Mac Mini Graphics Upgrade possible?

Question

Mac Mini Graphics Upgrade possible?

I know that the graphics card on my mac mini isnt upgradable as it's built in. However I've seen one or two wesbites mention external thunderbolt graphics cards. Or some sort of dock for a graphics card. I play one or two games on Mac OS X but also dual boot windows 7, for the rest. I love OS X and dont really want to buy a new gaming PC for the few games that i play, however I am willing to spend some money on some sort of external alternative preferable not too expensive. I dont really know a lot about graphics cards other than my mac uses Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024mb which isnt ideal for gaming as it uses CPU as well i think :S . Apprently increasing mac's ram can increase graphics speed very slightly but this mac mini was originally bought as a server so it has 16GB ram. I use an external thunderbolt display with the mac mini.

If anyone can explain a little more to me or even point me in the right direction to find answers. Im not entirely sure what i should even be searching in google.

I also own a macbook pro if that's any easier to find an external "something" for.

Thanks 😀

Mac mini, OS X Server

Posted on Mar 23, 2014 6:18 AM

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Answer 1

C F McBlob

Level 4

2,885 points

Mar 23, 2014 7:59 PM in response to Community User

The MacBook Pro 15" 2.3gHz comes with a discreet Nvidia chip. That's the one I was referring to.

The new Mac Pro has graphics to drool over, but again, it ain't cheap.

Budget vs performance is a long and ongoing battle when it comes to computers, though.

I have a $450 Toshiba laptop that I can't stand. I hope to replace it with a 15" MacBook 2.6gHz later this year.

My Mini will eventually be replaced by a $10,000+ Mac Pro when I get to full time videography and editing for a living.

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Answer 2

C F McBlob

Level 4

2,885 points

Mar 23, 2014 12:08 PM in response to Community User

The Mini is not the ideal gaming machine for the reason of the graphics chip. Trouble is, just about ANY external solution you can find is going to run on the USB bus and even USB 3 won't compare to a properly interfaced upgraded chip.

An iMac or even a top level MacBook would have been a better purchase if your intent was mostly gaming.

Ideally, the MacPro would be my choice if I was a gamer, but I'm not. Sure, it's $3000, but you look at a good AlienWare machine and it's the same if not more... and it WON'T run OS X.

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Answer 3

Mar 23, 2014 4:12 PM in response to C F McBlob

I have a MacBook Pro but still has the same graphics card I think maybe even Intel hd 3000! What about a thunderbolt graphics card that would be faster than USB 3 wouldn't it? Do they exist ?

Buying a gaming pc or even building a decent one will probably be well above £1000. I'm looking for an option a lot cheaper than that really! :/

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Answer 4

Mar 24, 2014 2:30 AM in response to Community User

matt1309 wrote:

... What about a thunderbolt graphics card ....

Currently the only way to do this is with a PCI-E expansion.

These are not inexpensive plus, there are no video cards

that could be plugged into it that have "Thunderbolt" aware

drivers. Some sites suggest that video cards will work if

a Mini were natively running Windows, i.e. Bootcamp, but

not OSX.

In addition, I don't beleive that there are any video cards

that have Thunderbolt ports and this is the only way

you could use your Thunderbolt display. Thunderbolt displays

will only work with Thunderbolt ports.

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