Intel Mac Mini: My Upgrade to 1.83GHz Core Duo
Two months ago I ordered an Intel Mac Mini and told you what I thought about it. I had purposefully opted for the cheaper 1.5GHz Core Solo model. The Core Duo Mac Mini has a 1.66GHz dual-core chip. However, I waited a while, knowing that one could easily upgrade to any Core processor they wanted. With that bit of knowledge I held out until the the prices became a bit cheaper and snatched a 1.83GHz Core Duo the second it was in stock at Newegg.
Procedure
The disassembly procedure was fairly normal; use a thin, flexible putty knife to separate the top cover from its retention hooks. Remove the four screws around the side of the case, the fan cable, the drive cage, the airport antenna, the metal standoff on the lower left corner, the LED cable, the power switch cable and then pull out the motherboard. I flipped the motherboard upside down and used pliers to lightly pinch the hooks of each of the four white posts that hold on the heatsink. The springs are extremely powerful on these posts so if you’re not careful they will shoot across the room after you’ve disconnected them from the motherboard.
When removing the heatsink, you should be careful not to yank it off because there is a thermal sensor adhered to it which you don’t want to remove from the heatsink. On the socket itself, there is a small metal screw which you rotate half a turn counter-clockwise to unlock the processor. After that you can remove the old processor, discharging yourself to some grounded object before handling it, and put in the new processor. At this point I disconnected the thermal sensor cable from the motherboard and scrubbed the heatsink with acetone and alcohol to get rid of the old thermal paste. After drying that off, I locked in the new processor and evenly applied a thin layer Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste to the CPU die. DO NOT get Arctic Silver 5 on your hands, it is a huge pain to remove and can stain carpets if you drop any. In addition, Arctic Silver 5 is electrically conductive so you won’t want any of it getting on other parts of the motherboard. Alternatively you can use a thermal paste called Ceramique that has similar thermal properties and is not electrically conductive. You only need a very small amount, too much can actually hurt thermal transfer from the processor to the heatsink. The MacBook Pros suffer from a case of too much thermal paste as someone discovered upon disassembling their MacBook Pro. This is why most MBP’s have high temperatures.
All of what I’ve said so far only took about 5 minutes - if you are comfortable with working on your computer like this it’s an easy procedure. However the hardest part was getting the 4 posts with the powerful springs to attach the heatsink to the motherboard. If you have worked with Pentium 4s or AMD Athlon 64s before, you will notice that there is no heatspreader on the Core Duo as there as those processors have. This means that it is actually possible to crack the CPU die without much effort. This is why it is of supreme importance to hold the heatsink steady while fastening each post. Do not do one at a time - try to push in two opposing, yet not adjacent, posts at the same time while applying light pressure to the middle of the die to keep things steady. I used pliers to grip each post and push it in until I heard a distinctive click when the hook had expanded. Explaining this is a little hard but when you come to the point of doing this, you will understand.
From here on out it was just a matter of reconnecting things and putting screws back in. For the beginner I recommend checking out this video from OWC to learn how to remove the Intel Mac Mini’s cover and drive cage. For the rest of the procedure, this guide will prove indispensable. If you have any questions along the way, the 123MacMini.com forums are a great place to get help.
Performance
Luckily, everything was done properly and I was greeted with the Apple chime. OS X loaded in roughly half the time, around 25 seconds or so (I believe it used to take 48-50 seconds). I was amazed. I verified everything by going to the About This Mac menu. The mini had correctly verified the processor and everything was working great. iTunes loads completely in one dock bounce - yes, dock bounces are now a method of benchmarking. Photoshop has found much more pep as well.
But this all means nothing without some real numbers right? In the Xbench CPU test my 1.83GHz scored a 69.05 compared to my old 1.5GHz Core Solo’s 52.39. A stock 1.66GHz Core Duo Intel Mac Mini gets a 63.61 on this same test whereas Fugger’s (the guy from XtremeSystems.org that put a 2.16GHz Core Duo in his mini) computer got a 75.56 on this same benchmark.
