Gaming on the Santa Rosa MacBook X3100 (Not Pro)

[Red Sox]

If you own a new Santa Rosa MacBook with the GMA X3100 graphics card (not MacBook Pro), please list the games that you have tried and how well they ran.

So far I have tried:

Half-Life 2 thru Boot Camp: Crashes on Loading Screen
Counter Strike Source thru BootCamp: Laggy, just like the GMA 950 MacBook
Call of Duty 2 Demo on Leopard: Runs surprisingly well!

UPDATE: Both HL2 and CS:S work much better now that I'm using DirectX 8.1 instead of 9.0. With all video settings at the lowest, it's very acceptable.

[slicedbread]

can you run the FPS test that comes with CS:S, on the lowest visual settings, but at native resolution please?

Thanks.

[Dont Hurt Me]

Finding good game benches for the "Pathetic" integrated X3100 isnt easy,Ive looked. Reading through early literature about it though showed it was a slight incremental step up from 950.. Please anyone post some benchmarks so everyone can see. The fact of the matter is Integrated is just cheap and any real gpu made in the last few years will slaughter this thing. Its how Apple seperates the lines these days. Consumer machines get this thing and the pro machine get REAL GPU's. Its a shame Apple doesnt offer a $25- $50 option for a real gpu say a ATI 2400XT. It was either anandtech or toms hardware who did a comparison a while ago between the integrated and low end GPU's and it wasnt pretty. Whenever Apple doesnt beat its chest about a new machines graphics there is a reason.

[booksacool1]

Are you using the latest X3100 drivers? Intel recently released some beta drivers which enabled some HW acceleration (and apparently dramatically increased gaming performance).
This is for windoze btw. If your talking about mac osx your probably out of further luck.

[fblack]

It doesn't look pretty at 1280x800 HQ. However, I'd like to have an idea of what the results might look like at medium quality and lower rez. Halo and UT2004 might be acceptable then.


http://barefeats.com/mbook.html

[Red Sox]

can you run the FPS test that comes with CS:S, on the lowest visual settings, but at native resolution please?

Thanks.

OK I just ran it, and I got 44 FPS.

EDIT: I just updated my Intel chipset drivers, and the FPS increased slightly to 47.5 FPS.

Is that any good?

[MacsRgr8]

It doesn't look pretty at 1280x800 HQ. However, I'd like to have an idea of what the results might look like at medium quality and lower rez. Halo and UT2004 might be acceptable then.


http://barefeats.com/mbook.html

I read that too.
And to quote Jeremy Clarkson (of Top Gear): "it's all completely hopeless" :(

[Red Sox]

I just tried Call of Duty 2 on Windows, and it sucked. Even at 640x480 with the lowest settings, it was lagging. Didn't expect it to be worse than running a game in OSX

[fblack]

OK I just ran it, and I got 44 FPS.

EDIT: I just updated my Intel chipset drivers, and the FPS increased slightly to 47.5 FPS.

Is that any good?

47.5fps is not too bad, but how did it look at lowest settings? Like mud or acceptable?

I read that too.
And to quote Jeremy Clarkson (of Top Gear): "it's all completely hopeless" :(

Ouch.

[Red Sox]

47.5fps is not too bad, but how did it look at lowest settings? Like mud or acceptable?


Looked pretty good. It was still at 1280x800 so everything looked crisp.

[fblack]

Barefeats posted new benchmarks for 3D games at medium quality settings. Still not very pretty for mac games:

WWC 1280x800 MQ 38fps
Quake4 800x600 MQ, no shadows 25fps
Prey 800x600 MQ, no shadows 11fps
Doom3 800x600 MQ, no shadows 17fps
Halo UB 800x600 MQ 33fps
UT2004 Inferno Bot 800x600 47fps

http://barefeats.com/mbook2.html

[AppleNinja]

Has anyone tested "The Lord of the Rings: Battle for middle earth 2 " ??this is my favorite game and when i go all mac i would like to know if i can still play it with parallels..

