Mac mini video cards

It was reported awhile back in Macaddict and in Thinksecret that the mac mini had been upgraded with a little faster processor and video cards with 64mb of memory. However, I don't see these as being options in the Apple Store. How do you go about getting one of these upgraded mini's and do they even exist?

If they don't exist, my computer's lying to me.
Machine Name:     Mac mini
Machine Model:     PowerMac10,2
CPU Type:     PowerPC G4 (1.2)
Number Of CPUs:     1
CPU Speed:     1.5 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU):     512 KB
Memory:     512 MB
Bus Speed:     167 MHz
Chipset Model:     ATY,RV280
Type:     Display
Bus:     AGP
VRAM (Total):     64 MB
Vendor:     ATI (0x1002)
Device ID:     0x5962
You can't order these changes, they have not been announced and are not official and most likely you'll get a thread lock for talking about them here.
Over on the MacNN site (forums.macnn.com) where people figured that the minis with the udpates had been built in or after September. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I know mine was made in September.

Similar Messages

Mac Mini video card drivers Win 7 64 bit sp1

I was running OSX 10.6.4 and dual booting with Vista 64 bit when Vista crashed. I went out and purchased Win 7 64 bit SP1 OEM version. I used bootcamp to install this sucesfully but whatever I seem to try I cannot find/install the correct driver for the graphics card in Win 7. It still defaults to Standard VGA Graphics Adapter 1280 x 1024.
I moved from the U.S to Thailand but forgot to bring my bootcamp disc (Otherwise I might not even be writing this post). I purchased a copy of Snow Lepoard 10.6.3 which has bootcamp 3.1 on it but still not the correct video card drivers. I have also upgraded bootcamp to 3.2 and 3.3 and tried all the Win 7 updaates but to no avail. I have tried to install manually from bootcamp on the DVD, I have read a few forums with the same issue but it tends to be a MacBook Pro and not a Mac Mini issue. I have also instaleld Nvidia 285.38 and 285.62 drivers and both of these give me a black screen, so I know these are not the correct drivers.
I purchased my Mac Mini in Nov of 2010 and its a model MC270LL/A. If I look in OSX I can see my video card is the
Nvidia Geforce 320 M
Vendor - NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID 0x08a4
Revision ID 0x00a2
Rom Revision 3546.
I am not sure why this has to be so difficult but it is! Any help would be appreciated. Thanks so much.

There's a complicated driver issue.
I'm also a user of Mac mini(2010, server) with windows7 x64.
My experience is:
The only newest nvidia driver for daily using without trouble is 267.76.
If you want to use 27x~ 285.62/285.79,
your primary monitor must be connected to Mac mini with miniDisplayPort-VGA adapter,
I got the same black screen with applying HDMI port as primary.
If you upgrade to 290.36/295.51(the latest one),
you can prevent black screen with HDMI port,sounds good,right?
But as long as you update to any of the newest two drivers,
you will suffer BSOD(Blue Screen of Death, abnormally reboot, error code:0x116) during checking Windows index
or just watching HD movies, that anything may cause GPU malfunction.
Referece thread:http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=215256
I still searching the solution because the HDMI 1.4a 3D supporting of my projector was begun from 285.62.
I always got BSOD when I want to enjoy Blu-ray 3D films.

What do you do if your Mac Book video card does not meet the Minimum requriements ???

What if your Mac Books video card does not meet the minimum system requirements

Just for the record it was an Early 2008 iMac 20" (MB324LL/A) with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB of GDDR3 memory in it.
Not sure why or how but overnight the system has decided to try and run the update again and this time it has updated all the apps.
The machine is running the apps fine and there are no real issues with the performance (other than the fact its over 5 years old, but thats understandable).
Im going to put it down to either a minor glitch in the update that was corrected fairly fast or just a hiccup from an old machine.
Thansk for the responces anyhow guys.

Mac Pro video card in a PM G5 dual 2.0?????

Will the stock Mac Pro video card: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT, work in a PowerMac G5 Duallie 2.0 (mid 2004 model) with the pci-x slots? Thankx! And would a Cube G4 Rage 128 video card work in thePM G5? (I bought a G5 without a video card and I need to test it and find a cheap video card for it). Thx again!

