Mac mini Core Overload Solved - a surprising solution

Okay, I'm one of the ones who can't afford the new Mac Pro so I moved from a Mac Pro cheese grater ('09 2.93GHz 8-core) into that snazzy new 2018 3.2GHz 6-core Mac Mini after reading the impressive Geekbench benchmarks. It's got HDMI out so I got me an awesome 4k 40-inch monitor (which works well for me since my seated position is 43 inches from the screen). However running that monitor at 4k makes for some pretty small text (love the screen real estate though!). So I decided to use it scaled down to the 3200 x 1800 resolution just to make things a bit more legible.

 

All was going great and then I decided to bring out my Waves Abbey Road Chambers reverb plugin for a 60s tinged song I was producing. Absolutely could not use this lovely little CPU hogging plugin. Hit play and snap crackle and pop filled my monitors. Did ALL of the system optimizing tricks but to no avail. Searched and searched the internet but nothing worked (Apple docs say nothing about the solution to my problem). Then I came across a video talking about monitor resolutions deteriorating effect on Mac mini performance. I thought that couldn't possibly be it but I was desperate so I gave it a try.

 

Turns out that was EXACTLY the problem. Once I clicked the "Default for display" checkbox in my System Preferences/Display window the core that was overloading went from over 100% to about 40%. YES THAT big of a drop!

 

So I post this here not because I'm seeking the answer to a question but instead hoping someone else having the same problem will find it. I do not know if this is a problem with just Mac minis or whether other machines without a separate video card also have the same problem.

 

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: if you want to buy a 4k monitor for this machine be ready to use it at the 4k resolution for maximum performance. You may not like how small the screen components (text and layout items) are at 4k though so be forewarned.

I had the exact same experience. I couldn't figure out why the mini was so good generally, but could't keep up with my 2015 MBP when tracking VI's. In fact, the mini was terrible at this and since I use VI's all the time it was threatening to be a deal breaker. I was running my 43" 4k monitor at 3360 x 1890 and remembered that someone had posted about having to use the default resolution with the crappy gpu on the mini. Since I'd tried everything else, I moved the resolution to native 3840 x 2160 and, like you, I saw the cpu drop like crazy and all the crackles and audio pops disappear. It seems strange to me that the one and only core that's processing Logic's live audio should also have to manage the screen resolution processing since there are 5 other cores doing almost nothing, but that seems to be the case. So, my solution is to leave my system display panel open and switch resolutions when I'm working in Logic. The machine switches over quickly and I have everything laid out in both resolutions so I can use whichever resolution works best for the job I'm on at the moment. I'm still considering adding an egpu, but this workaround is pretty good for now. I do love all the screen real estate!

Just a note of thanks to you both. If there’s a Mac Mini in my future ( and not a Mac Pro ), I’d likely alter the display settings and never think that it had CPU impact. A problem avoided is better than a problem solved. So thank you.

Having lived for a few days on a fairly big mix I'm currently doing I have to say after doing a restart and running the mini WITHOUT screen scaling THIS is the performance documented on Geekbench and which I was hoping for.

 

Check this out:

I'm running an Abbey Road Chamber, 11 Fab Filter Pro-Q3s, 8 Sonnox Oxford Limiters, 8 Slate Virtual Mix Racks, 5 TH-U Slate amp sims, 6 Soundtoys Microshifts, 1 Waves CLA-2A, 1 Waves MaxxBass, 1 Native Instruments RAUM reverb, and 1 Slate FG-Red Virtual Buss Compressor.

 

With all of that, my Performance meter is showing work on 6 of the 12 threads (6 are doing nothing). The AR Chamber thread floats around 40-50% and the other 5 are UNDER 25%.

 

This mini absolutely smokes my old '09 Mac Pro 8-core.

i have a 4K screen, LG Ultrafine, but i used it at exactly 2x resolution (4096x2304, looks like 2048x1152), it performs better this way.

