Just got new iMac - will it run these games?

[mGluR]

Hi, my first post here :)

I just got a new iMac - maxed out 24", 3.06, 4GB, 8800GS. It seems like an amazing machine, and I'm interested to see what level of games it can handle.

I'm planning to install Windows via Bootcamp since this seems to maximise available resources for games. I'm interested in playing games like:

Crysis
Left 4 dead
Dead space
Fear 2
COD4

Will these types of games run smoothly on my iMac? I want a reasonable decent fps, hate choppy gaming experience.

Oh, and is it better to install XP or Vista for gaming? I'd prefer to use XP if at all possible and there's no disadvantage.

Any advice much appreciated! :)

[Consultant]

Benchmarks at barefeats, such as
http://barefeats.com/harper22.html

GOOGLE:
xp or vista site:forums.macrumors.com

[Mr. lax]

Crysis Low setting
Left 4 dead Yes
Dead space Not sure
Fear 2 Not sure
COD4 Maxed out


Google the system specs for the other games

[PurpleCliff]

Lol I know it probably doesn't help, but I have seen YouTube videos of people playing some of those games on iMacs! :D

[mGluR]

Thanks for the replies :)

I don't really trust the published system specs for games, past experience with PC gaming has taught me that they can be wildly inaccurate.

I was kinda hoping for some personal experiences/opinions of how well these games would run on my system.

I'd quite like to play Crysis, just trying to figure out if it's worth bothering with on this machine....

[Rodus]

The iMac will play all of those games fine, even Crysis if you fiddle with the graphics settings. Don't forget that even quad cores with CrossFired GPU's have trouble with Crysis and every setting maxed out. As for the Windows question I'd go with XP running DX10, yes it can be done (http://blog.brothersoft.com/tag/install-directx-10-xp/).
Vista is very resource hungry so if you have to use Windows then XP will save you CPU/GPU cycles.

[cathyy]

Crysis will probably run on high settings. I can achieve about 25 fps average on Crysis with medium - high settings on my 8600M GT. The 8800 GS is far better than the 8600M GT.

Even my 7300 GT can run Crysis on low.