Upgrading The World’s Fastest & Only Socketed CPU 2009 Mac Mini! Built by dosdude1

[@sfperalta]

I just performed a similar upgrade on the same Mac mini 2009 Core 2 Duo (Macmini3,1). I was rooting through my "junk" drawer and came across the neglected mini (I'm the original owner) and wondered if it would still boot. Since I also had the power supply and a miniDP-HDMI cable I fired it up and to my astonishment it booted right up. The mini as found had 4GB RAM and a 160 GB HDD. I cracked open the unit and upgraded the RAM to 8GB (the max) and a TEAMGROUP AX2 256 GB SSD, using Carbon Copy Cloner to transfer the system to the SSD. The RAM was taken from another Mac mini 2010 that I had previously upgraded to 16 GB so it was basically free. The SSD cost $18 on Amazon. So for $18 I have a fully function, upgraded, 2009 mini that boots up pretty fast! It's limited to macOS 10.11.6 (High Sierra) but I also have Linux Mint 22 installed on another partition for dual boot. All in all, a very satisfying project.

[@HrutkayMods]

Nice setup 👌

[@joecool2162]

Thanks! Wish you well.

[@msv1963]

The main problem with this model is the NVIDIA AHCI controller. It often limits the transfer rate to 1.5Gigabit instead of the 3Gigabit allowed. In this case, the SSD runs at HDD speed. By the way, you can see it in this video (11:51).

[@sfperalta]

I ran a test on my upgraded 2009 mini (MacMini3,1 macOS 10.11.6) with a 256GB TEAM SSD installed and got these results: $ dd if=/dev/zero bs=1024k of=tstfile count=1024 1024+0 records in 1024+0 records out 1073741824 bytes transferred in 4.991672 secs (215106645 bytes/sec) $ dd if=tstfile bs=1024k of=/dev/null count=1024 1024+0 records in 1024+0 records out 1073741824 bytes transferred in 4.217648 secs (254583094 bytes/sec) If my math isn't totally off, that's 215MB/s (1720 Mb/s) write and 254 MB/s (2032 Mb/s) read ...not blazing, but well above SATA 150 speeds. Other than a 8GB RAM upgrade, this is stock hardware.

[@auditurns]

I'm glade your here and kicking ass with the mac pro world. I just got my first 1,1. Have a great move and looking forward as you grow in the tech world. Rock On! Keep that steady sure focus and gifted delivery. Your content gives me power.

[@invinciblenowyt]

Thanks for this wonderful video. I recently acquired a 2009 mac mini (for free) and installed a ssd in it with the prospect of upgrading from 4 to 8gb of ram (funnily enough, it was already upgraded but one of the sticks was installed incorrectly) and now have it triple booted with Monterey, El capitan and MX Linux (currently watching on the latter). It is very interesting to see it be upgraded to the absolute max (beyond what I have managed), thank you, I might end up trying to make it socketed too.

[@HrutkayMods]

If anything dosdude1 can help you with the socket

[@paulwilliams4274]

@Hrutkay Mods your system profiler is showing "TRIM Support: No". Since you have an SSD, you will want to enable TRIM support by doing the following: 1)Open A Terminal Prompt. Once you've opened a Terminal Prompt type in the following command: SUDO TRIMFORCE ENABLE. 2)Reboot your Mac. 3)Verify TRIM is enabled. Click on the Apple Icon on the top menu bar and then click on “About this Mac” Click on System Report and check if TRIM support is enabled under SATA. Enabling TRIM support with your SSD with greatly lengthen it's useable life :) There is more info regarding the necessity of TRIM on SSDs here www.cnet.com/how-to/installing-ssd-on-mac-trim-mistake/

[@HrutkayMods]

Thanks Paul, most modern SSDs have it built in so I never think about enabling it but I might just do that 👍

[@Jazzielkadosh]

Saludos, tengo una mac mini 2009 late por igual. Tengo el capitan. Como puedo actualuzar a osx mojave

[@HrutkayMods]

You can run Mojave with the dosdude1 patcher or even go up to Sonoma with opencore Legacy patcher although you will need a USB 2.0 hub in the initial set up for Sonoma for the keyboard and mouse to work… if you want Monterey is still fully supported, and it doesn’t need the hub

[@timbates9243]

How, next video in the new place? Enjoy the move.

[@josemartinezgaming3583]

Hi, I had try to rebuild my Mini model A1238 as you did on the video, the memory was updated to 2X4 GB PC3 1066, the original was 2X1 GB PC 1066. The problem was when I try to take out one of the connectors one is for the power switch and the other I have no idea, IR maybe?. I had clone the original 160GB HD for a 256GB SSHD, when I plug the power cable I hear the fan running but when I try to power ON nothing is happens, do you think can be the that connector broken?, what else can be?, any idea, I'm sad due it's was working and now can't. Can you please help me on that?. Thanks, jose

[@axel9546]

hey there, does it has fan noise? I am a finless guy

[@95Comics]

Not sure how often you check this but I have that exact same Miney was just given to me by someone who was about to throw it away and I cannot get it to load any new operating system it seems to have Catalina installed but the keyboard and mouse won’t work nor can I install something else I don’t think it has the firmware update either and I’m just at a loss do you have any idea how I could either get my keyboard and mouse to work or get it to boot a new operating system the USB seems to just not work

[@MrMLM1987]

I just got a free late 2009 mini and usb booted it with kubuntu (lightweight version of Ubuntu Linux) and it worked just fine. Create the bootable usb thumb drive, plug it in, on power up hold the option key and select your usb as EFI boot option. I had to plug my keyboard in with usb cable.

