Mac mini (2018) Intel UHD Graphics 630 :: Pros and Cons

[Cave Man]

What do folks think about the Intel UHD Graphics 630 Graphics card choice...

• For basic home use?
• For byte and pixel crunching Pro users?

As usual, the answer is "it depends."

• If you want to use photo editing software (e.g., Photoshop) it's really irrelevant since PS doesn't use the gpu for much of anything. Pixelmator Pro, on the other hand, does use the gpu and it performs very nicely with the UHD630.
• If you want to decode 4k video movies (e.g. 4k Blu-ray rips) it does fantastic, provided you use software that leverages the h.265 (HEVC) hardware decoding of the UHD630 (e.g., IINA or VLC 3). The problem, though, is that OS X does not support HDR nor passthrough of Dolby Atmos or DTS-X audio. (Lame, Apple. Lame.)
• If you want to edit 1080p or 4k video, no problem. Just keep in mind that decompression and compression of video takes time. The UHD630 has hardware encoding of h.264 and h.265 so if the software you use for editing supports offloading of encoding then you should be ok. Just don't plan on making any feature-length films.

How do I know all this? I've been using a Coffee Lake 6-core i7 hackintosh for several months now. Almost certain the new Mac mini will behave nearly the same.

 

[playaproved]

As usual, the answer is "it depends."

• If you want to use photo editing software (e.g., Photoshop) it's really irrelevant since PS doesn't use the gpu for much of anything. Pixelmator Pro, on the other hand, does use the gpu and it performs very nicely with the UHD630.
• If you want to decode 4k video movies (e.g. 4k Blu-ray rips) it does fantastic, provided you use software that leverages the h.265 (HEVC) hardware decoding of the UHD630 (e.g., IINA or VLC 3). The problem, though, is that OS X does not support HDR nor passthrough of Dolby Atmos or DTS-X audio. (Lame, Apple. Lame.)
• If you want to edit 1080p or 4k video, no problem. Just keep in mind that decompression and compression of video takes time. The UHD630 has hardware encoding of h.264 and h.265 so if the software you use for editing supports offloading of encoding then you should be ok. Just don't plan on making any feature-length films.

How do I know all this? I've been using a Coffee Lake 6-core i7 hackintosh for several months now. Almost certain the new Mac mini will behave nearly the same.

Thanks for this post! Helps me out tremendously. Seems like it will meet my needs perfectly.

I’m going to mainly be using my mini as a Plex server, Blu-Ray ripping station and doing some basic photo/video editing with it. I’ll start teaching myself some Final Cut and go from there. If my work gets more demanding than the system can handle, hopefully an updated iMac will be available by then.

 

[ncrypt]

How do I know all this? I've been using a Coffee Lake 6-core i7 hackintosh for several months now. Almost certain the new Mac mini will behave nearly the same.

My main concern is the UHD 630 driving a 4k display at a scaled resolution. What kind of monitor have you been using with your hackintosh?

 

[strawbale]

My main concern is the UHD 630 driving a 4k display at a scaled resolution. What kind of monitor have you been using with your hackintosh?

Best to stick to 'native' (on a big screen) or 'default' (on a small screen), I guess.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

My main concern is the UHD 630 driving a 4k display at a scaled resolution...

4K makes scaled resolutions superfluous.

 

[strawbale]

4K makes scaled resolutions superfluous.

Depends on your screen size, I'd say.
For web browsing / text editing I'd prefer a 24" 4k set at default (i.e. 'like' 1920x1080 but with much crispier text), for 4k content a large(r) screen (32"-40") set at the native 3840x2160 setting.

 

[TheBigApple2006]

As usual, the answer is "it depends."

