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Updating Mac Mini graphics card??

P

purell16

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 29, 2004
56
0
Is it possible to change the graphics card on the mac minis?? And if so...would I notice much of a difference besides having the ripple effect??
 
dmw007 said:
Well, thats putting it bluntly. :)

But hey, its the truth. Although it would be interesting to see what a mini with an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro SE could do....
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Not much difference in everyday applications. A big speed killer in the Mac mini are the 4200-RPM Parallel ATA 2.5-inch Hard Drives. There are now 5400-RPM Serial ATA 2.5-inch Hard Drives; those would be great in the Mac mini.
 
carlos700 said:
Not much difference in everyday applications. A big speed killer in the Mac mini are the 4200-RPM Parallel ATA 2.5-inch Hard Drives. There are now 5400-RPM Serial ATA 2.5-inch Hard Drives; those would be great in the Mac mini.
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There are also good 7200 rpm 2.5" drives. The Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 is supposed to be quite fast.
 
purell16 said:
Is it possible to change the graphics card on the mac minis?? And if so...would I notice much of a difference besides having the ripple effect??
Click to expand...

No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,No, no,
 
Stupid question here, but if you had the know-how (which I do NOT) could you remove the exsisting graphic card from the motherboard and "just" solder on a different one? Again, I know it would be, at the very least, a difficult hack but is it even feasable?
 
pammyspyce said:
Stupid question here, but if you had the know-how (which I do NOT) could you remove the exsisting graphic card from the motherboard and "just" solder on a different one? Again, I know it would be, at the very least, a difficult hack but is it even feasable?
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No.

I mean, technically perhaps, but that's extremely farfetched and would require an insane amount of work, precision, and a heavily modified video card.

I've never ever heard of anyone doing that, either.
 
pammyspyce said:
Stupid question here, but if you had the know-how (which I do NOT) could you remove the exsisting graphic card from the motherboard and "just" solder on a different one? Again, I know it would be, at the very least, a difficult hack but is it even feasable?
Click to expand...

Technically, if you had the knowhow, you could re-arrange the protons and neutrons and electrons into your Mac Mini to make it into a blender. ;)

Optical Tweezers, anyone? :D
 
pammyspyce said:
Stupid question here, but if you had the know-how (which I do NOT) could you remove the exsisting graphic card from the motherboard and "just" solder on a different one? Again, I know it would be, at the very least, a difficult hack but is it even feasable?
Click to expand...
Only if you can find a drop in replacement that is a 100% drop-in replacement.

Extreme space constaints...

If you cannot get a pin compatible GPU.

It probably will be less expensive for you to buy a fully loaded DP 2.7GHz PowerMac G5 with a 6800GT video card and two 30"LCDs.

Probably can buy a Bentley GT for less than it would cost to upgrade a Mini with a spiffy new 128M GPU.
 
Whould be nice if Apple were to go with a removeable graphic module thingy which exist for some laptops. ATI and NVIDIA both have their own solutions for this.
 
As everyone says, no. But, it does make me look forward to the Intel mini's, which, I'm guessing here, will be something like a 1.7ghz P-M, a 7200 rpm SATA HDD, and a 9600 64mb GPU.

If they do this right, it's going to be a Dell killer. :)
 
mkrishnan said:
Well, the tweezers to make it might cost you a few Mil too, you know. ;)

Optical tweezers are an amazing thing though. *loves*
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Oops, I forgot about the optical tweezers. :eek:

Make that a ~3,000,500 blender! ;)
 
MAKE IT BIGGER! PLEASE! I MEAN CMON! MAKE IT TWICE ITS SIZE AND IT WILL STILL LOOK GOOD AND HAVE 90% MORE FUNCTIONALITY! CMON APPLE! BIGGER DOESNT ALWAYS MEAN BETTER, BUT SMALLER DOESNT ALWAYS MEAN BEST EITHER! :rolleyes: that even confused me and i thought it...

slap in a 2Ghz G5, one drive bay that can fit up to 400GB, a 128mb graphics card, all the i/o of a high end powerbook, and up to 4GB ram and you have my dream come true...well, if you make christina aguliera and jessica alba pop out of it when you turn it on as well, then that would be my dream come true... :eek:
 
eva01 said:
but you would get like a disease or two maybe.
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well...i guess its worth it :eek:

i like how you took out jessica alba...i guess the majority believe shes clean... :p

back on topic...uhhh im gonna go with no? thats what everyone else said... :confused:
 
clayj said:
I think that would depend heavily on what happened next. ;)
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Considering the size of the Mac Mini, she'd be as big as a Barbie Doll or instantly inflate to become a Bud Bundy Playmate.
 
_Matt said:
MAKE IT BIGGER! PLEASE! I MEAN CMON! MAKE IT TWICE ITS SIZE AND IT WILL STILL LOOK GOOD AND HAVE 90% MORE FUNCTIONALITY! CMON APPLE! BIGGER DOESNT ALWAYS MEAN BETTER, BUT SMALLER DOESNT ALWAYS MEAN BEST EITHER! :rolleyes: that even confused me and i thought it...
Click to expand...

Hahaha...no, no, no, clearly, they need to move in the opposite direction. A Mac Shuffle, with *no* video card, because life is random! Who needs a screen. Let Mac Shuffle pick what songs to play for you, and enjoy life's randomness! :D
 
mkrishnan said:
Hahaha...no, no, no, clearly, they need to move in the opposite direction. A Mac Shuffle, with *no* video card, because life is random! Who needs a screen. Let Mac Shuffle pick what songs to play for you, and enjoy life's randomness! :D
Click to expand...


The Mac Shuffle...If I was Steve Jobs guess what buddy...YOU'RE FIRED! That's an absolutely terrible idea. That's not even revolutionary like all new innovative apple products. :p You want to talk about innovation? Get rid of the powerbrick connected to the Mac mini and put a cage containing three blind mice who run on wheels all day to generate power for it. THAT is innovation!

And yes, maybe the Aguliera/Alba Dual Core X Station is a little too crazy for the average mac user...We could put them in a PowerBook though...A Dual Core G5 PowerBook with Aguliera and Alba popping out and vanishing back into the screen using the new patented (hopefully) Holographic Genie Effect in a revamped Expose...and instead of the usual startup noise you know what the lucky mac user would hear...IM A GENIE IN A BOTTLEEEEE!

But wait...what about the THERMODYNAMIC ISSUES that come with a PowerBook G5!?? i mean, now this baby won't just run hot...It will spill pure hotness right out of the screen and onto your lap!

For the record: I am not under the influence of anything and I'm terribly sorry for making a mockery out of Steve Jobs, the three blind mice, and Christina and Jessica...

OH NO! *looks up* THE ANODIZED ALUMINUM HELICOPTERS ARE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY! :eek:
 
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