Getting Macbook for Christmas =D PC goes out the window... not really just gonna put it in storage.. =d

[alexei]

Thru boot camp, win xp pro:
MacBook santa rosa, 2GB ram, 2.2ghz

All games run at 1200x800

Half Life 2, runs quite well at 'high' graphics settings except texture detail set to 'medium'

Day of Defeat:Source, a little slower than HL2, fine with somewhat lower graphics settings

Call of Duty 2, won't run under DX9 but I haven't tried to remedy this yet, runs great under DX7

Wolfenstein Enemy Territory: Runs great at max
True Combat:Elite: ET mod, also runs great maxed

Counter Strike:Condition Zero (and 1.6) max it out and it runs fine, of course

Enemy Territory:Quake Wars Demo, won't run because of an 'unsupported chipset', I have a suspicion that the full version would run

[Whitesnake]

Half Life 2 runs quite good for me at Max Detail, apart from when you get long distance views the frame-rate just drops big time.

Setting the textures to medium remedies this though.

I might need more ram to solve that problem as the game has a tendency to stutter quite a lot.

The CS:S Stress Test gives me a result of 29fps with all settings at high.

I'm not sure how Red Sox got such a high frame-rate on the Stress Test as I lowered everything and it only took me up to 34fps which says to me there is a bottleneck in place.

2.2ghz/1GB/X3100 Boot Camp Windows XP

X3100 Driver Ver:14.31.1

[Sonecko]

have you guys tried out playing with DirectX 7 instead of 8? Maybe it improves fps a bit at the expense of visual goodness.

PS: Has anyone tried World of Warcraft? I've been searching some forums but found very little information about it.

[Red Sox]

The CS:S Stress Test gives me a result of 29fps with all settings at high.

I'm not sure how Red Sox got such a high frame-rate on the Stress Test as I lowered everything and it only took me up to 34fps which says to me there is a bottleneck in place.


I'm running DX8.1 instead of 9.0. That's probably why.

[triobot]

As you really should, could you post information:
CPU speed
RAM
Method of playing ~ bootcamp/parallels/vmware/crossover
DX level (7-10)

Will be getting 4gb ram over xmas and hopefully games will run v. crisply :D

[eXan]

Will be getting 4gb ram over xmas and hopefully games will run v. crisply :D

Dont expect much. I know 0 games where more than 2 GBs of RAM makes any difference in performance.

And games that need 2 GB (new-gen games like UT3, Crysis) will not even run on a MacBook, until it gets a decent GPU.

[spriter]

For a laugh, I tried Battlefield 2142 today with (predictably) not great results. :o

I only have 1GB RAM but I don't think that's the main problem - even on the lowest settings. That is, you are in the 'world' and can see what looks like sky, plus a few other HUD objects, but that's it :D

No teammates, no enemies :eek:, no buildings, no vehicles = no chance. :p

EDIT: This is OSX BF2142 on 10.5.1

[takao]

For a laugh, I tried Battlefield 2142 today with (predictably) not great results. :o

I only have 1GB RAM but I don't think that's the main problem - even on the lowest settings. That is, you are in the 'world' and can see what looks like sky, plus a few other HUD objects, but that's it :D

No teammates, no enemies :eek:, no buildings, no vehicles = no chance. :p

EDIT: This is OSX BF2142 on 10.5.1

i guess that's because the x3100 doesn't support the shaders ... battlefield 2 and 2142 demos looked the same on my ti4400 ...

[The Red Wolf]

Don't Hurt Me,
I've watched you post for ages. You've been quite the Custom PC Rig advocate. I've a Dual Processor, Dual Core G4 Freescale 2.0 GHz from a hacked up X-Serve running in a NeXT Step Cube Case. It's basically my cube. It has twin AGP nVidia GeForce4 4800Ti's cut to fit the case. They run in tandem like a rigged SLi or Crossfire. 256 MB RAM. PixleShader 2.0 I get 24 FPS in WoWC. 4 GB RAM at 133 MHz. I would love Apple to allow custom Macs to be built. Or allow OS-X to run on AMD chips with SLi or Crossfire for gaming.

