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New mini owner, just bought another :)

marioman38

marioman38

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 8, 2006
901
84
Lodi, CA
Just got my mini and I LOVE IT! It replaces the 17"C2D MBP that I sold in March, 2010 to pay for a car repair. I've been iPad only the past 2 years! I ordered my dad the base mini, which I will be setting up for him in a few minutes.

Anywho, here are some brief benchmarks I did of Halo UB:

1280x720 all HIGH, Lens Flare High, NO AA
Average frame rate=167.79fps

1920x1080 all HIGH, Lens Flare High, NO AA
Average frame rate=96.87fps

1920x1080 all HIGH, Lens Flare High, 4x AA
2500MHz, 4096MB
Total Time=88.19s
Average frame rate=53.29fps
Below 5fps= 1% (time) 0% (frames) (1.515s spent in 4 frames)
Below 10fps= 1% (time) 0% (frames)
Below 15fps= 6% (time) 1% (frames)
Below 20fps= 11% (time) 2% (frames)
Below 25fps= 11% (time) 3% (frames)
Below 30fps= 19% (time) 6% (frames)
Below 40fps= 37% (time) 18% (frames)
Below 50fps= 50% (time) 28% (frames)
Below 60fps= 62% (time) 41% (frames)
###Sound Options###
Hardware Acceleration= No
Sound Quality= High
Environmental Sound= No
Sound Variety= High
###Video Options###
Resolution= 1920 x 1080
Refresh rate= 0 Hz
Framerate throttle= No Vsync
Specular= Yes
Shadows= Yes
Decals= Yes
Texture Quality= High

Lightroom 3 runs smooth as butter, Halo 2 under windows 7 runs great (30-50fps) with every setting maxed, 4xAA 1920x1080.

Mini specs in sig. Stock 2011 with 6630m.
 
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More benchmarks incase anyone finds them interesting.

Windows 7 Experience Rating

Stock Mini 2.3ghz HD3000, 2GB Ram

Processor 6.9
Memory 5.5
Graphics 5.8
Gaming Graphics 6.3
Hard Drive 5.7

Stock Mini 2.5ghz 6630m, 4GB Ram

Processor 7.1
Memory 7.4
Graphics 5.8
Gaming Graphics 6.6
Hard Drive 5.9

Of note: Both tests were performed on a clean install of Windows 7. Both tests were performed twice, the numbers were the same both times.

Interesting findings: The memory test of the 2.3ghz is surprisingly low, I assume because of the amount (2GB) and not the speed, as they both use 1333mhz ram.

Hard Drive: Both mini's have the same toshiba 500gb 5400rpm hdd, windows is on a 50gb partition on both mini's. Not sure why the 2.5ghz is rated higher.

Graphics: WHY is the rating of the HD3000 the SAME as the 6630m? Thats why I paid an extra 200 bucks!

Gaming Graphics: The 6630m is only .3 higher than the HD3000, it can play Halo 2 at 1900x1080 High, 4xAA with 30-50fps, so it is not bad, Is the HD3000 not as bad as everyone makes it out to be?
 
2011 Mac mini server 2.0GHz Quad-Core Intel i7
8GB 1866MHz Kingston Hyper X
240GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1

Windows Experience Scores:
Processor: 7.4
Memory (RAM): 7.9
Graphics: 6.3
Gaming graphics: 6.3
Primary hard disk: 7.9

Geekbench 64-bit: 11622 (http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/488313)
ATTO Diskbench: 559/514 MB/s read/write
Handbrake Blu-ray Folder Encode Apple TV 2 Preset: 24fps average

I achieved these marks by enabling AHCI in bootcamp and installing Intel's Rapid Storage Drivers. I also recommend installing the Broadcom WiFi and Gigabit drivers. Apple's bootcamp drivers are not the fastest or most stable.
 
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Interesting that your graphics rating is higher with the HD3000 than the 6630m dedicated I have.

That is some screaming fast RAM, and nice SSD.

Just loaded up the 27,000 photos off my dads 2004 iMac and iPhoto 4 (circa 2004) to his mini, it HATES having 2GB ram, constant beach balls, apps not responding, and a gig of swap... I bought him a new computer to be FASTER... ugh, apple. *off to crucial.com* :rolleyes:
 
marioman38 said:
interesting that your graphics rating is higher with the hd3000 than the 6630m dedicated i have.