I could have held out for an Intel Merom processor which is purported to be 20% faster than the 2.16GHz Core Duo, compatible with the Intel Mac Mini and will be released in August. I chose against this as it will likely be expensive when it launches and I have a summer of photoshop, web development, (attempting) learning Ruby on Rails and watching movies in HD ahead of me. The Core Duo upgrade was definitely worth it. Instead of a solitary 1.5GHz processor, I have two cores making for a 1.83GHz processor powering my pint-sized computer. Along with my 2GB of DDR2-667 SDRAM and 7200RPM SATA 80GB 2.5 inch hard drive, my mini has become less of a laptop and more of a desktop - with the numbers to prove it. If you should have any questions about this upgrade process, feel free to send me an email or drop a comment.
Good to see it all went ok… when I worked at Apple, the Mac mini’s AppleCare became void once you opened the mini up. Although I’m not sure if this is the same with the Mac mini Core* range… I don’t suppose you know?
thats awesome, im thinking of getting a macbook though, (as from my other comment)
Any idea if the Core 2 Duo is going to be in the MacBook Pro in August? What about the performance difference? I’m interested in getting a MacBook Pro, but haven’t come across any info as to whether I should wait for August, or just go with the 15 inch 2.0GHz model now.
Why don’t you wait for Memrom? Why not wait for 64bit support from Memrom?
Ok, so the tutorial on the processor upgrade is nice, but what about a tutorial on using iFrame with flickr slideshows?
Or am I the only one on the planet that doesn’t know who to do this?
Thanks for the write up.
Now with the Macbook and the performance of the Mini, I really am struggling to choose. They are both an extravagance for me but gradually Apple are pulling me in. Which to choose……?
You’re not the only one, I had to explain to it to my Grandma a couple weeks back..
But for the record Paul already wrote a quickie on it:
http://www.paulstamatiou.com/2005/11/19/how-to-quickie-embedded-flickr-slideshows/
@ jerry: a simple google search led me right back to here:
http://www.paulstamatiou.com/2005/11/19/how-to-quickie-embedded-flickr-slideshows/
Michael, as from the last paragraph I didn’t wait for Merom because I don’t want to wait. =D Also the Merom will be expensive when it first comes out which means I would have to wait even longer for prices to become reasonable.
True, but what processor intensive apps are you going to be using? The universal binaries for photoshop don’t come out till 2007. Is 1.5ghz really that slow?
Hey-
I’ve always been a PC guy-and have built quite a few as well. The price of Mac’s and not being able to game on them has kept me away thus far. My current comp is due to be rebuilt.. I’m a video editor-film major and so FCP has its advantages. Thinking about getting the mini. I like you’re thinking on being able to upgrade it yourself. what about ram? 300$ for 2 gigs sounds about 50-100$ too much for me.. what kinda ram do they use? could i simply get the 512 standard and uprade?
thanks
-Corey
Corey: I would get the standard 512MB version and then upgrade. It uses SO-DIMM 200pin DDR2-667 (PC2-5300). I got my 2GB of RAM for $230 from OWC (macsales) but similar ram can be found on newegg for under $100 per 1GB stick… I think the brand was “Gigaram.” If you’re going to be doing FCP, I suggest getting an external Firewire drive for all of your video files - the mini’s 2.5″ hard drive would easily die with hardcore FCP usage. I would double check on how well FCP works on the minis at the 123macmini.com forums. I *think* the Intel Mini’s pass the video card minimum.
It will be interesting to see if a 1.83 GHz Duo mini has any shortened lifetime due to the heat transfer being designed for a 1.66 GHz Duo, or whether there is enough variance in the system design envelope to accommodate it.
I would’ve liked to have seen some of the thermal benchmarks done for this, both “before” and “after”. If anybody else goes down this path, please do some extensive testing and report back the results.
FWIW, I’m pretty sure that had the intrepid upgrader opted to go for any of the faster Core Duos, he would have seen his mini melt down after a few hours of FCP work, certainly within 6 months of the upgrade. Check out MacUser’s database of Intel Mac temperatures to see the internal chip temps some (not all!) of the Intel Macs are seeing. [http://www.macuser.com/intel-macs/intel_mac_running_kind_of_hot.php]
“Instead of a solitary 1.5GHz processor, I have two 1.83GHz processors powering my pint-sized computer.”