No. It is PCI Express card anyway.
head over to OWC and look there www.macsales.com

Advice Please for Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition Video Card

Hello.
I have a mid 2010 Mac Pro (5,1).
Was wondering if anyone out there in 'Mac Land' has had personal experience with the
Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition Video Card?
In particular:
Did you install it yourself?
Did you have any issues after installing?
Does it live up to its hype?
Do you think it was worth the price?
Will it freak out when using BootCamp?
I'm thinking about upgrading from the installed HD 5870 card.
I run BootCamp with Windows 8 and Windows 7. My current Mac OS is 10.9.5.
Thanks for your help.

Dear Paul S, John B here. I have a 2008 Mac Pro, single Quad Core-not state of the art at all. I bought my sapphire radeon HD 7950 to replace an nVidia 8800, so that I could play Bio shock infinite on Steam. Yes, I installed it myself, it's a piece of cake. I had no issues after installing. Some have...might have been that gpu switch on the side was defective, but not for me. to the right for mac, left for PC, as far as I know. As for the hype, can't say. It does the job quite well. I now have a Mac that can use Display Port and HDMI for output rather than DVI (very handy for buying monitors- you can use a small LCD tv as one). I guess it was worth the price, to me it was, anyway. I learned my lesson on older graphics cards: when they go, try to not have a fit, and see if you can replace them with something a bit better, and don't take your Mac in to your local Fruit PC store, cuz they don't have a clue about such things, and the Fruit PC company's policy is to replace like with like-period. You can ask them to, but they won't put a better video card into your Mac Pro, even though you are willing to pay the difference to upgrade. Also, you are on their turf, so you will be paying their prices for that old video card. $360 for an 8800GT mac version? I don't think so, at least not again ! Freak out with Bootcamp? I don't think so. I've never used it with bootcamp, but I did mention the switch, so I think you're covered there. Maybe you'd have to download and install Windows drivers for that card but that's be about it. You might try MacVidCards.com
but that's a crapshoot, as PC cards flashed to work with Mac may be.
just my 2 cents
JB

Upgrading a 2007 Mac Pro Video Card

So Steve Jobs said that the mac pros would offer greater expansion when they were reased a couple years back.
Its been 3 months since the Geforce 8800 GT has been 'available' on the 2008 mac pro and 3 months since it hasnt been available for the mac pros which jobs referred to as 'expandable.' I'm in need of a new monitor, and will be needing a better video card, I have a 2 x geforce 7300 overclocked setup for gaming in windows. This experience will be painful once I step up to 1920x1200 resolution some time SOON.
So I have a few questions:
1) How does the ATI 2600 XT perform compared to my setup? Is a single 2600 XT going to outperform my SLI setup?
2) Would a Crossfire 2600 XT outperform it?
3) Is the 3870x2 compatible with my computer? Can I at least boot into windows with it, but boot into OS X with my 7300 without physically removing the video card from the PCIe slot? I suppose a KVM switch would be needed unless I bought a dual input monitor?
4) Are there any video cards made for PC that will work in windows on my mac BUT still allowing me to boot into OS X without me having to remove the card out of the PCIe slot?
Thanks for all your responses in advance!
ps. funny how steve jobs got deals with EA to produce games for the mac os platform while doing nothing about offering a required component to play games at decent settings and framerates. this is going to be a failure guaranteed if apple doesnt do anything (or, at least acquire PROPER ported games)

You can find benchmarks for the ATI 2600GT at Bare Feats.
You cannot use a third-party card to boot OS X, but you can use any compatible video card for Windows as long as you install the Windows drivers. A third-party video card simply won't boot OS X because it does not have an EFI compatible ROM. It will, however, work fine for booting Windows.
ps. funny how steve jobs got deals with EA to produce games for the mac os platform while doing nothing about offering a required component to play games at decent settings and framerates. this is going to be a failure guaranteed if apple doesnt do anything (or, at least acquire PROPER ported games)
As the Discussions are not intended for complaints, you can omit comments like these in the future.

Intel Mac Mini video outpot to component video

I am looking for an adapter/converter that allows me to connect the video output of my Mac Mini to a component video receiver. I currently use a Marantz S8001 receiver with multi-room capability but unfortunately the multi-roon video switching capability on it does not support composite, DVI, or VGA input.
Mac Mini - Intel dual core, 1st generation Mac OS X (10.4.3)

What happens when you click on the scaled item in System Preferences>Displays>Display? What option are shown?
Also
If you press ALT with clicking on Scaling, it will give you ALL the available resolutions. I was able to select 1920x1080, but needed a smaller res. the 1280x768 is what I chose. works like it's supposed to.
Above from:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5491224?tstart=0

Mac Mini Video Quality

Can anyone tell me how the Video Quality of the output to a HDTV if I buy the correct cables to connect to this HDTV? I am looking a "media server" and I would like to use a Mac Mini rather than an Apple TV because I can do more with the Mini (surf internet, use as DVR etc..), plus I would be able to play DVD files without having to convert them to .H264 format that would take eons.... I currently have a iBook G4 and used the S-Video adapter to connect to the HDTV set I have, and the Video quality is about par with VHS, even on DVD content (I'm not even going to think what iTMS downloaded content would look like). Thanks for your help.

