Gaming

[ldjalal]

Hello,

I am going to get a Mac Pro soon, and I'm thinking of using it for some strategy games from time to time, through boot camp. I wanted to ask what is the right machine to get, and if there would be a big performance diffrence between the different processors. I think of getting a 2.6Ghz processor, about 4GB of ram and ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB. Should I get a faster processor, and how will this system perform game wise, compared to machines such as the DELL XPS or alienware in the same price range.

Thanks.

 

[gilesjuk]

Strategy games will be fine.

It's FPS games where you need crazy specifications and even then it's only if you're running with all the resolution and texture settings set to max.

 

[christm]

as 'gilesjuk' wrote

strategy games run on quite a lot less power and are a lot less damanding that games like BF2, F.E.A.R., Flight sim etc...

if you are going to spend money get ram.

 

[ldjalal]

I was just wondering how the computer will do for those games, for example my MBP 2.33 C2D, runs every strategy game but not on full options. If i get a Desktop for more then 4000 euro, i want it to run games such as Medieval 2 or C&C3 on full options on full resolution.

 

[gilesjuk]

If gaming is your main reason for buying a Mac Pro I think you're wasting your money.

Get a Windows PC for such things, maybe a console.

 

[ldjalal]

If gaming is your main reason for buying a Mac Pro I think you're wasting your money.

Get a Windows PC for such things, maybe a console.

Im going to get rid of my MBP, and I want to get a new mac. I hate PC, and as i said im like to play from time to time, when something new comes out, and when i do, I want it look very good graphically. And its not the main reason why im getting a Mac Pro, the question is, which one should I get to be able to play games when i want to, it would be a waste of money to not get an option and regret it after.

 

[gilesjuk]

Nobody is saying you can't game on a Mac Pro. But although they are the fastest Macs going, they still can't compete with a PC built for gaming.

A Mac Pro will have 4 cores typically, many games won't take advantage of these. They will typically be designed for 2 cores.

The memory used in a Mac Pro is a bit of a niche type, it suffers latency.

I would say a good gaming rig needs a good 3D card at best, CPU second. Unfortunately the Mac Pros have tons of CPU power but the 3D cards lag behind the PC world.

If money is no object, get a 3GHz 4 core Mac Pro, X1900 with about 4GB RAM. But you would get a better gaming experience spending that money on a PC, simply because of the choice of newer 3D cards.

 

[ldjalal]

Ok, thanks, I just thought that the X1900 is a good graphic card, and with the necessary ram, the mac pro can run pretty much everything on high res...

 

[jonnyd]

Im going to get rid of my MBP, and I want to get a new mac. I hate PC, and as i said im like to play from time to time, when something new comes out, and when i do, I want it look very good graphically. And its not the main reason why im getting a Mac Pro, the question is, which one should I get to be able to play games when i want to, it would be a waste of money to not get an option and regret it after.

Fact is that Macs as they are now are not the first choice for gaming machines. It's not that people are being unhelpful, they're just being truthful.

A mac pro is a very capable computer in many ways, but if your top priority is gaming you are really looking at the wrong machine altogether. It'll run games, it may run them pretty well, but if you are going to have to sit and watch your friends running the same things at twice the speed on a PC that cost the same, you're going to regret buying the Mac, even if you hate their PC.

You have to decide - it WILL be a compromise. It's better you understand that than people here tell you it'll be something it's not.

 

[colt-]

I've also been debating on purchasing a mac with gaming in mind. Gaming wouldn't be anywhere close to my main priority as I just like to play counter-strike source once and awhile. But basically I'm wondering if css could be well run on bootcamp with:

Processor: Two 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
RAM: 4GB (4 x 1GB)
Hard Drive: 250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
Graphics: 3 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB
Display: Apple Cinema Display (20" flat panel)
Optical: One 16x SuperDrive
Wireless: Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme

... And whether or not it would be worth dropping $5,000+ on it.
(Also, been hearing a handful of rumors that claim XP runs hard/unsafely on bootcamp with claims of overheating etc. - True?)

