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Hot: Intel T2500 2ghz Core Duo processor for $286

Kaido

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
eWiz has them back in stock for $286. I just bought one of these off Newegg a week or two ago for $315, still going for over $400 at places like ZipZoomFly. Perfect drop-in upgrade for an Intel-based Mac Mini or a nice PC desktop. If you want instructions on swapping out the proc on the Mini, just shoot me a PM 🙂

Don't forget to get some thermal paste for the processor upgrade. Here's an SVC link for Arctic Silver 5 paste for $5.99 with free shipping.

And if you really want to go nuts...
Pioneer DVR-K06 DVD burner for $74 (8x, dual-layer internal drive)
1gb G.Skill ram for $75 (2 gigs for $150 is hard to beat!)
Hitachi 100gb 7200rpm drive for $160 (get the Seagate model if you want dead silence)

My Mini has a T2500 with AS5, 2 gigs of G.Skill, the Seagate 100gb 7200rpm drive, and an external DVD burner with LightScribe. It's quick, it's quiet, it's small, good stuff :thumbsup: Oh and it runs Windows 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Morpheux
How is the K06 burner? I have the K05, sent it back to Pioneer and still haven't been happy with it.
Click to expand...

I've heard really good things about it, but I haven't tried it myself. I picked up an external Firewire/USB 2.0 enclosure and a 5.25" 16x dual-layer LightScribe drive to use as my burner, cost about $90.
 
a little OT but this got me to think about the cheapest mini and get this proc... do mac minis use normal 3.5" SATA drives?
 
Just bought a Core solo Mac Mini on eBay for $475.00 Shipped, a 2.16GHz Core duo for $350.00, 2GB of Transcend RAM for $142.00 after rebate from newegg, 100GB 7200RPM hitachi drive for $160.00 and the Pioneer K06 burner for 73.99. About $1000.00 after I sell the old parts and is faster than my iMac 2GHz w/2GB of RAM in everything but GPU related stuff. I highly recommend it as a great way to get a fast computer, that is small, runs OS X and looks great hooked up to my 42" 1080p LCD.
 
Originally posted by: EKKC
a little OT but this got me to think about the cheapest mini and get this proc... do mac minis use normal 3.5" SATA drives?
Click to expand...

Nope, they use 2.5" SATA drives, same as laptops. The cheapest Mini is $599. If you're a student, you can get a $20 discount to take it down to $579. If you buy it from MacMall, there's a $20 rebate plus their standard price of $594, which brings it down to $574:

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/families/macmini_intel/

Add in the processor ($286), ram ($150), hard drive ($160), and optical drive ($74) and you're looking at $1,244. Mini includes Bluetooth, Gigabit ethernet, wifi b/g, 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 Firewire 400 port, a DVI connector (VGA adapter included and S-Video/Composite adapter available for about $20), optical/analog audio input/output, and an IR remote control. Video is a 64mb shared Intel GMA950 integrated video card, not too good for games but great for HD video.

You can also run Windows directly (via Boot Camp, doing dual-boot) or in a window (using Parallel's virtualization software). I've read that you can use an XP Upgrade CD if you have an external USB CD-ROM drive, so I'm going to give that a shot this weekend. You can pick up the XP Pro Academic upgrade for $78 online, which is pretty good if you need to run Windows. I've tried out both Boot Camp and Parallels; Boot Camp makes it run just as well as having an actual Windows machine and Parallels isn't too far behind. See my Parallels thread for more info:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=1877839&enterthread=y
 
Originally posted by: jdogg707
Just bought a Core solo Mac Mini on eBay for $475.00 Shipped, a 2.16GHz Core duo for $350.00, 2GB of Transcend RAM for $142.00 after rebate from newegg, 100GB 7200RPM hitachi drive for $160.00 and the Pioneer K06 burner for 73.99. About $1000.00 after I sell the old parts and is faster than my iMac 2GHz w/2GB of RAM in everything but GPU related stuff. I highly recommend it as a great way to get a fast computer, that is small, runs OS X and looks great hooked up to my 42" 1080p LCD.
Click to expand...

