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kinchang
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Joined: 03 Mar 2009
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 Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:30 pm Post subject: New mac mini - NVIDIA 9400M w/ 128MB shared DDR vs 256MB |
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Can some one help me?
If I buy the cheaper version (coming w/ NVIDIA 9400M w/ 128MB of shared DDR3 SDRAM) and upgrade the 1 GB main memory later to 2 GB, will I get the 256MB of shared DDR3 SDRAM w/ the 2 GB memory?
Many thanks in advance.
Kin |
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usarcher
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Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 443
Location: Maine, USA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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| That is a popular question, I read it that if you up the ram to 2GB you will up the minimum graphics to 256MB. Unless Apple is really limiting it somehow, but we should find out soon as people start testing this very question when they start receiving their new toys. |
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castaway
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Joined: 21 May 2005
Posts: 405
Location: UK
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:45 am Post subject: |
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I actually read that 2GB gives you the 256MB. Now, does 4GB give you 512MB? 
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1.42GHz Mac mini
1.83GHz MacBook
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8GB iPod touch
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himey
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Joined: 18 Sep 2008
Posts: 26
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:19 am Post subject: |
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This is EXACTLY what I would like to know...
I would like to buy the 2.26gHz model and upgrade the RAM myself (as with my last Mini).
However, I chiefly want the faster graphics. If my video RAM does not go up to 256mb with 2GB I will not buy it in that configuration.
I would also like to know if I will be up to 512mb vid memory with 4GB RAM. This is essential knowledge and I will not make a purchase unless these questions are answered.
Cheers.
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MacMini Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB Internal, MiniStack V3 + 1TB WD AV GreenPower HDD, Logitech DiNovo Mini, MacOS X Snow Leopard.
MacBook Intel Core Duo 2.0Ghz, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, MacOS 10.4.11.
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usarcher
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Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 443
Location: Maine, USA
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:55 am Post subject: |
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| castaway wrote: | | I actually read that 2GB gives you the 256MB. Now, does 4GB give you 512MB? |
That would be nice  |
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fhall1
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Joined: 06 Dec 2007
Posts: 134
Location: Upstate NY
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:45 am Post subject: |
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| castaway wrote: | | I actually read that 2GB gives you the 256MB. Now, does 4GB give you 512MB? |
No...seems like 256M is the max from preliminary reports |
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lh_newbie
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Joined: 26 Feb 2009
Posts: 66
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:21 am Post subject: |
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All this talk about 128M -vs- 256M. If you're driving only a single display, say in 720P or 1080P - does it really matter? I thought larger quantities of video memory were only needed when driving a lot of screen real estate - let's say dual 1920x1280 monitors or more.
I have a laptop that only has 64MB video memory (I believe) and I drive two monitors with: one at 1600x1200 and one at 1280x1024. |
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Retrogamer
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Joined: 02 Jul 2008
Posts: 114
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:26 am Post subject: |
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| lh_newbie wrote: | All this talk about 128M -vs- 256M. If you're driving only a single display, say in 720P or 1080P - does it really matter?
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It matters for gaming. The game will perform faster if it can preload more textures into video ram than if it has to swap out with system ram. If you are not going to use it to play 3d games, then this is not an issue to you. |
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usarcher
Senior Member
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 443
Location: Maine, USA
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:32 am Post subject: |
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| Retrogamer wrote: | | lh_newbie wrote: | All this talk about 128M -vs- 256M. If you're driving only a single display, say in 720P or 1080P - does it really matter?
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It matters for gaming. The game will perform faster if it can preload more textures into video ram than if it has to swap out with system ram. If you are not going to use it to play 3d games, then this is not an issue to you. |
Also as more tasks get shifted to the GPU, think about Snow Leopard, more ram will help. |
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jetmech1
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Joined: 24 Dec 2008
Posts: 28
Location: Charlotte, NC
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:24 am Post subject: |
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I'm posting this from the apple store (I'm waiting for the Minis to be unpacked) and was told that the 128mb video graphics is firmware limited and will not increase even if you increase the ram to 2 or more GB. I hope the Genius's are wrong.
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usarcher
Senior Member
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 443
Location: Maine, USA
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:31 am Post subject: |
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| jetmech1 wrote: | | I'm posting this from the apple store (I'm waiting for the Minis to be unpacked) and was told that the 128mb video graphics is firmware limited and will not increase even if you increase the ram to 2 or more GB. I hope the Genius's are wrong. |
Hope its a sales pitch to get you to buy the top end model  |
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fhall1
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Joined: 06 Dec 2007
Posts: 134
Location: Upstate NY
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:25 pm Post subject: |
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| jetmech1 wrote: | | I'm posting this from the apple store (I'm waiting for the Minis to be unpacked) and was told that the 128mb video graphics is firmware limited and will not increase even if you increase the ram to 2 or more GB. I hope the Genius's are wrong. |
The "geniuses" need to read posts on Macrumors....several folks have posted that they've upgraded from 1GB to 2 or 4GB and their VRAM is now 256M |
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usarcher
Senior Member
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 443
Location: Maine, USA
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:40 pm Post subject: |
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| fhall1 wrote: | | jetmech1 wrote: | | I'm posting this from the apple store (I'm waiting for the Minis to be unpacked) and was told that the 128mb video graphics is firmware limited and will not increase even if you increase the ram to 2 or more GB. I hope the Genius's are wrong. |
The "geniuses" need to read posts on Macrumors....several folks have posted that they've upgraded from 1GB to 2 or 4GB and their VRAM is now 256M |
Do you have a link to those?
Edit: Never mind about the link heres one. http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=661197 |
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jetmech1
Junior Member
Joined: 24 Dec 2008
Posts: 28
Location: Charlotte, NC
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:30 pm Post subject: |
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| fhall1 wrote: | | jetmech1 wrote: | | I'm posting this from the apple store (I'm waiting for the Minis to be unpacked) and was told that the 128mb video graphics is firmware limited and will not increase even if you increase the ram to 2 or more GB. I hope the Genius's are wrong. |
The "geniuses" need to read posts on Macrumors....several folks have posted that they've upgraded from 1GB to 2 or 4GB and their VRAM is now 256M |
That is what I was counting on, because I purchased the cheaper unit so I could do the upgrading myself. I was the first person in Charlotte to get a new Mini. I will be ordering ram and HD soon for my new toy.
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Mac Mini 2.0GHz, 4GB, 320GB 7200 RPM HD, nVidia 9400
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lh_newbie
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Joined: 26 Feb 2009
Posts: 66
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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On the memory front, if you read footnote 2 on the Mini page - you'll see that the 128/256MB thing is the MINIMUM memory used.
http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html
| Quote: | # NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 128MB or 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory2
...
2. 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. |
So it's not like it's stuck at ONLY 128MB. If you need more, it takes more. Then again, since system memory of the base model is actually a maximum of 896MB (1024MB RAM - 128MB min video RAM), this is another reason to do the 2GB upgrade from the get-go. I will definitely be getting mine with 2 gigs (which incidentally will have 2048MB total - 256 min video = 1,792 max system RAM). |
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