Just to be clear, is this the model you have?
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-TX-P2675WH-26-Widescreen-HDTV/dp/tech-data/B0002KQ R3C/ref=deasmtd
# VGA/SVGA input: No
# Audio outputs: 1 stereo analog (left/right RCA, fixed-level)
# Audio inputs: 3 stereo analog (left/right)
# Video outputs: 1 (composite-video)
# Video inputs: 5
# Headphone jack: Yes (.125-inch, side panel)
# Digital-video input: 1 (DVI-HDTV)
# Component video: 2 (both auto-sensing 480p/480i/720p/1080i)
# Composite video: 4
# S-video: 2
!http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/413SEZ46CBL.SS500.jpg!
User manuals:
http://www.usersmanualguide.com/samsung/tv_flatcrt/tx-p2675wh

I want to upgrade my Mac Pro video card. I am using a mac quad core 2.7 GHz 8 megs of ram and an ATI Radeon 3870. Where do I start?

I am using a mac pro with a 2.7 GHz processor 8 gigs of ram and a Radeon HD 3870 video card with 512 megs of vram.
I want to upgrade to 1 gig of vram if possible.
Can anyone tell me where I can begin looking, what brand to buy, and what options I have?
I want to be able to use the Element 3D plug in After Effects.
Also, would I need to upgrade my operating system?
Thanks,
Faucheux

Shop for them at the Apple Online Store. I would suggest the ATI 5770 or 5870 or one of the new Nvidia GTX models - 650 Ti, 660, or 680.
Note that unless your Mac Pro has PCIe 2.0 slots you should stick with the ATI 5770.

Question re: New Mac mini graphics card...

The Apple tech specs on the Mac mini re: the graphics card says:
"NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 128MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory"
http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html
Does this mean that the card will use more memory ig there's 2gb installed in the Mac mini or does it actually mean it's a different card?
In other words, if I buy the lower end Mac mini but upgrade it to 2gb, is that basically the same thing, videocard-wise?
Thanks!

The language and specs are very ambiguous. That said, the language we do have states:
"Memory available to Mac OS X may vary depending on graphics needs. Minimum graphics memory usage is 128MB for 1GB configuration and 256MB for 2GB configuration."
The word 'minimum' contradicts your 'only be able to take' (read: maximum).
What it implies is that the minimum amount of Shared RAM used by the GPU is solely based on the amount of RAM (25% maybe?). Then the question becomes: Why two configurations with two different model numbers? Is it simply to track different price points? If you custom configure the lower cost config to match the higher cost config, it's more expensive.
We definitely need further explanation from Apple.

Mac Mini SD Card reformatting? How?

I use a Mac Mini - Mac OS X - Version 10.6.8. I'm also using a USB2.0 All-in-1 Card Reader and a SanDisk 2GB SD Card.
Each week I download an updated inventory to the SD Card for use on a PDA with a scanner. Each week I move the previous week's download to trash. For some reason the files have not been removed from the card so now I don't have room on the card for the new download. Someone has mentioned something about ghost files and reformatting the SD Card.
I don't know how to reformat the card. Will reformatting the card clear out the old files and give me back my space? Would someone be willing to give me instructions, please?
I do a lot on my mini but I have a lot of gaps in my education so some good instructions would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

To free up the disk space you must empty the iMac's Trash bin before ejecting and removing any storage device.
If at this point reconnecting and emptying the trash does not free up the space, open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder, then select and Erase the SamDisk.
See > How to format external hard disk for Mac and Windows - Techie Corner
Also note: that you need to keep it set to the current format (probably MS-DOS FAT-32) so that it will still work with your PDA.

Upgrading mac pro video card questions

I want to upgrade my video card, I currently have a 7300 gt, and my mac pro is a 2007. Will any video card that uses the same type of pci slot work or does the card have to be specially made for macs. Also what would be the best upgrade for my mac, i read the 8800 gtx wont work, will radeon 2600 work?

