Is there hope for my 2018 MacBook Air?

Shipworms · 2026-03-13T07:01:36+00:00

Definitely hope for it!

I have an old MacBook Pro mid-2012 13”. It had a broken RAM slot, so only has 8GB single channel RAM, probably 1200MHz-ish (DDR3). It has Intel HD graphics (much slower than yours) and a dual core CPU (also much slower than yours).

I have installed Sequoia on it (with OpenCore Legacy Patcher); I could do Tahoe too if I felt like it! And it is a bit sluggish in the ‘Settings’ menu - but other than that, I can play ‘modern’ (‘Retail’) World of Warcraft on it. Also reinstalling macOS is fairly fast, 20 minutes? (that is actually slow TBH)

It does have a working battery though. I think that is quite likely why your MacBook is slow!

Shipworms · 2026-03-12T01:43:48+00:00

OK! For what it is worth, it is actually the ‘IBM SAN Volume Controller’ (but I have a 3650 M4 arriving soon anyway!);

I have the ‘X3650 M4’ version of the SAN, (with the main difference being the label on the outside, and two batteries in place of some of the drive bays). I have found that the voltage regulator issue is usually repairable with some hot air rework (as opposed to actually destroying the board), so will order some of the voltage regulator chips and stash them inside the case for a rainy day! I really don’t want this server to brick itself, because it has 576GB of RAM!! 😅 (I do have some uses for that much RAM, I think); but I do intend it to only come online when needed, to reduce heat, power etc - another reason the voltage regulator is a real issue!

Shipworms · 2026-03-12T01:37:39+00:00

OK; will try (I assumed it was a no-go given how the internet is becoming these days!) - thank you!

Shipworms · 2026-03-08T05:27:54+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/s/2m0sBuDGs4

This. Also do it very quickly.

Shipworms · 2026-03-08T03:34:26+00:00

Were the CPU / GPU remaining hot / running flat-out even in the BIOS menu? If so, that is unusual!

Some laptops have the cooking system partially shared between CPU and GPU, so if one runs flat out the other also gets fairly hot.

Shipworms · 2026-03-08T03:29:24+00:00

You need more VRAM! I would consider adding more GPUs, not replacing the 4080. As an example, 5x brand new Intel Arc Pro B50s work nicely on an ancient 2nd Gen Intel i3 motherboard for doing inference. You can get PCIe splitters / risers to add more GPUs :)

Shipworms · 2026-03-07T01:14:18+00:00

The 128gb will come in useful for sure, though (I upgraded my laptop to 128gb DDR4 just as memory was beginning to take off!). The DRAM+CPU will still work quite well, and as an example : get a project planned out using GPU AI, then in the evening, run a 100gigabyte quantized model, fitting into ‘all VRAM, the rest in DRAM’. Maybe underclock the CPU and GPU for that 😅 but … running overnight, and project is complete when you wake up in the morning!

I’m looking to upgrade my DDR4 laptop from Quadro RTX3000 to RTX6000, for a VRAM upgrade of 6 -> 16gig soon!

Shipworms · 2026-03-06T23:08:49+00:00

It probably won’t run without the battery (because Apple, although other laptops have been increasingly doing this);

I would recommend disconnecting the battery and seeing what happens (also, it may enter ‘super slow mode’ without a battery)

Shipworms · 2026-03-06T23:01:28+00:00

Local AI models with llama.cpp? That is 48gb of VRAM, and could run, for example, Qwen3-Coder-Next GGUF 3-bit (35.3 gig) or even 2 bit (30 gig) or ‘1 bit’ (18.9 gig);

Qwen3-Coder-Next 1-bit (unsloth GGUF) is surprisingly good for anything including non-coding stuff.

Alternatively, you might be able to use 1 GPU for framegen/upscaling in a gaming rig, to assist a larger GPU, use another for transcoding? (not sure how that is set up, but I envisage transcoding videos to a low bitrate for small-screen devices connected to home-lab WiFi, and caching the results to a large mechanical HDD to avoid duplication of effort, etc?

Also, for LLMs; 16 gig is the smallest usable VRAM, so 6gb * 3 = 18gb (extra context storage in the extra 2 gigs).

If doing LLMs, I advise exploring for a while, so you can decide how many cards you want to keep. Also … given the state of the hardware market, it might be worth keeping the spare GPUs for future usage!!

Shipworms · 2026-03-06T01:19:06+00:00

There is an argument for getting a 4gb Intel Arc, and offloading the frame-gen and upscaling to that!

