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Ultimate Mac Overclocking

25716 Views 107 Replies 22 Participants Last post by  X58goodness, 
rabidz7
Changelog
All dates are in this format: Day/Month/Year

01/12/13: Corrected PLL information for 15" and 17" PowerBooks. Improved the aesthetics of the sticky.
08/12/13: Added the schematics for the Low-Res 15" and 17" PowerBooks. Added the datasheet for the voltage regulator of all PowerBook G4s. Added photographs of 17" 1.33GHz, 1.50GHz, and 1.66GHz motherboards.
11/12/13: Added spoilers for each section of sticky in order to make it easier to navigate this sticky. Added VRM modding for the Low Res 15" PowerBook.
16/12/13: Added images for all the PowerBooks.
29/12/13: Added more CPU configuration tables.

To download any attachments, you must be a member of this forum.

CPU Overclocking
PowerMac G4 Sawtooth


Multiplier
All multipliers are 0-Ohm
PLL0 -> R7

PLL1 -> R9

PLL2 -> R11

PLL3 -> R13

A PLL is set to 0 if it is jumped.

Core Voltage
VID0 -> R78

VID1 -> R44

VID2 -> R39

VID3 -> R38

VID4 -> R78

A VID is set to 0 if it is jumped.

Cache Voltage
Cache Voltage = 1.260*(R51+R52)/R51

Cache voltage is determined by adding the resistance of R51 and R52, multiplying the sum by 1.260, and dividing the product by the resistance of R51.
Resistance is how many ohms a resistor has.

Bus


BOM0 -> R435

BOM1 -> R434

BOM2 -> R433

BOM3 -> R432

PowerMac G4 Gigabit Ethernet
Multiplier
All multipliers are 0-Ohm

PLL0 -> R7

PLL1 -> R9

PLL2 -> R11

PLL3 -> R13

Core Voltage

Bus

PowerMac G4 Mirrored Drive Door Dual-Processor
Multiplier
All multipliers are 0-Ohm
PLL0 -> R1+R2

PLL1 -> R3+R4

PLL2 -> R5+R6

PLL3 -> R7+R8

PLL4 -> R9+R10

A PLL is set to 0 if both of its resistors are jumped. A PLL is set to 1 if neither of its resistors are jumped. A PLL will not function properly if one resistor is jumped and one is not jumped.

Voltage for Processors Under 1420MHz


All VIDs are 0-Ohm
VID0 -> R100

VID1 -> R101

VID2 -> R102

VID3 -> R103

VID4 -> R104

A VID is set to 0 if it is jumped. A VID is set to 1 if it is not jumped.

Voltage for 1420MHz Processors



Titanium PowerBook G4 Gigabit Ethernet
PLL 0 -> ?

PLL 1 -> R326

PLL 2 -> R265

PLL 3 -> ?

PLL 4 -> ?

A PLL is set to 0 if it is jumped. A PLL is set to 1 if it is not jumped.


Aluminum PowerBook G4 12"
...............0.......1
PLL 0 -> R367+R369

PLL 1 -> R57+R55

PLL 2 -> R47+R45

PLL 3 -> R53+R51

PLL 4 -> R39+R1108

A PLL is set to 0 if the location on the 0 side is jumped and the location on the 1 is not jumped. A PLL is set to 1 if the location on the 1 side of the table is jumped and the location on the zero side of table is not jumped.
Example: PLL 0 is set to 0 if only R367 is jumped. PLL 0 is set to 1 if only R369 is jumped. PLL 0 will not function properly if both R367 and R369 are jumped.


Aluminum PowerBook G4 15"
Multiplier

All multiplier locations require 0-Ohm resistances

PLL 0 -> R43+R44+R48

PLL 1 -> R60+R63+R64

PLL 2 -> R70+R76+R78

PLL 3 -> R84+R88+R92

PLL 4 -> R23+R31+R12

A PLL is set to 0 if one or more of the locations are jumped. A PLL is set to 1 if none of the PLL's locations are jumped.
Example: PLL 0 is set to 0 if R43, R44, or R48 is jumped or if any combination of R43, R44, and R48 are jumped. PLL 0 is set to 1 if R43, R44, and/or R48 are not jumped.

FSB
Warning: All bus speed modification information for PowerBooks is completely untested. Use these settings at your own risk. All BOM resistors are 10K-Ohm.