I did notice that switching it to non-retina (lo res 2048x1152, so every pixel occupies 4 pixels on the panel) performs even better.. but looks blocky.

 

so no need to use 1:1 resolution, but 1:2 is a good idea. odd ratios become sloppy on the POS GPU that it has.

thinking of getting eGPU down the line.

Thanks for this... For years I've been running my 2009 Cheese Grater (though I'm lactose intolerant, so I use the Nutmilk Cheese Grater

 

It's a great machine (pun intended) but at some point, all good things must pass. So I'm glad to hear there's a nice alternative with the M.M. Plus.. it's so cute!

For years I've been running my 2009 Cheese Grater

 

Same here. I'm on Mojave with a Metal graphics card and that's the highest this amazing Apple product (probably the best they ever did) will go.

So the moment Thunderbolt or USB-C is the only option, that's when the switch will happen!

Mine has been handling a very large mix well. I just transitioned to a 43" 4 k screen and I LOVE that I can see my entire arrangement at the same time, or have two full rows of the mixer visible. I'm getting around project quicker.

I just transitioned to a 43" 4 k screen

 

Is that sitting on your desk or did you put it up higher?

For years I've been running my 2009 Cheese Grater

 

Same here. I'm on Mojave with a Metal graphics card and that's the highest this amazing Apple product (probably the best they ever did) will go.

So the moment Thunderbolt or USB-C is the only option, that's when the switch will happen!

tbh that's pretty amazing, for all the flak apple gets for "killing products" and "planned obsolence"

11 years and still running nearly latest os (and probably latest most audio people would touch) is incredible imo.

 

I had the 2008 2xQuad, it was a fun lil bugger.

I just transitioned to a 43" 4 k screen

 

Is that sitting on your desk or did you put it up higher?

 

It is sitting on my desk (Ultimate Support Nucleus Z) but the desk is taller than average. This actually works for me because I like to be able to play standing up. I have a keyboard and trackpad on both levels and using a combination of Logic Remotes and Automap Key Commands I can do a lot without touching the computer keyboard and trackpad.

 

(for some reason this photo posts upside down, i've rotated it but is still happens)

Edited February 11, 2020 by redgreenblue

are you from australia

weird, the photo previews upside down but when you click on it it is right side up.

 

and this is why having a computer drive a car is a terrible idea....

i'd live my car to drive upside down

i'd live my car to drive upside down

 

 

Well you *can* but only for a very short distance.

interesting issue/solution. i run my imac at 4096 x 2304 without issue (altho some fonts are tinyyyyyyyy). nothing like screen real estate for logic, and a phenomenal change here (coming from a 13" macbook pro).

 

cool that you figured that out tho.

jesus do you have super eyes? i struggle at the largest scale resolution.

jesus do you have super eyes? i struggle at the largest scale resolution.

 

Far from it, I've had bifocals since I was 16. The size of the display makes the type not too small for Logic. I have increased the font size a bit on browsers but this is like having 4 displays, whereas before I had two 21" displays, so this is a big improvement. I also do a lot of the work standing up and I'm not that far away from the display. And, you know...glasses.

i dont like to wear glasses tho.

- it clashes with my swag

- i forget them and destroy them very often

jesus do you have super eyes? i struggle at the largest scale resolution.

 

i just guess at everything i click on (or click near); makes the music "more interesting & better". besides, music should be about what we hear, and feel... so i try not to let my eyes distract me.

Try bifocal contact lenses... they are the best!!! I've been using them for a decade and they are incredible if they'll work for you. No reading glasses, good medium to long vision... I just sometimes wear glasses for nighttime driving.

Get some specialist computer screen glasses. They changed my life when I got mine. They're set up for working with a screen at the distance you normally use.

Interesting. The system does warn you about performance hits on scaling. I never noticed on my MP6,1 but see now this is meant for Macs with the integrated graphics. I’m running 3 monitors with the center being a 32” 4K but have it scaled up so I can see it better...forget the exact resolution. The default though is like 1024 so no I’m not using that Apple.