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New mac mini ultimate upgrade - Quad core CPU, 7200 rpm HD, max RAM

TechViking said:
Yeah the white macbook is really horrible when it comes to noise. :(

Are you saying the mac pro is as silent as the mini? :)
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i sit right next to mine and the only time i ever notice it is when the optical drive is spinning at its fastest, which never lasts long

the fans and processors are quiet and the case deadens the noise (i have all 4 drive bays filled)
 
I don't have a mini on hand to compare. If I had to guess, I'd say no, it's not as quiet as a mini at idle, but at full load and little fans at max RPM, then it's likely the MP is quieter at the same equiavlent 'load'.

The Mac Pro is quiet enough to easily tell difference in hard drive "seek" noises from one drive to the next, or the whine of a WD Raptor versus a WD 5400rpm green hard drive.
 
TechViking said:
Would the quad core CPU really be $700? I sure hope not.
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A quad core probably would be. And it probably won't be easy to get one, as they generally don't sell them like normal CPUs (who in their right minds builds their laptops anyway?) Plus with doing this you void your warranty, and this thing isn't gonna be easy either. As far as I'm aware, the CPU will be soldered on.
 
Patriks7 said:
A quad core probably would be. And it probably won't be easy to get one, as they generally don't sell them like normal CPUs (who in their right minds builds their laptops anyway?) Plus with doing this you void your warranty, and this thing isn't gonna be easy either. As far as I'm aware, the CPU will be soldered on.
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Well the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 2,0GHz is quite easy to get. I found it in stock online in many stores here in Sweden. And someone found it for $360 earlier in this thread.

And I would add 4Gb ram also so that would void the warranty as well, not worried about that.

Does anyone have any ideas with performance gains between the 2.0 core duo and the 2.0 Q9000 core quad? :)
 
robotartfashion said:
i sit right next to mine and the only time i ever notice it is when the optical drive is spinning at its fastest, which never lasts long

the fans and processors are quiet and the case deadens the noise (i have all 4 drive bays filled)
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Ok cool. The mac pro sounds really nice. Only it would be more than twice the cost of the modded mac mini, so cant quite justify the price difference.
 
TechViking said:
Well the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 2,0GHz is quite easy to get. I found it in stock online in many stores here in Sweden. And someone found it for $360 earlier in this thread.

And I would add 4Gb ram also so that would void the warranty as well, not worried about that.

Does anyone have any ideas with performance gains between the 2.0 core duo and the 2.0 Q9000 core quad? :)
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Well we would have to assume mostly performance on multi-threaded apps since its essentially the same chip with 2 more cores.
 
TechViking said:
Ok cool. The mac pro sounds really nice. Only it would be more than twice the cost of the modded mac mini, so cant quite justify the price difference.
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there are a lot of benefits to the mini and the pro

if you aren't using it for pro level work though the cost and power draw of the xeon processors aren't worth it

i'll be buying a mini for a htpc

low power consumption, plenty of power for most everything you would normally do, stick with the mini
 
robotartfashion said:
there are a lot of benefits to the mini and the pro

if you aren't using it for pro level work though the cost and power draw of the xeon processors aren't worth it

i'll be buying a mini for a htpc

low power consumption, plenty of power for most everything you would normally do, stick with the mini
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+1, I'm also looking at the new mini as an HTPC running Plex using my Mac Pro as a server.
 
shokunin said:
+1, I'm also looking at the new mini as an HTPC running Plex using my Mac Pro as a server.
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you know, i was considering the same thing, and putting the maxupgrades kit into my pro with an additional 2 tbs of drive space (all 4 of my bays are currently full)

i did a lot of googling to see if anyone else was doing this and the only references i found were discussing the amount of electricity you would use in your house by running the macpro all of the time

so now i think i'm just going to stream over that brand new fw800 :) !!!! from a external enclosure
 
Brainstorming, the ultimate mini rig would be:

4GB RAM (assuming that really is the max and not 6GB like some Macbooks support unofficially)

RAID-0 of fast SSDs using the HD and optical drive SATA channels (using something like the MCE Optibay adapter, assuming they've finally switched to a SATA optical drive)

30" LCD on the displayport (w/ dual-link adapter)
20" 1200x1600 LCD in portrait mode on the mini-DVI.

Optical drive and external (TB+) bulk storage/time machine volume on the FW800 bus.

This would probably be a decent rig for most purposes short of Motion or other heavy-duty 3D applications. I know it addresses most of my major complaints; I can replace the MBP I'm using in permanent-clamshell mode as a desktop now.
 
Will the Seagate fit? I know that Hitachi does not because it is not the standard height like the Samsung 500GB.

