External GPU solutions for Mac mini late 2012 with GTX 1060 for $550

gabor6505

Commendable
Apr 5, 2016
11
0
1,510
Hi,I would like some advise and guides for getting and setting up an external gpu for the Mac Mini late 2012 version. This mac has a Thunderbolt version 1 port. The mac already has 16GB of RAM and an SSD so only a video card is really missing for gaming on it.

What I know is that it needs a case / dock (or some kind of Thunderbolt 1 to PCIE converter) and a power supply, if the case is not made for graphics cards. It also needs a Thunderbolt cable from Apple and a Thunderbolt 3 - Thunderbolt 2 converter if being used with a Thunderbolt 3 case. I would like to put a gtx 1060 6GB in it.

I have also read that I will need to run some scripts on OS X for it to work, and that it should work on Bootcamp Windows 10.

Appearance is not really a factor, I don't mind if it looks a bit ugly and DIY and I don't mind if it's hacky, for example if I can't put the cover on it and if I have to have an external PC PSU. I was searching for hours on forums but it is really hard to put something like this complex together and make sure it'll work.

What I am looking for the most: forums / guides where i can find information about doing this and opinion, experiences from people who have already done this, what case to use (I have only found the Akitio Thunder2 to be cheap enough, but maybe the Akitio Node and PowerColor Devil Box are good too) and what accessories do I need for it

I also can't really spend more than $550 on it and I live in Hungary so products are a bit more expensive for me and I also have to pay for shipping because not all cases can be found in my country, but that's not a big problem. I have a 2560x1440 monitor and I mostly need it for Space Engineers and some other games. Getting a GPU for macs is so expensive, I might only be able to buy a 1050 Ti.

Thanks for your help!
 

gabor6505

Commendable
Apr 5, 2016
11
0
1,510


Yes that's what I realized as well, but it's for my friend and he doesn't want to build a PC. He wants to use his mac mini for gaming as well.
Thanks for your suggestion though!
 
Its a waste of money. He should sell the imac and build a decent gaming desktop. Its 5 years old and will bottleneck anything more powerful than a 1050, maybe 1050ti. And it may not even work on that laptop, what is he going to do then? Convince him its a bad idea.
 

gabor6505

Commendable
Apr 5, 2016
11
0
1,510


Yeah I'll see what I can do, because a gaming rig would probably be the best but he just doesn't really like Windows. The mac mini is not a laptop though and he has the Core i7 version of it so I don't think bottlenecking would be too much of a problem, or does the CPU generation really matter?

For the meantime I am putting together an Excel chart, and either way it comes out that the case + PSU, cables etc. comes in at $350-400 alone here in Hungary. Although the Gigabyte Aorus Gaming Box is not that bad, they only have a 1070 and 1080 version of it which is kind of expensive.