Other  The Early Intel Macs SuperWikiPost: a WikiPost finding aid

[B S Magnet]

 The Early Intel Macs SuperWikiPost
a WikiPost finding aid
First assembled: April 2021
Latest update: 18 September 2023


PURPOSE

Over the years, WikiPosts have aggregated an incredible brain trust of MacRumors Early Intel Macs forum members who have shared everything they know for keeping vintage Intel Macs (like Core 2 Duo and older Xeon models) running well beyond their scheduled lives.

What makes this “SuperWikiPost” different from other Early Intel Mac-related WikiPosts is it works to be a springboard for reaching all WikiPosts relevant to running an early Intel Mac with OS X/macOS — from Intel versions of Tiger through Mojave (the final version of macOS to support running legacy 32-bit applications). This makes this SuperWikiPost a meta-WikiPost of sorts: it serves to organize all early Intel-related WikiPosts in one place and to function as a finding aid or index card.

(This SuperWikiPost is similar to a related SuperWikiPost for PowerPC Macs on the PowerPC Macs forum.)

The end-hope here is this SuperWikiPost can be sticky-pinned to the Early Intel Macs forum to help anyone, either new or seasoned, to find what they’re looking for without having to do a lot of keyword-searching. As future WikiPosts are created, they may also be added to this index.


WHAT’S AN “EARLY INTEL MAC”?

An Early Intel Mac is any Mac running on Intel architecture from 2005 (i.e., the Developer Transition Kit), to a flexible, halfway point during Apple’s use of Intel architecture for their Mac models. Generally, this includes any Mac model between early 2006 and early 2013 — all preceding the wholesale adoption of T2 pre-processing chips, soldered RAM, PCIe/NVMe-only solid state storage, retina-pitch displays (with early exceptions) and Thunderbolt 2 or later.

This includes the MacBook, Macbook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Xeon Xserve, (Power Mac G5-styled) Mac Pro, and MacBook Air. (It can even include the first-generation Apple TV). All seven model lines use Core or Xeon-based CPUs co-developed in parallel by Intel (and at minimum, for the super-nerdy amongst you, rely on the x86 instruction set of at least SSE3 or later).


WHO MAY EDIT THIS META-WIKIPOST?

Just like other WikiPosts, anyone can update and make changes. If you’re unsure about formatting when adding something new, just ask the community.

Unlike other WikiPosts, additions and changes made here should be solely for adding links and descriptions to other MacRumors forum WikiPosts which help to make the care and running of early Intel Mac hardware go more smoothly.


NOTES

1. Every link below takes you to a MacRumors WikiPost.
2. All links in this hue are sticky WikiPosts in their respective forums;
   links in this hue are sticky WikiPosts on limited-access forums.
3. “Classic” Mac Pros (G5 tower-style — MacPro1,1 to MacPro5,1) and Xeon Xserves (Xserve1,1 to Xserve3,1) are included here.
4. WikiPosts within each section listed below are alphabetized.

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GETTING STARTED

A comprehensive guide for buying early Intel Macs

Operating Systems for Early Intel Macs
[overview includes Windows and Linux varieties]

FOR NEW USERS: The Startup Thread

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BROWSERS

Web browsers for early Intel Macs

Nightly 55 Web browser for Mac OS X !0.6

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RE-USE & UPCYCLE / PARTS TRADING / CLEANING & RESTORING

Cleaning plastics: Goo-Gone or Goof-Off?

Spare parts community trading thread for legacy PowerPC and Early Intel Macs
[NOTE: requires qualified member access)

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HARDWARE

DECODING SERIAL NUMBERS

Apple serials: decoding where & when hardware was assembled, 1983–2021


EXTENSIONS & UPGRADES

All known hardware component upgrades for early Intel Macs


iMAC

A1311/A1312 [iMac10,1–12,2] iMac Bluetooth 4.0 upgrade (late 2009–late 2011)

A1311/A1312 [iMac10,1–12,2] iMac CPU upgrade (late 2009–late 2011)

A1311/A1312 [iMac10,1–12,2] iMac (MXM socket) GPU upgrade thread (late 2009–late-2011)

A1311/A1312 [iMac10,1–12,2] iMac Maxwell & Pascal GPU upgrade (MXM socket) thread (late 2009–late 2011)

A1311/A1312/A1418/A1419 [iMac10,1–14,4] iMac Stock vBIOS Archive (late 2009–mid2014)

A1311/A1312 [iMac10,1–12,2] iMac upgrade to USB 3 + 802.11ac + BT 4.2 (late 2009–late 2011)

