Hi all,
I'm a lifelong PC/Windows user about to make my first leap into the Mac world, and after extensive research, both here and elsewhere, I have decided to do so with a Mac Mini. I'm going to use it to replace my current dinosaur (1.8GHz single-core Pentium 4, 1.75 gbs RAM, 128mb video card), with some minor tweaks to the default config to make it useful as a primary -- 8gb RAM, the faster of the two C2D. After some reading here, I'm probably going to stick with the non-server model and upgrade the HDD to a SSD, as that appears to be the bee's knees right now.
However, my main concern lies with graphical ability. I've done a lot of reading about the 320m, and I have to say, it's impressive given the footprint of the mini. Major props goes out to Beaverman3001, as my main gaming venture was to be WoW and he truly appeased my fears. However, I was wondering something:
Since the graphics uses "shared memory" I'm really worried I might lose performance where I want (but most certainly not need) it. My question, therefore, is:
---Since I know I will have A LOT more available RAM then what I truly need (8gb), is there any way to bump up the 'hard cap' on 320m RAM usage? Let's say for example I am running a game that uses peak 2gb of RAM and I want better graphics performance, is there a way I can set the 320m to use, let's say, 512mb (of RAM which would otherwise go unused) as video RAM?
Other, various input is also appreciated, but that was the one question I couldn't find a solid answer to.
I'm a lifelong PC/Windows user about to make my first leap into the Mac world, and after extensive research, both here and elsewhere, I have decided to do so with a Mac Mini. I'm going to use it to replace my current dinosaur (1.8GHz single-core Pentium 4, 1.75 gbs RAM, 128mb video card), with some minor tweaks to the default config to make it useful as a primary -- 8gb RAM, the faster of the two C2D. After some reading here, I'm probably going to stick with the non-server model and upgrade the HDD to a SSD, as that appears to be the bee's knees right now.
However, my main concern lies with graphical ability. I've done a lot of reading about the 320m, and I have to say, it's impressive given the footprint of the mini. Major props goes out to Beaverman3001, as my main gaming venture was to be WoW and he truly appeased my fears. However, I was wondering something:
Since the graphics uses "shared memory" I'm really worried I might lose performance where I want (but most certainly not need) it. My question, therefore, is:
---Since I know I will have A LOT more available RAM then what I truly need (8gb), is there any way to bump up the 'hard cap' on 320m RAM usage? Let's say for example I am running a game that uses peak 2gb of RAM and I want better graphics performance, is there a way I can set the 320m to use, let's say, 512mb (of RAM which would otherwise go unused) as video RAM?
Other, various input is also appreciated, but that was the one question I couldn't find a solid answer to.