BOM0 -> R623

BOM1 -> R651

BOM2 -> R649

A BOM is set to 0 if its 0 location is jumped. A BOM is set to 1 if its 1 location is not jumped. A BOM will not function properly if both of its locations are jumped. For example, BOM0 is set to 0 if R623 is jumped. BOM0 is set to 1 if R641 is jumped.

Voltage
All voltage locations require 0-Ohm resistances. D0, D3, and D4 are on the front of the logicboard. D1 and D2 are on the rear of the board.

D4 -> R757+R126

D3 -> R137+R139

D2 -> R631+R634

D1 -> R662+R660

D0 -> R66+R65

When only the resistor on the left of the chart is jumped, the pin is set to 0. When the only resistor on the right side of the chart is jumped, the pin is set to 1. Example: D4 is set to 0 if only R757 is jumped. D4 is set to 1 if only R126 is jumped.


Aluminum PowerBook G4 17"
Multiplier


All multiplier locations require 0-Ohm resistances

PLL0 -> R19+R20+R21

PLL1 -> R22+R23+R24

PLL2 -> R25+R26+R13

PLL3 -> R14+R15+R16

PLL4 -> R17+R18+R27

A PLL is set to 0 if one or more of the locations are jumped. A PLL is set to 1 if none of the PLL's locations are jumped.
Example: PLL 0 is set to 0 if R19, R20, or R21 is jumped or if any combination of R19, R20, and R21 are jumped. PLL 0 is set to 1 if 19, R20, and R21 are not jumped.

Bus
Warning: All bus speed modification information for PowerBooks is completely untested. Use these settings at your own risk. All BOM resistors are 10K-Ohm.

BOM0 -> R665

BOM1 -> R644

BOM2 -> R683

Voltage
All voltage locations require 0-Ohm resistances.

VID0 -> R337+R336

VID1 -> R326+R325

VID2 -> R330+R329

VID3 -> R305+R304

VID4 -> R301+R876

When only the resistor on the left of the chart is jumped, the pin is set to 0. When the only resistor on the right side of the chart is jumped, the pin is set to 1. Example: D4 is set to 0 if only R757 is jumped. D4 is set to 1 if only R126 is jumped.


Aluminum PowerBook G5 12"
Multiplier

PLL0 -> ?

PLL1 -> ?

PLL2 -> ?

PLL3 -> ?

PLL4 -> ?


Aluminum PowerBook G5 15"
Warning: All information for PowerBook G5s is completely untested. Use these settings at your own risk.

Multiplier
All multiplier settings appear to be 10K-Ohm

..................0...........1
PLL0 -> R3721+R3720

PLL1 -> R3723+R3722

PLL2 -> R3725+R3724

PLL3 -> R3727+R3726

PLL4 -> R3729+R3728

PLL5 -> R3731+R3730

NOTE: PLL5 is only for diagnostic use. Do not set it to anything other than 0. The PowerBook will not function properly with PLL5 set to 1.

Bus
All bus settings appear to be 10K-Ohm

....................0...........1
BOM0 -> R2305+R2304

BOM1 -> R2307+R2306

BOM2 -> R2309+R2308

BOM3 -> R2311+R2310

When the resistor on the 0 side of a BOM jumped, the BOM is set to 0. When the resistor on the 1 side of a BOM jumped, the BOM is set to 1. If both the 0 side and 1 side is jumped the PowerBook will not function properly.

Voltage
All voltage pins other are 470K-Ohm.

D0 -> R3988+R3989

D1 -> R3986+R3987

D2 -> R3984+R3985

D3 -> R3982+R3983

D4 -> R3980+R3981

When only the resistor on the left of the chart is jumped, the pin is set to 0. When the only resistor on the right side of the chart is jumped, the pin is set to 1. Example: D4 is set to 0 if only R3980 is jumped. D4 is set to 1 if only R398 is jumped.


Aluminum PowerBook G5 17"
Warning: All information for PowerBook G5s is completely untested. Use these settings at your own risk.

Multiplier
All multiplier settings appear to be 10K-Ohm

..................0...........1
PLL0 -> R3721+R3720

PLL1 -> R3723+R3722

PLL2 -> R3725+R3724

PLL3 -> R3727+R3726

PLL4 -> R3729+R3728

PLL5 -> R3731+R3730

NOTE: PLL5 is only for diagnostic use. Do not set it to anything other than 0. The PowerBook will not function properly with PLL5 set to 1.

