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is 1gb too little for HTPC

W

wartnig

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 4, 2009
47
0
Shropshire, UK
Hi, I have a Mac Mini 2009 model 2.0ghz 1gb ram...
It plays your basic .avi files no worries, even handles my dvd converts (apple tv preset in HB).. but when I try and play a 720p or 1080p hd file... (.mkv) it seems to struggle (stutter slightly)... doesnt matter if its through frontrow or plex... same issue..
do u think it could be that my mac mini is underpowered in the ram department?
 
I would say your CPU would be the first issue I would look at. 2.0 ghz is a little slow for high-def playback, although more RAM can't hurt and would help some.
 
wartnig said:
Hi, I have a Mac Mini 2009 model 2.0ghz 1gb ram...
It plays your basic .avi files no worries, even handles my dvd converts (apple tv preset in HB).. but when I try and play a 720p or 1080p hd file... (.mkv) it seems to struggle (stutter slightly)... doesnt matter if its through frontrow or plex... same issue..
do u think it could be that my mac mini is underpowered in the ram department?
Click to expand...

I think more RAM is exactly what you need. The computer itself should be capable of running 1080p stuff, but only when topped out. Not sure how much RAM you can put in that machine but I'd try for 4gb if possible. Otherwise, as far as using a 1TB hard drive, that will be fine for a few months (depending on how often and what format files you have). Naturally you're able to plug in another 1 TB at a later time.
 
Check out Activity Monitor before making decisions. It will tell you if CPU or memory is a bottleneck.
 
It's RAM or app you are using. Core Duo Minis are able to play HD content and so are all Core 2 Duos. Get more RAM and it'll play it fine
 
I can play 1080p files all day long on my 2.0ghz 2009 mini. If you're having problems, it's because you don't have enough ram or some other program is hogging the cpu
 
I'm still new the Mac community and I am not familiar with mini's. It it has a core duo, yea, I would bet that you would only need to upgrade your RAM. I was thinking it was only a single core 2.0ghz which is why I recommended checking out the activity on it.
 
nicroma said:
I'm still new the Mac community and I am not familiar with mini's. It it has a core duo, yea, I would bet that you would only need to upgrade your RAM. I was thinking it was only a single core 2.0ghz which is why I recommended checking out the activity on it.
Click to expand...

Hi, how do i check the activity monitor? What am i looking for specifically?
 
its definitely the ram. you need at least 2GB. i cant believe apple sold a product in 2009 with only 1 gig, thats ridiculous... 2 should get it working for you, i have a macbook 2.26ghz 2gb and it plays hd content no problems, so id say 2 could get the job done but really youd be better off with 3 or 4.. do you know if you have 1x1GB or 2x512? Id guess its 1x1GB and then you can get a single 2GB and youd be set for awhile...

EDIT: to check the activity monitor just type "activity monitor" into spotlight and open it. or go to Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor... then towards the bottom you can choose between CPU and System Memory among others...
 
Cheers for the responses guys.. looks like I will be ordering a 4gb RAM kit on pay day! Next thing i've gotta do... figure out how to get the mini open and replace the ram... time to check out some video tutorials and get myself a putty knife!!
 
yeah just be careful but with 4gigs in it that should be a pretty good HTPC, ive considered selling my custom built windows HTPC and getting a mini but since i just got win7 for 30 bucks and i have 2 other macs i decided id keep it for now... i like having the ability to tinker with it more than a mini, and someday ill switch the AMD parts for intel and go hackintosh perhaps..
 
hey guys this was the result of my activity monitor... do u think this justifies upping the ram??
 

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