The 2018 Mac Mini: A Versatile Gaming Machine

When it comes to gaming on a Mac, many people assume that Apple's machines are limited by their integrated GPUs. However, with some creative workarounds and upgrades, the 2018 Mac Mini can become a formidable gaming machine. In this article, we'll explore how you can turn your Mac Mini into a powerful gaming computer using external graphics.

The i/o on the 2018 Mac Mini is particularly impressive, featuring four Thunderbolt 3 ports that provide a ton of expandability out of the box. With these ports, you can easily connect peripherals, storage drives, and even an external graphics chassis. Speaking of which, one of the most exciting features of the 2018 Mac Mini is its ability to upgrade the GPU externally.

The integrated GPU in the 2018 Mac Mini is, to say the least, lacking. However, with a little bit of know-how and some patience, you can install an external graphics card and breathe new life into your Mac Mini. We'll be using a Razor Core X as our external graphics chassis, which will house a powerful GPU like the Vega 64.

To upgrade the GPU, we simply need to connect the Razor Core X to the Mac Mini via Thunderbolt 3 cable. Then, we can connect an external display using DisplayPort and enjoy the benefits of a much more powerful GPU. In this article, we'll show you how to do just that and explore some of the amazing gaming capabilities of the 2018 Mac Mini with an external graphics setup.

Storage Configuration

To make the most of our external graphics setup, we've configured our storage drive to be as beastly as possible. We're using a 1TB Samsung T5 SSD, which will provide plenty of space for your games and other files. With this setup, you can store all your games on the external drive and access them quickly and efficiently.

Device Manager

Once we've connected our external graphics setup to the Mac Mini, we need to make sure that Windows is recognizing the new GPU. In Device Manager, we can see that the Radeon RX Vega 64 is now listed as a valid device. The AMD software is also present in the system tray, which indicates that everything is working properly.

Display Setup

For our display setup, we're using an LG Ultra Wide 5K Display, which provides a stunning 5120 x 2160 resolution at 50Hz. While it's not the most ideal display for gaming (it maxes out at 60Hz), its wide aspect ratio and high resolution make it perfect for multitasking and general use.

Gaming Performance

Now that we've set up our external graphics setup, let's see how it performs in some games. We're running Heaven and Valley benchmarks to test the performance of our Mac Mini with an external GPU. The results are impressive: over 100 frames per second in both tests, using ultra settings and a resolution of 5120 x 2160.

Rocket League

To put our Mac Mini's gaming capabilities to the test, we're playing Rocket League at 5120 x 2160 resolution and high settings. The gameplay is silky smooth and enjoyable, with frame rates in the 50s. We also tried playing Madden 2019, which provides a current-gen console-like experience.

Unigine Valley in Heaven

To compare our Mac Mini's performance to other devices, we ran Unigine Valley in Heaven compared to the 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro i9 version. The results show that our Mac Mini is capable of delivering impressive frame rates and resolutions, thanks to its external graphics setup.

Forza Horizon 4

Finally, let's see how our Mac Mini performs in Forza Horizon 4 at 5120 x 2160 resolution and high settings. The game runs smoothly and playfully, with frame rates in the 50s. This is a testament to the power of our external graphics setup and the Mac Mini's ability to handle demanding games.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the 2018 Mac Mini can make for a decent gaming machine when equipped with an external graphics setup like the Razor Core X with the Vega 64 GPU. With its Thunderbolt 3 ports and expandability, this machine is perfect for gamers who want to get creative with their hardware configurations. By using an external storage drive and an external display, you can unlock the full potential of your Mac Mini and enjoy smooth gaming performance.