Bus
All bus settings appear to be 10K-Ohm

....................0...........1
BOM0 -> R2305+R2304

BOM1 -> R2307+R2306

BOM2 -> R2309+R2308

BOM3 -> R2311+R2310

When the resistor on the 0 side of a BOM jumped, the BOM is set to 0. When the resistor on the 1 side of a BOM jumped, the BOM is set to 1. If both the 0 side and 1 side is jumped the PowerBook will not function properly.

Voltage
All voltage pins are 470K-Ohm.

D0 -> R3988+R3989

D1 -> R3986+R3987

D2 -> R3984+R3985

D3 -> R3982+R3983

D4 -> R3980+R3981

When only the resistor on the left of the chart is jumped, the pin is set to 0. When the only resistor on the right side of the chart is jumped, the pin is set to 1. Example: D4 is set to 0 if only R3980 is jumped. D4 is set to 1 if only R398 is jumped.

Mac Mini
Multiplier
All multipliers are 0-Ohm. R52 is next to the CPU. Other multipliers are on the bottom of the board.

PLL0 -> R358

PLL1 -> R351

PLL2 -> R355

PLL3 -> R362

PLL4 -> R52

Source: http://www.hardmac.com/news/2005/05/12/overclock-a-mac-mini-1-67-ghz

GPU Overclocking
To overclock an ATi GPU, use ATiCCELERATOR. To overclock an nVidia GPU, use nVclock. nVclock is attached to this post. ATiCCELERATOR can be downloaded from the developer at: www.thomas.perrier.name.

Configuration tables for the FSB, Multiplier, and vCore
PLL:CONFIG Table for: Systems with 167MHz Front Side Busses


PLL:CONFIG Table for: Systems with 167MHz Front Side Busses


PLL:CONFIG Table for: Systems with 100MHz Front Side Busses


BOM:CONFIG

High-Res PowerBooks


Low-Res PowerBooks

BOM0..BOM1..BOM2...FSB_CLK
....0..........0..........0..........167MHz
....0..........0..........1..........150MHz
....0..........1..........0..........133MHz
....0..........1..........1..........100MHz
....1..........0..........0..........083MHz

VRM:CONFIG Tables/B]

PowerBooks


PowerMac G4 MDDs with 1420MHz Processors


PowerMac G4 MDDs with Processors Under 1420MHz

PowerBook G5?!
I call the High-Res / Late-2005 PowerBooks G5s because they use the Freescale 7448 / 7458. A single Freescale 7458 has the performance of a single IBM 970, which is what Apple named the G5. Apple crippled the Late-2005 PowerBooks. They lowered the 200MHz FSB to 167MHz, shut down the GPU x16 PCIe bus, lowered CPU speed to 1.67GHz even though it was built for 2.0GHz and up, shut down the 2nd core on the die (I'm not sure about the second core, the CPU does have two PLLs, leading me to suspect that it is two CPUs in one package, but I cant prove it), disabled 85% of the cache, and closed half of the 64-Bit FSB.
Why would they do that?
I don't know. I speculate that when Freescale began shipping the 7458s, Apple had already finalized the deal with intell. Apple used the 7458 in the Late-2005 PowerBooks because: A. they wanted DDR2 RAM and/or B. Freescale had stopped fabricating 7447As. Off the top of my head, Dual unlocked 7458s should have GeekBenched somewhere between 3500 and 6500, that would have have destroyed all the intell MacBooks, all MacBook Pros until the 2010 models came out, and still be able to compete with today's MacBook Airs. Apple was not going to let its brand-new MacBook Pros be half the speed of an old PowerBook, so they cut the PowerBook's speed to 1/4 to 1/8 of what it could really do. They also covered up the fact that the High-Res PowerBook had a 7458, opting to call it a "7447B", a magical CPU that never existed in Freescale documentation.

How To Jump or Unjump Locations
Soldering
To unjump a location where there is a 0-ohm jumper, unsolder the jumper. To unjump a location where there is a trace made from solder, melt the trace and remove it. To jump a location with a 0-ohm jumper, solder a jumper to the location. To jump a location with a trace, place a small amount of molten solder onto the location.

