Mac Pro and Starcraft 2.

[TheEvilZeppelin]

I just recently received my new Mac Pro just yesterday and I installed Starcraft II and it recommended the graphic settings to be set at medium...

I don't understand how this could be because I upgraded from a 27" iMac with Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz, ATI RADEON HD 4670 and 4GB RAM.

The Pro has a 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, ATI Radeon HD 5870 and 3GB RAM.

Any ideas?

[Ryan P]

Probably because the code is

If Mac {
Recommend("Graphics Medium");
}

:)

It is btw what it recommends for my Macbook Pro as well.

[TheEvilZeppelin]

Probably because the code is

If Mac {
Recommend("Graphics Medium");
}

:)

It is btw what it recommends for my Macbook Pro as well.

but my iMac could do higher settings?

[Ryan P]

you can set them at whatever you want. Does it feel slower? As a last resort there is always Boot Camp but I am not sure what the performance difference is.

[thecarrot]

It will perform twice as good in Bootcamp than it will in OSX, but with those specs you posted you should be able to run it at high settings in OSX. My MBP actually recommended I play it on high settings by default and its worked fine. For online I tone it down though

[TheEvilZeppelin]

It will perform twice as good in Bootcamp than it will in OSX, but with those specs you posted you should be able to run it at high settings in OSX. My MBP actually recommended I play it on high settings by default and its worked fine. For online I tone it down though

I just don't understand how my old iMac recommended high and this recommends medium... just goofy but from what I read I guess SC2 has been giving a lot of problems for Mac Users with performance.

[Pressure]

I ran it on high (update: make that Ultra settings) with my 2008 Mac Pro with an Radeon HD 4890.

Doubt you will have any problems running it at whatever settings you wish.

[jedijoe]

When I initially copied over my 'Blizzard' directory from my Macbook Pro, Starcraft II recommended Medium to me also. I moved the Blizzard directory in ~/Documents to start fresh, and I just copied in the '~/Documents/Blizzard.bak/Accounts' directory to the new empty directory.

Then when I started up SC2, it had all the settings on High.

[TheEvilZeppelin]

When I initially copied over my 'Blizzard' directory from my Macbook Pro, Starcraft II recommended Medium to me also. I moved the Blizzard directory in ~/Documents to start fresh, and I just copied in the '~/Documents/Blizzard.bak/Accounts' directory to the new empty directory.

Then when I started up SC2, it had all the settings on High.

See I copied everything from my iMac to my Mac Pro so I'm going to try a fresh install and delete the Blizzard folder in Documents.

[chych]

Ick, Mac Starcraft 2, run it in Windows and you'll see your framerates more than double. Same scene on Mac gets me 30 fps in medium/high settings, and over 60 fps in Win in high/ultra settings (Mac Pro 1,1, 4x3 Ghz, Radeon 4870).

[allupons]

With the new mac pro the OS is irrelevant as the framerates are far beyond 60 even in os x.

[milbournosphere]

That's strange...I just bought the same machine a little while ago (albiet with the 5770) and I can run the game on Ultra settings with no problems at all; the settings were set there automagically for me. Maybe it's something with the game's detection of the 5870?

[dissolve]

Seriously, don't worry about what it recommends. The 5870 will run it on Ultra at around 40-50 fps. Can't say if that improves on Windows, but I've had very nice performance on the Mac side.

EDIT: I should have mentioned that it put me at Medium as well after a fresh install. Just bump it up :)

[TheEvilZeppelin]

Seriously, don't worry about what it recommends. The 5870 will run it on Ultra at around 40-50 fps. Can't say if that improves on Windows, but I've had very nice performance on the Mac side.

EDIT: I should have mentioned that it put me at Medium as well after a fresh install. Just bump it up :)

I'll bump everything up to ultra or high and see what happens.

[goMac]

My 8800 defaulted to medium but runs everything on ultra except for textures in (OS X). Just bump everything up to ultra.

Pretty sure everything defaults to medium. But the defaults are pretty meaningless. You should change them for every game you get. The game isn't benchmarking your hardware or anything, it has no idea how it will run. Blizzard only plugged a limited number of presets in, the 2010 Mac Pro probably isn't in there.

