[Setalia]

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be getting a new computer setup. It will be a Mac. (Don't judge me!)

For the past several months, my current PC laptop has been problematic when playing STO. Often, the game will crash. This didn't happen when I first started playing, but started last summer. It's been a frustrating experience.

Now that I have some extra money, it's time for a new setup. Starting with a new Mac mini (to replace my 10 year old mini), a 4k monitor, and eGPU. I will also get Parallels to run Windows in a virtual environment.

I do realize playing games in a virtual Windows is not the best option. But having both OSs on the same machine is what I want to do.

And if this solves my constant crashing, I'll be more enthusiastic about playing STO often, and I'll definitely be more active in UFP. :D

[aceman67]

You may be in for a hard time getting an eGPU running in windows on a Mac. If you go the Boot-Camp route, nVidia would be the way to go for gaming on Windows (Plug and play) but your expensive GPU won't run very well in the OSX environment since Nvidia doesn't like to support Macs very well (The latest driver is 418 from October last year), but getting an AMD gpu to work in Bootcamp/Windows is fraught with headaches and Error 12.

I'd have to do more research, but maybe going the Linux route and virtualizing OSX and Windows with GPU passthrough might be more suitable, but the processor in a Mini might not be able to handle it.

If you're going the virtualization route, get the 6-core 2018 model.

As for not judging you:

[Setalia]

The reason I don't want to use Boot Camp is I'd have to reboot just to switch operating systems. I'd rather have both systems active at once.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, I bought my computer already last night.

“ 3.0GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz)”

[aceman67]

I hope you got at least 16gb of Ram (32gb ideally), because if you got the base 8gb model, upgrading is a bitch, forcing you to nearly disassemble the entire thing (yay Apple!), as virtualization (and having it run well) requires you to dedicate a portion of your system memory to that VM. With 16gb, you can give the VM 8gb and things will run OK-ish. When it comes to VMs, the more ram, the better, with 32gb+ being ideal.

[Setalia]

I got the base model. I plan to order RAM elsewhere, along with the tools to get to the memory. There are videos online that show how to do it.

I intend to get 64 gb, which are around $300+ as opposed to $1000 from Apple. I may never need that much, but just in case...

[aceman67]

Then this will prove of interest to you: https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ni+ram+upgrade

[Emmy]

I never owned a Mac, I'd be interested to know how your new Mac handles STO

When I have my A-levels, my dad is gonna buy me a new own desktop pc. Right now I am using a laptop with 4 gb RAM, i5-450m and Radeon HD 5470 xD

My new setup will be a MSI Infinite X with 16 gb RAM, i9-9700k, GTX 2070 OC and a water cooling system.
Mack knows to what desktop I am referring to

[Sousuke]

I've run STO on Mac OS X and to be honest its as good as a PC (With similar specs). I own a 2017 5k iMac

[Setalia]

Setup is completed!

I got a Mac mini, 3.0 GHz 6-core i5. I would have gotten the i7, but I would have had to wait an extra week, and I was impatient at the time. XD

I bought 64 Gb RAM elsewhere and installed myself. Only thing is, I had trouble reconnecting the bit that shows the powered-on light in the front. But I can live with that, and everything else works great.

31-inch 4k monitor, and this thing is HUGE. I can imagine if I got a 40+ inch as I originally intended.

16 Tb external hard drive, because why not? At least I'll have room to grow for a while.

Radeon RX 580 graphics card, plus a Razer Core X eGPU enclosure.


Ultimate Ears Boom 3 bluetooth speaker (dark red, I think it's called Sunset)

Parallels for Windows emulation.

STO working great at low graphics rendering settings and medium/high CPU settings. When I try medium rendering, it starts to get a little choppy (I'm not sure if that's the correct word). But overall, I'm satisfied. At least I'm no longer crashing often, and now I can do everything on one computer.

Well... almost. I do not like the new Music program in Catalina. Now, music and podcasts are in separate programs, but I like to manage both in one program. So my 2010 Mac mini is still up for a bit. I will try to create another VM to run High Sierra if possible. Otherwise, I will run iTunes under Windows.

I've been running patrols last night and this morning. I'm about to attempt Peril Over Pahvo. If this is successful, then my investment went well. On my PC laptop, Discovery TFOs were one of the areas where I often crashed. So if this works, I will definitely say that I'm back.

[Taku]

Me monkey-man. Push button, play game. ugh

Sounds like quite the rig. I hope it does what you want it to.

Also, me and my antique PC hate you now. 😁😷

[aceman67]

Here's a set of videos (That are done by a guy who's a little... interesting. I very much like the cut of this man's jib) for setting up a way to run macOS, Linux (which would be your Base system you'd run the VMs on), and Windows on one machine. Due warning though, these aren't NSFW/Children, as his language and the innuendo he uses is a little colourful. He's very informative and links to all the information you need to get it done.





I'm going to be doing this once I get around to upgrading my system from the i5 7600k to one of the new Ryzen CPUs.

I'm not too sure how it would run on a 6 core CPU that you have since it doesn't have hyperthreading, so you may find that certain applications would run better on bare metal.