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I thought I had read about a TB2 build here in the past. Thanks for the link! I've been considering a mid-level Mac mini to get back into the macOS game, and so

I thought I had read about a TB2 build here in the past. Thanks for the link! I've been considering a mid-level Mac mini to get back into the macOS game, and something like this would allow me to do away with my gaming rig (I don't do AAA games, but the ones I do play tend to require more than Intel graphics).

archagon 10y ago
Caveat: the 1050 Ti is still an entry level card, but at least I can play modern games now. :) When I upgrade again, I might opt for a molex-powered SFF card and hack up a Dell DA-2 adaptor like some people do.
- morganvachon 10y ago
  The 1050 Ti would be more than enough for my needs. I currently run a GTX 960 and I have yet to find its bottleneck among the games I play, apart from Rust which is so poorly optimized it lags even on a 1080. It's my understanding that the 1050 Ti matches or beats the 960 on nearly every metric, and does it at 75 watts compared to the 960's 120 watts.
- nottorp 10y ago
  Caution for the OP considering using it with a Mac Mini: there are no nvidia OS X drivers for the 1050Ti. You're stuck with 9xx or earlier cards. And TBH, if you want this solution to boost a desktop computer, you're better off just building a Hackintosh. It may make some sense for a laptop, but i think it's still cheaper to build a separate gaming computer.
  - archagon 10y ago
    For the record, the build I describe in my article is strictly for use with BootCamp! I wanted to avoid having to install any 3rd party software which AFAIK is only possible in Windows. (And besides, OSX gaming performance is pretty awful.)
  - morganvachon 10y ago
    > Caution for the OP considering using it with a Mac Mini: there are no nvidia OS X drivers for the 1050Ti. You're stuck with 9xx or earlier cards. Yep I'm aware, and most of my games don't have native macOS ports. The ones that do would run fine on the Mac's Iris graphics. I would be dual-booting via BootCamp for heavy lifting. > And TBH, if you want this solution to boost a desktop computer, you're better off just building a Hackintosh. It may make some sense for a laptop, but i think it's still cheaper to build a separate gaming computer. I already have A Windows 10 gaming desktop, my goal would be to consolidate into macOS for workstation duties and Windows 10 for gaming, and free up space on my desk. I'm not keen on building a Hackintosh or turning my current gaming rig into one; I've been there done that and it's just not worth the hassle. I also would prefer to run macOS on a real Mac just for the support side of things. I would then be able to give my 16 year old niece the "old" gaming rig (it's a Skylake based system I just built a few months ago) as a massive upgrade from her Core 2 Quad. She's getting into computer animation and 3D modeling and needs something better.
    - nottorp 10y ago
      I don't know about you, but I used to dual boot and i still have the Windows installation on my Hackintosh (which is beefy enough to handle gaming. Hint: don't buy the gaming hardware and try to make OS X run on it, buy hardware that works well in a hackintosh and is good enough for games instead.). In time though, I simply stopped playing the games that required me to reboot and now I only get stuff that runs on OS X. Of course, it's easier if you have a very strong dislike for the current AAA games. I stopped touching anything from EA/Ubisoft long before i stopped rebooting for gaming.

archagon 10y ago

Caveat: the 1050 Ti is still an entry level card, but at least I can play modern games now. :) When I upgrade again, I might opt for a molex-powered SFF card and hack up a Dell DA-2 adaptor like some people do.

morganvachon 10y ago
The 1050 Ti would be more than enough for my needs. I currently run a GTX 960 and I have yet to find its bottleneck among the games I play, apart from Rust which is so poorly optimized it lags even on a 1080. It's my understanding that the 1050 Ti matches or beats the 960 on nearly every metric, and does it at 75 watts compared to the 960's 120 watts.
nottorp 10y ago
Caution for the OP considering using it with a Mac Mini: there are no nvidia OS X drivers for the 1050Ti. You're stuck with 9xx or earlier cards. And TBH, if you want this solution to boost a desktop computer, you're better off just building a Hackintosh. It may make some sense for a laptop, but i think it's still cheaper to build a separate gaming computer.
- archagon 10y ago
  For the record, the build I describe in my article is strictly for use with BootCamp! I wanted to avoid having to install any 3rd party software which AFAIK is only possible in Windows. (And besides, OSX gaming performance is pretty awful.)
- morganvachon 10y ago
  > Caution for the OP considering using it with a Mac Mini: there are no nvidia OS X drivers for the 1050Ti. You're stuck with 9xx or earlier cards. Yep I'm aware, and most of my games don't have native macOS ports. The ones that do would run fine on the Mac's Iris graphics. I would be dual-booting via BootCamp for heavy lifting. > And TBH, if you want this solution to boost a desktop computer, you're better off just building a Hackintosh. It may make some sense for a laptop, but i think it's still cheaper to build a separate gaming computer. I already have A Windows 10 gaming desktop, my goal would be to consolidate into macOS for workstation duties and Windows 10 for gaming, and free up space on my desk. I'm not keen on building a Hackintosh or turning my current gaming rig into one; I've been there done that and it's just not worth the hassle. I also would prefer to run macOS on a real Mac just for the support side of things. I would then be able to give my 16 year old niece the "old" gaming rig (it's a Skylake based system I just built a few months ago) as a massive upgrade from her Core 2 Quad. She's getting into computer animation and 3D modeling and needs something better.
  - nottorp 10y ago
    I don't know about you, but I used to dual boot and i still have the Windows installation on my Hackintosh (which is beefy enough to handle gaming. Hint: don't buy the gaming hardware and try to make OS X run on it, buy hardware that works well in a hackintosh and is good enough for games instead.). In time though, I simply stopped playing the games that required me to reboot and now I only get stuff that runs on OS X. Of course, it's easier if you have a very strong dislike for the current AAA games. I stopped touching anything from EA/Ubisoft long before i stopped rebooting for gaming.