Leo Bodnar has found a way to up the CPU speed by overclocking Apple’s new Mac Mini. Apple controls the system speed on its boards with simple jumpers and Bodnar has posted a web page describing the process. By disassembling his 1.25GHz Mac mini, Bodnar altered the jumpers and boosted it to 1.42GHz speed.
The jumper settings suggest that there are obviously Mac Mini speed bumps to come in the future (when hasn’t Apple speed bumped any Mac in recent memory?), as Bodnar thinks 1.42GHz mini owners may be able to comfortably boost their minis up to 1.5GHz, with up to 1.58GHz jumper settings being supported by the current Mac mini’s board.
Full article with images here.
MacDailyNews Note: Remember: Apple’s One-Year Limited Warranty for Mac mini excludes coverage for damage resulting from unauthorized service and unauthorized modifications. Attempting to overclock your Mac mini will void your warranty.
Bodnar’s a real sick individual…. cool!
How do we know Apple already did this trick on the 1,42Ghz Mac Mini?? Wouldn’t surprise me…
Overclocking a processor is a Very Bad Idea. It could be rendered unstable or damaged.
MDN Magic Word is “dead”, as in your Mac could wind up as dead as your warranty.
That dude’s crazy…I like it.
Don’t really know anything about overclocking, but doesn’t that automatically increase the heat output? In a case as small as the mini, overheating is a possibility, I would think.
Anyone with expertise have an opinion on this?
Overclocking is a good thing. I like to overclock on my PC’s. The last time I overclocked a Mac was on a G3 (400 to almost 500)…and as Varidian stated. It was damaged almost an hr after using it. It wouldnt fire back up. But thats alright, It was after all, just a G3. The liquid G5’s Are overclocked. Thats why they are liquid cooled. Although in the PC world, overclocking via jumpers is long since gone, and the voltage is handled within the bios. Does anyone know if there is a way to overclock the Liquid G5’s even further?
MDN Magic word: Steps, as in take baby steps when adjusting voltage during overclocking
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might void warranty, but it’s cheap so who cares
magic word: trouble…as in, maybe this overclock is trouble!
Yo, your lights will be brighter if you stick the 10,000 volt cable directly into your house electrical system. And you get a free perm, too!
Critic: For sure, overclocking the core voltage significantly increases heat. Sometime resulting in lowered performance. Ive been overclocking since 95 and Ive seen some processors react well and other bad…
How do you know that the 1.25 isnt under clocked? Processors are not manufactured as “1.25 GHz only”. They come out and are marked with a stable range. Apple then decides on how fast they will clock the processor. Over clocking is only bad when you move out of the acceptable range for that processor. I am certain the 1.25 and the 1.42 are the exact same chip clocked differently. The only question remaining is which chip is over/under clocked.
Considering the small case for the mini, is it really smart to overclock the chip?
If you want speed, get a duel G5! Yea, I know, it’s more expensive. What ever makes you happy, just don’t blame Apple if the thing catches on fire.
I can see the Dell people doing just that so they can spread some FUD on the mini.
I don’t think the guy is worried about a warranty when he starts experimenting like this – nor is he worried about replacement cost..
jeezlouise
cool article
WTF MDN, now talking ads. Get a grip or are you TRYING to drive people away?
Dern nabbit! I knew i shoulda got a 1.25GHz mini instead of this 1.42GHz one! I coulda clocked the slower one more!
The guy in the article is a loser. I just overclocked my Mac mini to 2.3 GHz. No problem. It’s a screamer.
Insane Mac-
What screams more, the processor or the cooling fan?
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Oh yeah? I overclocked my i-mac G5 to 3 ghz.
O.k. I made that up.
for most processors, overclocking 15% higher than normal can be done with proper cooling with no real disadvangates. some processors are easier than others, easy ones are athlon XP Mobile chips and i have heard it’s easy to get a good boost out of a pentium with proper cooling.
with these mac mini models, APPLE IS PROBABLY USING THE SAME CHIPS WITH BOTH COMPUTERS! they probably just make this slight change to the motherboard. notice how the guy who did this said that both 1.25 and 1.42 ghz ran PERFECTLY normal. but once he got up to 1.5ghz, things got a little crazy.
similarly, i don’t think apple uses a physically different chip for some other models, like the powerbook models. like the 1.5-1.67 ghz powerbooks. they probably just have different settings on the logic board.
Oh yeah? I underclocked my dual 2.5s on a whim [j/k].
Apple could control it with software depending on the chip temperature.