mistacabbage

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mistacabbage
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  • 2018 Mac mini: what you need to know

    mistacabbagemistacabbage
    I broke down and ordered one of these to replace the Hackintosh I've been using for the last couple years.  The Hackintosh has 2 x Thunderbolt 3 ports so the 4 x Thunderbolt 3 ports is what sold me.

    Mac mini with the following configuration:
    3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz)
    8GB 2666MHz DDR4
    Intel UHD Graphics 630
    256GB SSD storage
    10 Gigabit Ethernet (Nbase-T Ethernet with support for 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 5Gb, and 10Gb Ethernet using RJ‑45 connector)

    When you bump up the processor to the 6-core the base SSD jumps to 256GB.

    I'll swap out the RAM for 2 x 16gb in the near future.

    10GbE for only $100 was a no brainer upgrade.  It'll work great with my Synology RackStation RS2418+ which I also upgraded to have 10GbE.
    https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/RS2418+

    If you want some fast external storage check out the OWC Express 4M2 with SoftRAID Lite XT.  The part number is OWCTB3EX4M2SL and it's $350.
    https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/TB3EX4M2SL/

    It's a small empty case that you can install up to FOUR NVMe SSD's.  You then stripe RAID them with the included SoftRAID Lite XT software.  I am getting write speeds over 1,700 MB/s and read speeds over 2,100 MB/s using 4 x Samsung 960 EVO Series - 500gb NVMe drives.
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M20VBU7

    The EVO Pro series would get you even faster speeds but I felt it wasn't worth the extra money for them.  I can easily swap out these NVMe drives for 1tb or 2tb drives in the future which you can't do in the Mac mini since it now has a T2 chip.

    I'll also be using this $429 eGPU so the integrated graphics aren't a deal breaker.
    Sonnet Technologies eGFX Breakaway Box Developer Edition (with Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 580 8GB Card)
    https://www.sonnetstore.com/products/egfx-breakawaybox-radeonrx580





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