Yes, the video card has to be made to work with Mac Pros and I upgraded my 2007 Mac with the 2600 XT and it works great. A version of the 8800 is suppose to be in the works, but a release date is unknown.
Keith

1st gen mac pro video card

So, I'm looking to upgrade the video card in my mac pro from the stock nVidia 7300 GT to something else. I've basically ruled out the 1.5GB Quadra fx 4500 (because it's a bit above my price point), so looking at the other options, I have the following questions.
1. I've heard you can put 2 of the same video cards in a computer and get an increase in performance in that way. How hard is this to do and will it be comparable in performance to a 512 mb card? Additionally, can this be done with 2 different cards or does it have to be 2 of the same cards?
2. The 3 512 cards I'm looking at, based on what I've heard are compatible in this forum, are the ATI X1900 XT, the ATI 4870, and the nVidia 8800GT (I know this has to be apple part number MB560Z/A). What are the differences between these cards (prices are all fairly similar)? What should I be looking at besides the card's memory size?
3. Someone in my other question thread mentioned "flashing" a video card. What does that mean?
Thanks in advance for the help. I've never really tried upgrading a video card before and so really don't know much about them.

1. I've heard you can put 2 of the same video cards in a computer and get an increase in performance in that way.
Not with Macs.
2. The 3 512 cards I'm looking at, based on what I've heard are compatible in this forum, are the ATI X1900 XT, the ATI 4870, and the nVidia 8800GT (I know this has to be apple part number MB560Z/A). What are the differences between these cards (prices are all fairly similar)? What should I be looking at besides the card's memory size?
The ATI 4870 is the only one currently being sold. Be sure to get the Apple version.
3. Someone in my other question thread mentioned "flashing" a video card. What does that mean?
That means making a non-Apple card work in a Mac. Don't try it unless you know what you are doing.

Do I need a specific Mac Pro video card or will any do?

Hi, I had a quick question. I'm looking at purchasing a 2010 8-core Mac Pro and was wondering about the video card. Is there a specific video card needed for the Mac Pro or can I purchase just a typical ATI 5870 from ebay and install that? Is there really a difference between a PC graphic cards and a Mac graphics card?

Stick to the Apple cards. There is an important difference, and that is non-Apple cards do not work until the startup sequence is completed unless you use them on VGA. That means you cannot use any normal startup keyboard shortcuts unless the card is in VGA mode. This is because non-Apple cards do not have the Apple bootable ROM.
Apple sells the 5870 directly on their website. And, there's nothing wrong with the 5770 card that comes with the Mac Pro. Be sure you really need the performance of the 5870 before spending the extra money for it.

"See administrator" error with Mac mini airport card

Help, please. My Mac mini has an airport card installed. I got a new cable modem with a wireless N router (combo cable modem plus wireless N router) and I went to wirelessly connect my Mac mini's airport card to it.
I guess I typed the wireless router's password in wrong too many times or something, because suddenly I received the following airport error message on my Mac when trying to join the network (during the "The network so-and-so requires a WPA password" phase):
"See administrator."
It will not let me connect to my wireless network, even though my Macbook, my iPad, and my Roku player are connected to this wireless router/combination cable modem just fine. The Mac mini is connected to it through Ethernet.
Also, with my previous set-up, a wireless router (a Belkin N router) combined with a cable modem from my ISP, the Mac mini was connected at the same time both wired (Ethernet) and wirelessly (airport).
So I cannot figure out what is wrong and I cannot figure out how to clear this message.
I have already tried a solution that I found here which is indirectly related:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20060318124936642
because yesterday I was also getting a System keychain error but I can't seem to reproduce that at the moment. I must have cleared that one, but I still can't access my wireless network through the Mac mini.
I am locked out of my wireless network on my Mac mini even though I have full administrative rights on my Mac mini.
Can anyone help me figure out this conundrum? Thank you.

I did find some keychain system files in Library/Keychain.
But in trying to access items in my Keychain Access, I get a message from Keychain Access stating, "Keychain Access wants to use your confidential information stored in "(name of wireless network)" in your keychain. To allow this, entre the "login" keychain password."
I then enter every password known to mankind and it doesn't accept any of them. This is me trying to access an Airport password that is stored in the "login" area in my Keychain Access. I do not know what the mysterious "login" Keychain password is.
Anyway, to go back to the main issue, I am locked out of my wireless network and get the mysterious "see administrator" error. That is the main error message to focus on. Thank you.

Mac mini video cards

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