Testing graphics after purchasing used Mac

Question

Testing graphics after purchasing used Mac

Early 2009 Mac Mini

OS X 10.11.6

I would like to do a test of the integrated graphics card abilities for a used computer that I bought.

So far I used the Apple diagnostic that you can boot to. But, my guess is that that test is not thorough.

I am not too knowledgeable about this stuff but I think it would make sense to run a stress test for 20 seconds or so and see what the temperature gets up to. I will try to locate a stress test that works on this operating system. Interested in any suggestions, though.

I also want to run some reasonably intensive graphics tasks. My idea behind this is to see if anything displays wrong. Is there a benchmarking program that's good for this? As an aside, Novabench and Heaven benchmark did not seem to have much or any data on my graphics card, so benchmarking to compare to other owner's of this card seems to not be a legitimate strategy (although like I described, perhaps they are useful in other ways).

I am looking for feedback/ criticisms/ additional input on my plans.

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Jan 21, 2019 10:20 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

Jan 21, 2019 1:53 PM in response to Community User

Run Cinebench

https://www.maxon.net/en/products/cinebench/

I have not heard of any problems with the Nvidia 9400M GPU in the 2009 Mini. The Nvidia 9400M GPU is a discrete chipset, not integrated. In the Mini there is no way to use the Intel GPU built into the CPU die. Some MacBooks and MacBook Pros switch automatically between the GPU in the CPU die and the discrete Nvidia GPU. There is no way to use the Intel GPU onon the CPU die on a Mini.

the 2011 Minis (and MacBook Pros) did have problems with the models that used discrete AMD GPU chipsets.

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Answer 2

Jan 21, 2019 5:56 PM in response to lllaass

thanks. I guess I really didn't know what an integrated graphics card was. I read the word "integrated" and I thought that that meant that the graphics hardware shares the "main" CPU and the "main" RAM.

https://blog.macsales.com/621-upgrade-your-mac-mini-early-2009

Do you think that I should just run cinebench and no stress test (I am assuming here that Cinebench is for benchmarking).

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Answer 3

Jan 21, 2019 9:41 PM in response to lllaass

If the graphics GPU has problems, can I replace it without saudering at all?

I couldn't find any pictures of it on the web. In the first paragraph of this article, it says that it's PCI-e 2.0 16x.

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-9400m.c2173

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Answer 4

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

Jan 22, 2019 12:53 AM in response to Community User

No, the 9400M graphics chip is soldered to the logic board. The PCI-e 2.0 16x is just the electronic interface, it is not the physical slot interface like you are thinking about for most PCs and the Mac Pro silver towers.

Cinebench will stress the graphs so I would run it.

I do not know if the graphics chip has a temperature sensor. Can you now read the graphics cip temperature?

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Answer 5

Jan 22, 2019 11:50 AM in response to lllaass

What does CIP stand for? I installed a program called Bjango istats. It gives various temperature readings. Some of the stats were labeled with an acronym that I did not recognize. I'll check if any of that was labeled CIP and update here.

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Answer 6

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

Jan 22, 2019 12:32 PM in response to Community User

MCP is Multi Chip Package, that is more than one chip on a substrate/die This

#3

Yeah, the MCP (MCP79, can't find thermal specification) is nVidia's all in one northbridge/southbridge/IGP/ect...

is from:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-mini-2009-mcp-a-little-on-the-hot-side.674432/

Since the 2009 Mini has a Nvidia GPU the GPU chip may be that die.

The die temp is the temperature on the die substrate while the proximity temp is new the MCP.

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Answer 7

Jan 22, 2019 10:34 PM in response to lllaass

I wonder if there are other sensors, besides what the iStats Menu came up with. This software mentioned here seems to be able to "search" for sensors:

https://robservatory.com/see-sensor-stats-in-terminal/

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Answer 8

Jan 23, 2019 10:24 AM in response to lllaass

I ran cinebench open GL test. at the beginning, it shows a car and then the picture fades to black. During the fading, there is a neon yellow-green color on some of the outline of the car. If this is how it's supposed to look, the design seems a little out of place. I suppose it's possible that that's what they wanted, though. I ran the benchmark test twice and it looked that way both times.

Also while running the test, the edges of the cars seemed a little jagged. Perhaps that's normal for my graphics hardware.

The frames per second was 4.96. The software didn't compare my results against any other users that had the same hardware. Mine showed the lowest on the list, behind 2C/4T 1.7 GHz Intel HD Graphics 4000, which was at 9 fps.

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Answer 9

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

Jan 23, 2019 10:45 AM in response to Community User

You said/asked " During the fading, there is a neon yellow-green color on some of the outline of the car. If this is how it's supposed to look, the design seems a little out of place. I suppose it's possible that that's what they wanted, though. "

Yes, that is how it looks on both my 2013 Mac Pro and my PC.I get 72 fps on my MP and 100 on my PC.

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Answer 10

Jan 25, 2019 7:36 AM in response to lllaass

Based on my limited understanding, my GPU performance does not seem totally out of line. The Intel HD graphics 4000 was released with the 3rd generation processors. I am not sure if the Intel HD graphics is for desktop or laptop processors. I would assume at least desktop as I have heard similar phrases in desktop specs. Anyway, since my computer's processor is about 4 years older than the 3rd generation processors, the performance difference (9 fps vs ~5 fps) seems relatively in line.

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