Conductive Paint
To unjump a location when there is a 0-ohm jumper, slice both ends of the resistor a knife, once both contacts of the resistor are weakened, slide the knife under the resistor and pop the resistor off. To unjump a location where there is a trace made from solder, scrape the trace off of the location with a knife. To jump a location with conductive paint, dip the tip of a toothpick in conductive paint and use the toothpick to jump the location by placing a small amount of conductive paint onto the location.

Future Plans for PowerPC Overclocking
The next modifications in line for PowerBook G4s are FSB clock modification and CPU vCore modification. GPU vCore modification is a close second in importance to CPU vCore and FSB clock modification.

Everything above paragraph is likely to become a reality.

I believe that it is not right for True Macs to not be as customizable as custom-built PCs, so I will try as hard as I possibly can to modify VDDA, DRAM, NB, AGP, PCI, PCIx and PCIe voltages and clocks on all Macs. Also on the list are: many more PowerPC-compatible GPU firmwares, logicboard firmware for Quad and Dual-Core G5s to allow for the 64GB of RAM the northbridge was built by IBM to handle, and a port of NVClock for PowerPC. I would also like for ATi and nVidia GPU clocks to be modifiable under OS X and Debian. The current state of Mac GPU overclocking software is that there is a Mac overclocking tool called ATIccelerator II that is used to overclock ATi GPUs under Mac OS X and that there is an overclocking tool called NVClock that is free software and open source software for Linux that is used to overclock nVidia GPUs in Linux. i want to combine NVClock and ATIccelerator into one Mac and Linux GPU overclocking suite. Also, keep in mind that any intell (<- not a typographical error) mac is no different than a Dell or HP. If you want a Mac get a PowerPC. I am the proud owner of 15 different PowerPCs and can say that they are truly a thing of their own. I also own a 15" MBP Late 2011 and two 2011 iMacs that are sitting in my closet.

Anything in the above paragraph may or may not happen, but I will push as hard as I can to make it happen.

Why do I prefer PowerPC Macs much more than Macs that I consider to be overpriced Dell clones?

I have never answered the question above and because I have hated on the intell Apple PCs seemingly without any reason, a lot of you all assume that I am a "troll", and to be honest, I fully comprehend why many people would assume that I am a "troll", in fact, if I was another forum member I would also assume that rabidz7 is a troll. I don't ever want to be seen as someone I am not, especially not in a negative way, so I am going to answer the question that is above right now.

When Apple Computer used PowerPC it stood for something. It showed that a tiny company could build computers that got their speed not from brute strength, but by the quality and design of the microprocessor, which is what we all see today. Apple Computer changed the world from having one way of determine computer speed, MHz, to hundreds of different ways that a processor could be compared. When was the last time that intell tried only raising the clock in order to make a CPU faster? How did that end up? The P4 was one of the worst, if not the worst x86 CPU failure. It used to be that Apple Computer really could, and would would "think different". Now they aren't even Apple Computer any more, they make their money by selling mobile devices that, IMHO, are pieces of garbage. But, people will still buy the devices like crazy because they have an Apple logo. Now they've even figured out that they could attract utter idiots who don't even know what an LCD or much less RAM is by mimicking all of the little "app" icons on Macs and turning all of their products into iPod Touches with slightly differing capabilities. The general quality of the hardware on an intell mac is poor at best. The engineers designers at Apple are trying to use 750M GPUs to drive near 4K screens. When Apple Computer made PowerBooks, the hardware was just the best. No one could even touch the speed of a PowerBook G4 DLHR. The Radeon Mobility 9700 was the best graphics card money could buy, the 2005 equivalent of a 780M. Also, the DLHR PowerBooks had the 7448 CPU in them at stock. The story how the DLHR got the 7448 is an interesting one. A few months after apple had already finalized the dirty deal with intell, Freescale shipped what was pretty much a G5 for PowerBooks. If you take a look at a schematic for the DLHR PowerBooks, you will see that the CPU is an Apollo 8 or 7448. Also, more proof is available in the fact that the 7448 was the only G4 that supported DDR2. Instead of Apple acknowledging that they had made what many would consider the biggest screwup in PC history they chose to keep the true CPU of the PowerBook DLHR from the public eye and just call it a "7447B". Funny thing happens to be though, Motorola only has mention of the 7447, 7447A, and 7448. People speculated that the 7447B was just a higher-binned 7447A, over the years, the assumption stuck.