For the price... My BlackBook kicks the arse end off my Cube. I get 38 FPS With most of the things turned on in WoWC. That is insane. It also supports Pixelshader 4.0 and DirectX 10 (When M$ decides to ratify the bloody DirectX 10 issues). I spent $1499.00. I can go to four GB of RAM for true 64-Bit computing (My Mark II MacBook Pro cannot do this), custom install my 320 GB 7200 Seagate Drive and it will still blow the arse end off my Cube.

For the money, it preforms very very well and is a much better laptop than the GMA 950. It utilizes it's 144 MB of RAM and looks very peachy on a 23" Monitor with the lid closed at whatever the 23" res is natively.

With everything maxed out in WoWC I got 17 FPS in city and 21 outside. This is still awesome. My Cube, my Mini and my Quicksilver cannot pull this off and have dedicated GPUs. They're just old and don't even support Pixilshader 2.0. There is no help for the 9200 of the mini... 32 MB and a underpowered GPU and it's dedicated. My Duo Mini kills it. It got 2.2 FPS in Iornforge, the Duo gets 15. The Quicksilver 18... nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4800 with 128 MB RAM and it gets 18...

Now, a Mac Pro with an X1900 overclocked to the X1950Pro speeds is quite cool if you get the copper liquid cooled heatsinc. But this is a MacBook... it's about an inch thick. The heatsink on the X1950Pro is thicker. What do you want?

A MacBook that's 1/2" thick with an nVidia 8800m GTX with 1GB RAM? The card alone costs more than the MacBook.

X2400 Mobility... Sure. It would drive a 30" display. Apple doesn't want the MacBook to be capable of this as it would eat into the sales of the MacBook Pro which is the line which supports the HD 30" display. That is the reason they don't have a dedicated GPU in the MacBook.

Still, I find gaming on the BlackBook awesome. It's fun. I enjoy it. I can Raid now (couldn't on the GMA 950) and it looks preaty (It wasn't before on the Mini Duo).

Anyone play Nintendo 8-Bit? Anyone think Mario looks wicked cool in colour with 8-bit graphics? I do.

No Mario game has ever come close to "Super Mario Brothers" on the NES. Why? It's classic fun. It was solid. Paper Mario is cool, just not the same. Make "Super Mario Brothers" from the NES with say Playstation 3 Graphics and it might work. 2d and billions of pixels on 32 pipelines... With 7.1 suround for all the Beep beep boop ba be de boop do dee dee blip boo beep boop doot doot doot! It will rock. But it will cost you 399.00 for the cheap arse version and 599.00 for the good one. NES base system 99.00. NES with a gun 129.00 NES with a Robot and a gun 179.00.

So, NES=Fun. MacBook GMAx3100=Fun. For the price. If you want to game with Playstation 3 Graphics get a MacBook Pro. But for me, I use my Wii more often than my Playstation 3. Why? It's fun. And it didn't cost me 599.00, it was 249.00 Much like my BlackBook 1499.00 rather than 3700.00 to get the same features that come with the BlackBook.

Sorry for the long post, but people, the new MacBooks blow the old ones arse ends off!

Finding good game benches for the "Pathetic" integrated X3100 isnt easy,Ive looked. Reading through early literature about it though showed it was a slight incremental step up from 950.. Please anyone post some benchmarks so everyone can see. The fact of the matter is Integrated is just cheap and any real gpu made in the last few years will slaughter this thing. Its how Apple seperates the lines these days. Consumer machines get this thing and the pro machine get REAL GPU's. Its a shame Apple doesnt offer a $25- $50 option for a real gpu say a ATI 2400XT. It was either anandtech or toms hardware who did a comparison a while ago between the integrated and low end GPU's and it wasnt pretty. Whenever Apple doesnt beat its chest about a new machines graphics there is a reason.

[eXan]

Don't Hurt Me,
I've watched you post for ages. You've been quite the Custom PC Rig advocate. I've a Dual Processor, Dual Core G4 Freescale 2.0 GHz from a hacked up X-Serve running in a NeXT Step Cube Case. It's basically my cube. It has twin AGP nVidia GeForce4 4800Ti's cut to fit the case. They run in tandem like a rigged SLi or Crossfire. 256 MB RAM. PixleShader 2.0 I get 24 FPS in WoWC. 4 GB RAM at 133 MHz. I would love Apple to allow custom Macs to be built. Or allow OS-X to run on AMD chips with SLi or Crossfire for gaming.

