2018 mac mini video

[ChumpyD]

So i have a refurb 2018 mac mini. What is the best connection method to my Dell 34 monitor? Right now it using HDMI. I can switch to display port. Is there a noticeable difference?

Thanks

 

[weaztek]

I think as long as you're using a high-speed HDMI cable and the connection is good (i.e. when waking from sleep) you should be just fine with the HDMI. I get 4k @ 60 Hz.

The real bottleneck in my system is the graphics card they put in the Mini. I guess if they had used a good one people wouldn't have a reason to buy the Mac Pro line....
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[Krevnik]

So i have a refurb 2018 mac mini. What is the best connection method to my Dell 34 monitor? Right now it using HDMI. I can switch to display port. Is there a noticeable difference?

DisplayPort tends to be a little less prone to bugs around sleep, but the Mini has a dedicated HDMI port which frees up a TB3 port for something else. If you are getting 60Hz over HDMI, and it seems to work fine for you, why change?

The real bottleneck in my system is the graphics card they put in the Mini. I guess if they had used a good one people wouldn't have a reason to buy the Mac Pro line....

The CPU pushes the limits of what the Mini case can handle. Both in power, and heat. To put a dGPU in there would require a larger case with a larger PSU and better cooling. That or using mobile CPUs and GPUs.

I suspect the colocation / Mini farm business was a big factor for not doing that, but instead pushing as much CPU power as they could into the case.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

How's the display doing with the HDMI cable?
Working OK?
No problems?

If the answers are "yes", then... why change things?

 

[ChumpyD]

No problems at all with HDMI or sleep. Everything working well. I was just wondering if it was better to go TB to displayport for the connection. I do like having all of the TB ports open though in case I start adding things later on.

Since working fine I will just leave it as is.

 

[D.T.]

I got mine last Friday, initially I hooked up one of my Dell U2518 via HDMI (my USB-C-to-mDP adapter was delivering the next day). Worked great, slept, woke, restarted, etc., all just fine.

Got my adapter in the next day, used the existing mDP-to-DP cable already connected, both displays fired up, needed to swap the dual orientation, everything seemed to be GTG ...

... but then through a few restarts / sleep cycles, the HDMO display didn't come on. Everything was set to auto input select, tried manual, don't think that worked (you start getting too many variables). Anyway, I figured I'd give MST a shot, the displays are DP1.2, MST compliant, I saw the 2018 Mini was __supposed__ to support it.

Enabled MST on Display 1, which is connected display >> DP >> mDP [adapter] USB-C >> Mini

DP OUT from Display 1 >> mDP in on Display 2

The proper setting according to the docs is MST on first display, off on the daisy chained one ... but tried all combos, the only thing I could get was a mirrored display So I swap back to HDMI ...

... and * poof *, no more issues. I've restarted, cold shut down, user induced sleep, normal sleep, 15 minutes, or all night, it +always+ wakes back up. There is a touch of latency, like the DP/Display comes on in 2-3 seconds, the HDMI is like 4-5, just a couple of seconds behind.

So weird, but great. I mean, I was going to just order another adapter and run both off USB-C, but I'm happy for now Maybe the something got set differently with the input type select (like going from auto to manual?), MST shouldn't have any effect, but it's still enabled on my DP connected display ... [?]

 

[Stephen.R]

Unless they’ve changed things recently my understanding is macOS only supports MST for combining two DP streams into a singe display (ie to run 5k over two DP cables).

I don’t believe they have ever supported MST daisy chaining.

You may also want to check your display with it enabled - on my Dells enabling MST limits them to 30hz

 

[D.T.]

@Stephen.R Ahh, thanks for the extra info about the MST implementation on the Mini, I was mostly just kind of doing some experimental fumbling around, now it's working with the HDMI / DP mix, I'm good to go.

 

[Steve686]

I put an eGPU on the desk for my Mini. Just the simple Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Puck with the AMD Radeon RX 560 4 GB.

I eliminated the HDMI connection from the Mini going to a ViewSonic VP3268-4K Display and am now using a DisplayPort out of the eGPU to a MiniDisplay port on the monitor. The mini connects to the eGPU via TB3.

I am going to say that I did this to try and totally eliminate the onboard graphics chip of the Mini and it seems to have worked.

Just leaving this here in case you decide to try a little more power in your video chain.


Radeon RX 560:



Chipset Model: Radeon RX 560

Type: External GPU

Bus: PCIe

PCIe Lane Width: x4

VRAM (Total): 4 GB

Vendor: AMD (0x1002)

Device ID: 0x67ef

Revision ID: 0x00e5

Metal: Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily2 v1

Displays:

VP3268-4K:

Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (2160p 4K UHD - Ultra High Definition)

UI Looks like: 3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz

Framebuffer Depth: 30-Bit Color (ARGB2101010)

Display Serial Number: V0E182100091

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

Rotation: Supported

Automatically Adjust Brightness: No

Connection Type: DisplayPort

 

[D.T.]

I got in another Cable Creation USB-C to mDP adapter, went back to my mDP to DP cable (how my previous machine was connected).

** BOOM **

No more HDMI latency during wakeup, both displays wake up instantly and at the same time.