Project Restore Macbook 5,2

Discussion in 'Die-hard Overclocking & Case Modifications' started by vbetts, Nov 30, 2015.

  1. vbetts

    vbetts Don Vincenzo Staff Member

    Messages:
    15,140
    Likes Received:
    1,743
    GPU:
    GTX 1080 Ti
    Howdy Gurus!

    While I was on my trip to St. Louis, I found this little gem. Best part is, for free!

    So then I thought well what could I actually do with it...? I no longer have a macbook at work so I'm missing using one! One big use I'm going to have for it, TF2 and League of Legends parties!(Don't judge)

    Macbook 5,2
    Intel Core 2 duo 2.13 ghz
    2gb ddr2 667
    Geforce 9400m
    160gb 5400RPM Sata II

    The Good
    -Boots up quickly
    -Supports El Capitan!

    The bad
    -Ram is a little low, and it also is not the ram that shipped with it. Usually it ships with ddr2 800.
    -DDR2 ram, this is not as bad as it seems. Performance may not be the best, but more than enough for a laptop in my opinion. The bad about it is DDR2 200 pin costs. Certified Macbook memory upgrade kits can cost up to $200! That is only for 4gb of DDR2 800 as well! There are some shops that sell Macbook compatible memory as it can support 6gb or ram(some have had some luck putting 8gb in, but this is very rare for a mid 5,2). which cost about $100. Not too thrilled with spending $100 on old ram, but it will help out!
    -5400 RPM drive. Not too worried about the space, just annoyed by the speed of the drive.
    -The Macbook has some wear and tear on it.

    The Plans
    Update to El Capitan(DONE)
    -Memory Upgrade(Temporary 3gb ddr2 installed)
    -Install Nvidia Web Drivers in place of stock Apple Drivers(DONE)
    -Install Current or highest supported CUDA drivers
    -Upgrade 5400RPM drive to SSD
    -Clean up the outside of the case
    -Seal any cracks in the case
    -Possible BluRay drive swap for the Super Drive
    -Change keyboard from White Macbook Keyboard to Black Macbook keyboard
    -Change border from White Macbook border to Black Macbook Border around the screen.

    The Last 2 are purely cosmetic, it will not add any functionality to the Macbook. It's just to make it look more like a new Macbook.

    [​IMG]
    upload img

    [​IMG]
    upload jpg

    [​IMG]
    upload an image

    [​IMG]
    how to screen capture

    [​IMG]
    upload image free

    [​IMG]
    image upload no limit

    Update to El Capitan was quick and easy, 10 minutes to download and 30 minutes to install.

    I did have matching memory from an old Dell laptop that was ddr2, but it was only 3gb total. For now, I did install that into that no problem, El Capitan sees it and tested for memory errors. No errors right now.

    Nvidia Web Drivers were installed version 346.06. Going to do some benchmarks comparing the original Apple drivers to the Nvidia Drivers. :D
    http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/to...river-updates-for-el-capitan-update-11022015/

    Cuda is difficult, because the 9400m only supports Compute version 1 which means an older release for Cuda. Finding it that supports El Capitan is difficult, if not then the latest 1.0 support package can be modified to run in El Capitan(this is just annoying to do).
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2015
  2. vbetts

    vbetts Don Vincenzo Staff Member

    Messages:
    15,140
    Likes Received:
    1,743
    GPU:
    GTX 1080 Ti
    Update!

    Macbook is cleaned up(thanks rubbing alcohol and Magic Eraser!)! Looks brand new!
    SSD is ordered, OCZ Trion 100 240gb. I know it's not the fastest SSD, but it will help still.
    Memory is still 3gb, gonna hold off until I can find some decent priced memory.

    Tried some TF2 and DOTA2 but I was not too pleased with the results...I'm sure it can do better in the gaming department.

    So I installed Windows 10! :D
    [​IMG]
    photo upload sites

    My Macbook officially supports Windows 7, but it's nothing that Disk Utility, REFI bootloader, and a Windows 10 disk can't fix. =] Now I just have to pull some drivers from updated Boot Camp releases.
     
  3. vbetts

    vbetts Don Vincenzo Staff Member

    Messages:
    15,140
    Likes Received:
    1,743
    GPU:
    GTX 1080 Ti
    http://imgur.com/PIuVxfY
    What's this? Overclocking? =]

    Did some research on overclocking. Turns out, you can actually overclock on the Macbook!

    I applied AS5 on the die of the cpu, gpu, and chipset. Not too much though, too much and I would get the adverse affects! Sadly, I did not get a chance to get pictures...=[

    CPU overclocking I am working on, there are EFI mods to increase the multiplier from 8 to 8.5 max, as well as the FSB. The down side is, there is no real voltage control. So I would have to keep in stock voltage ratings.
     

Share This Page