on hand.

Did I pick up the wrong version (478 pin) of the T2500?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
You're fine. The codenames (Yonah/Merom & Core Duo/Core 2 Duo) seem to be more reliable then pin number listings. I've seen sites list 478 and 479 pin for them. :rolleyes:

http://guides.macrumors.com/Yonah

http://guides.macrumors.com/Core_2_Duo
 
The thing is that there are TWO available versions of both the Yonah and Merom CPU's. Checkout this link:

http://processorfinder.intel.com/list.aspx?ProcFam=2278

I wound up getting a SL8VP with 478 pins, but there IS a SL8VT with 479.

The pics shown of the Core2Duo in this thread show a 478 pin CPU. But from what I gather from staring at the pic of the socket is that its 479! This leads to my confusion.

Andrew
 
Aviron said:
The thing is that there are TWO available versions of both the Yonah and Merom CPU's. Checkout this link:

http://processorfinder.intel.com/list.aspx?ProcFam=2278

I wound up getting a SL8VP with 478 pins, but there IS a SL8VT with 479.

The pics shown of the Core2Duo in this thread show a 478 pin CPU. But from what I gather from staring at the pic of the socket is that its 479! This leads to my confusion.

Andrew
Click to expand...
The pin difference seems to be based on a a variant of Speedstep vs. Halt State. Seriously, just go with Socket M. This pin variant crap is annoying.
 
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