• If you want to use photo editing software (e.g., Photoshop) it's really irrelevant since PS doesn't use the gpu for much of anything. Pixelmator Pro, on the other hand, does use the gpu and it performs very nicely with the UHD630.
• If you want to decode 4k video movies (e.g. 4k Blu-ray rips) it does fantastic, provided you use software that leverages the h.265 (HEVC) hardware decoding of the UHD630 (e.g., IINA or VLC 3). The problem, though, is that OS X does not support HDR nor passthrough of Dolby Atmos or DTS-X audio. (Lame, Apple. Lame.)
• If you want to edit 1080p or 4k video, no problem. Just keep in mind that decompression and compression of video takes time. The UHD630 has hardware encoding of h.264 and h.265 so if the software you use for editing supports offloading of encoding then you should be ok. Just don't plan on making any feature-length films.

How do I know all this? I've been using a Coffee Lake 6-core i7 hackintosh for several months now. Almost certain the new Mac mini will behave nearly the same.

Wonderful, excellent. Really hit the nail on the head for me too. Just pre-ordered an i7 Mac mini!

 

[androo4519]

[QUOTE="

Apple should really make the eGPU, so they can get a better deal on the MXM cards...

But a mismatched eGPU chassis & external SSD is a deal breaker...

Guess I will think about an iPad Pro while I wait for the new modular Mac Pro...[/QUOTE]


Agree. If Apple offered a matching eGPU that sat under the Mini and wasn't absurdly expensive, it would be a possibility for me. But I'm not buying an already too expensive yet underpowered (graphics wise) computer and then paying another grand for an ugly (Blackmagic, I'm looking at you) and enormous eGPU to mess up my desk. I might as well get a MBP. I wish Apple would give us all the options for all the things (discrete graphics in a bigger-bodied Mini for instance) and let the customer decide the product hierarchy. I'll stick with my 2009 iMac for now. I've been saying that for an awfully long time and I've saved up so much money Apple doesn't seem to want just yet.

 

[bigpoppamac31]

[QUOTE="

Apple should really make the eGPU, so they can get a better deal on the MXM cards...

But a mismatched eGPU chassis & external SSD is a deal breaker...

Guess I will think about an iPad Pro while I wait for the new modular Mac Pro...

Agree. If Apple offered a matching eGPU that sat under the Mini and wasn't absurdly expensive, it would be a possibility for me. But I'm not buying an already too expensive yet underpowered (graphics wise) computer and then paying another grand for an ugly (Blackmagic, I'm looking at you) and enormous eGPU to mess up my desk. I might as well get a MBP. I wish Apple would give us all the options for all the things (discrete graphics in a bigger-bodied Mini for instance) and let the customer decide the product hierarchy. I'll stick with my 2009 iMac for now. I've been saying that for an awfully long time and I've saved up so much money Apple doesn't seem to want just yet.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. Apple needs to stop making decisions for us and thinking they know what we want. Give us plenty of options and let us custom build our own Mac.

 

[timthomason]

I'm looking at the 6 core model with 512 GB RAM. It all seems a very decent spec but I know nothing about the Intel UHD 630 graphics card and I'm wondering if it's too underpowered for my needs. I'm not editing big files but simple 4k videos of 5 - 15 minutes.. I know it can output to a 4k monitor but does anyone know if will be able to edit 4k video in Final Cut or Adobe Premiere Pro?

Also, if Apple are making a computer with a reasonable processor than why put a crap graphics card in it?

I too would like 512 GB of ram.. but you can only have 32GB of ram in that model

 

[Boil]

I too would like 512 GB of ram.. but you can only have 32GB of ram in that model

Nah bruh, max RAM is 64GB...

 

[Zarniwoop]

Everyone seems to be forgetting that Apple put the T2 chip in Mac Mini to do the video encoding and decoding. So it does not matter what the Intel is capable of doing.

 

[pallymore]

Everyone seems to be forgetting that Apple put the T2 chip in Mac Mini to do the video encoding and decoding. So it does not matter what the Intel is capable of doing.

Huh? I thought T2 is a "security chip" that handles encryption/decryptions? I doubt it will do any video encoding for you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple-designed_processors#Apple_T2

 

[otisblack]

I am planning on using the Mac Mini (i7 processor, 32GB RAM) for Photoshop (I do not do any 3D image editing). I often have multiple high res pictures open at once. Do you think I'll need an eGPU? I'm planning on using the LG 5k 34inch monitor.

