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A few questions about clocking (?)/improving the performance of MacBooks.

M

Messy

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 5, 2010
426
13
Hi chaps,

Reletively new guy here to Apple, having used PC's all my life.

Ive come into posession of a 1.83 Core Duo MacBook and im curious if you're able to clock the processors on these in anyway? -I appreciate the implications of doing this on a laptop/notebook type device, but i want to know in theory if it is possible.

I understand the maximum ram on a MA254LL/A is 2GB... is this correct? Will it not ready any more? And for what reason?

In terms of the CD drive, is it possible to upgrade it to a superdrive? Is this easy.. or simply not possible? Ive seen a few on ebay, and would be curious to know if they'd work.

How far can you get with a MA254LL/A, whats the maximum HDD you could pop in?

Yours thankfully, in advance. :)
 
hakuin said:
This will help the graphics a bit.

http://www.gmabooster.com/download_mac.htm

Combo drive can be replaced with a SuperDrive. It is finicky but I did it on my core 2 duo macbook. ifixit has step-by-step instructions.
Click to expand...

Great i'll check that out, i expect the Mac to be delivered in the next day or two so i'll get that on there.

I have two 1GB sticks of RAM to pop in there too to give it a little boost.
 
One note about GMAbooster is that you have to run the app after every restart. I don't restart much, but I do have it set to run automatically on login (through Sys Prefs > Accounts > Login Items).
 
hakuin said:
One note about GMAbooster is that you have to run the app after every restart. I don't restart much, but I do have it set to run automatically on login (through Sys Prefs > Accounts > Login Items).
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, im admitidly new to all this so little tips like this help.

With regards to the RAM, is it a limitation of the hardware/chipset that limits it to 2gb, or is it software? Ie firmware or the actual OS?

And the processor, i understand is soldered?
 
Messy said:
Thanks for that, im admitidly new to all this so little tips like this help.

With regards to the RAM, is it a limitation of the hardware/chipset that limits it to 2gb, or is it software? Ie firmware or the actual OS?

And the processor, i understand is soldered?
Click to expand...

I don't know the details, but from what I have read everywhere 2gb is as far as it goes. The processor is soldered, and I have not heard of a tool to overclock it in OS X.

btw, I have a 7,200 rpm 500 GB HD in my 1.83 core 2 duo, should be fine in the core duo.
 
hakuin said:
I don't know the details, but from what I have read everywhere 2gb is as far as it goes. The processor is soldered, and I have not heard of a tool to overclock it in OS X.

btw, I have a 7,200 rpm 500 GB HD in my 1.83 core 2 duo, should be fine in the core duo.
Click to expand...

Aye, im curious to know if the limitation is in the software, the processor to the hardware itself that means you cannot use more than 2gb of RAM.

As a mostly PC person, im curious to know if overclocking is possible, i mean i assume the whole multiplyer/fsb thing on the intel chips are the same as on PC's.

As for the HDD, yep ive looked around today, and 2.5" drives really arent that expensive.

I would really like to find out if its possible to upgrade the drive to a superdrive within a reasonable budget too.
 
blackburn said:
Those things run hot as it is. Unless you want to get your wands dirty and change the thermal paste don't bother trying to overclock it. Unless you want a hotter oven:eek:
Click to expand...

:)

Merely curious really.

Unfortunately i was broken into last week, had my TV, Laptop and everything else i own stolen. I had moved into the property 3 days before over the weekend, and hadn't sorted the contents insurance.

So ive lost everything, like, everything i own. They even stole my iPhone charger.

So I hunted around on eBay, and managed to get a MA254LL/A for £290 with free P&P.

It has 1GB Ram, 160GB HDD and the normal other bits. Ive got 2GB of Ram sitting here for it to go in.

And reading around on the internet and these forums, im led to believe that Apple are willing to repair the 13"'s for free, if they develop the cracks (which im told my one has).

So yea, ive been pushed into the Mac world really, it was a toss up between a netbook and a cheap macbook, i needed to get on the net at home for my own sanity really.

So im trying to make the best of my situation, and attempting to make my new purchase as good as possible.

:)
 
The memory limitation is in the memory controller. Its hardware. The biggest disk you can put in is simply the biggest SATA drive that will fit. 1TB at the moment, I think. The processor's multiplier is locked by Intel and there is nothing you can do to change it. The EFI does not provide a way of increasing the FSB speed so you are stuck at the stated speed of the CPU. The CPUs are soldered in so they cannot be swapped.
 
Messy said:
:)

Merely curious really.

Unfortunately i was broken into last week, had my TV, Laptop and everything else i own stolen. I had moved into the property 3 days before over the weekend, and hadn't sorted the contents insurance.

So ive lost everything, like, everything i own. They even stole my iPhone charger.

So I hunted around on eBay, and managed to get a MA254LL/A for £290 with free P&P.

It has 1GB Ram, 160GB HDD and the normal other bits. Ive got 2GB of Ram sitting here for it to go in.

And reading around on the internet and these forums, im led to believe that Apple are willing to repair the 13"'s for free, if they develop the cracks (which im told my one has).

So yea, ive been pushed into the Mac world really, it was a toss up between a netbook and a cheap macbook, i needed to get on the net at home for my own sanity really.

So im trying to make the best of my situation, and attempting to make my new purchase as good as possible.

:)
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about you getting broken into.

Anyway, take your MacBook to the Genius Bar in an apple store after booking an appointment and within about an hour they should have your Mac fixed up with a new case, they even replaced my display bezel for me.
 
flopticalcube said:
The memory limitation is in the memory controller. Its hardware. The biggest disk you can put in is simply the biggest SATA drive that will fit. 1GB at the moment, I think. The processor's multiplier is locked by Intel and there is nothing you can do to change it. The EFI does not provide a way of increasing the FSB speed so you are stuck at the stated speed of the CPU. The CPUs are soldered in so they cannot be swapped.
Click to expand...

Some of the old Intel procs that were locked you could change by bridging the contact points on the motherboard, i suppose this isn't possible as they've soldered the proc right in, quite clever (yet annoying), really.
 
Booked a genius appointment for Friday to get the cracks sorted :)
 
Too bad :( But good luck with insurance and all that stuff. Since your getting the cracks fixed it will look a new machine:) The processor these days more or less MHz wont make that difference for normal use. More ram and a faster hdd are ways to get more of an "old" machine (or new)
 
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