Seriously, you have a kick ass card, just turn everything up to Ultra. :p

[TheEvilZeppelin]

My 8800 defaulted to medium but runs everything on ultra except for textures in (OS X). Just bump everything up to ultra.

Pretty sure everything defaults to medium. But the defaults are pretty meaningless. You should change them for every game you get. The game isn't benchmarking your hardware or anything, it has no idea how it will run. Blizzard only plugged a limited number of presets in, the 2010 Mac Pro probably isn't in there.

Seriously, you have a kick ass card, just turn everything up to Ultra. :p

Thanks I took a loan out on this Mac Pro.... :D My next goal is to up the RAM then leave her alone for a bit.

[dissolve]

I'll bump everything up to ultra or high and see what happens.

If you're interested, Control-Option-F will show you your fps in game. Now you'll know just how awesome that card is :p

[Aljovido]

My 8800 defaulted to medium but runs everything on ultra except for textures in (OS X). Just bump everything up to ultra. :p

Weird, my 8800 GT defaults to high. However, since playing SC2 my card has begun to overheat. I pretty much have to play with the door off. Apple is sending me a new 8800 this week... but I'm nervous about the card's ability to hold up in the long term.

[goMac]

Thanks I took a loan out on this Mac Pro.... :D My next goal is to up the RAM then leave her alone for a bit.

You can't hurt anything by turning the settings up. Never hurts to try. :)

[Chaosg5]

I'm running at Ultra settings with everything at max on a Quad 2.8, HD 5870 and 8GB ram and it runs perfect for me.

[svale]

Weird, my 8800 GT defaults to high. However, since playing SC2 my card has begun to overheat. I pretty much have to play with the door off. Apple is sending me a new 8800 this week... but I'm nervous about the card's ability to hold up in the long term.

Mine defaults to high as well, and sadly, overheats too.

I doubt a replacement 8800 will help you. Google "starcraft 2 8800" and see for yourself. Let's just say the two don't have a good relationship.

[NickCG]

You'll run in perfectly fine (60~ FPS) on Ultra in OS X with your machine, you'll likely get around 80-90 FPS with more RAM (6GB+).

All of the above FPS is sweet for Gaming. You would get over 100~ FPS in it's native Windows, however. And 120+ with more RAM.

If in the future you notice Games running slow, then playing them in Windows will solve a lot of your issues.


My old 1.1 Macbook Pro gets and unplayable 15 FPS on Sc2 in OS X, and a decent 35~ in Windows.

[goMac]

You'll run in perfectly fine (60~ FPS) on Ultra in OS X with your machine, you'll likely get around 80-90 FPS with more RAM (6GB+).

All of the above FPS is sweet for Gaming. You would get over 100~ FPS in it's native Windows, however. And 120+ with more RAM.

If in the future you notice Games running slow, then playing them in Windows will solve a lot of your issues.

OS X had severe performance issues until the latest GPU drivers. It's pretty well fixed now. Still not as fast as Windows, but only off by about 10 percent at most.

The Mac ATI drivers are in pretty good shape too.

[NickCG]

OS X had severe performance issues until the latest GPU drivers. It's pretty well fixed now. Still not as fast as Windows, but only off by about 10 percent at most.

The Mac ATI drivers are in pretty good shape too.

You are upgrading your windows drivers/firmware to the latest release before making these comparisons? If so, I don't see how you are only getting a 10% difference.

Mac GPU driver updates come so slow compared to Windows, over time it will fall further behind once more.

[Gloor]

Seriously, don't worry about what it recommends. The 5870 will run it on Ultra at around 40-50 fps. Can't say if that improves on Windows, but I've had very nice performance on the Mac side.

EDIT: I should have mentioned that it put me at Medium as well after a fresh install. Just bump it up :)

will 5870 run everything on ultra even with my 30"ACD? 2560x1600?

[NickCG]

will 5870 run everything on ultra even with my 30"ACD? 2560x1600?

And, what specs are your machine?