 

[Spankey]

I am planning on using the Mac Mini (i7 processor, 32GB RAM) for Photoshop (I do not do any 3D image editing). I often have multiple high res pictures open at once. Do you think I'll need an eGPU? I'm planning on using the LG 5k 34inch monitor.

Yes, I do think most will be headed into eGPU territory for the Mac Mini. The new model is really a case of bring your own gpu. See if you are happy without one for now but I think the onboard graphics will be good enough for the most basic of tasks.

 

[otisblack]

Yes, I do think most will be headed into eGPU territory for the Mac Mini. The new model is really a case of bring your own gpu. See if you are happy without one for now but I think the onboard graphics will be good enough for the most basic of tasks.

Thanks. I have a 27 inch 5k iMac with a good 4GB graphics card and I just opened the GPU history in Activity Monitor while I did a normal workflow task. Zooming in and out and using the liquify tool made the graph spike to the max! Blackmagic here I come, I suppose! Apple's site compares various GPUs in terms of their GPU Activity Monitor usage, to those who would like to know more about this.

https://developer.apple.com/documen..._monitors/monitoring_your_mac_s_gpu_activity/

Edit: looks like the Blackmagic eGPU is selling out quickly at Apple.com. Apple expects stock in early December, but I found a couple stores in my area that had it for local pickup.

 

[Sun Baked]

Yes, I do think most will be headed into eGPU territory for the Mac Mini. The new model is really a case of bring your own gpu. See if you are happy without one for now but I think the onboard graphics will be good enough for the most basic of tasks.

Seriously tired of iGPU performance in the last two Mac purchases, so the Mini purchase was based on getting a eGPU soon. There would have been zero reason to get a new Mini if the 2014 Mini/TB2 was included automatically in the eGPU options for Mohave.

With many craving benchmarks of the Mini and several eGPU options, I think barefeats will likely be busy testing again soon.

 

[NyUC]

I'm glad to see I am not the only one who is a bit disappointed with the iGPU chosen for the Mini. But I'm looking forward to folks testing and posting reviews of the eGPUs. As much as I try to convince myself to stick Windows machine I am (temporarily) using, the allure of the Mini remains, as does my impatience with waiting for the Mac Pro sometime in 2019. My LG 38WK95C-W needs MacOS.

 

[Boil]

i really, Really, REALLY think Apple could move a TON more SG minis if they would only have a matching eGPU chassis that could stack under the mini & would have either RX5xx-series or Vega 56 GPUs, in the MXM format...

Same for storage expansion, give us a chassis housing four m.2 NVMe slots & a RAID controller...

Either Apple or third-party (come on OWC, expand that miniStack line-up) could do this, but Apple could probably get a much better deal on the MXM GPU cards...

 

[th0masp]

The lack of a dGPU was the deal breaker for me - in my experience the integrated GPUs are fine for a laptop - preferable even rather than having another heat source and common point of failure in there - but for a desktop, hooked up to a large screen i find them underpowered.

From what I've seen the benchmarks put the 630 at about 3 times the performance of a HD 4000 as it was used in the 2012 Mini. So it's probably like laptop dGPU performance from about 2012/13.
And with that it's a pain to run any modern software that uses some sort of GPU acceleration or requires support for certain GL features. So many video and paint programs do these days though and have been written with much more powerful GPUs in mind.

The only upside I can find to them is that the system runs pretty cool, the fan doesn't rev up, no matter what. For the price of a decent 2018 Mini configuration however they are not enough (for desktop use).

And eGPU - another box you need to hook up and one that to me defeats the point of having a really compact computer. What's the power draw for housing some Geforce in another case anyway?

A separate module from Apple in a matching, stack-able case that could be docked to the Mini, not require another wall-wart and just housed one of those mid-level GPUs, perhaps even just an upper tier laptop dGPU - that would have been pretty awesome though.

