Doom3/new iMac Question

[obeygiant]

would Doom 3 run on a new iMac at an acceptable rate using virtual pc?
Or is this just trouble?

[jackieonasses]

definatly trouble. virtual pc is just an emulator. maybe VC 7 but todays no. simply no way.

[obeygiant]

okay, just a thought. My brother's lime green iMac just died, and he wants to play doom 3 real bad, and i'm trying to convince him to get another apple.

[vraxtus]

okay, just a thought. My brother's lime green iMac just died, and he wants to play doom 3 real bad, and i'm trying to convince him to get another apple.


As far as we know there's very little hardware (or none at all) support for 3D games on VPC7. So no, he'd get really crappy performance...and on top of that the D3 port probably won't even run that well on a Mac.

[obeygiant]

so i guess we just have to wait for it to come out for osx then..
and that could be... whenever? Ron Burgundy?

[Phat_Pat]

Doom 3 would probably only run on low on the new iMac cause of the week card in there......

[crazzyeddie]

Doom 3 would probably only run on low on the new iMac cause of the week card in there......

The 5200FX Ultra is not that bad a card. It will run Doom3 on medium settings (with no FSAA/AF) with acceptable frame rates.

[Chaszmyr]

The 5200FX Ultra is not that bad a card. It will run Doom3 on medium settings (with no FSAA/AF) with acceptable frame rates.

Eh it's not a very good card.

All the same, the iMac G5 shouldn't have too much trouble with Doom 3 once the game comes out on Mac. As far as running it in Virtual PC though... heh

[crazzyeddie]

Eh it's not a very good card.

All the same, the iMac G5 shouldn't have too much trouble with Doom 3 once the game comes out on Mac. As far as running it in Virtual PC though... heh

Agreed. You can't even run CounterStrike in VPC with more than 2 or 3fps.

[Ninja_Turtle]

The 5200FX Ultra is not that bad a card. It will run Doom3 on medium settings (with no FSAA/AF) with acceptable frame rates.

whats FSAA/AF ? havent heard of that before

[MacsRgr8]

whats FSAA/AF ? havent heard of that before

Read this Radeon 9800 Pro Technology overview (http://www.insidemacgames.com/features/view.php?ID=244) .
It gives you examples too.

[tom.96]

The 5200FX Ultra is not that bad a card. It will run Doom3 on medium settings (with no FSAA/AF) with acceptable frame rates.

Yeah I agree. It does say on Apple's site that the new iMac is good for Doom 3. I reckon ID will do a good optimisation job - I was well impressed with the Wolf 3D Mac version. I ran that on a G3 400 with 8meg graphics whereas the official min specs were a G3/4 500 with 32 meg graphics. If they can do a job half as good as that then I'm not worried.

(In case you're wondering, on that system wolf 3D was slightly jerky but still playable!)

Bring on Doom 3 :D

[vraxtus]

(In case you're wondering, on that system wolf 3D was slightly jerky but still playable!)

Bring on Doom 3 :D

Keep dreaming.

[slowtreme]

I was well impressed with the Wolf 3D Mac version. I ran that on a G3 400 with 8meg graphics whereas the official min specs were a G3/4 500 with 32 meg graphics. Wolf3D? are we talking about Wolf3D? 1990's... Sprite based... ran on a pentium 90 like hot butter Wolf3D?

Or did you mean RtCW (Retun to Castle Wolfenstein) on the Quake3 engine?

[obeygiant]

As far as we know there's very little hardware (or none at all) support for 3D games on VPC7. So no, he'd get really crappy performance...and on top of that the D3 port probably won't even run that well on a Mac.

Doom3 is about to come out for XBOX isn't it?
So, a $150 XBOX plus $50 for Doom 3 is good enough right?
Thats probably better that just getting a pc to run d3.

[vraxtus]

Doom3 is about to come out for XBOX isn't it?
So, a $150 XBOX plus $50 for Doom 3 is good enough right?
Thats probably better that just getting a pc to run d3.

Not before 2005.

And, well, D3 on XBox will be running only at 640x480 with dumbed-down textures.

[Bigheadache]

Keep dreaming guys!!

Some of you need to read the Doom3 guides on HardOCP, Xbitlabs, and some of the other pc sites to get a feel for what hardware Doom3 needs.

Eg. XbitLabs

1024x768 Medium quality (thats the 2nd worst setting & requires 128mb vram) no aa/af

30.1 fps using a Rad 9500 Pro on an Athlon64 3400+ (2.2Ghz) with 1gb RAM

and this is on a "time demo" type test so you can bet real world is even slower.

So how do you think your imac with a pitiful 5200 is going to perform??

[ZildjianKX]

I laughed when I read the thread title.

I just can't wait to hear, "Doom 3 runs great on my iMac!' which will tie directly to the other thread about how mac gamers have low expectations... but will probably be outweighed by the, "Why is Doom 3 running so badly on my iMac/iBook/Powerbook"...

I personally expect it to run like crap on my G5 with a Radeon 9800 Pro, and that's quite a bit faster than the iMac.

[Converted2Truth]

It bothers me how there are so many mac users who think this new imac is the shiz-nit. It's a blind hope that apple has released a modern system, when in reality, they should have had this configuration A YEAR AGO, and now we should have a much better imac with at least 128mb graphics. If you plan on playing games on this new imac, you are going to be disappointed. Apple has let you down this round. Don't buy this imac to game... it's not built to preform at resonable speeds. It's a conuntrum: imac G5 and doom3! Only in your wet dreams guys...

[ifjake]

yeah if you want to play the latest games you probably want to get a PC. for me, consoles are the smarter choice when it comes to gaming. unless you build your own computers. then, more power to ya.

[TheGimp]

The 5200FX Ultra is not that bad a card. It will run Doom3 on medium settings (with no FSAA/AF) with acceptable frame rates.

According to the PC benchmark page and summary of results posted on the Doom website (along with Q&A about the various available cards), the NVIDIA 5200-FX Ultra was the ONLY card with which Doom 3 actually looked *BAD*.

This means that Doom 3 will not run at acceptable rates on a PC with that card, and pi$$ poorly on VPC on a new iMac - even if it could be run at all.

Having used the new Virtual PC 7 on a dual 1.8 and Windows XP, I feel qualified to warn propsective buyers of the surprisingly bad performance and lack of direct x support.