The proof that I have of the fact that the DLHR PowerBooks had a 7448 follows:
The 7448 was the only G4 that could use DDR2 RAM
The schematic for the PowerBook DLHR says that the CPU is a 7448 and an Apollo 8 (Apollo8 and 7448 are synonyms)
Clearly printed on the PowerBook CPU is MPC7448
The PowerBook has had half of the CPU cache disabled by a motherboard jumper
The schematic for the PowerBook DLHR has bus settings for 100MHz, 133MHz, 167MHz, 200MHz
The 7448 is the only G4 that can handle bus speeds above 167MHz
Apple said that the CPU in the DLHR is the 7447B, that CPU never existed
The CPU in a DLHR had a CPU vCore that was so much lower than earlier PowerBooks that the only possible explanation for it is that the DLHR had 7448
The 7448 had a much smaller fabrication process that the 7447, allowing it to reach higher frequencies with lower voltages

Surprises like the above one made the PowerPCs more fun.

Attachments

MAX1717.pdf 461k .pdf file


PowerBookG415Low-Res.pdf 1140k .pdf file


PowerBookG417Low-Res.pdf 2265k .pdf file


PowerBookG415High-Res.pdf 1414k .pdf file


PowerBookG417High-Res.pdf 1412k .pdf file


pb1666.jpg 1169k .jpg file


nVclockDarwin.zip 544k .zip file

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101 - 108 of 108 Posts
R

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#101 ·
I overclocked to 1.92 Ghz but not stable. Did not removed the R52 yet, it is very tricky resistor. For other between 1.92 and 1.5 i have to remove the R52.

Problem whit the Voltage is, is the measuring. How do i know how high or low the voltage is. On modern CPU's i can read the voltage using tools like CPUz.

But i wonder about the CPU called MC7447B - HX1500QF.
 
Caincha

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4 Posts
#102 · (Edited)
Well it’s been a while since I’ve been following this thread - according to my join date its been almost 2 years lol - and I finally got my hands on a decent 2005 A1106 low-res PowerBook 1,5ghz with the idea of overclocking it.

The plan is to use the multipliers and crank it up to 2ghz and up the vCore from 1.385V to 1.5V.
Apart from that I plan to use the ATIccelerator to overclock the GPU, replace the 75gb HDD with a 80gb SSD (microSATA to IDE converter) and glue copper shins on any MOSFET I can see using a mix of 2/3 thermal paste + 1/3 liquid epoxi glue - maybe even glue some shins on the existing heatsink...

The questions I have before proceeding with the hardware mods are:
-I don’t have access to any resistors at all much less something so tiny as the stock ones, what would happen if I change the multipliers using molten solder? I know it should be ok on the vCore but what about the multipliers..?
-Would it make any difference to up the FSB from 167mhz to 200mhz? And how it could be done a low-res Powerbook?
-If I do change the FSB would it make any difference replacing the RAM PC2700 with PC3200?

I guess that’s it for now.
Appreciate any help :)
 
Caincha

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4 Posts
#103 · (Edited)
Caincha

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#104 · (Edited)
Followed the low-res guide and it kinda worked:

Hardware upgrades and mods:
Maxed RAM to 2gb
Got a 80gb SSD microSATA to PATA
ATIccelerator pushing the GPU 30% above stock
PLLs jumped from 9x to 11x = 1.83ghz according to the multipliers sheet
vCore jumped from 1.30v to 1.60v
Speakers from a 2013 MacBook Pro (bought for $5 so yeah I gave it a shot)

Lots and lots of copper shins:
Used a few shins with MX4 to bridge the gap between heat sink and GPU that was previously filled with thermal pads
Glued shins on MOSFETS using epoxy glue (1/3) + MX4 (2/3)
Glued a few shins on the heat sink itself and used thermal pads to attach shins on the back of the CPU/GPU - don’t know if any of that would really help to keep temps low but I figure it can’t hurt...

But the thing is: it only boots on safe mode otherwise it gets stuck on the boot screen and the wheel doesn’t spin.
And that’s when it boots at all sometimes it stays on the black screen beeping different codes - one, three, four times on each power on...
 

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#107 ·
so, what's the maximum safest OC on a A1085 powerbook 17"? i have a 7447a chip clocked to 1.5 ghz, it's a 1440x900 resolution model with an ATI 9600 64 mb of vram.. if someone could post photos of the settings to be done it would be very appreciated.. thanks
 
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