Nice, did you get the 2.16ghz Core Duo on eBay as well? Cheapest I've seen it is $450 shipped from Newegg. I agree, I would highly recommend it as a small, fast, stable computer. Mine is dead silent 90% of the time and has a very slight "whir" when I peg both cores at 100%. About 100 times more quiet than my Athlon laptop. I have to admit, I've really become a Mac geek as of late. My new motto is "Windows for gaming, Macs for everything else" 😀
 
Originally posted by: Kaido
Originally posted by: jdogg707
Just bought a Core solo Mac Mini on eBay for $475.00 Shipped, a 2.16GHz Core duo for $350.00, 2GB of Transcend RAM for $142.00 after rebate from newegg, 100GB 7200RPM hitachi drive for $160.00 and the Pioneer K06 burner for 73.99. About $1000.00 after I sell the old parts and is faster than my iMac 2GHz w/2GB of RAM in everything but GPU related stuff. I highly recommend it as a great way to get a fast computer, that is small, runs OS X and looks great hooked up to my 42" 1080p LCD.
Click to expand...

Nice, did you get the 2.16ghz Core Duo on eBay as well? Cheapest I've seen it is $450 shipped from Newegg. I agree, I would highly recommend it as a small, fast, stable computer. Mine is dead silent 90% of the time and has a very slight "whir" when I peg both cores at 100%. About 100 times more quiet than my Athlon laptop. I have to admit, I've really become a Mac geek as of late. My new motto is "Windows for gaming, Macs for everything else" 😀
Click to expand...

Ya, I got the chip on eBay as well, the guy had a great feedback and the deal was out of this world. What kind of temps do you get on yours?
 
Originally posted by: jdogg707
Originally posted by: Kaido
Originally posted by: jdogg707
Just bought a Core solo Mac Mini on eBay for $475.00 Shipped, a 2.16GHz Core duo for $350.00, 2GB of Transcend RAM for $142.00 after rebate from newegg, 100GB 7200RPM hitachi drive for $160.00 and the Pioneer K06 burner for 73.99. About $1000.00 after I sell the old parts and is faster than my iMac 2GHz w/2GB of RAM in everything but GPU related stuff. I highly recommend it as a great way to get a fast computer, that is small, runs OS X and looks great hooked up to my 42" 1080p LCD.
Click to expand...

Nice, did you get the 2.16ghz Core Duo on eBay as well? Cheapest I've seen it is $450 shipped from Newegg. I agree, I would highly recommend it as a small, fast, stable computer. Mine is dead silent 90% of the time and has a very slight "whir" when I peg both cores at 100%. About 100 times more quiet than my Athlon laptop. I have to admit, I've really become a Mac geek as of late. My new motto is "Windows for gaming, Macs for everything else" 😀
Click to expand...

Ya, I got the chip on eBay as well, the guy had a great feedback and the deal was out of this world. What kind of temps do you get on yours?
Click to expand...

Like 55-65C normally; highest I've ever gotten is 84C with both cores pushed to 100% for 5 or 10 minutes. Check out the Intel Mac Temperature Database for comparison:

http://www.intelmactemp.com/list

84C actually isn't too bad, some of those MacBook pros are hitting 90C :Q
 
cheapest way to get a mini is if your company has a computer buying program at apple stores.

i know all i supposedly have to do is show my business card and i get 6% off...

we should all make fake business cards.
 
So this is Socket 478 then? Would this work in my Asus P4P800-Deluxe Mobo? I'm just wondering what the performance upgrade would be from my 2.6 Ghz P4 I have now.
 
Originally posted by: Angelus911
So this is Socket 478 then? Would this work in my Asus P4P800-Deluxe Mobo? I'm just wondering what the performance upgrade would be from my 2.6 Ghz P4 I have now.
Click to expand...

Thats what I was wondering....will it work in a Socket 478 mobo (possibly a typo on their side), or is it just a 478 pin chip that needs a newer chipset.
 
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