Mini Cube — H110MSTX-HD3 — i7-7700T — RX 560

[Charlee78]

Nice! eager to see that assembled!

 

[craighazan]

Nice! eager to see that assembled!

Yes!, the hardware is ready to go in the case. I did a fresh install of Catalina last night, still no graphics acceleration though, I had quick look in search and found ways to get it working!. Haven't chosen a SMBIOS yet, tried 17,1 and 18,1 iMac but nothing else, what do you use @Charlee78 or @phunguss?. I also haven't purchased any glue for sticking the new IO to the rear, I have a cutting tool ready.

 

[phunguss]

Haven't chosen a SMBIOS yet, tried 17,1 and 18,1 iMac but nothing else

I have been using iMac17,1 and video works fine from HDMI, but I have some issues booting with DisplayPort only on Catalina, so I haven't worked it all out yet (other projects).

 

[Charlee78]

I am also using Imac 17.1 but I am on sierra and using HDMI is flawless. But I have to say it took me about 3 days just to get the sound working. That's why I'm afraid to upgrade...

 

[craighazan]

Graphics acceleration fixed, Intel HD Graphics 630 is reading 1536MB. I haven't installed the supplemental update for Catalina, I'm in 10.15.4. everything feels smooth and solid, I logged into the Apple Store to download a couple of Apps but haven't signed into iCloud yet. To get it working I unticked Inject Intel and added WEG into Kexts/Other, restarted and everything looks good. I'm connected to Samsung SyncMaster Flat Panel monitor DP>HDMI adapter and HDMI>DVI, I haven't tested on the 42" TV or 24" Monitor yet.

 

[craighazan]

Updated to macOS Catalina 10.15.5, after upgrading to 10.15.4 first. Everything went smoothly, after a couple of restarts I was back on the desktop. I have video on HDMI and DP but no sound yet, next task. This build feels more solid than my G5 mod, finder seems really stable and I noticed a new transition I haven't seen before!. Opened an image in Quick Look and pressed the "Open In Preview" button, the change in tool bar height and content was almost instant!, Preview starts from cold. But for me it's the CPU cooler that's the star of this build, over an hour of restarting after the updates, gaming, restarting, benching and finally idling, it performed really well. The CPU stayed under 60 C and bottomed at 28 C, its maximum RPM is 5000, the amazing thing is its not 'It' your hearing, it's the air moving!. White glue arriving soon!.

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[trs96]

Sounds like the Tt Engine 27 1U cooler is even better than my Noctua LP cooler. Thermaltake doesn't get all the praise from reviewers that Noctua does but the products that I've purchased from them have all been excellent. Server quality in a CPU cooler is overkill for most mini-ITX builds but why not ? It's gonna last a really long time and run quietly. Silence is so important in an ITX cooler because the case usually sits right next to your monitor on the desk, very close to your ears. I really despise noisy fans and I always look for the quietest I can get. The fan in my 2005 G4 mini would get really loud whenever I tried basic video editing (FCP7) with it many years ago.

Too bad Apple wasn't a Tt customer back then. I think that it would have cut into their profit margins for the Mac mini and then they couldn't sell it at the low (for Apple) $499 price. I know from experience that it was so underpowered (CPU/Ram and graphics) that they didn't expect anyone to do more than surf the net and check email with it. It had a 1.25 GHz single core CPU, 512 MB of ram and 32 MB of vram standard. It's small size and ultra low power usage was really what made it special. Didn't have much else going for it. Even the 5400 RPM 2.5" HDD was a puny 40GB in size. I think they were selling iPods back then that had more storage.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MCT9V18/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[craighazan]

Sounds like the Tt Engine 27 1U cooler is even better than my Noctua LP cooler.

I haven't owned a Noctua CPU fan, I've always read good things about them though!. My experience with the Tt Gravity i2 in the G5 mod is also a quiet one, and that's why I went with Tt again with this build. It looks like a jet engine!, it's heavy and industrial and performs really well, it isn't noisy the air moving is!. I would need an extremely good reason to swap this for a Noctua.

 

[trs96]

it's heavy and industrial and performs really well, it isn't noisy the air moving is!

Would be nice to get a fan control app working that let's you regulate the RPMs. Then you could optimize speeds for what you're doing at the time.

 

[craighazan]

Would be nice to get a fan control app working that let's you regulate the RPMs. Then you could optimize speeds for what you're doing at the time.

Switched out VirtualSMC for FakeSMC and got more readings and control of my CPU fan. I downloaded Macs Fan Control, which is free. I also purchased TG Pro, which is 50% off right now!. I'll dig into these Apps a little later.