If you're interested in learning more about our process and how we built this gaming machine, be sure to check out the full article on 9to5Mac. We'll also share some tips and tricks for building your own external graphics setup using a Mac Mini. So, what are you waiting for? Get creative with your hardware configuration and start exploring the world of EGP!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: encan the 2018 Mac Mini make for a decent Windows gaming machine the results may surprise you check out the full video right now thanks for watching nine-to-five Mac be sure to thumbs up click the subscribe button and then enable notifications with the bill icon so you won't miss any upcoming videos as I noted in our review of the 2018 Mac Mini this is the most versatile Mac that Apple currently makes why can we say that well mainly because of the i/o particularly the four Thunderbolt 3 ports which adds a ton of expandability out of the box and with a little know-how and a little bit of patience you can also upgrade the RAM in the 2018 Mac Mini I went from 8 gigabytes to 32 gigabytes and because I want to use this as a gaming machine of course I installed Windows 10 now as I noted in our review the 2018 Mac Mini has a horrible integrated GPU the good news is that you can upgrade the GPU externally that's what's really exciting about having Thunderbolt 3 so I can use something like this the Vegas 64 and have a graphics card that runs laps around that integrated GPU inside the Mac Mini all we need is an external graphics chassis like this this is the razor core X so I'm just gonna slap the Vegas 64 inside the razor core X external graphics chassis just like this connect the power screw it in and ladies and gentlemen we are good to go so now just want to put the cover back on just like that so here is the razor core X with the Vegas 64 inside here it is next to the 2018 Mac Mini so these two devices the 2018 Mac Mini and the razor core X with the Vegas 64 inside this makes for a pretty decent gaming machine all you need to do is connect these two devices together with a Thunderbolt 3 cable like this so plug it into the Mac Mini plug it into the razor core X and then you simply connect to an external display using DisplayPort so we are effectively bypassing that super slow integrated GPU inside the 2018 Mac Mini and we are using something a whole lot more powerful now because I kept it for the beast storage configuration I'm using an external SSD the one terabyte Samsung t5 and I'm gonna store all my games there so in device manager you can see Radeon rx Vega no question marks or any sort of exclamation points next to it it's working you can see the AMD software there in the system tray so we're good to go folks here it is connected to the lg ultra wide 5k 2k display make sure you check out the full review of that if you haven't seen it already not the most ideal display for gaming maxes out at 60 Hertz but it's super wide 50 120 by 2160 native resolution so you can see I'm running heaven and valley benchmarks here over a hundred frames per second using ultra settings and here I am running Cinebench r15 again over a hundred frames per second now if you try to run these benchmarks with the integrated graphics it would be an absolute laughable situation don't even try it another thing I connected an Xbox wireless controller using bluetooth here it is right here and this is a great way to give you that console like experience to control your games so here I am playing rocket league 51 20 by 2160 well over 60 frames per second silky smooth playback very very impressive don't you even think about doing this with the integrated graphics and then here you go a Madden 2019 5128 by 2160 silky smooth high settings and it provides you with a current gen console like experience especially when you have that Xbox controller the Mac Mini is very capable so let's backtrack look at some benchmarks here's Unigine valley in heaven compared with the 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro the i9 version now look at the Mac Mini and you can see some of that maybe a Hardware difference but a lot of that has to do with Windows just being a more capable platform when it comes to games and one last game I want to show you guys this is Forza 4 horizon running at 50 120 by 2160 totally playable using either high or ultra settings it's just super impressive that is running at this high of a resolution smoothly and totally playable with frame rates in the 50s again remember this is running on a Mac Mini so ladies and gentlemen be sure to check out the full post over at 9 to 5 Mac for more details on what we used how we did it and be sure to share your thoughts down below in the comment section if you like to see more coverage of EGP use including using this RT x 2080 GPU with the Mac Mini then leave a thumbs up and let me know this is Jeff with 905 Mac youcan the 2018 Mac Mini make for a decent Windows gaming machine the results may surprise you check out the full video right now thanks for watching nine-to-five Mac be sure to thumbs up click the subscribe button and then enable notifications with the bill icon so you won't miss any upcoming videos as I noted in our review of the 2018 Mac Mini this is the most versatile Mac that Apple currently makes why can we say that well mainly because of the i/o particularly the four Thunderbolt 3 ports which adds a ton of expandability out of the box and with a little know-how and a little bit of patience you can also upgrade the RAM in the 2018 Mac Mini I went from 8 gigabytes to 32 gigabytes and because I want to use this as a gaming machine of course I installed Windows 10 now as I noted in our review the 2018 Mac Mini has a horrible integrated GPU the good news is that you can upgrade the GPU externally that's what's really exciting about having Thunderbolt 3 so I can use something like this the Vegas 64 and have a graphics card that runs laps around that integrated GPU inside the Mac Mini all we need is an external graphics chassis like this this is the razor core X so I'm just gonna slap the Vegas 64 inside the razor core X external graphics chassis just like this connect the power screw it in and ladies and gentlemen we are good to go so now just want to put the cover back on just like that so here is the razor core X with the Vegas 64 inside here it is next to the 2018 Mac Mini so these two devices the 2018 Mac Mini and the razor core X with the Vegas 64 inside this makes for a pretty decent gaming machine all you need to do is connect these two devices together with a Thunderbolt 3 cable like this so plug it into the Mac Mini plug it into the razor core X and then you simply connect to an external display using DisplayPort so we are effectively bypassing that super slow integrated GPU inside the 2018 Mac Mini and we are using something a whole lot more powerful now because I kept it for the beast storage configuration I'm using an external SSD the one terabyte Samsung t5 and I'm gonna store all my games there so in device manager you can see Radeon rx Vega no question marks or any sort of exclamation points next to it it's working you can see the AMD software there in the system tray so we're good to go folks here it is connected to the lg ultra wide 5k 2k display make sure you check out the full review of that if you haven't seen it already not the most ideal display for gaming maxes out at 60 Hertz but it's super wide 50 120 by 2160 native resolution so you can see I'm running heaven and valley benchmarks here over a hundred frames per second using ultra settings and here I am running Cinebench r15 again over a hundred frames per second now if you try to run these benchmarks with the integrated graphics it would be an absolute laughable situation don't even try it another thing I connected an Xbox wireless controller using bluetooth here it is right here and this is a great way to give you that console like experience to control your games so here I am playing rocket league 51 20 by 2160 well over 60 frames per second silky smooth playback very very impressive don't you even think about doing this with the integrated graphics and then here you go a Madden 2019 5128 by 2160 silky smooth high settings and it provides you with a current gen console like experience especially when you have that Xbox controller the Mac Mini is very capable so let's backtrack look at some benchmarks here's Unigine valley in heaven compared with the 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro the i9 version now look at the Mac Mini and you can see some of that maybe a Hardware difference but a lot of that has to do with Windows just being a more capable platform when it comes to games and one last game I want to show you guys this is Forza 4 horizon running at 50 120 by 2160 totally playable using either high or ultra settings it's just super impressive that is running at this high of a resolution smoothly and totally playable with frame rates in the 50s again remember this is running on a Mac Mini so ladies and gentlemen be sure to check out the full post over at 9 to 5 Mac for more details on what we used how we did it and be sure to share your thoughts down below in the comment section if you like to see more coverage of EGP use including using this RT x 2080 GPU with the Mac Mini then leave a thumbs up and let me know this is Jeff with 905 Mac you\n"