Mac Mini to replace classic Mac Pro?

[opeter]

Yeah, I understand, what you mean.

You would like to have a Mac mini on top and the eGPU enclosure on bottom stocked up. Maybe even a 3rd one for internal SSD/HDDS

It would look like this:

The smallest eGPUs you can buy right now are these from the Sonnet's Puck series (eGFX Breakaway Box).

Sonnet Technologies

www.sonnettech.com

And here are some other options (some of these maybe more wallet-friendly, but not small):

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[bsbeamer]

If you're interested only in compact eGPU solutions, you might want to take a look at this article/review:

https://ww.9to5mac.com/2019/02/12/review-powercolor-mini-pro-egpu-video

Personally think investing in an eGPU enclosure that you can swap/upgrade your GPU is the better solution to these all-in-one boxes. Personally own the Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 650 OC (GPU-650WOC-TB3) and it's a fantastic enclosure. Much more quiet than some others I've used or seen in the past.

The eGFX Breakaway Puck models are NOT as compact as you think they are. The PSU is larger than the footprint of the puck itself. They're barely what I would consider portable or small. You can see some actual photos here:

Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Puck RX570 Review

Sonnet takes the Thunderbolt 3 eGPU to the next level.

www.tweaktown.com

 

[DaveP]

just bought the i7 2018 Mac mini and was wondering if you have seen any issues with hibernation or deep sleep booting from external NVMe. And what brand drive/ext tb3 case you are using.

debating booting from the stock tiny internal 128GB NVMe and putting music and photos on the external drive if I have issues.
Anyone have any recommendations on brands? I see Samsung flash drives are inside many macs but also Sabrent rocket is mentioned.
Thanks.

I'm booting off a 1TB AData XPG SX8200 Pro in a TEKW Rapide Thunderbolt enclosure from which I removed the small, existing drive. I've not had any sleep or boot up issues and performance has been good.

 

[pertusis1]

It’s interesting to read this thread. I have mostly lived in the Mac Pro forums, currently using a 5,1 which I love. I’m thrilled that Apple came out with a killer new Mac Pro, but I am also coming to grips with the fact that I really don’t need it. From what I see here, it looks like the mini is a pretty good option for mid range computing.

 

[sigmadog]

From what I see here, it looks like the mini is a pretty good option for mid range computing.

That's my impression as well, especially if you want to keep your monitors separate from the computer as I do.

The iMacs are great if you can accept an all-in-one solution, but my experience with the Mac Pro leads me to prefer a more modular approach, which the mini seems to provide. At least that's my impression from what I've read (my Mini purchase is still a few weeks away).

 

[30YrsMac]

(my Mini purchase is still a few weeks away).

I just got mine and called Apple to see how they will handle returns if mine has that noise issue. (Which is the power supply feeding the processor and not the ssd as earlier reported). Apple needs to step up their game again.

 

[sigmadog]

I just got mine and called Apple to see how they will handle returns if mine has that noise issue. (Which is the power supply feeding the processor and not the ssd as earlier reported). Apple needs to step up their game again.

Keep us posted on 1) whether you have the noise problem and 2) Apple's response.

 

[bigfatipod]

I used to buy Mac Pros. When my 2003 G5 died, I tried a Mac mini. It was shocking how powerful the little machine had gotten. Since then, I'm a Mac mini-only person, especially with my audio/video interests having declined.

 

[MarkC426]

This has been a consideration of mine recently.
I am not sure about bandwidth though.....how many external ssd’s, egpu’s you can connect before slowing down.
Currently have different internal drives for scratch/render/cache.
Really don’t think I could achieve this with a mini.

Anyone have multiple externals?

With the recent anniversary of the 1984 Mac mentioned and a price of $6000 in today’s money, the new MP doesn’t appear too excessive.... 😜

 

[pertusis1]

Back in 2012 I bought a Mac mini for some relatively light video editing. I thought it'd be fine based on the specs (four core, decent speed processor). I maxed the ram, put in a SSD, and went to work. It was worthless because the cores maxed out, the heat had nowhere to go, and what now takes 40 minutes on my 5,1 MP took over 24 hrs (if it didn't crump before it finished) with the fan whining away.