For the price... My BlackBook kicks the arse end off my Cube. I get 38 FPS With most of the things turned on in WoWC. That is insane. It also supports Pixelshader 4.0 and DirectX 10 (When M$ decides to ratify the bloody DirectX 10 issues). I spent $1499.00. I can go to four GB of RAM for true 64-Bit computing (My Mark II MacBook Pro cannot do this), custom install my 320 GB 7200 Seagate Drive and it will still blow the arse end off my Cube.

For the money, it preforms very very well and is a much better laptop than the GMA 950. It utilizes it's 144 MB of RAM and looks very peachy on a 23" Monitor with the lid closed at whatever the 23" res is natively.

With everything maxed out in WoWC I got 17 FPS in city and 21 outside. This is still awesome. My Cube, my Mini and my Quicksilver cannot pull this off and have dedicated GPUs. They're just old and don't even support Pixilshader 2.0. There is no help for the 9200 of the mini... 32 MB and a underpowered GPU and it's dedicated. My Duo Mini kills it. It got 2.2 FPS in Iornforge, the Duo gets 15. The Quicksilver 18... nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4800 with 128 MB RAM and it gets 18...

Now, a Mac Pro with an X1900 overclocked to the X1950Pro speeds is quite cool if you get the copper liquid cooled heatsinc. But this is a MacBook... it's about an inch thick. The heatsink on the X1950Pro is thicker. What do you want?

A MacBook that's 1/2" thick with an nVidia 8800m GTX with 1GB RAM? The card alone costs more than the MacBook.

X2400 Mobility... Sure. It would drive a 30" display. Apple doesn't want the MacBook to be capable of this as it would eat into the sales of the MacBook Pro which is the line which supports the HD 30" display. That is the reason they don't have a dedicated GPU in the MacBook.

Still, I find gaming on the BlackBook awesome. It's fun. I enjoy it. I can Raid now (couldn't on the GMA 950) and it looks preaty (It wasn't before on the Mini Duo).

Anyone play Nintendo 8-Bit? Anyone think Mario looks wicked cool in colour with 8-bit graphics? I do.

No Mario game has ever come close to "Super Mario Brothers" on the NES. Why? It's classic fun. It was solid. Paper Mario is cool, just not the same. Make "Super Mario Brothers" from the NES with say Playstation 3 Graphics and it might work. 2d and billions of pixels on 32 pipelines... With 7.1 suround for all the Beep beep boop ba be de boop do dee dee blip boo beep boop doot doot doot! It will rock. But it will cost you 399.00 for the cheap arse version and 599.00 for the good one. NES base system 99.00. NES with a gun 129.00 NES with a Robot and a gun 179.00.

So, NES=Fun. MacBook GMAx3100=Fun. For the price. If you want to game with Playstation 3 Graphics get a MacBook Pro. But for me, I use my Wii more often than my Playstation 3. Why? It's fun. And it didn't cost me 599.00, it was 249.00 Much like my BlackBook 1499.00 rather than 3700.00 to get the same features that come with the BlackBook.

Sorry for the long post, but people, the new MacBooks blow the old ones arse ends off!

Your comparison with consoles isn't appropriate. Wii has different controls/games than PS/Xbox, while MacBook has those the same with MBP, but with 674810824 times slower graphics.

That's why games aren't more fun on MacBook, than on iMac/MBP/MP.

I also get an impression that you are comparing GPUs power by the amount of VRAM they have. Not true. Its all about the speed of the card (core & memory clock, number of pipes, etc) that makes a difference. Give GeForce 4 Ti 2 GBs of VRAM and it would still be much, MUCH slower than Radeon X1900 with 128 MB (if there was one) or 256 MB. VRAM is just a bonus - a rather small one.