A1418/A1419 [iMac13,1–14,4] A list of successful iMac SSD upgrades, (late 2012–mid 2014)


MACBOOK, MACBOOK AIR, MAC MINI

A1176 [Macmini1,1–2,1] Maxing out the Mini: CPU upgrade guide (early 2006–mid 2007)


MACBOOK PRO

A1286/A1297 [MacBookPro8,2–8,3] Installing Ubuntu on 2011 15- and 17-inch MBPs with faulty AMD GPU

The ExpressCard/34 Thread
[for MBPs equipped with this slot, selected models 2006–2011]


MAC PRO

A1186/A1289 [MacPro1,1–5,1] Activate AMD hardware acceleration (OCLP) (2006–2012)

A1186 [MacPro3,1] NVMe Support, Upgrade Guide, and Questions (2008)

A1186/A1289 [MacPro1,1–5,1] CPU compatibility list (2006–2012)

A1186/A1289 [MacPro1,1–5,1] GPU compatibility list (2006–2012)

A1186/A1289 [MacPro1,1–5,1] PCIe SSDs [NVMe & AHCI] (2006–2012)

A1186/A1289 [MacPro3,1–5,1] PCIe SSD Adapters (2008–2012)

A1186/A1289 [MacPro1,1–5,1] NVIDIA Web Drivers FAQ (2006–2012)

A1186/A1289 [MacPro1,1–5,1] RAM compatibility list (2006–2012)

A1186/A1289 [MacPro1,1–5,1] PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD upgrade: Highpoint 7101A (2006–2012)

A1186/A1289 [MacPro1,1–5,1] USB 3.x PCIe cards for the [classic] Mac Pro

A1289 [MacPro4,1–5,1] Upgrade Guide Discussion (2009–2012)


XSERVE

A1196/A1246/A1279 [Xserve 1,1–3,1] CPU compatibility list (2006–2009)

A1196/A1246/A1279 [Xserve1,1–3,1] PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD upgrade: Highpoint 7101A (2006–2009)

A1279 [Xserve3,1] CPU upgrade guide (2009)


HACKINTOSH

The Hackintosh Thread


x86/i386 ARCHITECTURE DESIGN

Microarchitectural Data Sampling [MDS] Vulnerability information thread

A Semi-Comprehensive Guide to The Intel Management Engine and Circumvention Thereof

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U/EFI FIRMWARE (all models)

APFS ROM Patcher

iMac 2011 UEFI Firmware Mod

MacPro5,1 BootROM Thread | 144.0.0.0.0

OpenCore and the 2008 Mac Pro [MacPro3,1]

OpenCore on the Mac Pro [MacPro1,1 to MacPro5,1]

Pre-OpenCore Graphics Output Protocol (GOP) Support for EFI-era iMacs and Mac Pros

Upgrading to Mojave on MacPro5,1: BootROM upgrade instructions thread

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SOFTWARE

Arcade Games for non-Metal GPU Macs thread

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RUNTIME

Java 17 for 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks, 10.10 Yosemite, and 10.11 El Capitan

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MAC OS X/macOS

macOS 11.x BIG SUR;
macOS 12.x MONTEREY;
macOS 13.x VENTURA;
macOS 14.x SONOMA
[NOTE: Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, and Sonoma are unsupported officially; they can be installed to run on several — though not all —
2008–2013 C2D/Xeon/early Core iX Macs with the OpenCore Legacy Patcher project, as well as on most, post-2013, Late Intel Macs]

macOS 14.0 Sonoma on Unsupported Macs Thread

macOS 13.0 Ventura on Unsupported Macs Thread

macOS 12.0 Monterey on Unsupported Macs Thread

macOS 11.0 Big Sur on Unsupported Macs Thread


macOS 10.15 CATALINA
[NOTE: Catalina is unsupported officially,
but it can be installed to run on several — though not all — 2008–2012 C2D/Xeon/early Core iX Macs]

macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs Thread


macOS 10.14 MOJAVE
[NOTE: Mojave is the final version of macOS capable of running legacy 32-bit applications]