That is some screaming fast ram, and nice ssd.

Just loaded up the 27,000 photos off my dads 2004 imac and iphoto 4 (circa 2004) to his mini, it hates having 2gb ram, constant beach balls, apps not responding, and a gig of swap... I bought him a new computer to be faster... Ugh, apple. *off to crucial.com* :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

once again solid evidence the base mini needs 4g to 8gb ram


If you buy the 8gb run the scores with a 4gb stick then with 2 4gb sticks. I have found that you can get away with 4gb but the machine is much better with 8gb, I use kingston hyperX plug n play 1600mhz works nicely in the base mini and or the server mini
here is my ram

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Modu...XAAK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328867461&sr=8-1
 
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I just ordered 8gb for myself and will be giving my dad the 4gb in my mini.

Buy.com happened to send me an email with an excellent price on crucial 1333 ram. 35 bucks for 8GB

Now I just need to figure out the mouse situation. I use a Logitech VX Nano, and wouldn't mind something a little larger, would LOVE the trackpad, but I do occasionally play an FPS. He has a "mighty" mouse, which has stopped scrolling in one direction. Looked at the Logitech VX Revolution, but no way I would pay 80 bucks for it. Maybe if it was 50.
 
marioman38 said:
I just ordered 8gb for myself and will be giving my dad the 4gb in my mini.

Buy.com happened to send me an email with an excellent price on crucial 1333 ram. 35 bucks for 8GB

Now I just need to figure out the mouse situation. I use a Logitech VX Nano, and wouldn't mind something a little larger, would LOVE the trackpad, but I do occasionally play an FPS. He has a "mighty" mouse, which has stopped scrolling in one direction. Looked at the Logitech VX Revolution, but no way I would pay 80 bucks for it. Maybe if it was 50.
Click to expand...


You can use both the Trackpad, connected with Bluetooth, and wireless mouse at the same time. I have a Logitech VX Revolution mouse that I picked up in the clearance aisle of Walmart a while back and the Trackpad both hooked up to my Mini and I don't have any problems with conflicts between them. I prefer the Trackpad but my wife likes the mouse better because she sits at my desk so infrequently that she can't remember the gestures. I've just been keeping an eye out for a Bluetooth mouse as it would be nice to free up that USB port again.
 
marioman38 said:
I just ordered 8gb for myself and will be giving my dad the 4gb in my mini.

Buy.com happened to send me an email with an excellent price on crucial 1333 ram. 35 bucks for 8GB

Now I just need to figure out the mouse situation. I use a Logitech VX Nano, and wouldn't mind something a little larger, would LOVE the trackpad, but I do occasionally play an FPS. He has a "mighty" mouse, which has stopped scrolling in one direction. Looked at the Logitech VX Revolution, but no way I would pay 80 bucks for it. Maybe if it was 50.
Click to expand...

Just an FYI. I bought the exact same RAM kit from Crucial.com. I installed it today and got the 3 beeps (RAM error). Swapped slots, still 3 beeps. So I then shutdown the computer (uncheck "Reopen windows when logging back in). I unplugged the Mini's power cord and let it sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, installed the Crucial kit and voila!! It started up normally. Ran the Apple Hardware test, normal and extended tests, and everything checks out.

Just a heads up in case the same thing happens to you when you get your Crucial RAM.
 
shortcut3d / marioman38

Can you run coretemp 1 rc 03 for me and post the results please? (both server and base mac mini would be appreciated)

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1321913/

I have the i5 2.5 Ghz and am running it 24/5 and I do not like the high temperatures.

Marioman38: the 2.5 has better performance with the HDD due to the higher data throughput (see the memory throughput test results on macbenchmark - http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/ ).

thanks!
 