Now, a Mac Pro with an X1900 overclocked to the X1950Pro speeds is quite cool if you get the copper liquid cooled heatsinc. But this is a MacBook... it's about an inch thick. The heatsink on the X1950Pro is thicker. What do you want?

A MacBook that's 1/2" thick with an nVidia 8800m GTX with 1GB RAM?

Well, since you brough up the thickness point... Do you know that MBP is 0.07 inches thinner than a MB? Yet is has a video card that is light years ahead of X3100 >.>

[socamx]

What is really sad is how a four year old iBook G4 1Ghz with a Mobility Radeon 9200 32mb has no problem getting similar FPS in games that the Macbook does... and the 9200 was scraping the bottom of the barrel back in the day, let alone now.

[eXan]

What is really sad is how a four year old iBook G4 1Ghz with a Mobility Radeon 9200 32mb has no problem getting similar FPS in games that the Macbook does... and the 9200 was scraping the bottom of the barrel back in the day, let alone now.

Well, its very game-specific. If the game is much more CPU-bound, it runs faster on MacBook (for example my MacBook (GAM950) runs KOTOR noticably faster than my iMac G5 2 GHz with Radeon 9600 - on maximum graphics settings, however some graphical features are unsupported/buggy like grass or frame buffer effects)

[The Red Wolf]

Your comparison with consoles isn't appropriate. Wii has different controls/games than PS/Xbox, while MacBook has those the same with MBP, but with 674810824 times slower graphics.

That's why games aren't more fun on MacBook, than on iMac/MBP/MP.

Well, since you brough up the thickness point... Do you know that MBP is 0.07 inches thinner than a MB? Yet is has a video card that is light years ahead of X3100 >.>

I have a MacBook Pro and a BlackBook. I wasn't comparing RAM. My Custom Cube has a custom SLi GeForce4 Ti 4800 from two MMD machines. It works in twin AGP slots at 8X each. 16 Pipelines. Pixelshader 2.0. It gets kicked in the arse by my X3100.

Games aren't more fun on a MacBook?

Ever burn yourself with an AlBook?

Games are certainly cooler with a MacBook.

If cooler is less hot and I don't burn my thighs (Yes, I wear skirts and play with my MacBook but not with my MacBook Pro, aluminum is hot) it's more fun. Better design... We need Carbon Fiber now!

Jayzyz...

Wii is fun because it's cool.

PS3 is fun because it's cool.

Wii is cheap and PS3 is not cheep.

Read my post, then criticize me. It wasn't about RAM. And the X3100 blows the 9200 GPU out of the water. Period. It's clocked like an old X550 or X600 ATI card or an nVidia GeFoece 5700. ::just sighs::

[eXan]

I have a MacBook Pro and a BlackBook. I wasn't comparing RAM.

I never said anything about RAM.

My Custom Cube has a custom SLi GeForce4 Ti 4800 from two MMD machines. It works in twin AGP slots at 8X each. 16 Pipelines. Pixelshader 2.0. It gets kicked in the arse by my X3100.

You know why? Because X3100 is working with a much faster CPU (Core 2 Duo).

Games aren't more fun on a MacBook?

Ever burn yourself with an AlBook?

Games are certainly cooler with a MacBook.

If cooler is less hot and I don't burn my thighs (Yes, I wear skirts and play with my MacBook but not with my MacBook Pro, aluminum is hot) it's more fun. Better design... We need Carbon Fiber now!

If "more fun" means less hot to you, then :rolleyes:

By your words, playing a game at 10 FPS with lowest possible settings is more fun than playing the same game with maximum graphics at 50 FPS? Meh...

Wii is fun because it's cool.

PS3 is fun because it's cool.

Wii is cheap and PS3 is not cheep.

Umm... does this have anything to do with my post?

...the X3100 blows the 9200 GPU out of the water. Period. It's clocked like an old X550 or X600 ATI card or an nVidia GeFoece 5700. ::just sighs::

Again, why mention 9200? I never said anything about it.

