Overclock 1.6MBA to 1.8?

[kntgsp]

Hadn't really given it much thought, and I realize overclockers are persona non grata with Apple, but is there anyway to overclock the MBA? The price difference between the 1.6 and 1.8 (when both have the SSD) is $200 USD. So that's $200 for a few hundred Mhz, which amounts to just a double digit FSB bump.


Seeing as the 1.6 and 1.8 models appear to be identical chips with different clocks....(unless I'm missing something)

There were some tools released a few months ago for Mac Pros and XServes: Engadget

Heat dissipation wouldn't be an issue since everything else is the same.

Curious to see if anyone has seen any way to do this?

 

[mhnajjar]

What are you going to gain from the extra 0.2?

 

[ayeying]

There's no reason why you can't, but there isn't an overclocking tool available for the air.

 

[Apple Ink]

Both the posts above are very true!

To add... getting the processor up will also escalate the heat production.... and considering the MBA's marvelous Heat dissipation rolleyes..... its dangerous!

 

[nanofrog]

I'm not aware of any over clocking software for Apple laptops.
The ZDNet Clock 1.0 would be nice, but, as you know, won't work for the machine you want.

Other members may be able to give a better idea if the extra $600 for the speed increase is worth it or not.

 

[aleni]

lol. i used coolbook to underclock this machine to 800mhz only to get better battery life and to avoid the annoying core shutdown.

you want to overclock this machine that the temp is really hot?

 

[Phil A.]

Hadn't really given it much thought, and I realize overclockers are persona non grata with Apple, but is there anyway to overclock the MBA? The price difference between the 1.6 and 1.8 (when both have the SSD) is $600 USD. So that's $600 for a few hundred Mhz, which amounts to just a double digit FSB bump.

Where did you get that price difference from? The difference between HDD and SSD is $599, but the difference between 1.6 and 1.8 is only $200 on the Apple Store

 

[DoFoT9]

goodluck OC'ing it using EFI.

there are no OC'ing tools for mac that i know of (have looked).

 

[nanofrog]

ZDNet Clock 1.0 will work for Mac Pro and XServe.

 

[DoFoT9]

ZDNet Clock 1.0 will work for Mac Pro and XServe.

lol dude this is a MBA....wonder if it would work

 

[nanofrog]

Wouldn't bet on it.
From your post, I had the impression you were unaware of any over clocking tools for Mac.
Since they've developed this one to great fanfare, perhaps now other versions might be developed for other Macs.

 

[DoFoT9]

Wouldn't bet on it.
From your post, I had the impression you were unaware of any over clocking tools for Mac.
Since they've developed this one to great fanfare, perhaps now other versions might be developed for other Macs.

oi!!!

no need to be a smartarse now is there.

your post is useless cauz its not what the OP is after, so wer even now

 

[nanofrog]

oi!!!

no need to be a smartarse now is there.

your post is useless cauz its not what the OP is after, so wer even now

Why not? It's so fun!

 

[DoFoT9]

Why not? It's so fun!

haha i know, guess i cant stop ya can i.

 

[ayeying]

That tool won't work on the MBA, tried it. lol.

Furthermore, the extra 0.2GHz won't get you anywhere. If you OC it to 2.0, then we're talking, but at that point, your fan would be running more then a core shutdown plagued air.

 

[.product]

The people asking about what the 200MHz bump will do for you don't understand the spirit of OCing. It's about (stably) extracting the maximum potential from your hardware.

 

[ayeying]

The people asking about what the 200MHz bump will do for you don't understand the spirit of OCing. It's about (stably) extracting the maximum potential from your hardware.

Stability is what the company gives out. Any OC would be some loss in stability.

 

[kntgsp]

The people asking about what the 200MHz bump will do for you don't understand the spirit of OCing. It's about (stably) extracting the maximum potential from your hardware.

Thank you. A lot of posters seem to completely miss the point.

And regarding the heat dissipation? Why would that be an issue? If there are BTO 1.8's, then it should be able to handle the TDP just fine. The only place heat comes into play is how much more heat you gain by increasing the multi by 1x vs how much heat you gain by increasing the FSB by 25Mhz.

Anywho, after a bit of Googling, it appears the only difference between the two chips is a higher multiplier, and not FSB, so to raise the frequency you'd need to up the FSB. They are identical chips.

But it doesn't necessarily mean it couldn't be done. The FSB on the Macbook Air is 200Mhz. Hence 1.6Ghz with the 8x multi and 1.8Ghz with the 9x multi.

That means you'd need to bump the FSB to 225Mhz to up the 1.6 to 1.8Ghz since the multiplier is locked.

So that is the main question, whether or not the thermal design of the Macbook Air could accomodate 225Mhz FSB in terms of heat dissipation. The answer is prrrrobably no, but doesn't necessarily mean no. 25Mhz in increase in FSB isn't THAT much. And yes I do realize we are dealing with a much smaller form factor, but there hasn't been much in terms of research of overclocking things this thin.

If it was possible without adding too much heat, then you'd effectively have a 1.8Ghz MBA for the price of a 1.6, which is a big deal. Save yourself a few hundred bucks.

It's the same difference between a Q9650 and a Q9550. Same processors, one is just higher binned and gets a higher multi. But most of it is just marketing garbage.

 

[kntgsp]

Where did you get that price difference from? The difference between HDD and SSD is $599, but the difference between 1.6 and 1.8 is only $200 on the Apple Store

My mistake I was accidentally looking at the SSD section.

He is correct, it is $200. Post corrected.

 

[.product]

Stability is what the company gives out. Any OC would be some loss in stability.

In order for Apple to produce stable products they have to build buffers into their settings. The hardware settings supplied are NOT tuned for the parameters of your individual hardware, but rather work stably on average across all the line. This is what you exploit when you OC.

The emphasis is on STABILITY. If it isn't stable, it's a useless OC.