The 2011 Mac mini server idles at 40C in Windows 7. The 2011 Mac mini 2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel i7 idles at 54C - 60C. Those temps are for cores and ambient. I highly recommend setting Link Power Management to Maximum Savings in Windows 7 to lower idle temps.
 
shortcut3d said:
The 2011 Mac mini server idles at 40C in Windows 7. The 2011 Mac mini 2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel i7 idles at 54C - 60C. Those temps are for cores and ambient. I highly recommend setting Link Power Management to Maximum Savings in Windows 7 to lower idle temps.
Click to expand...

those figures are a bit deceiving hence that I want the pure CPU measurement at idle. The difference between server and the i5 2.5 Ghz is that the server has the fan running at 2300 and the other two (or three if you count the i7 duo as a third) models have the fan running at 1800 rpm.

I am using MacFan_06 after bootup and set the minium fanspeed to 2200 (not as noisy as 2300) to keep the temprature below 65C when doing its job (low load). Me thinks (dangerous thing to do - think) that the GPU is taking more than most realise. In any case the i5 / i7 duo have the highest memory throughput which is what I am after. Am prepared to do a bit of sacrifice to get the temperature down.
 
hello all. i just ordered my first base mini to be delivered on wednesday. needless to say, i'm extremely excited!

i was wondering if you could help me out with a concern that i hadn't thought about before pulling the trigger. i have a 23" dell lcd and plan on picking up a 2nd 23". neither have hdmi input. can i purchase the mini displayport to dvi adapter to connect the 2nd monitor? i know it's a thunderbolt port on the mini, but on apple's site when you go through the purchase process, they give you the option to buy additional accessories and that mini>dvi happens to be one of them.

thanks in advance for the helpful clarification!
 
shortcut3d said:
The 2011 Mac mini server idles at 40C in Windows 7. The 2011 Mac mini 2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel i7 idles at 54C - 60C. Those temps are for cores and ambient. I highly recommend setting Link Power Management to Maximum Savings in Windows 7 to lower idle temps.
Click to expand...
is the fan usage/fan noise higher when operating the unit in Windows 7 than when in OSX?
 
Osamede said:
is the fan usage/fan noise higher when operating the unit in Windows 7 than when in OSX?
Click to expand...


Not that I've noticed but the temperatures are slightly higher due to the Apple bootcamp drivers not being as efficient as the OS X drivers.

It took me a long time to find the differences in power consumption of the MC815 and MC816 ( 2.3 and 2.5 Ghz i5) and it is about 20%.

http://directories.csa-internationa...\045149_C_000-8882-81.xml&xsl=xsl/certrec.xsl

edit: Apple themselves have the reports for all the computers but there was no separate rating for the above two.

http://www.apple.com/environment/reports/

From this link it can be deduced that the 2011 Mac mni server and the i5 2.5 Ghz with discrete GPU have almost the same power consumption at idle. The difference in idle temperature is purely due to the fan speed which is 2300 for the server and 1800 for the i5. 1800 is for all purposes inaudible but 2300 is noticeable.
 
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The operating temps in Windows 7 is higher with Bootcamp drivers. However, I found that enabling AHCI, using Intel drivers and setting Link Power Management to Maximum Power Savings drops the temps. You lose Sleep and Suspend, but gain speed and lower idle temps.
 
madridista59 said:
hello all. i just ordered my first base mini to be delivered on wednesday. needless to say, i'm extremely excited!

i was wondering if you could help me out with a concern that i hadn't thought about before pulling the trigger. i have a 23" dell lcd and plan on picking up a 2nd 23". neither have hdmi input. can i purchase the mini displayport to dvi adapter to connect the 2nd monitor? i know it's a thunderbolt port on the mini, but on apple's site when you go through the purchase process, they give you the option to buy additional accessories and that mini>dvi happens to be one of them.

thanks in advance for the helpful clarification!
Click to expand...

The tiny port on the mid-2011 Minis doubles as both the Thunderbolt port and the mini displayport, so yes, you should be able to use that adapter.

Hope that helps.
 
shortcut3d said:
The operating temps in Windows 7 is higher with Bootcamp drivers. However, I found that enabling AHCI, using Intel drivers and setting Link Power Management to Maximum Power Savings drops the temps. You lose Sleep and Suspend, but gain speed and lower idle temps.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Been using Snow Leopard Server for the past year on and a half on the mid 2010 mini and an getting fed up with the OS, although the hardware is fine. All I need to to is just get stable file sharing on a home network, which seems to much to ask for some bizarre reason. Maybe I'll try throwing 2008 R2 server on the latest model and see how that goes. I've had my Squeezebox server on that on a separate machine and its been much more reliable. The sleep/suspend doesnt matter much.
 
madridista59 said:
i have a 23" dell lcd and plan on picking up a 2nd 23". neither have hdmi input. can i purchase the mini displayport to dvi adapter to connect the 2nd monitor?
Click to expand...