X3100 is probably clocked like X550 or X600 Radeon, but it performs worse. Even last rev. iMac G5 (with X600 and a MUCH slower G5 CPU) runs games faster than MacBooks, however it is game-specific:

Well, its very game-specific. If the game is much more CPU-bound, it runs faster on MacBook (for example my MacBook (GAM950) runs KOTOR noticably faster than my iMac G5 2 GHz with Radeon 9600 - on maximum graphics settings, however some graphical features are unsupported/buggy like grass or frame buffer effects)

Read my post, then criticize me.

I can tell yo the same.

[TSE]

Ummm... about the last generation iMac G5 with X600 running games better, I personally own both, and the specs are in my signature, I really do not notice a difference running any of my games:

Age of Empires 2: Mac Edition, on my old core duo MacBook ran just as good as my iMac G5, now it won't run due to some Mac OS X driver issues, but I expect an update to fix this.

EverQuest: Mac Edition runs great on both, don't notice a difference.

Age of Empires 3: Mac Edition, both run great on medium settings.

The only reason I use the iMac mostly for games is because of the screen size, but otherwise both run the games great and I expect AOE 2 to work once an update comes out for the graphics just like how the MBP got nvidia driver updates.

[eXan]

Ummm... about the last generation iMac G5 with X600 running games better, I personally own both, and the specs are in my signature, I really do not notice a difference running any of my games:

Age of Empires 2: Mac Edition, on my old core duo MacBook ran just as good as my iMac G5, now it won't run due to some Mac OS X driver issues, but I expect an update to fix this.

EverQuest: Mac Edition runs great on both, don't notice a difference.

Age of Empires 3: Mac Edition, both run great on medium settings.

The only reason I use the iMac mostly for games is because of the screen size, but otherwise both run the games great and I expect AOE 2 to work once an update comes out for the graphics just like how the MBP got nvidia driver updates.

Its great that you have both, but can you try games that aren't that old?

Thx :D

[10-Dee-Q]

wondering , does anyone ever tried to run NFS carbon on their macbook ?
i want to know how it will handle that game, thank you.

[The Red Wolf]

...Give GeForce 4 Ti 2 GBs of VRAM and it would still be much, MUCH slower than Radeon X1900 with 128 MB (if there was one) or 256 MB. VRAM is just a bonus - a rather small one...

Your words... VRAM sounds like RAM to me... But you didn't say RAM at all... Nope, no VRAM comment what so ever.


I get 38FPS in WoW with everything turned on and Maxed out... Where did I get 10FPS in WoW on minimum?

The GeForce 4 Ti doesn't suppport even pixel shader 2. And a Dual processor Dual Core G4 at 2.0 GHz (Yes, that is four cores) is faster than a 2.8GHz Duo, I have the benchmarks to prove it. The video card is from 2001, it cannot compare, even in SLi to the GMA X3100 because of outdated technology... I build systems for a living from the hardware engineering standpoint. I know what I'm talking about.

[The Red Wolf]

38FPS Maxed out with everything on with the GMAX3100. Much more fun that 15FPS with everything turned off and minimum settings on my MacMini Rev A. which by the way happens to have what sort of GPU? A 9200 with 32MB RAM! That is why I mentioned it.

It is more fun to play on the MacBook with the GMA X3100 that on the Rev A. MacMini which has a video card and is not integrated. Also another poster stated the 9200 was a better video solution than the new MacBook's setup, it simply isn't true. The G5 iMac benches in video slower. I tested this at Apple HQ in Cupertino in the labs... I'm a developer and have access so older machines are not a problem for me to test on... What does it have to do with your post? Your information is simply wrong based on bias and you don't own a Black MacBook and game on it do you? Loose the attitude eXan, you're not the end all of gaming on the Mac Platform...

I never said anything about RAM.

You know why? Because X3100 is working with a much faster CPU (Core 2 Duo).

If "more fun" means less hot to you, then :rolleyes:

By your words, playing a game at 10 FPS with lowest possible settings is more fun than playing the same game with maximum graphics at 50 FPS? Meh...

Umm... does this have anything to do with my post?

Again, why mention 9200? I never said anything about it.

