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Mac Mini - Gaming Performance Thread

Noetics

Noetics

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 8, 2013
52
0
Hola!

I recently bought a 2.6 i7 Mini with maxed out ram and so far I have been able to play every game i've thrown at it, the settings I have used for each game have been roughly the same. Turning off shadows but moving everything else upto the high/mid settings leaves me with between 45 and 60 frames per second.

Guild Wars 1 + 2 (high, both look absolutely beautiful)

BioShock Infinite (mid)

Limbo (high)

The Elder scrolls Online (Beta Version) on Mid to High settings.

This is the game that has made me write this little thread. I was invited to the beta last weekend and although there were a few glitches here and there, overall the game ran incredibly smooth. When I started up the game it defaulted to Low settings on just about everything, after a bit of tweaking and testing I managed to change the graphics to High and Mid settings and loved every second of it!

I haven't tried any other games with it just yet, but if it can handle the new elder scrolls game on mid/high without loss of frames then surely it can handle lots of other graphics intensive games too?

Feel free to share your gaming experiences with the mini below too, whether they are positive or negative :rolleyes:
 
elder scrolls is apparently not terribly graphically intensive. None of the other games you mention are, either.

The Intel HD4000 is the new baseline (since it is pretty ubiquitous in PCs bought in the past 2 years), but it isn't any sort of performance king.
 
Just curious, assuming these results are via Windows? (I know Limbo is a cross-platform game, not sure about some/all of the others)
 
I have been running 1920 x 1080 on all games so far, and all have been played through the Mac, not through bootcamp or any other windows booter.

Fair enough about the graphics intensity of games i listed, I thought Elder Scrolls would be...
 
Noetics said:
I have been running 1920 x 1080 on all games so far, and all have been played through the Mac, not through bootcamp or any other windows booter.

Fair enough about the graphics intensity of games i listed, I thought Elder Scrolls would be...
Click to expand...

That's the thing, I'd want to run at 2560 x 1440. I've got the same machine as you but I've kept a PC just for gaming. it's a glorified xbox at the minute as it does nothing else. Wish I could consolidate everything to the mac mini though.
 
It'll be a long time before the mini will be running current games at 4k resolutions. Even the top end cards would have issues with that
 
I don't think the majority of us are even considering 4k gaming at the moment. But can the Mini deliver 60+ FPS in High settings at 1080P? That should be the goal, and the 4000HD fails utterly in that regard. My 2012 MBP has a 4000HD, and Skyrim chugs along at 20-25 FPS, while the fan blows loose papers around my house.
 
I think we should give the HD4000 in the 2012 mini more credit than it is currently given.

It has been an absolute joy playing the Elder Scrolls Beta over the weekend and I won't hesitate in buying the game to play on my mac mini when it is released in April :)
 
Yeah, I hear you. The 4000HD is pretty impressive as far as an integrated GPU. I remember the days when an integrated GPU lacked the basics required to even run a game, not just run it poorly. The 4000 is pretty capable.

It's just that I don't want to "run in place" with my tech. I have a 2012 MBP with the 4000, and if I'm buying another Mac (a Mini), I'd like to have a current CPU/GPU.
 
Noetics said:
Hola!

I recently bought a 2.6 i7 Mini with maxed out ram and so far I have been able to play every game i've thrown at it, the settings I have used for each game have been roughly the same. Turning off shadows but moving everything else upto the high/mid settings leaves me with between 45 and 60 frames per second.

Limbo (high)
Click to expand...

I just played Limbo to completion this weekend on my early 2009 mini and there were no performance issues, I'm sure an i7 was more than fine!
 
Slightly different type of gaming but do you have any idea on the performance using different emulators? I imagine it has no issues running the 8, 16, or 64 bit systems but I'd be curious to see how it performs using Dolphin. If it's able to run GC and Wii games at a good FPS I'd buy one tomorrow...
 
GTTX700 said:
Slightly different type of gaming but do you have any idea on the performance using different emulators? I imagine it has no issues running the 8, 16, or 64 bit systems but I'd be curious to see how it performs using Dolphin. If it's able to run GC and Wii games at a good FPS I'd buy one tomorrow...
Click to expand...

I am not too sure but I could test this for you if you like?

I will get back to you in a week or so!
 
GTTX700 said:
Slightly different type of gaming but do you have any idea on the performance using different emulators? I imagine it has no issues running the 8, 16, or 64 bit systems but I'd be curious to see how it performs using Dolphin. If it's able to run GC and Wii games at a good FPS I'd buy one tomorrow...
Click to expand...

From https://dolphin-emu.org/docs/faq/:

Bad: The Intel Integrated Graphics Chips are not a good choice for Dolphin. Most old Intel graphic chips simply will not work at all. Others will be slow, produce graphic errors or restrict the user from running games at high Internal Resolutions. Although the Intel HD2000/3000/4000 graphic chips will work at low resolutions, Intel graphics are generally not recommended.
Click to expand...
 
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