[@95Comics]

@@MrMLM1987 were u able to upgrade to 8 gig?

[@95Comics]

@@MrMLM1987 update is i got snow leopard installed but that’s the only os that would work. Id rather catalina or newer and i see people do it but im going to try kubuntu,thanks!

[@MrMLM1987]

@@95Comics I haven’t done anything to it yet. It just booted it up today for the first time. I think I’m going to slap an ssd in it and maybe a ram upgrade if it’s cheap and load it up with ubuntu server and throw it in my rack as a headless server.

[@95Comics]

@@MrMLM1987 I CAN ONLY FIND IT IN 64BIT DO YOU HAVE A LINK FOR ANY OS THATS CURRENT FOR MAC MINI 1283?

[@eepymeowers]

Actually, now I’m probably going to be the 2nd person in the world to do this, as I’m seriously considering getting another ‘09 Mac Mini (I alr have one that I’ve had for 11 years, only got a upgrade to 3GB more ram recently, 5GB RAM total (1GB DDR3 1600MHz SO-DIMM + 4GB DDR3 1600MHz SO-DIMM), still going strong, but I don’t want to kill that one) to try this on as I really want to do this. I also have some spare *_stix_* of DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM that I want to use.

[@shawnmatthews5118]

Why does it only support 8GB of RAM with Mojave installed? The reason I ask is the same year model iMac goes up to 32GB.

[@HrutkayMods]

The chipset... and CPU... the i-Series CPUs support 32GB this is a Core 2 Duo and has a 79series Nvidia chipset... the 89series supported 16GB

[@eepymeowers]

C2D CPU probably. The iMac of the year might have had like a Core i series 1st Gen, Core 2 Quad, or a Core 2 Extreme or something like that. That was probably the reason why this Mac Mini supports only 8GB with Mojave, and why the same year iMac supports 32GB.

[@FM_0555]

Hey I’m new to this and want to upgrade RAM and SSD. I’ve found RAM that’ll fit physically but the computer uses 1067Mhz. Would a 1600Mhz work or 1333Mhz. Does it have to be 1067Mhz. Also What size SSD would fit?

[@AShifter]

I was super excited when I watched the dosdude1 video on this Mac mini. Thank you! :)

[@rafaeljuarezgoo]

Love your stuff

[@HrutkayMods]

thank you

[@marinescucandrei]

Is it a A1283?

[@mokokawi]

totally Rad man

[@kinglabe5809]

Could I do this to a Mac mini g4 from 2005

[@TehChozen1]

Run Mojave? Helllllllllll no.

[@xxlllklllxx-COD2856]

Now i got my answers, it's NVIDIA sata. Can't be flash to apfs, sadly...

[@HrutkayMods]

Yeah sadly it’s a better chipset than the Intel chipset from that time period But it does have a lot of drawbacks.

[@wimland391]

where to buy the socketed

[@HrutkayMods]

Contact dosdude1

[@Aleksey_Konovalov]

Super!

[@gerald4027]

That motherboard was to smoking. I would be afraid of toosting some caps. I have a few 2006 and 2009 mac pros.I have 2 g5s.My home does not have internet. How can I download MAC OS to a ANDROID phone and then copied to a computer to make install DVDs?

[@maxpowers2168]

The easy way is that you can share the phone internet with your Mac/PC (It's easy to do. Connect the USB cable that shipped with your phone to your computer, then plug it into the phone's USB port. Next, on your Android device, open Settings > Network & internet > Hotspot & tethering. Tap the USB tethering option.)

[@gerald4027]

@@maxpowers2168.apple will not allow me to download a mac OS to my android phone.

[@maxpowers2168]

@@gerald4027 You're not going to download it on your phone, you're going to donwload them on your Mac using the internet from your phone.

[@gerald4027]

I do not have any phone signal around my home.i can drive to town and download linux,but why can I not download a mac OS to my phone?

[@KurisuYamato]

Oh, this should be a fun watch. :D

[@dogmad6773]

Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor QX9300 12M Cache, 2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB might work also.

[@HrutkayMods]

It won’t fully boot we’ve tried... chipset doesn’t like it

[@whitebeartigtig]

@@HrutkayMods try a q9100

[@dogmad6773]

Both chips compared - ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compare.html?productIds=39312,36750

[@dogmad6773]

Man you might be able to run quad core - ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compare.html?productIds=36750,39312,35431,40480,37033,36727 The quad cores come in at 45 watts though but it could be fun.

[@andrewdupuis1151]

i have 2010 mac mini

[@HrutkayMods]

we're working on that too lol

[@elgris453]

Mark my words ill make one faster

[@HrutkayMods]

good luck :D