500GB 2.5" Seagate Momentus 7200.4
 
shokunin said:
Noise on a Mac Pro? The Mac Pro's are amazingly quiet for the performance they put out. Usually the loudest component will be the video card heatsink / fan revving up when gaming. Other than that my old white Macbook was way louder (during heavy usage) than my mac pro w/ 8 cores at 100% using compressor or handbrake.
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I have heard this (that the mac Pros are VERY quiet...great for a recording studio environment) but that when they really need it they can spool up a wind tunnel of cooling fury.
 
akm3 said:
I have heard this (that the mac Pros are VERY quiet...great for a recording studio environment) but that when they really need it they can spool up a wind tunnel of cooling fury.
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honestly the only noise like that is from the optical drive at times (like when I'm ripping on handbrake and there's a lot of copy protection)

the fans themselves are quiet and i've run the system pretty hard for long periods without too much heat buildup

i think you're referring to earlier ppc pro models, or at least i've just never run into on mine in the last 6 months that i've had it
 
TechViking said:
- 4gb RAM. ( Any chance at all that more RAM would be possible?)
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I was thinking about this earlier.

I presume (but have zero evidence) that the Mini has one slot for a DDR3
SO-DIMM, which theoretically maxes out at 16GB.

I don't think any 16GB DDR3 SO-DIMMs exist yet but, presuming they did, it
would be curious to see how much would the OS recognize? Apple mentions
4GB as the RAM ceiling, but that's standard practice and usually (but not
always) larger memory modules work fine.

[edit: Current mini has two slots. I knew that—not sure what I was thinking.
So, what will the OS see if we put 32GB in there?]
 
How about SSD?

What options exist to replace the HD with a SSD?

I would want a 128 Gb sized one and would boot both OS X and XP from it.

Is there something special one must consider for it to work on OS X, or does just about any brand/model work? How does SLC or MLC versions make a difference (if at all)?


I think I can get a Macbook Air with the 128 Gb SSD for a good price. I am thinking of taking out that SSD and put it in a new mini, and put the 120 Gb HD from the mini in the mba and sell it with that. Would that work? :)
 
tuc said:
I was thinking about this earlier.

I presume (but have zero evidence) that the Mini has one slot for a DDR3
SO-DIMM, which theoretically maxes out at 16GB.

I don't think any 16GB DDR3 SO-DIMMs exist yet but, presuming they did, it
would be curious to see how much would the OS recognize? Apple mentions
4GB as the RAM ceiling, but that's standard practice and usually (but not
always) larger memory modules work fine.
Click to expand...

The Mini has two slots
 
TechViking said:
What options exist to replace the HD with a SSD?

I would want a 128 Gb sized one and would boot both OS X and XP from it.

Is there something special one must consider for it to work on OS X, or does just about any brand/model work? How does SLC or MLC versions make a difference (if at all)?


I think I can get a Macbook Air with the 128 Gb SSD for a good price. I am thinking of taking out that SSD and put it in a new mini, and put the 120 Gb HD from the mini in the mba and sell it with that. Would that work? :)
Click to expand...

you can use a ssd drive, just pick one up from new egg or use an existing one if you have one
 
TechViking said:
Yeah the white macbook is really horrible when it comes to noise. :(

Are you saying the mac pro is as silent as the mini? :)
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While the Mini is almost silent - and quieter than the Pro - at idle, it can change during the use of the machine.

Obviously I'm talking about the previous Mini and not the current one, but I'm assuming the experience will be broadly comparable.

It depends, but it certainly the Pro is subjectively quieter if both are sat right beside you and you are regularly doing something that makes the Mini's fan spool up. And if you're a Mac enthusiast who crams his machine as much as possible with software and processes - then the Mini may be constantly running at a much higher percentage of it's potential in comparison to a Pro. In this way it's pretty similar to an overheating Macbook.

The Mini fan is smaller, so considerably whinier, plus, the air being expelled makes a more prominent rushing noise - especially if comparing a floor-mounted Pro and a desktop Mini at roughly the same relative position. The Pro, due to the larger fans which spin slower, have a deeper and much less noticeable noise signature when it's being used at the same application throughput level as a stressed Mini.

i.e. If all you do is scratch the surface of even a Core 2 Duo, it's likely that the Mini will be quieter. If you use it for a lot of more intensive stuff however, the Pro will be subjectively quieter most of the time.
 
crazzyeddie said:
And if you need a quad core processor, you don't need a Mac mini...
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640K ought to be enough for anybody. Bill Gates, 1981

My concern would be with the extra 10-15 watts consumed by a quad core processor. Running all 4 cores along with optical drive, hard drive, wireless, and power delivered to 5 USB ports could cause the power supply to clamp.
 
Durandal549 said:
The advice about matching ram size is good.

However that is not what the 2 in "core 2 duo" means.
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haha, i understand that, the 2 is for the second iteration of the core duo, however, the duo refers to the cores = 2, which benefits from 2 ram chips of equal size for use by the processors

thanks though :) i'm sure that was meant in the best possible educational spirit

EDIT: oh, i see that i said that's why there are 2 ram slots, my mistake, i mistyped, i didn't mean this to correlate with the # 2 in the core 2 duo
 
robotartfashion said:
haha, i understand that, the 2 is for the second iteration of the core duo, however, the duo refers to the cores = 2, which benefits from 2 ram chips of equal size for use by the processors

thanks though :) i'm sure that was meant in the best possible educational spirit
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Of course it was:) if it sounded crass it was unintentional. In my head it was more as semi-questioning because I was half starting to question if I was wrong.
 
well here's the end to this thread, another user just reported that he opened up his newly purchased mini and the processor is not socketed and therefore cannot be removed/upgraded :(
 
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