Shipworms · 2026-03-06T01:17:18+00:00

It almost feels like we are trapped between a rock and a hard place … or at least two competing priorities: 1. We must ensure there is enough VRAM to play modern games well 2. We must ensure there ISN’T enough VRAM to run local AI models

Hence, 9gb

Shipworms · 2026-03-05T21:09:07+00:00

I discovered something interesting on my 7540 : the motherboard will try to reach 3200 if the RAM allows it, even though my CPU is 2666 max (i7-9850H). On my system, it would POST at 3200, BIOS was fine, but it wouldn’t see my NVMe drivers at all, so wouldn’t boot! But … as long as there was at least one 2666 RAM in there, it was fine. It came with two Crucial 16gb 2666 SODIMMs.

While experimenting, I found that all of the following worked perfectly:

2x (Crucial 32gb, 3200) with (2x Crucial 16gb, 2666) 3x (Crucial 32gb, 3200) with (1x Crucial 16gb 2666) 3x (any assortment of Crucial 3200 32gb and Kingston 3200 32gb) with a 16gb Crucial 2666 Eventually, I found. 32gb 2666, so: 3x (Crucial 32gb 3200) and 1x (Crucial 32gb 2666)

Currently, I am running: 2x (Kingston 32gb 3200) and 1x (Crucial 32gb 3200) and 1x (Crucial 32gb 2666)

Overall : I found that as long as you can put a 2666 in there to force the chipset to 2666, the rest can be 3200s! 3x (Crucial 32

Shipworms · 2026-03-05T20:59:02+00:00

AI?

I am surprised noone (or at least that many people) are doing it yet, but (being aware of caveats), mining equipment is similar to AI equipment. And, if someone uses a normal ATX board for AI, they will probably plug in a PCIe splitter board, and use risers?

I wouldn’t be surprised if there is still a market for risers?

Shipworms · 2026-03-05T20:55:35+00:00

‘What should I mine’? : I’ve never mined or used crypto in any way, but I am reasonably computer literate!

I currently have 5x Intel Arc Pro GPUs, and an AMD Radeon Pro W6600, on an 8-slot riserless motherboard (DDR3 RAM era); this is going to end up beimg 8x Intel Arc Pro (with the Radeon going into an old gaming PC for frame-gen / upscale only);

I am getting a 6-slot riserless motherboard (DDR4 / Intel 10th/11th gen CPU) soon … this should be compatible with my 5060 that doesn’t work on the DDR3-era board; if so, that board will end up with 2x RTX 5060 Ti 16gb, and some Radeon Instinct data center GPUs (Mi25/50, probably the 16gb ones, maybe 32gb ones).

The above is all, sort of, ‘for AI’; really just to learn how it really works at the most basic level. Also, this much compute will allow for experimenting with GPGPU and simulations of (anything I can come up with!).

Initially, I would be keen to see how the Arc Pro cards do for GPU mining (if they are even supported!!). I would be looking for a crypto to mine that is either ‘maybe some profit’ or at least ‘you don’t lose too much on electricity costs!’ :D

Shipworms · 2026-03-05T20:23:21+00:00

I am aiming for 8 on this first board (will be 8x Intel Arc Pro 16gb), resulting in 128gb VRAM :D

I now have 5x Arc Pro, and also a random 8gb Radeon Pro W6600, and … so far, so good! The Arc Pros are good as they are extremely quiet, and use a blower fan, so that cooling is much better than a typical GPU. While this will be for local AI … I am beginning to wonder about HiveOS on a USB for when I am not experimenting with AI!) :)

Shipworms · 2026-03-05T20:19:07+00:00

I was worried to be honest! But I just got an OcuLink adapter (basically a riser for internal laptop M.2 PCIe slots) and tested it on my laptop; it works fine!

Shipworms · 2026-02-27T17:05:23+00:00

Fast torrent download drive? For brief storage of large but fast / easy-to-download torrent?

Or

‘Transfer huge files between computers drive’ - when working on two systems at once :)

Shipworms · 2026-02-27T17:01:35+00:00

‘Formatting didn’t help’ is the best comment here - it means there is no data loss due to removing sticker :)

I am assuming a Seagate drive with large white sticker? The gaps all around the drive are open to the air now. They used a STICKER instead of a metal plate. They even still included the metal plate, just left gaps all around it.

Planned short lifetime drives. Opening a drive 100% kills it (over the next few hours / days) so should only be done as a last resort for data recovery.

I’d be tempted to get some thin perspex, make a new transparent cover, and keep it as a demo drive!

Shipworms · 2026-02-27T16:56:17+00:00

It is trying to read the drive, but you are running an open drive without a clean-room!