The bottom line is that it's still a great computer except for any video work. Apple has now solved that part of the problem with the eGPU, so I think I'll be rolling back into the Mini camp.

 

[fuchsdh]

For what I do the new Mac Pro would appear to be expensive overkill. I can easily justify dropping three grand on a computer (I've done it before), but not six grand. Most of my work is print oriented with just a few things video, and the new Mac Pro is targeted for major video workflow.

It's too bad, really. I told The Missus the other day that I feel like a jilted lover. For years Apple catered to the demands of designers, putting out the best machines for my industry. Now they've dumped me to pursue the younger, sexier video industry.

Yeah, that's where I'm at. We'll see what two years holds when I make the jump, but pricing out a Mac mini versus a Mac Pro and I come up with around $2700 for the Mini, and $7800 for the Mac Pro. If I got the Mac Pro I could make it last much longer, but not long enough to justify the price differential. I could basically upgrade my entire setup three times and still come out ahead. The Mac Pro will obviously be faster and probably more reliable, but the margin is so great that I can't see where the calculus for me would work in its favor. I'm not doing a bunch of heavy freelance work on it now either so I can't use that to justify it.

If the next Mac mini revision comes with 8 cores that makes it even more attractive. I'd try and hold out until the end of the year to see if Apple's committed to a more regular schedule for the machine, or they're going to go back to "the mini remains a product in our lineup" bad habits.

 

[sigmadog]

I'd try and hold out until the end of the year to see if Apple's committed to a more regular schedule for the machine, or they're going to go back to "the mini remains a product in our lineup" bad habits.

I'll need to pull the trigger in a couple weeks. I'm working with a lot of outdated software that I can't upgrade on this system (for hardware reasons), and I'll have a window of opportunity in February to do a clean install on a new mini and get everything up and running by March when a big project arrives.

I'll keep my old Mac Pro in reserve, however. Just in case, because you never know with Apple these days.

EDIT TO ADD:
Oh, yeah, and I've priced out a new i7 Mini with 1TB SSD, 64Gb third party RAM, Sonnet eGPU and Radeon 580 for just under $2500 + tax, which suits me pretty well, budget-wise.

 

[bsbeamer]

B&H has some current discounts on 2018 Mini configs. If anyone is seriously looking, they expire 1/31.

 

[Krevnik]

This has been a consideration of mine recently.
I am not sure about bandwidth though.....how many external ssd’s, egpu’s you can connect before slowing down.

Depends on the SSDs. But a good rule of thumb is: 1 eGPU per bus. 1-ish PCIe SSD per bus. Reason being is that each bus is a 4x PCIe connection, which tells you how much bandwidth you actually have. PCIe SSDs also use a 4x PCIe connection and can usually get very close to saturation depending on the model. eGPUs are already a little throttled by a 4x PCIe connection depending on what you are doing.

SATA SSDs have plenty of headroom, you could do a 6-8 bay SATA SSD RAID no sweat on a single bus.

The Mini has two TB3 buses (each feeding two ports). So that should give you a rough idea where the limits are.

So if you are going dual GPU, plus SSDs, you are going to be throttled. In that sort of situation, I'd seriously consider the 2019 Mac Pro instead.

EDIT TO ADD:
Oh, yeah, and I've priced out a new i7 Mini with 1TB SSD, 64Gb third party RAM, Sonnet eGPU and Radeon 580 for just under $2500 + tax, which suits me pretty well, budget-wise.

I'd try to see if you can stretch to a Vega 56, TBH. I'm not hearing a lot of good news with the Polaris GPUs (RX 5x0 line) and Catalina at the moment as eGPU on the Mini. Buggy. Right now, the Vega GPUs are probably the least buggy GPUs available for eGPU use with the Mini.

 

[jabbawok]

I regret upgrading my 5,1 to a 2018 Mini + Egpu because it doesn't work properly. You can't boot the mini with the EGPU connected otherwise it just sits there with a black screen! You have to boot the mini then hot-plug the EGPU. Theres loads of forum threads full of users suffering from this problem with various enclosure and card combos. At least until Apple fix it (it used to work in Mojave) Steer clear of this setup.