If I am not mistaken, you have two 915 MHz processors. ;)
Doh, that’s what I meant. Thanks for the catch, I reworded it.
Errr…you are either the biggest nub on the planet or playing a joke. All dual core processors have two cores that operate at their rated speed. So a 2.66GHz Pentium D has 2 cores at 2.66GHz. A 2.0GHz Yonah has 2 cores running at 2.0Ghz. When Conroe releases, your 2.66GHz Conroe will have 2 cores running at 2.66 GHz. Read up on future hardware before you speak.
While some people are only interested in extra performance, I am looking forward to the Merom Ultra Low Voltage processor. This cpu is rated at 5 Watt TDP compared to the current 27 (Core Solo) and 31 (Core Duo) Watt TDP. Of course it is a pricy cpu and underperforms compared to normal versions, but it can run without fans and will still be faster than the current Core Duo..
I’m curious, what’s the fastest available CPU with which you could upgrade a mac mini?
Great to hear your upgrade went well! Can you provide any thoughts on how the 1.66GHz and 1.83GHz minis handle HD content, specifically 1080p?
Paul,
I have a Mac Mini solo I use as a server for a webcam. I think it may prove to be my overall computer as I may soon swap it with my iMac G4 (1.87 GHz). Unfortunately, the Mac Mini Solo will not play any of the H.264 videos from Apples website. Not even the 480. Do you know if upgrading to the 1.83 GHz Dual will allow you to play any of the H.264 without stutter, may 30 fps?
If so, I’ll plan for an upgrade.
Thanks in advance
Rick
Just got a 1.83GHz duo Mac Mini and want to upgrade the ram, are there any test or articles to see if one brand of ram works better than another? I also see ram sold as a kit is this necessary? Is ram optimized if all ram in the machine is from the same manufacture and/or of the same size? The best price for pc2-5300 ram I have found is from Memory Pro is that a good make.
Thanks in advance. Tom
i just bought a 1.83 intel core duo Mini Mac.
I thought I could get away with 512 MB ram (like in my imac G5 I got last year this time that screams).
I was wrong, everyting is lagging when I’m doing high end 2d grafix with photoshop & Macrom.MX.
How would I upgrade that RAM, where do I get the ddr2 sdram (2gig)
is that sold at local stores, or spoecialty?
I’ve successfully upgraded my Mac Mini from a 1.66 GHz Core Duo to a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo (Merom). It went, more or less, just as you describe. Only now my machine is probably about 50% faster than before.
I unerstand this is alittle late but does anyone know if we can put core 2 duos in them
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819111301
I upgraded my 1.66 Ghz Mac mini - late 2006 model with a memron 2.0Ghz CPU 4MB L2, 2GB of PQI DDR2 667MHz and Seagate 80GB 7200.1 drive.
I don’t think the mini is liking it. I’m able to loading 10.4.8 but it seems sluggish loading the common apps. It also takes SUPER long to boot for some reason and same goes for shutdown. It was also done on a fresh install. I’m not sure what it is, but I feel like going back to ‘factory’.
Also, idle temps are at 60C and just opening up itunes bumps it to 68C.
Any ideas?
I have a Mini 1.5 and I wold like to upgrade most of faster Processor are still running at667FSB. I found one Intel 2 cor E6550 GHz/4Mb Cache/1333MHz FSB.775 Socket I dont know what Socket I have.
The specs for my computer are below.
Machine Name: Mac mini
Machine Model: PowerMac10,1
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.2)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.42 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1 GB
Now, I was going to upgrade to the new mac mini but i see that you can easily just upgrade the first generation mini’s and spend less than half. My only concerns are this, My computer can only take two 512mb so that I can have a full 1gb of memory, By upgrading the processor, will that allow me to go with two 1gb so that i can have a full 2gb of memory? Second, What is the highest you can go with the processor (1.83gh z, 2.0 ghz, ect)? And does it generate alot more heat which will in turn cause me problems in the future? Any response will be greatly appreciated, thanks.