Mac Mini Server, poor performance

[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.

[samsc]

This is things apple missed - in releases to support these machines

There isn't any difference in graphics drivers or performance or QuickTime or anything that matters between server and non server machines - nothing

unless apple got some drivers wrong
Which they did
The mac mini server was released mid os updates
And some things got missed by them

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.

[samsc]

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

what resolution of triple heads?

how many monitors? which monitor port? hdmi or mini display port?

-

these things really dont like working at high resolution

any difference you indicate is extremely unlikely to be anything to do with server or non-server OS-

[basicmonkey]

what resolution of triple heads?

how many monitors? which monitor port? hdmi or mini display port?

-

these things really dont like working at high resolution

any difference you indicate is extremely unlikely to be anything to do with server or non-server OS-

Only one output in use, Mini Display Port with Apple Dual Link DVI adaptor and Triplehead on. 3x 1024px x 768px @ 60hz.

The machine came with a fresh install of OS X Server on, I ran Catalyst and the content and results as above, unsatisfactory. Settings were as per usual, services turned off, spotlight off etc.. All from internal SSD.

After installing fresh OS X, all good, no problems at all.

Again, this was outside and we were in a hurry so little chance to experiment, and this was back in October last year.

[samsc]

Only one output in use, Mini Display Port with Apple Dual Link DVI adaptor and Triplehead on. 3x 1024px x 768px @ 60hz.

The machine came with a fresh install of OS X Server on, I ran Catalyst and the content and results as above, unsatisfactory. Settings were as per usual, services turned off, spotlight off etc.. All from internal SSD.

After installing fresh OS X, all good, no problems at all.

Again, this was outside and we were in a hurry so little chance to experiment, and this was back in October last year.

when apple released the mac mini servers - the os versions available at that time werent in sync with the hardware - so some drivers werent there if you swapped or changed things around

you have to be conservative in expecations off graphics performance on these things-

[SourceChild]

you have to be conservative in expecations off graphics performance on these things-

In agreement with Richard...

The graphics suck.

There is no graphics memory. The GPU is very small and very basic. It uses system memory and gains this system memory at the expense of the CPU performance. The CPU is also busy accessing the SATA controller so you'll also downgrade your playback performance.

Only one output in use, Mini Display Port with Apple Dual Link DVI adaptor and Triplehead on. 3x 1024px x 768px @ 60hz.

Triple head is a very very bad idea on a Mac Mini. Single output only 1920x1080 or smaller.

It is possible to crash Catalyst on a Mac Mini by overloading the video card with very high pixel resolution such as a TH2G. They system tries to buffer too much memory to a paging file and the system will lock.

This is rare but it has happened to me. (granted I obscenely overload things to test them)

[SourceChild]

Following the install of Snow Leopard from a retail DVD, neither machine's ethernet port was available.

The reason the Ethernet did not work is because your Snow Leopard Install DVD was older than 10.6.3. The Mac Mini was created after the release of 10.6.3 which is why the ethernet port did not work correctly.

I was informed by Apple that the relevant driver to support the port was only available on the restore disk.

Apple support is notorious for not indicating the true nature of the issue back to a user. The issue you had was that until the 10.6.3 update, OS X did not have a driver for the new hardware, ie 2010 Mac Mini. (Also note the same is true for the 2010 Mac Pro. However it is covered from 10.6.2).

If your install DVD is 10.6 then the solution is to clean install. Then copy the 10.6.x update to a USB or Firewire Drive and installed it manually. This will update the drivers and fix the connectivity issues with the Firewire, Bluetooth, Ethernet, and IR port.

A big thing that changed with the Mac Mini hardware was the SATA controller. Prior to 10.6.3 the Mac Mini SATA driver was for multi channel and unfortunately the new 2010 Mac Minis are single channel SATA.

This doesn't matter to most unless you try to create a RAID Stripe across the two internal drives hoping for a performance increase.

[basicmonkey]

The reason the Ethernet did not work is because your Snow Leopard Install DVD was older than 10.6.3. The Mac Mini was created after the release of 10.6.3 which is why the ethernet port did not work correctly.

That makes a lot of sense Todd. This was back in October 2010, in the middle of Canary Wharf, not much opportunity to play with updates, just needed thing thing running! Ended up using a USB ethernet adaptor as an interim fix.