Mac Mini Capabilities

Hi there...

So my Dual 2.3 G5 which has been running catalyst for the last 5 years on an ATI Radeon 9800/256 has finally choked - power supply has gone pop...

Whilst I understand I will be able to get another power supply, the other 2 G5s in my company have suffered logic board deaths, and apple advised it was more cost effective to buy a mac mini than replace the logic board...

I currently run 1 output to dreampanel (at 640x480 required by ayrton controller) and another output to a TH2G running 2048x768 - one for my preview monitor and one for my 50" plasmas running at 1024x768.

Does anyone know if the integrated graphics on a mac mini would be able to handle this? is any one port on the mac mini better equipped than the other for 2048x768?

Also, I'm planning on adding some pixel mapped LED tubes into the mix in the near future - does running pixel mixes have much of an effect on the performance? as this is something I've not tried before with catalyst, but am eager to get stuck into!

Long story short, can anyone with experience running catalyst on a mac mini let me know if you think it's feasible please!

As much as I'd love to dive in and buy a new mac pro, my budget won't stretch that far...

Many Thanks

Running more than one output is not advisable on a Mac Mini, let alone DH2G or TH2G.

Using a 2009 server version with SSD installed and Snow Leopard, and everything streamlined, I have managed one output at 1920x1080 running a single layer of 1920x1080@60Hz AIC.

Have also run and also 2x 1024x768 running NTSC content. (2 layers)

Much more than this, content depending - can be problematic.

If you want to do any more - I'd really recommend a MacPro.
If your budget doesn't stretch to a new one - look at Apple refurbs for the 4,1 (2009) version.
Alternatively - there are some suppliers with old stock of 2009 quad core MacPros still available, which are a good deal.
You can even get good deals on ebay...

As for performance - there are many variables that affect performance - so you must try to test your setup/scenario yourself so see if it is feasible. Can you borrow a Mac to try it out? - either way - invest in an SSD for content playback. (OCZ Vertex are a good deal)

Let me know if you need more help

Simon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kristoph

Hi there...

So my Dual 2.3 G5 which has been running catalyst for the last 5 years on an ATI Radeon 9800/256 has finally choked - power supply has gone pop...

Whilst I understand I will be able to get another power supply, the other 2 G5s in my company have suffered logic board deaths, and apple advised it was more cost effective to buy a mac mini than replace the logic board...

I currently run 1 output to dreampanel (at 640x480 required by ayrton controller) and another output to a TH2G running 2048x768 - one for my preview monitor and one for my 50" plasmas running at 1024x768.

Does anyone know if the integrated graphics on a mac mini would be able to handle this? is any one port on the mac mini better equipped than the other for 2048x768?

Also, I'm planning on adding some pixel mapped LED tubes into the mix in the near future - does running pixel mixes have much of an effect on the performance? as this is something I've not tried before with catalyst, but am eager to get stuck into!

Long story short, can anyone with experience running catalyst on a mac mini let me know if you think it's feasible please!

As much as I'd love to dive in and buy a new mac pro, my budget won't stretch that far...

Many Thanks

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mac minis really dont like driving either 2 screens or th2go- last time i checked-
cpu performance wise they are better than your g5- but their graphics isnt that great-

how about a refurb mac pro?
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/hom...co=MTkyMTQ5MzA

around 2000USD

Quote:

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Originally Posted by samsc

mac minis really dont like driving either 2 screens or th2go- last time i checked-
cpu performance wise they are better than your g5- but their graphics isnt that great-

how about a refurb mac pro?
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/hom...co=MTkyMTQ5MzA

around 2000USD

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I just played around whit my new MacBook Pro 13 inch, 2,66 ghz, 4gb ram, APPLE SSD TS128B and NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics (similar to the hottest Mac mini if you switch to an SSD) OSX 10.6.5 and of course Catalyst 4.4 m329. I manage to play 2 layers of 1920x1080 AIC 100% 137Mbit/s and 3 layers of 1920x1080 AIC 100% 74Mbit/s without problems! Sweet =)

Before buying anything new I suggest searching for used Mac Pros.

The 2006 Mac Pro with an x1900 or the 2008 Mac Pro with an 8800 are my top choices for Catalyst machines. In fact, all of my Mac Pro inventory is comprised of these machines. They are solid and work just fine with LFG4 or Phoenix cards.

Even the single processor versions of these two machines work fine.

There is no need to buy anything newer or faster in the Mac Pro line as you will not see any noticeable improvements. Also, I tend to notice that in the majority of my cross rentals that most rental houses use primarily one or both of these two generations more prevalently.

In the US I constantly find people with these two models posting on Craigslist for reasonable amounts and many are in the cities I happen to be in.