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Mac mini (2018) Intel UHD Graphics 630 :: Pros and Cons
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I just got my 3.2 i7 Mac Mini and I'm doing some Illustrator/Photoshop work on two 4k displays and I'm really impressed with how well it's performing. This setup is FAR better than the Mac Pro 2013 I tried a while ago. The Mac Pro 2013 with its dedicated GPU felt so much more sluggish in general use. Just to show you it's hard to tell the story from benchmarks alone.
Straight 2x, or a scaled resolution? (Or going maverick at native 4K)
How much RAM do you have in the system? There are reports in another thread that going from 8GB to 32GB helped driving two 4k displays in scaled mode.
Scaled, 2304x1296 to be precise.
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8GB, but I'm planning to upgrade to 32gb soon. I don't think full native 4k or scaled mode makes much difference though, it's still driving 4k pixels in either case right?
I might have spoken too soon, scaled at 3008x1692 the animated zoom in Illustrator is choppy, resizing Illustrator window is painful. Scaled at 2304x1296 it's also noticeable some laggy-ness but not as much. General browser, email use seems fine though. I'm a responsiveness nut though, so beware. I have a blackmagic egpu 580 that I'll be testing later and that's what I'll probably will end up using. I did want to try the mini without egpu to see how much it could do.
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Using a "looks like" hi-DPI resolution besides straight 2x means the OS uses a framebuffer twice (in both axis) the size of the requested resolution (so 4608x2592 for you) to draw the OS, then scales it down to the display's native size. And for you, it does that twice.
The other user reported that increasing system RAM resolved the choppiness with 2x4k (also scaled). This makes sense, as the VRAM allocation is dynamic, and will depend on the amount installed (and potentially the amount needed by apps/OS)
In the other thread, they report that lag (in scaled resolutions) disappears with 32GB RAM.
It would be great if someone created a conversion kit to make ole mimi cases in egpu boxes.
Yeah but the kit would have to include an anodising kit to make them Space Grey
IIRC even with 32GB of Ram, macOS reserves a maximum of 1536MB as „VRAM“. I’m just not sure currently if it does so with 8GB Ram already or with 16GB. So if that lag can be smoothed or even removed by having more Ram, 16GB Ram should be sufficient already.
That is, if that stutter is not (perhaps partially) related to other aspects, such as CPU speed, TB/DP buffer size, monitor setting to DP 1.1 or 1.2 etc.
Yeah but the kit would have to include an anodising kit to make them Space Grey
I anodize my products and could probably do a color test. But damn if my 2010 isn’t to useful to retire and take apart!
Can someone with 16 check their profile for vram allocation?
I'm not convinced System Report shows how much is allocated - it says "VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 1536 MB" on my MacBook Pro - makes me think it will always show max theoretical amount of memory consumed and not what is currently consumed.
Yes. From Apple's support page: Mac computers using Intel UHD Graphics as the primary GPU dynamically allocate up to 1.5GB of system memory.
MacOS doesn't reserve 1.5 GB, but uses as much as needed. Which means that if you are low on RAM, you are also low on VRAM, and you will experience lag when the system swaps.
So...depending on what else you are doing, 16, 32, or even 64 GB may not be enough to prevent lagginess...in extreme circumstances. I imagine that for most 16 is fine, and 32 the sweet spot. 2x4K displays in scaled resolution is about as tough a workload as you can get. I'm actually pretty amazed the UHD630 does as well as it does.
You're right. My 2012 mini has 16GB and the amount of RAM reserved for the iGPU is the same as with 32GB. I've noticed when I upgraded it from 8GB to 16GB that the VRAM allocated by the OS jumped from 1GB to 1.5GB, so I reckon that the limit is already reached with 16GB.
I'm not sure if this RAM is actually reserved or simply used on a demand base. I don't think for audio (which is my primary use for the machine) I'd benefit from having 32GB. I've never came close to topping the 16GB on my current mini, so my plan is to buy the new one already with 16GB in, saving me the hassle of opening it. I don't plan on running two 4K screens, though. It will be interesting if someone with 16GB installed runs the test so we know for sure.
In that case, having one of the faster SSD’s in the mini (1TB or more, iirc) should also help with lags and stuttering under heavy load conditions, as swapping would be significantly faster than with the smaller variants.
I think it would be nice to have a small eGPU box with the same size and color as the MacMini, containing a nice mobile eGPU running quietly. I've just got to say that having a Mac without a (loudly) fan running all the time is nice to have.
Except that gimping an eGPU by making it take only smaller, quieter and less powerful mobile GPU cards is largely defeating the purpose of an eGPU, IMO. I have an eGPU with an RX580 on my Late 2012 Mini (with TB1, no less!) and it does 1080p @ 60Hz very well, and possibly more if my display did more than that. Still have my eye on a new Mini pending more reports "from the field".
Here's a hands-on review of the i7 (no eGPU) from video expert Larry Jordan:
https://larryjordan.com/articles/hands-on-video-editing-with-final-cut-pro-x-and-the-mac-mini/?utm_source=Larry's+Newsletter+181119&utm_campaign=11/19/18+Newsletter&utm_medium=email
https://larryjordan.com/articles/hands-on-video-editing-with-final-cut-pro-x-and-the-mac-mini/?utm_source=Larry's+Newsletter+181119&utm_campaign=11/19/18+Newsletter&utm_medium=email
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Not sure about "very informative" when the author refers to a "recent" PC-world article about the differences between i3/5/7 based on Intel's Haswell chips...
I still think there's some useful info there, particularly for editors.
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