I'll base this on you having similar specs to the OP, and you'll get 30-45FPS, or so. With more RAM and faster CPU than the OP, that FPS rate will be higher.


A 2560 resolution eats quite heavily into your FPS rate.

[hcho3]

I just recently received my new Mac Pro just yesterday and I installed Starcraft II and it recommended the graphic settings to be set at medium...

I don't understand how this could be because I upgraded from a 27" iMac with Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz, ATI RADEON HD 4670 and 4GB RAM.

The Pro has a 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, ATI Radeon HD 5870 and 3GB RAM.

Any ideas?

You have to clarify two things before anyone can answer your question.

You said mac Pro. What kind of monitor are you using? Is it 1080P monitor or higher?

Is this on boot camp or Mac OS?

I have a window 7 laptop with much lower spcs than you do and I can run everything on high settings. You Mac pro should have no problem running that game at ultra/super/Maximum/Ultimate settings. Unless you are running at 2560 X1440 resolution, then I don't know...

[Gloor]

And, what specs are your machine?

I'll base this on you having similar specs to the OP, and you'll get 30-45FPS, or so. With more RAM and faster CPU than the OP, that FPS rate will be higher.


A 2560 resolution eats quite heavily into your FPS rate.

8 core 2.8ghz 2008 mac pro with 8gb ram

I have 8800GT now and its too slow so I am debating whether or not to get the 5870 or just skip the Starcraft 2 :)))
Only tried trial for now

[hms84]

I have 2006 Mac Pro, with ATI 4870. After the last graphics update SC2 preforms very good. But still nothing comparing to Windows.
Total disappointment for Mac gaming.

[TheEvilZeppelin]

I have 2006 Mac Pro, with ATI 4870. After the last graphics update SC2 preforms very good. But still nothing comparing to Windows.
Total disappointment for Mac gaming.

I really hope Diablo III doesn't have any issues like this.

[redwylie]

I have a brand new 2010 quad core 2.8 with the 5870 and 6GB of ram and I am getting only 30-32 fps with everything on ultra at 1920x1200.

I think this should be a little higher no?

[goMac]

I have a brand new 2010 quad core 2.8 with the 5870 and 6GB of ram and I am getting only 30-32 fps with everything on ultra at 1920x1200.

I think this should be a little higher no?

Sounds like you have VSync on. VSync caps at around 30 fps.

Otherwise, that would be sad, because my 8800 gets higher FPS than that. :)

FYI - No reason to turn vsync off, unless you want to check your framerate. 30 FPS is just fine and will keep your GPU and CPUs from getting over stressed.

[Yukon Joe]

Sounds like you have VSync on. VSync caps at around 30 fps.

Otherwise, that would be sad, because my 8800 gets higher FPS than that. :)

FYI - No reason to turn vsync off, unless you want to check your framerate. 30 FPS is just fine and will keep your GPU and CPUs from getting over stressed.

Yes - there's no point in letting your graphics card churn out FPS over 100. I usually cap at 60 though...

[NickCG]

I really hope Diablo III doesn't have any issues like this.

It will, but it's nothing against Blizzard. Blizzard are pretty much leading the way on major games reaching the Mac.

But, with just a handful of Graphics cards and tightly controlled drivers/firmware being pitted against the swarm of PC GPU's and the market progression that comes with it..



8 core 2.8ghz 2008 mac pro with 8gb ram

I have 8800GT now and its too slow so I am debating whether or not to get the 5870 or just skip the Starcraft 2 :)))
Only tried trial for now
Hmm, I'd expect to get 50-70 fps with that system when using a 5780, based on you using a 1920 monitor.

How much did you enjoy the trial?

[redwylie]

I with that was the case, the most I have gotten is 42 fps - vsync was never turned on

[englishman]

How would SC2 be with 5770 card. I would be upgrading from GT120.

[dissolve]

I with that was the case, the most I have gotten is 42 fps - vsync was never turned on

That's really strange. I have the same system and monitor resolution as you and get a consistent 40-50 on ultra. I run with vsync on though because I get crazy screen tearing so I'm sitting at 30 constantly.