The Mojave Thread
[not yet created]

macOS Mojave - App Compatibility

macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread

macOS Mojave (10.14) - Bugs and bug fixes

macOS 10.14 Mojave: All The Little Things


macOS 10.13 HIGH SIERRA

The High Sierra Thread

macOS High Sierra (10.13) Unsupported Macs Thread

macOS 10.13 High Sierra - Bugs and bug fixes

macOS High Sierra 10.13 software compatibility thread


macOS 10.12 SIERRA

The Sierra Thread
[not yet created]

macOS 10.12 Sierra on Unsupported Macs Thread

macOS Sierra: All The Little Things

macOS Sierra 10.12: Compatible Apps



OS X 10.11 EL CAPITAN

The El Capitan Thread

OS X El Capitan on Unsupported Macs

OS X 10.11: All The Little Things

OS X El Capitan Bugs

OS X El Capitan: Working & Not Working Apps


OS X 10.10 YOSEMITE

The Yosemite Thread
[not yet created]

OS X Yosemite on Unsupported Macs

Install Yosemite on Any Mac (unsupported) SFOTT

OS X Yosemite: All The Little Things


OS X 10.9 MAVERICKS

The Mavericks Thread


OS X 10.8 MOUNTAIN LION

The Mountain Lion Thread


OS X 10.7 LION

The Lion Thread


OS X 10.6 SNOW LEOPARD

The Snow Leopard Thread


OS X 10.4.3+ INTEL (AND 10.5+ INTEL) BUILDS

The Leopard Thread
[note: this WikiPost is a general thread and also includes features for PowerPC Macs]

The Tiger Thread
[note: this WikiPost is a general thread and also includes features for PowerPC Macs]

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ALTERNATE OSes

Haiku

Haiku OS on Early Intel Macs


POSIX

The Linux Thread for Early Intels


Windows

Apple HFS+ Windows Driver

Installing Windows 10 Legacy on A1311/A1312 (2009–2011) iMacs with upgraded GPUs

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UI/UX

(What’s in your) Early Intel Menubar

The Mac OS X Theming WikiPost

 

[MysticCow]

Uhh, that's the ENTIRE POINT of the startup thread already stickied...

 

[B S Magnet]

Uhh, that's the ENTIRE POINT of the startup thread already stickied...

Except… it literally isn’t.

Think of the SuperWikiPost as the “WikiPost of forum WikiPosts”.

You may have noticed I did the same on the PowerPC Macs forum just prior to doing one here. By virtue of being a much older forum, several more WikiPosts there have been started and maintained over the years. Keeping track of those WikiPosts, however, wasn’t very organized (with exception to those WikiPosts which were already stickied, the rest would appear and disappear over time).

Over here on the Early Intel Macs forum, there aren’t many WikiPosts… not yet. Eventually, there will be many more to keep track of. Enter the above contents.

The purpose of making the SuperWikiPosts, one for each forum, is to keep WikiPosts organized. That’s it.

 

[B S Magnet]

I just added The El Capitan Thread as a WikiPost.

 

[B S Magnet]

Update: Added links to the installing Catalina and Big Sur on unsupported C2D/Xeon Macs wikiposts.

 

[B S Magnet]

Update: I added a whole bunch of pre-existing wikiposts relating to the 2011 iMac and also to OpenCore-related stuff for the pre-6,1 Mac Pros (i.e., up to the 2012 models capable of booting into Snow Leopard, but with OpenCore, capable of booting into everything, including Monterey).

 

[B S Magnet]

I updated some stuff in the SuperWikiPost and also made it a bit easier to find hardware-related WikiPosts.

Astoundingly, there have never been Mac mini-related WikiPosts, nor have there been WikiPosts for either of MacBook Air or MacBook.

 

[B S Magnet]

New add and sub-section: The Hackintosh Thread !

 

[B S Magnet]

Update: I added a poll.

After some untoward remarks on another forum regarding the fundamental utility of a finding aid (or on the organizing of information into meaningful, easily accessible meta-content as a springboard), it seemed necessary to get a read on what you all think about this particular finding aid.

Cheers.

 

[visusest]

Update: I added a poll.

After some untoward remarks on another forum regarding the fundamental utility of a finding aid (or on the organizing of information into meaningful, easily accessible meta-content as a springboard), it seemed necessary to get a read on what you all think about this particular finding aid.

Cheers.

I think you are putting the cart before the horse. You just moved one of the most active threads on the iMac forum into a catagorically incorrect forum. The sticky defines early Intel as C2D and older. While Penryn iMacs are capable of graphics upgrade, the bulk of the focus of the thread in question is on SSE4.2 CPU’s in Catalina and newer OSX (over 700 of the 800 pages are posts from after Catalina was releseased). Near-native Ventura support is on the horizon for AMD and you want to group this discussion with legacy pre-Mojave support? Building a coherent wiki which spans all iMac models and possible cards is far too much work for one person to take on. The current trajectory of the thread will only be harmed by trying to change it without taking the time to understand the immense amount of progress that has happened in almost 20,000 posts.