 

[Chocomonsters]

I am actually happy with not having dGPU. I have extra Akitio Node eGPU left over from MacBook Pro and Mac Mini dGPU would not have been utilized anyways. I do run both OSX and Windows. Without dGPU hogging PCIe x16, there will be less a chance of running into error 12 with eGPU under Windows (not sure if large memory is enabled in Mac Mini 2018 like MacBook Pro 2017).

If you plan to use eGPU and Windows, dGPU only adds headache.

All in all, I am very happy with new Mac Mini 2018.

 

[Boil]

Well, the no dGPU & no eGPU available that matches the chassis design & footprint of the new SG mini kills it for me...

The SG mini is a sleek little desktop package, and having a hulking eGPU & external storage next to it just ruins the whole aesthetic...

Going to an iMac or iMac Pro would give a decent dGPU solution; but when the monitor goes wonky, or the GPU is sadly out of date, I am stuck with an all-in-one that is no bueno...

At this point, I can only hope the (forthcoming) base modular Mac Pro can meet my needs (in regards to end-user upgradability & 3D power...

 

[Spankey]

Well, the no dGPU & no eGPU available that matches the chassis design & footprint of the new SG mini kills it for me...

The SG mini is a sleek little desktop package, and having a hulking eGPU & external storage next to it just ruins the whole aesthetic...

Going to an iMac or iMac Pro would give a decent dGPU solution; but when the monitor goes wonky, or the GPU is sadly out of date, I am stuck with an all-in-one that is no bueno...

At this point, I can only hope the (forthcoming) base modular Mac Pro can meet my needs (in regards to end-user upgradability & 3D power...

You can get VERY good egpu's that are hardly behemoths. I am never going back to iMac's based on gpu's alone. The higher end iMac pro is running a Vega 64. A card that is already close to being outdated and is still handily beaten by a 1080 ti. Sure it's "good enough" for most but for how much longer? With an egpu, I can update the card.

I'm glad Apple is finally giving customers the flexibility to use these machines the way we see fit. The solution may not be as elegant as an iMac but its much more practical.

 

[Neodym]

How is this new Mac mini if you compare it with a old Mac Pro with 3 GHz Quad Xeon and 32 Gb 667 Mhz RAM and Radeon HD 7979 3 GB?

The mini would probably sip significantly less power.

At peak performance, when doing single precision calculations, 630 can do 441.6g flops, while 650 does 883gflops. That's a huge difference.

How much impact does this have for average use of the mini? Or put differently: For which use case is this really relevant? Numbers alone have little meaning.

For me, as long as it would drive 2x4k@60 as Apple claims, it would be a significant improvement over the HD4000 in my late 2012 ...

 

[Boil]

You can get VERY good egpu's that are hardly behemoths. I am never going back to iMac's based on gpu's alone. The higher end iMac pro is running a Vega 64. A card that is already close to being outdated and is still handily beaten by a 1080 ti. Sure it's "good enough" for most but for how much longer? With an egpu, I can update the card.

I'm glad Apple is finally giving customers the flexibility to use these machines the way we see fit. The solution may not be as elegant as an iMac but its much more practical.

This is from a different forum, but it applies here as well...

I have been discussing (here & elsewhere) expansion modules that match the chassis design & footprint of the SG mini...

Sonnet has an eGPU in a relatively compact chassis, which makes me think they are using MXM GPU cards within...

https://www.sonnettech.com/product/egfx-breakaway-puck.html

But the options are a RX560 for $400 or RX570 for $600...

Now, pricing for these GPUs run about $100 or so for the RX560s & $150 and up for the RX570s...

I know the chassis & PSU & TB3 stuff in these expansion boxes cannot be worth $300 or more, so the extra cost indicates (to me) that these might be MXM format GPU cards...?

Now look at the size, the Sonnet Puck chassis is 6" wide x 5.1" depth x 2" tall; it would definitely fit into the SG mini footprint, just requiring a taller chassis (the SG mini is 7.7" square & 1.4" tall)...

I just really feel the SG mini could be a bit nicer with matching expansion modules designed for stacking...