Thunderbolt 3 V Usb-C Transfer Speeds.

[Waldo 96]

Planning on getting a Mac mini. They come with 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports, up to 40Gbps transfer speed.

 

The SSD inside is quite small though, so plan on using some external (HDD) drive. Most of the reasonably priced ones I've been looking at are USB-c, which is compatible, but I think only goes up to 10GBps. Would using a USB-c cable, result in slower access speeds; or is it likely the HDD will be the bottle neck, i.e. won't facilitate access speeds in excess of 10Gbps?

 

Thanks.

[Ghozer 112]

It may be compatible as-in the 'language' it speaks (Thunderbolt vs USB basically) but while Thunderbolt has a Max of 40Gbps as you said, the Drive is likely limited by the controller inside...

The newest Gen4-PCIe NVMe Internal SSD's only just hit the 40+Gbps requirement, previous (Gen3-PCIe) had a max of around 6-8Gbps (or around 3800MB/s)

Edited July 28, 2020 by Ghozer

[Waldo 96]

1 hour ago, Ghozer said:

It may be compatible as-in the 'language' it speaks (Thunderbolt vs USB basically) but while Thunderbolt has a Max of 40Gbps as you said, the Drive is likely limited by the controller inside...

The newest Gen4-PCIe NVMe Internal SSD's only just hit the 40+Gbps requirement, previous (Gen3-PCIe) had a max of around 6-8Gbps (or around 3800MB/s)

Thank you Ghozer.

 

I'm planning on getting an external HDD, rather than an external SSD. It's just to store larger files, videos, downloads, etc. I'm thinking that a HDD is likely more reliable that a SSD (assuming I'm not throwing it around etc), is that correct?

 

I just didn't want to get slower access to an external HDD, because of using a USB-c cable, vs, Thunderbolt 3. Sounds like that's highly unlikely to be the case though.

 

Also, some people saying USB-c cable needs to be short, what's the deal with that?

[Ghozer 112]

an External HDD will be even slower, as long as it's USB-C (even USB 3.0) you won't hit the max capable speed of the interface, it will always be limited by mechanical components in a traditional HDD

[zach 234]

6 hours ago, Ghozer said:

It may be compatible as-in the 'language' it speaks (Thunderbolt vs USB basically) but while Thunderbolt has a Max of 40Gbps as you said, the Drive is likely limited by the controller inside...

The newest Gen4-PCIe NVMe Internal SSD's only just hit the 40+Gbps requirement, previous (Gen3-PCIe) had a max of around 6-8Gbps (or around 3800MB/s)

Near enough bang on the money with the numbers I get.

 

I run macOS from a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure with a Gen 3 NVMe 1TB. Not cheap at nearly £250 for both parts, but worth it IMO.

 

I will look over my purchase history to find the best USB-C (3.0) caddy I found. It wasn't the cheapest but beat other so called USB-C enclosures by a mile on speeds...with a fairly basic 2.5" SSD inside. If I remember right, it wasn't silly money, about £25.

[zach 234]

Here's the link to the 2.5" enclosure that returned the best speeds for me.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PBD1K4M/

 

[Waldo 96]

1 hour ago, zach said:

Here's the link to the 2.5" enclosure that returned the best speeds for me.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PBD1K4M/

 

Did you run MacOSX on that with a 2.5" SSD inside? Wondering how that would perform compared with internal SSD on a new Mac mini?

[zach 234]

I thought the internal SSD in the new mac mini was PCI-E NVMe which are much faster than SATA SSD's. I have the iMac 27" so not 100% sure how the mini is configured. Do you have the specs to hand on the one you have, or thinking of buying?

 

I didn't try the external SATA SSD with macOS. I did test it with another OS and that worked fine.

[Waldo 96]

I'm planning on getting the base model (so, i3 CPU with 256gb drive) with upgraded i7 CPU (works out to be the same cost as i5 CPU with 512gb drive).

 

I'll mostly be using it for compiling (using Xcode etc), and don't really need anything GPU intensive, aside from perhaps running Metal apps in the iOS simulator would be nice.

 

My main consideration is working in Xcode and compiling iOS apps quickly. At some point, I'll probably stick 32gb ram in to it.

 

My current Mac is a late 2009 mini; 2ghz core 2 duo CPU, 8gb ram, SSD. Expecting to see quite a difference in performance with the new mini!

[zach 234]

10 hours ago, Waldo said:

I'm planning on getting the base model (so, i3 CPU with 256gb drive) with upgraded i7 CPU (works out to be the same cost as i5 CPU with 512gb drive).

 

I'll mostly be using it for compiling (using Xcode etc), and don't really need anything GPU intensive, aside from perhaps running Metal apps in the iOS simulator would be nice.

 

My main consideration is working in Xcode and compiling iOS apps quickly. At some point, I'll probably stick 32gb ram in to it.

 

My current Mac is a late 2009 mini; 2ghz core 2 duo CPU, 8gb ram, SSD. Expecting to see quite a difference in performance with the new mini!

I thought the CPUs were soldered down in the mini, or do you mean get the i7 with lower RAM and SSD? I put another 32GB of RAM in mine as I do use Xcode a bit but mainly the video and audio programs. That's also the reason I use macOS and Windows on it (personal preference) The 32GB of RAM wasn't silly money, it also wasn't Apple RAM!

 

I think you'll see a big improvement over the 2009 model but it's worth keeping in mind that it will still be running on a laptop type hardware. Although good, it won't return the same power as the desktop type setup. I'd have a good read on the upgrade potential, the RAM should be easy enough but the internal SSD might be expensive to get the right one. I did need a bit more GPU power, while the AMD 580X in mine isn't a power house, it does cope quite well for what I need.

 

No matter which you go for, do your homework as Apple are not known for their bargain prices. When you're spending the best part of £1000 on a bit of kit, you want it right.

 

EDIT: It seems the internal SSD is soldered down, so upgrading that isn't an option.

Edited July 31, 2020 by zach

[Waldo 96]

Yeah, sorry, I mean upgraded at checkout.

 

It’s an option to upgrade RAM at a later date, but not the internal drive. Still, I’m sure 256gb will be fine for me. In terms of getting the most processing power for my money, I can’t see any other Apple offering coming close to an i7 mini, what do you think though, anything else worth taking a look at?

 

Maybe something second hand would be an option. Only downside is for how long would an older Mac be able to run latest version of MacOS.

[zach 234]

32 minutes ago, Waldo said:

Yeah, sorry, I mean upgraded at checkout.

 

It’s an option to upgrade RAM at a later date, but not the internal drive. Still, I’m sure 256gb will be fine for me. In terms of getting the most processing power for my money, I can’t see any other Apple offering coming close to an i7 mini, what do you think though, anything else worth taking a look at?

 

Maybe something second hand would be an option. Only downside is for how long would an older Mac be able to run latest version of MacOS.

I've never filled a 128GB with just the OS. Change a few settings and leave the System to do it's thing. I think I'm on about 65GB ATM. 256 will be plenty. Try not to skimp on the external side though, it will have a knock on with the rest of the system. No need at all to go down the NVMe route for external but a decent caddy and SSD will be more than enough.

 

Let us know how it all turns out.