X3100 is probably clocked like X550 or X600 Radeon, but it performs worse. Even last rev. iMac G5 (with X600 and a MUCH slower G5 CPU) runs games faster than MacBooks, however it is game-specific:

I can tell yo the same.

[The Red Wolf]

No, but Redline is quite fun and runs lovely on it. I'm thinking of getting a copy of NFS Carbon. I'll let you know how it goes.

wondering , does anyone ever tried to run NFS carbon on their macbook ?
i want to know how it will handle that game, thank you.

[eXan]

:/ yet you have completely ignored my comments on your post. Only see what you like to see, huh?

Anyway, this discussion is pointless. I should have foreseen this and didn't post anything...

[jamesi]

I have a MacBook Pro and a BlackBook. I wasn't comparing RAM. My Custom Cube has a custom SLi GeForce4 Ti 4800 from two MMD machines. It works in twin AGP slots at 8X each. 16 Pipelines. Pixelshader 2.0. It gets kicked in the arse by my X3100.

Games aren't more fun on a MacBook?

Ever burn yourself with an AlBook?

Games are certainly cooler with a MacBook.

If cooler is less hot and I don't burn my thighs (Yes, I wear skirts and play with my MacBook but not with my MacBook Pro, aluminum is hot) it's more fun. Better design... We need Carbon Fiber now!

Jayzyz...

Wii is fun because it's cool.

PS3 is fun because it's cool.

Wii is cheap and PS3 is not cheep.

Read my post, then criticize me. It wasn't about RAM. And the X3100 blows the 9200 GPU out of the water. Period. It's clocked like an old X550 or X600 ATI card or an nVidia GeFoece 5700. ::just sighs::

i hope i am not too far off topic, but how are you running a custom SLi setup? ive just never seen dual agp

[takao]

i hope i am not too far off topic, but how are you running a custom SLi setup? ive just never seen dual agp

even more interesting would be how the geforce 4800 from 2002 can support the SLI introduced in 2004 ...

[Sceneshifter]

Well on topic again, I have only tested Warcraft III so far (as I love it), and then specificly Dota (if that means anything to you). It runs super beautifully, not that it's a new game or anything, but still, it gave my 'gaming' pc in that day and age a run for its money, so I was scared the SR MB (I have the new one) wouldn't run it or would lag in big battles. No such problems at all, and as an RTS fan I can only be happy about that! :-)

I'm praying to the Gods on my knees that it will run Starcraft 2 properly, that's all I'm asking for, but then again, SC2 might be ready in 2010 at the pace it's going so then again...

I'm more interested in the performance of games like CS:S and more recently Team Fortress 2! If anyone has any tests or experiences running those (TF2 mostly) that'd be awesome to share!

[diamond.g]

i hope i am not too far off topic, but how are you running a custom SLi setup? ive just never seen dual agp

even more interesting would be how the geforce 4800 from 2002 can support the SLI introduced in 2004 ...

And if it were true, I doubt very seriously that the X3100 could be faster.

[eXan]

i hope i am not too far off topic, but how are you running a custom SLi setup? ive just never seen dual agp

even more interesting would be how the geforce 4800 from 2002 can support the SLI introduced in 2004 ...

haha, what about those 2 "dual-core" G4s he keeps talking about? ^^

As far as I know there were NO shipping dual-core G4 CPUs. Let alone versions that worked in 2-CPU setup :rolleyes:

[RyanSmelliott]

Ok i have been running GTA Vice City on my MacBook thats got the GMA X3100 and it works fine But when i come to run GTA San Andreas it loads up to the RockStar screen then go's off =S But my friends got a MacBook with a GMA 950 and San Andreas works fine WHY THATS ? Is it drivers or what?

Im Lost On This One lol

Games That Work On My GMA X3100

GTA III = 100% Fine
GTA Vice City = 100% Fine
Tomb Raider Anniversary = 90% Fine just one or two things now and then but nothing to make you stop playing :D
Postal 2 = 85% Works fine its just well your making hell on earth and theres loads of fire and things going on but i mean LOADS lol

[eXan]

Ok i have been running GTA Vice City on my MacBook thats got the GMA X3100 and it works fine But when i come to run GTA San Andreas it loads up to the RockStar screen then go's off =S But my friends got a MacBook with a GMA 950 and San Andreas works fine WHY THATS ? Is it drivers or what?