 

[bsbeamer]

Early report this might be fixed with 10.15.3, but haven’t seen more than one. Also depends on the exact GPU in eGPU. See page 7 on this PDF from Sonnet:

https://www.sonnettech.com/support/downloads/manuals/Compatibility_Graphics_Cards.pdf

 

[sublunar]

You'd hope that this year's macOS X will have a Snow Leopard bug-fixing priority since Catalina seems to have been more problematic than most.

 

[fuchsdh]

You'd hope that this year's macOS X will have a Snow Leopard bug-fixing priority since Catalina seems to have been more problematic than most.

I think what people are mostly asking for is a slower pace to the software updates.

Snow Leopard was famously buggy at launch, but it lasted two years. A lot more “settling in” time.

Same with Tiger, which got the delay of Leopard and thus a long period of stability.

Absolute bug numbers may have increased, but the main reason people are feeling it is because there's less of a settling point with yearly releases.

 

[sublunar]

I'm wondering now if there would be an interest in a refreshed Mac mini that used Comet Lake H CPUs for the extra cores to fit into the same case? Specs for the Comet Lake H 10980HK were recently leaked - 8 cores, 16 threads, 3.1Ghz base clock and probably a TDP that would fit inside the current Mac mini case that's cooling 65w TDP Coffee Lake CPUs.

It might tempt a few more classic Mac Pro users to make the switch.

 

[watakoola]

I'll need to pull the trigger in a couple weeks. I'm working with a lot of outdated software that I can't upgrade on this system (for hardware reasons), and I'll have a window of opportunity in February to do a clean install on a new mini and get everything up and running by March when a big project arrives.

I'll keep my old Mac Pro in reserve, however. Just in case, because you never know with Apple these days.

I had no choice but to order as my 5.1 died...

The new Mac Mini should arrive sometime next week with the same config as your intended unit, sigmadog. I'm adding an eGPU (to run my 5.1's RX580 card - gulp!- which I hope will work without issue), plus an external Thunderbolt 3 box to hold my various hard drives.

Wish me luck!

 

[sigmadog]

I had no choice but to order as my 5.1 died...

The new Mac Mini should arrive sometime next week with the same config as your intended unit, sigmadog. I'm adding an eGPU (to run my 5.1's RX580 card - gulp!- which I hope will work without issue), plus an external Thunderbolt 3 box to hold my various hard drives.

Wish me luck!

Good Luck and let me know how it goes. You're my guinea pig!

 

[fuchsdh]

I had no choice but to order as my 5.1 died...

The new Mac Mini should arrive sometime next week with the same config as your intended unit, sigmadog. I'm adding an eGPU (to run my 5.1's RX580 card - gulp!- which I hope will work without issue), plus an external Thunderbolt 3 box to hold my various hard drives.

Wish me luck!

Which eGPU enclosure are you getting?

I'm wondering now if there would be an interest in a refreshed Mac mini that used Comet Lake H CPUs for the extra cores to fit into the same case? Specs for the Comet Lake H 10980HK were recently leaked - 8 cores, 16 threads, 3.1Ghz base clock and probably a TDP that would fit inside the current Mac mini case that's cooling 65w TDP Coffee Lake CPUs.

It might tempt a few more classic Mac Pro users to make the switch.

8 cores definitely makes them more attractive. If the leaks are to be believed, though, that would be a 4% decrease in single core performance (and that's with Apple skipping the 9th gen on the Mac mini entirely), but a 30% multicore increase.

 

[watakoola]

Which eGPU enclosure are you getting?

The OWC Mercury Helios FX 650.

It turned up today, so I flung my RX580 Card into it and turned it on. Nothing. I didn't except anything to happen until it is attached (via Thunderbolt) to a computer but, according to the install guide some internal LEDs should light up. Hoping it's not DOA.

Anyone got one of these who can clarify? I've also sent an email to OWC Tech Support.

 

[bsbeamer]

Believe it’s based off the Sonnet eGFX 650/650 OC. The Sonnet will not turn on at all without an active TB3 connection. No led, no power indication, etc.

 

[watakoola]

Believe it’s based off the Sonnet eGFX 650/650 OC. The Sonnet will not turn on at all without an active TB3 connection. No led, no power indication, etc.

Whew! That would be a relief. Thanks for the info.