Mucho gracias.

 

[gilesjuk]

Do you need three video cards? each one has 2 outputs. Plus you have to share the PCI express bandwidth.

Two X1900s would be better.

 

[ibookclamman300]

using a mac pro in itself is a sure sign of good gaming performance. Unless you are looking for some real life, high setting visuals you dont need anything better than what you originally listed. After awhile it isn't really about Fps, it is about the visuals themselves. Because you wont be able to tell the difference between 100 fps and 200 fps, your eye cant detect anything over 60 fps.

 

[gilesjuk]

Well they wont port and release games that dont run well. So there's probably some PC games which will never be out for the Mac until there's a 3D card capable of running it.

Not to mention many PC games are built around DirectX.

 

[ldjalal]

After doing a lot of reseach and reading other forums, I came across a very helpful article by AnandTech. The results I saw were more then pleasing when it comes to gaming on a MacPro, and much more impressive then what most people said. Overall, a MacPro with an X1900 gfx card, runs everything about 15-20 fps less then an equivalent PC made for gaming, and the performance is more then satisfactory when it comes to games. Therefore I decided that I will go with the same config presented on the website, so I can use it when I need to and keep some options open. If anyone else is interested here is the link for the article:
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2832&p=13

 

[mr g5]

I game on my mac. It has the crappy video card. It still plays games like flight simulator on medium high settings with decent FPS. Imagine waht it would be with the ATI.

the pure cpu power helps make up for the video card in my case.

 

[sevenhelmet]

I've long thought if Apple designed a gamer's machine they would open their options to a whole new crowd. With the intel chipset and reduced porting time for games it might be possible. But that's not what they're all about- and today's macs do fine on games for most general users. If games are all you care about, save yourself 4 grand and get an Xbox 360.

 

[gilesjuk]

After doing a lot of reseach and reading other forums, I came across a very helpful article by AnandTech. The results I saw were more then pleasing when it comes to gaming on a MacPro, and much more impressive then what most people said. Overall, a MacPro with an X1900 gfx card, runs everything about 15-20 fps less then an equivalent PC made for gaming, and the performance is more then satisfactory when it comes to games. Therefore I decided that I will go with the same config presented on the website, so I can use it when I need to and keep some options open. If anyone else is interested here is the link for the article:
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2832&p=13

True, but you can't always get native Mac versions of PC games. Sure, you can boot into Windows but that seems to defeat the purpose of using a Mac for games.

 

[gilesjuk]

I've long thought if Apple designed a gamer's machine they would open their options to a whole new crowd. With the intel chipset and reduced porting time for games it might be possible. But that's not what they're all about- and today's macs do fine on games for most general users. If games are all you care about, save yourself 4 grand and get an Xbox 360.

Apple tried the games market with the pippin. I think they're staying clear of that market for now.

 

[ldjalal]

The point is, getting a Mac Pro purely for gaming is just stupid, because for the same price you can get an incredible Windows gaming machine from dell or alienware, or assemble one yourself (i did it a couple of times). What I was basically looking for was some benchmarks on how games perform on a Mac Pro with bootcamp, ofcourse its less performant then on a PC, but running fear with "maximum" with more then 100fps is more then enough for me. As I said, I just like to keep my options open, especially if i like to play a strategy game from time to time, and now I know its possible with very high resolutions on a Mac Pro. Instead of getting a basic version, by just upgrading your video card, you have many more posiblities.

 

[gilesjuk]

It's all about software at the end of the day.

You buy the machine to run the software you want at the performance level you can tolerate.

Macs do all the productivity apps well, they are a creative tool.

PCs have producitivity apps, but there's more technical issues to worry about.

For games, the bang for buck is higher on a PC. You simply can't get a Mac that can compete at games with a top of the range gaming PC.

If all you want a computer for is mindless entertainment then a Mac Pro is overkill.