Mac Mini Server, poor performance

[MattMills]

Hello everyone, wondering if someone might tell me something I may have missed. I am building a portable Catalyst system for the upcoming festivals and I have purchased a new Mac Mini Server. I tried it out with the original 2X500 gig drives and the performance was not so good. Yesterday I installed a OCZ Vertex 60 gig drive and unfortunately it did not improve much more. I read somewhere that I should run it in 32 bit mode so I held down the 3 and 2 at startup until it finished booting, Im hoping that did the trick. Anyone have any suggestions on what i may have missed or what I may want to do to try and get more performance out of this machine? Were pretty close to being where we need to be, but it is obvious its not there yet. Heres the info.....

New Mac Mini Server
Running Snow Leopard Server
Catalyst 257
Outputting 1024 by 768 via mini port to VGA into Imagepro
Run off Grand MA 1

All content is SD but each piece of content is an entire song, thats the way it was made so Im dealing with it. What I do to ensure everything hits its marks is while one is playing in the verse, I have a second layer scrubbed forward to the chorus, then I bring that layer up for the chorus and advance the other layer to setup for the next cue. I think you get what Im saying.

Any help and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks, Matt

[basicmonkey]

Hi Matt,

First thing, get OS X server off and do a fresh restore from a Mac Mini disk. I couldn't get server to do anything useful, not designed for graphics use.

Make sure you use a Mac Mini restore disk not just Snow Leopard or you won't get use of your ethernet port.

Cheers

[MattMills]

Thanks, ill try that. Wont be able to do it until I get home May 8th. I have an older Mac Mini that I use for a home computer. Hopefully that will work. Hopefully I can find the disks. Im really hoping to get this thing to work out for the festivals. We arent closing all of the ones were playing so I will have to get the hell out of there during set changes.

[MattMills]

Ok, noticed something tonight when I was running the show. When I have it hooked up to the monitor, it plays back perfect, hook it to the LED wall, then It drops frames.

Im doing testing with the Mac Mini Server, my Mac Pro is actually running the show. I was testing the Mini Server during the day before doors, then switched back over.

Any idea whats up with that? I know both times the Mini Server was outputting 1024-768.

[samsc]

Ok, noticed something tonight when I was running the show. When I have it hooked up to the monitor, it plays back perfect, hook it to the LED wall, then It drops frames.

Im doing testing with the Mac Mini Server, my Mac Pro is actually running the show. I was testing the Mini Server during the day before doors, then switched back over.

Any idea whats up with that? I know both times the Mini Server was outputting 1024-768.

you using 2 outputs?
they dont like doing 2 outputs-

[MattMills]

you using 2 outputs?
they dont like doing 2 outputs-

Not doing 2 outputs. Before door had the mini hooked up to the wall for testing, once doors were opened I hooked my Mac Pro back to the wall and my Mini back to its monitor.

[Mr_P]

Ok, noticed something tonight when I was running the show. When I have it hooked up to the monitor, it plays back perfect, hook it to the LED wall, then It drops frames.

Im doing testing with the Mac Mini Server, my Mac Pro is actually running the show. I was testing the Mini Server during the day before doors, then switched back over.

Any idea whats up with that? I know both times the Mini Server was outputting 1024-768.

Check the refresh rates of your content and LCD and LED screen...
You may find that there is a difference between LCD and LED which may lead to a mismatch and dropped frames

What rate is your content?
What rate is your LED screen
What rate is catalyst set to?

S

[MattMills]

Check the refresh rates of your content and LCD and LED screen...
You may find that there is a difference between LCD and LED which may lead to a mismatch and dropped frames

What rate is your content?
What rate is your LED screen
What rate is catalyst set to?

S

All are set at 1024-768-60

[samsc]

Hi Matt,

First thing, get OS X server off and do a fresh restore from a Mac Mini disk. I couldn't get server to do anything useful, not designed for graphics use.

Make sure you use a Mac Mini restore disk not just Snow Leopard or you won't get use of your ethernet port.

Cheers

not true- there isnt any difference at all in performance between server and non-server os-

[basicmonkey]

not true- there isnt any difference at all in performance between server and non-server os-

This wasn't what I found on site with the Mac Mini Servers that XL have.

Using one output to drive a Triplehead, playing one wide layer over the three screens, I was unable to get a satisfactory result. Struggling to make 18-20 fps.

After re-imaging with Snow Leopard from fresh, I was able to get 25fps with no frame drops.

Following the install of Snow Leopard from a retail DVD, neither machine's ethernet port was available. I was informed by Apple that the relevant driver to support the port was only available on the restore disk.

Edit: Above show was using an Animation file, 3072px x 288px.

Only reflecting my own experiences with the machines.