Yup, one will plug in with the included HDMI to DVI adapter, and the other will need a mini display port to DVI adapter where the mini display end will plug in to the Mac Mini's Thunderbolt port. Since you ordered the base mac mini, which uses shared video memory, I recommend upgrading your ram to at least 4gb, if not 8gb! I just bought 8gb crucial ram for 35 bucks, works like a charm! The reason being:

1) Mac OS Lion likes RAM and 2GB is not enough for things such as iPhoto, Powerpoint, Safari etc. running more than one app simultaneous.

2) Drawing more pixels (as you would powering 2 23" displays) requires more video memory. The HD3000 increases its memory with the more you have installed on your system.
2GB=288MB vRam
4GB=384MB vRam
8GB=512MB vRam

Therefore 8Gb would be a wise choice ESPECIALLY when powering multiple monitors. 4GB would be a very noticeable difference if its all you can manage.
 
thanks Mario and Snips for your responses! i forgot i had already purchased a mini display>dvi for my air from monoprice a while back, so i'm using that right now.

i've been lurking these threads for a while before buying my mini and decided to jump to 8gb. i bought the same crucial memory and both ram and mini arrived same day. i honestly can't tell the difference just yet though, but it's better to have it and not need it, then to not have it and need it! speaking about the 8gb :)

again, thanks to you both for your helpful responses!
 
MJL said:
From this link it can be deduced that the 2011 Mac mni server and the i5 2.5 Ghz with discrete GPU have almost the same power consumption at idle. The difference in idle temperature is purely due to the fan speed which is 2300 for the server and 1800 for the i5. 1800 is for all purposes inaudible but 2300 is noticeable.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this - I wasnt aware that they had different fan speeds. Makes big difference, as I'm looking to replace the 2010 Mac Mini Server that I have in my living room.
 
I have 16gb or ram on mountain lion and sometimes I still see the spinning wheel from time to time
 
marioman38 said:
Graphics: WHY is the rating of the HD3000 the SAME as the 6630m? Thats why I paid an extra 200 bucks!

Gaming Graphics: The 6630m is only .3 higher than the HD3000, it can play Halo 2 at 1900x1080 High, 4xAA with 30-50fps, so it is not bad, Is the HD3000 not as bad as everyone makes it out to be?
Click to expand...

The HD 6630M being discrete, is a much better card than the HD 3000. All benchmarks confirm this. Unfortunately, in the 2011 Mini it's greatly hampered by having only 256 VRAM. :rolleyes: Otherwise, it's a sound, low-powered mobile card. FWIW, I've got the same Mini.

However, both the HD3000 & HD4000 integrated cards make use of up to 512 VRAM if you have 8 GBs RAM. This gives both Intel cards an extra boost for handling certain graphically-intensive tasks.
 
gregorsamsa said:
The HD 6630M being discrete, is a much better card than the HD 3000. All benchmarks confirm this. Unfortunately, in the 2011 Mini it's greatly hampered by having only 256 VRAM. :rolleyes: Otherwise, it's a sound, low-powered mobile card. FWIW, I've got the same Mini.

However, both the HD3000 & HD4000 integrated cards make use of up to 512 VRAM if you have 8 GBs RAM. This gives both Intel cards an extra boost for handling certain graphically-intensive tasks.
Click to expand...

Actually the HD4000 can use up to 768MB of VRAM with an 8GB machine
 
philipma1957 said:
once again solid evidence the base mini needs 4g to 8gb ram


If you buy the 8gb run the scores with a 4gb stick then with 2 4gb sticks. I have found that you can get away with 4gb but the machine is much better with 8gb, I use kingston hyperX plug n play 1600mhz works nicely in the base mini and or the server mini
here is my ram

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Modu...XAAK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328867461&sr=8-1
Click to expand...
Yeah for my purposes 8 was basically a requirement.
 
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