 

[B S Magnet]

You just moved one of the most active threads on the iMac forum into a catagorically incorrect forum.

Sorry. I’m not a moderator. The moderators moved the post because “Early Intel Macs” — a forum the moderators created about two years ago to provide continued community support for, at the time, pre-Ivy Bridge Macs — is where support for 2009–2011-era iMacs belong in late 2022.

In the time since the moderators struck this forum into existence, Early Intel Macs’ community members have welcomed questions from folks using Macs as recent as the Haswell era. As time goes on, this may extend to models as late as the last, non-T2-equipped Macs (with all, post-T2 Macs one day, several years from now, being calved into a “late Intel Macs” forum; it’ll really be a judgement call by the moderators when that time comes).

This — our welcoming community — is something which ought to be abundantly evident were one to spend some time on this Early Intel Macs forum.

If this is still not satisfactory, I would urge you to take up this matter with with moderators, not with me. I’m nothing more than a forum member who participates in both the Early Intel Macs and Power PC Macs forum. My signature line should make it very clear why that is.

The sticky defines early Intel as C2D and older. While Penryn iMacs are capable of graphics upgrade, the bulk of the focus of the thread in question is on SSE4.2 CPU’s in Catalina and newer OSX (over 700 of the 800 pages are posts from after Catalina was releseased).

Swell.

Perhaps that thread merits a bifurcation between folks who have a 2009–2011-era iMac, who wish to simply upgrade their MXM GPU on their machine — to eke better graphics performance and to upcycle what they already have to be able to run later macOS iterations, including Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, and so on — from folks who are working in an insular fashion to conserve knowledge of how to upgrade those iMacs.

If you spend a little time on this forum, you will come to find that most, if not nearly all of the regulars are very welcoming, very patient, and generous with their time in helping folks keep their legacy Macs — those models which Apple have consigned to the “obsolete” bin — running in the present day and, where practicable, running the latest macOS iteration on their Macs.

You will find regulars on here running Big Sur and later on their MacBookPro4,1 laptops; regulars running Snow Leopard on gear produced in, say, 2010; and a whole variety of folks running gear in between on any number of macOS major versions.

Near-native Ventura support is on the horizon for AMD and you want to group this discussion with legacy pre-Mojave support?

I have shared with you a digest of this forum’s remit. Some folks run legacy Macs as their daily drivers, on Catalina, Big Sur, and so on, and we are here to help other folks to do the same. But this forum also provides a place to discuss using earlier versions of macOS for whatever reason they might have and/or need — including, for some, a need to continue running legacy, 32-bit applications which were not ported to 64-bit by the time of the Mojave/Catalina transition to strict, 64-bit compliance across the board.

Building a coherent wiki which spans all iMac models and possible cards is far too much work for one person to take on. The current trajectory of the thread will only be harmed by trying to change it without taking the time to understand the immense amount of progress that has happened in almost 20,000 posts.

On the former point, I disagree: a community, working together, can, does, and will do stuff, just like that, on both the Early Intel Macs and PowerPC Macs forums. It’s the very kinds of things we do. Speaking as someone with years writing technical documentation, I am keenly mindful of how important it is to be clear, accessible, and open about documenting, well, undocumented modifications to one’s gear, so that the broadest reach of people can parse and make use of that information. Burying that knowledge in a conserved, guarded manner, is not very helpful toward achieving those ends.

On the latter point, you need to speak with the moderators. I am not a moderator.

 

[B S Magnet]

Update:

I made a couple of fresh adds to this (and the PowerPC) SuperWikiPost.

The new wikipost adds cover mostly topics relating to macOS installation on unsupported models and UEFI-related booting modifications most pertinent to classic Mac Pro users.

 

[B S Magnet]

Update: a couple of new adds, including a new section called “Runtime”, for addition of the new, Java 17 support wiki for 10.8–10.11, as well as @theMarble ’s addition of UI/UX themes wiki. Good stuff, y’all.

 

[theMarble]

Update: a couple of new adds, including a new section called “Runtime”, for addition of the new, Java 17 support wiki for 10.8–10.11, as well as @theMarble ’s addition of UI/UX themes wiki. Good stuff, y’all.

Great to see the community still keeping Early Intel Mac's going

It seems like right now 10.9 is the best "classic" OS X release to use, as things are getting harder to keep modern on Snow Leopard unfortunately.

I've managed to find a decent handful of really nice dock themes for 10.5-10.7 that will be going up on the theme wiki once I get the screen caps done!