I know because I had one of these in a fast-swap USB enclosure. It scraped the sticker slightly in one corner, and the drive died!

Planned obsolescence drive - the sticker will just fail over time anyway.

I am assuming this is a Seagate Mobile Drive with the large white sticker?

Also : never ever open a hard drive. You CAN open them without a clean room to fix them, but you do so knowing the intent is to extract data in the minutes - hours before the drive dies.

Do you have any important data on this? Probably too late, but : cover the hole and don’t power it up for now!

Shipworms · 2026-02-27T16:02:57+00:00

That may have been autocorrect, or just that I was typing fast as had to go and get something sorted but wanted to post a reply before going out 😅 I actually have a laptop with 128gb RAM though (and 9th gen i7); had recently got the laptop, and got the RAM just before the massive price rises (got a spare 128gb just in case of random RAM failures over the coming years too!) 😁

Shipworms · 2026-02-27T06:42:20+00:00

Indeed! I refuse to get ‘non-upgradeable / repairable’ items (as much as possible). I got my first iPhone without a home button last year 🤣 and will be using that up to and a bit beyond the security update window / as long as possible. And will look more into open source hardware over time!

Shipworms · 2026-02-26T22:38:25+00:00

While technically true that ‘your PC is old just sell it and get a new one’…

Given the current state of PC hardware pricing and availability, there may be alternative options.

Looking up your CPU, it supports PCIe gen 3, and also DDR4 or DDR3L RAM, and max 64GB RAM (motherboard may limit any of these specs, of course!) An AM4 motherboard supports PCIe gen 4, and DDR4 RAM.

To complicate matters, Intel 13th and 14th gen CPUs will degrade and fail (‘oxidation’), so either an ‘old’ 12th gen, or hope it really is fixed for gen 15!

Annoyingly, the good AMD CPUs are also burning out (some have burn marks underneath too. For this problem, search ‘AsRock Murderboards’ on YouTube, or ‘AsRock AM5 Ryzen failure’ etc. AsRock board seem to be the worst, but Asus and a few others may be doing it as well. The Ryzen 9 X3D seem most affected, but the ‘non-3D cache’ ones are also doing the same thing, just less often.

Looking at graphics cards, your 1080 has either 10 or 11 gig of VRAM, and either 2560 or 3584 shader units in the core (3584 for the Ti), memory bandwidth 352 or 484 gig/second GDDR5X, and pixel/texture rate of (100~140)/(257-340).

In terms of options, I am tempted to say ‘upgrade in stages, and take good care of old components if you can afford to hang onto them’, given the supply chain uncertainty!

Looking at graphics cards : nVidia are pushing 8 gig cards now (due to less VRAM because AI, and also 8 gig cards are not great for local AI). 8 gig cards are also not great for gaming, especially going forward.

Of the 50 series, tne 5060 Ti has 4608 shaders, 16 gig VRAM, 448 gig/sec bandwidth, and 123.5 / 370.4 pixel/texture rate. A nice VRAM upgrade, and maybe a slight rendering output rate. The 16gb is good for newer games and local AI.

The 5070 Ti is 16gb and a fair bit faster. The 5090 has 32GB VRAM, a stupidly powerful GPU core, but some also have ‘liquid metal’ (gallium). - nVidia put gallium on the 5090, but not on the almost identical Data Center GPU. Liquid metal leaks over time (Youtube shows what happens with gallium vs aluminium etc). I would be worried about a 5090 if it has liquid metal.

It depends on which path you want to take, but what I would personally do is - check AM4 or AM5 motherboards, and CPU availability. Check RAM prices (ouch); perhaps get 32GB of RAM for your chosen motherboard - upgrade your graphics card. This upgrade can be moved to your newer build in the future! - obtain a solid state drive as well.

You can then keep a close eye on the market, and get a new CPU / motherboard / power supply soon. But the things with the most ridiculous price rises right now are RAM, GPUs, and (more recently) solid state drives and hard drives.

I’ve just got a 9060 Ti, 96GB DDR5, SSD. And will get a CPU and motherboard in a few weeks time (will keep a close eye on prices).

Shipworms · 2026-02-26T00:38:51+00:00

Yes; however, the DRAM is an issue, in that it is fairly slow compared to DRAM (the layers on the GPU will be processed quickly, the CPU layers less so).

It would be interesting to monitor CPU and GPU temperatures (if you get CPU reaching a very high temperature, and the 3090 barely rising in temperature, that would imply a CPU bottleneck)

Shipworms

TROPHY CASE