My 2018 Mac Mini vs. the e2008 Mac Pro it replaced...

[kirkbross]

Okay. When the new Mac Mini came out at the end of 2018, I was ready to replace my 2008 Mac Pro (2x2.8GHz / 8 core). The OS was maxed out at a patched version of High Sierra and it was just time.

Looking at the Mac Benchmarks, it looked like the new Mac Mini (i7 / 6 core) scored 5627 while my old Mac Pro scored a 2230.

Can someone tell me why my new Mac Mini is noticeably worse at running the same Pro Tools sessions? I have twice the RAM (32 GB) and theoretically many more CPU cycles so... I'm stumped. I constantly get the "You're running out of CPU power... try deactivating some plugins..." error.

[Mark Ziebarth]

No, I can’t tell you why that happens. But I can insure you it’s opposite in my case. I had two of those rusty 2008 Mac Pros and changed one for a 2010 Mac Pro and the other one for the Mac mini 2018 i5 with 64 GB RAM.
The mini is the absolute fastest machine in my setup. Even big mixing sessions can operate with a buffer size of 128 samples of my RME hardware where the 2010 Mac Pro with HD Native needs to be set to 1024 HW buffer size to operate smoothly. But the 2010 Mac Pro is also at least 30 percent faster than the 2008 ones.
Did you use TDM/AAX DSP with the 2008 Mac Pro? Any other hardware acceleration?
Which model of the mini is yours? i3, i5 or i7?

Best

Mark

[kirkbross]

Originally Posted by Mark Ziebarth

Which model of the mini is yours? i3, i5 or i7?

I have the i7 6-core. I was running vanilla Pro Tools on my 2008 Mac Pro... no acceleration.

Maybe it's just a bad plugin. I've had tons of issues with Battery 4 and I use that in almost every session. It's very buggy and causes crashes frequently. However, I don't see how that could be related to CPU bottlenecks.

[Sardi]

Take those CPU errors with a pinch of salt. Rarely do they actually mean you’re running out of CPU power.

Rogue plugins can definitely cause instability. Pro Tools is the worst offender for this. No other application seems to ***** the bed like PT when it comes to plugin instability.

Check that they’re all up to date. If they are, start pulling them out and see if you can find an offender.

What is the exact error message you’re getting btw?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mark Ziebarth]

Originally Posted by kirkbross

I have the i7 6-core. I was running vanilla Pro Tools on my 2008 Mac Pro... no acceleration.

Maybe it's just a bad plugin. I've had tons of issues with Battery 4 and I use that in almost every session. It's very buggy and causes crashes frequently. However, I don't see how that could be related to CPU bottlenecks.

Ah ok, when it comes to software instruments I have little to no experience. I do nearly all my sequencing in Logic. Pro Tools is for audio recording, editing and mixing in my case. Sorry...

Best

Mark

[Richard901]

Originally Posted by kirkbross

Can someone tell me why my new Mac Mini is noticeably worse at running the same Pro Tools sessions? I have twice the RAM (32 GB) and theoretically many more CPU cycles so... I'm stumped. I constantly get the "You're running out of CPU power... try deactivating some plugins..." error.

A couple of ideas:
1. Mac Mini reviews often mention that it thermal throttles which causes the CPU to run at a lower speed to prevent it getting too hot. However, I doubt whether this would cause it too run slower than your old Mac Pro.

2. Do you use resolution scaling in System Preferences/Displays?
There's a thread on the "Logic Pro Help" forum which describes the effects of doing this.
"Songseeds" decribes how he used scaling to reduce the resolution from 4K to 3200 x 1800 resolution to make things more legible.

Unfortunately, scaling uses more computer resources because the resolution is often doubled and then halved before it is sent to the monitor. This is to make text look as smooth as possible at a non-native resolutions.
The Mac Mini 2018/2020 does not have dedicated GPU - it just uses Intel's integrated graphics on the CPU.

Here's the link:
https://www.logicprohelp.com/forum/v...104&hilit=mini

[Ben Jenssen]

I recently retired my 2008 mac pro too. I now run PT2020.3 on a 2017 i5 imac w/only 8gb ram. Even with a modest machine like this, I'm very happy with the performance.

On mac benchmarks the imac scores 2985 (multicore).

I have more details in a post in this thread:
003 new iMac and new PT advice

A couple of questions:
What versions of OS and PT are you running?
Have you done a fresh install of both? You should.
Have you tested without 3rd party plugins?

That mini should be very powerful. Almost twice my benchmark score. Something is wrong.