"Crashing" FCPX 10.2.1 ElCapitan

Hi Guys:

Lately when I'm working on a project, for no reason the "beach ball of death" pops up and that ends that session. I have to force quit and then shutdown. I have to shutdown or when I open FCPX it will go back to the "BBOD" freeze.
It's getting to the point where I can hardly finish a editing session with out this happening. My FCPX version is 10.2.1 and my OS is 10.11.6.
Here are the vitals of my equipment.
Mac mini (late 2009)
Processor 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Startup Disk Mac HDD
Graphics: NVDIA GeForce 9400 256 MB

You guys have been Awesome in the past, any suggestions?

Thanks Chuck

You should probably update the application, which might help. I think you biggest problem is in your graphics card. It just meets the minimum requirements, so depending on what you need to process, especially if you're working with stills, you're going to have problems.

Thanks for the quick reply, I'll work on it.

Again thanks

Chuck

Can a Mac Mini's (late 2009) graphic card be upgraded?

Mac mini (late 2009)
Processor 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Startup Disk Mac HDD
Graphics: NVDIA GeForce 9400 256 MB

Chuck

chuckvid wrote: Can a Mac Mini's (late 2009) graphic card be upgraded?

Short of some sort of hardware hack that I am not aware of, I don't believe you have any options for upgrading the graphics card. 256MB of VRAM is seriously deficient for running FCPX optimally. 1GB even struggles with many operations, particularly with 3D text which Apple recommends 2GB of VRAM to view in full resolution.

I believe you are limited to the 8GB of Ram you already have. Possible upgrades would be a data doubler for a second disk or SSD. You can check OWC for options, but with the limited ram and 256MB of VRAM you will likely never experience good performance with FCPX.

Thanks for the disappointing info. FCPX had been running very well until recently, crashing only occasionally. The frequent "crashing" started recently and as you can imagine it's very frustrating. Thank God it saves each change or addition.

Chuck

There are some internal settings in FCPX that will help you get the best possible performance from the app. In the preferences for FCPX make sure Background rendering is turned OFF, and in the viewer screen set the option for Better Performance. Also consider using Proxy media for editing and then switch back to Optimized/Original media prior to export. Hopefully this is a bit less disappointing info

Thanks for the info, I really appreciate your help, I've made the changes you suggested and right now I'm going to bed. I'll give it a try in the AM.

Chuck