Im Lost On This One lol

Games That Work On My GMA X3100

GTA III = 100% Fine
GTA Vice City = 100% Fine
Tomb Raider Anniversary = 90% Fine just one or two things now and then but nothing to make you stop playing :D
Postal 2 = 85% Works fine its just well your making hell on earth and theres loads of fire and things going on but i mean LOADS lol

Its definitely a driver issue because SA works on my GMA950 MacBook.

[RyanSmelliott]

Yep same as my friend he has the 950 and works fine :(
so when will there be a driver update any time soon?
i wanna start playing Need For Speed Most Wanted yet another that works on the 950 but not the 3100 :( guttted

[RyanSmelliott]

i found a cool FREE online game its not NEXT GEN shall we say lol but its a very fun cool 1st person shut em up :D and works GRATE on mac book


OpenArena is an open source violent first person shooter

www.openarena.ws

Also

Nexuiz is a first-person shooter which started as a Quake modification in the summer of 2001. [GPL source code and data] (Windows, Linux, OS X)

www.alientrap.org/nexuiz ( this works fine in normal settings and 1280 x 800 )

[Huntn]

Here's some games I've been told of for the MacBook. Penumbra is the only one I have first hand experience with.

* Half Life 2 demo runs but may crash during autosaves. (PC via Bootcamp- Hey it's a demo, give it a shot.)
* Morrowind runs (PC via Bootcamp)
* Penumbra: Overture- runs on MacBooks with x3100 chipset or newer. Shaders must be adjusted or scenes are very washed out. Older MacBooks won't run this game.
* Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War runs ok. (PC via Bootcamp)
* Medieval Total War 2 does not run.

[andyjamesnelson]

Hey I see people in this thread talking about updating the drivers for the mac books GMA X3100 graphics.

I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction on how to do this please.

I looked on the Intel site but didn't find anything that seemed to be an update.

Please help if you can. Thanks. Andy.

[Huntn]

Most casual games like Mystery Case Files: Madam Fate should run on the MacBook. (Madam Fate runs just fine on my wife's MacBook). Fortunately most of these type of games come with free demos to try out.

[28monkeys]

can the blackbook runs the elder scroll oblivion?

if it can but slow, will it helps if i upgrade to 4GB ram.

[Tunez]

Will we see a big performance increase in graphics capabilities with the introduction of Montevina and the x4500 chip? I hear it is 3x the performance, is this true? I have done a little reading and the only differences i can see are slightly faster clock speed, 10 shaders and hd.

[Tunez]

double post

[Huntn]

can the blackbook runs the elder scroll oblivion?

if it can but slow, will it helps if i upgrade to 4GB ram.

I'm thinking the MacBook (black or white) would *not* run Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion. There's a better chance it might run Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind (http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/morrowind_overview.htm) (via Bootcamp) but it would be nice to find someone who has run (either) game before investing in it unless you can find it cheap.

[RyanSmelliott]

Well i dont know about all this mac book gaming stuff its getting on me tits lol

so im thinking making PC :D lol just for gaming, keeping my Mac Book cos i use it to do my Music on WwwMySpace.Com/VenomAndApathy (if you wanna look like lol) cos mac's cant be beat for doing music, but you can make a PC with a top end Gaming Card for like £300 easy :D but yerr
Processor: AMD AM2 Athlon X2 4400 64 Bit
Hard Drive: 250GB, SATA2 300-7200rpm
Memory:2GB DDR2 RAM
Graphics:GeForce 9600GT 512MB XT
That plays crysis and call of duty 4 on hight settings easy :D but still nothing on a mac pro lol only if i was rich

but all im tying to say in this is for £300 (witch is the price of a PS3 or 360)
you can have a good pc to play pc games on and use your mac book for what ever you do use your mac book for lol

PS
dont reply to me saying this is a mac forum and this is off the point to everything cos i know it is im just saying what i think and what im going to do thats all :D