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New Mac Pro for games - starcraft, Diablo, Minecraft

Sean Dempsey

Sean Dempsey

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 7, 2006
1,622
8
My Air runs these like **** with 4000 card. I have no idea what the capabilities of the new Mac Pro chips are, or if they even do 3D. I know my 7300's in the 1,1 I have are **** as well.

Are these GPU's actually capable of some games?
 
H

Hakone

macrumors 6502a
Oct 5, 2011
509
4
Southern California
Sean Dempsey said:
My Air runs these like **** with 4000 card. I have no idea what the capabilities of the new Mac Pro chips are, or if they even do 3D. I know my 7300's in the 1,1 I have are **** as well.

Are these GPU's actually capable of some games?
Click to expand...

I'm quite sure the MP will run any of those rather easily at good w/ some slight degrade at ultra settings. For some, the iMac suffices even w/ those games.
 
canadax14

canadax14

macrumors newbie
May 22, 2012
27
0
Canada
Dude the Mac Pro will destroy those games. My 2012 iMac runs all of those at Ultra settings with like 60+ fps. Don't even worry about it. While I wouldn't buy the new mac pro purely as a gaming machine (way overpriced...I'm assuming)...if you are a pro user who enjoys playing games...it is going to be heaven! :)
 
Sean Dempsey

Sean Dempsey

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 7, 2006
1,622
8
canadax14 said:
Dude the Mac Pro will destroy those games. My 2012 iMac runs all of those at Ultra settings with like 60+ fps. Don't even worry about it. While I wouldn't buy the new mac pro purely as a gaming machine (way overpriced...I'm assuming)...if you are a pro user who enjoys playing games...it is going to be heaven! :)
Click to expand...

I am, and do.
 
ltorrelles

ltorrelles

macrumors member
Nov 16, 2012
30
4
Barcelona, Spain
I don't know how the ATIs will behave on gaming, but they seem to be extremely powerful cards, so I assume they won't have any major issues at running most AAA games.
Either way, you can always get an external GPU case (I've heard Silverstone is aiming for the 250$ price point without card) and connect it via Thunderbolt to the Mac Pro.
 
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D

davidb367

macrumors member
Feb 13, 2007
73
10
Don't Bother

I tried this with a MacPro 1,1. The new MacPro uses custom designed GPU's and Apple is historically slooow in updating their supported GPU offerings.

Your best bet is to build a dedicated gaming rig. I built a modest one for $600 that plays most bleeding edge games very well. Most GPUs have a two year lifespan before they no longer can play new games well.
 
T

thedarkhorse

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2007
662
0
Canada
just build a PC for gaming and keep your air for mac side, you'll save money. the AMD GPUs in the new mac pro are workstation class, they might run games but the drivers aren't made at all with gaming in mind, they are made for professional graphics and compute applications. That said the GPU's they unveiled with the machine seem to be the top top tier, they may offer gaming grade GPUs in lower models.
 
zen

zen

macrumors 68000
Jun 26, 2003
1,713
472
I'm curious about the difference between these workstation graphics cards, and the "regular" sort. I would assume that they'd play games quite well - not at insane ultra settings with a zillion fps, but pretty well.

Like the original poster, I'm a power user who also likes the odd game, and while I could get a PC gaming rig for less money, if I can have it all in one machine, that would be handy. For one thing, having a Thunderbolt display means I'm a bit stuck for PC options.
 
B

Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
zen said:
I'm curious about the difference between these workstation graphics cards, and the "regular" sort. I would assume that they'd play games quite well - not at insane ultra settings with a zillion fps, but pretty well.

Like the original poster, I'm a power user who also likes the odd game, and while I could get a PC gaming rig for less money, if I can have it all in one machine, that would be handy. For one thing, having a Thunderbolt display means I'm a bit stuck for PC options.
Click to expand...
The GPU in the Mac Pro should play games decently. Just don't expect 100+ FPS at Ultra settings all the time. Some games are more intensive than others. And newer games tend to be even more graphics intensive.

Gamer GPUs are designed a bit differently (as has been mentioned) however, unless you're a dedicated gamer, the GPU in the Pro should be good enough, especially if you need the Mac Pro for your computer work.
 
derbothaus

derbothaus

macrumors 601
Jul 17, 2010
4,093
30
Don't buy a workstation to play games. You pay way too much and it is optimized for other purposes. If you can find a happy medium like I did with 3.33GHz Hex and GTX 680 then so be it but paying for FirePro and low clocked 12-core chips is just stupid. Games need high clocks up to 4 cores and non-worstation GPU's.
 
zen

zen

macrumors 68000
Jun 26, 2003
1,713
472
derbothaus said:
Don't buy a workstation to play games. You pay way too much and it is optimized for other purposes. If you can find a happy medium like I did with 3.33GHz Hex and GTX 680 then so be it but paying for FirePro and low clocked 12-core chips is just stupid. Games need high clocks up to 4 cores and non-worstation GPU's.
Click to expand...

I agree, but like I said I'm stuck with a Thunderbolt display and have limited deskspace... unless I can fit a PC tower under the desk and run dual displays somehow (one Thunderbolt, one DVI or whatever it is that PCs use).

Actually, is that possible? I'm currently running a new Mac mini - can that run one Thunderbolt and one DVI monitor as dual screens?
 
derbothaus

derbothaus

macrumors 601
Jul 17, 2010
4,093
30
zen said:
I agree, but like I said I'm stuck with a Thunderbolt display and have limited deskspace... unless I can fit a PC tower under the desk and run dual displays somehow (one Thunderbolt, one DVI or whatever it is that PCs use).

Actually, is that possible? I'm currently running a new Mac mini - can that run one Thunderbolt and one DVI monitor as dual screens?
Click to expand...

Pretty sure. Doesn't new Mac MIni have TB and HDMI? Use those. HDMI to DVI cable or similar should work. No audio gets passed through DVI though so you could get a PC display with HDMI which are everywhere. Then TB-TB and HDMI-HDMI. Simple.
 
zen

zen

macrumors 68000
Jun 26, 2003
1,713
472
derbothaus said:
Pretty sure. Doesn't new Mac MIni have TB and HDMI? Use those. HDMI to DVI cable or similar should work. No audio gets passed through DVI though so you could get a PC display with HDMI which are everywhere. The TB-TB and HDMI-HDMI. Simple.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the mini has HDMI. Curious... so I could have two monitors to run on the Mac (yay screen real estate), and then I can switch the HDMI monitor to a PC rig if I want gaming.

Thanks!
 
derbothaus

derbothaus

macrumors 601
Jul 17, 2010
4,093
30
zen said:
Yeah, the mini has HDMI. Curious... so I could have two monitors to run on the Mac (yay screen real estate), and then I can switch the HDMI monitor to a PC rig if I want gaming.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yes. Most display's have a combo of DVI/ VGA/ HDMI/ Display port. Find one that fits your needs both now and future. DVI and HDMI are always good bets because they can be converted using cheap adapters if needed.
 
F

FluJunkie

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2007
618
1
zen said:
I'm curious about the difference between these workstation graphics cards, and the "regular" sort. I would assume that they'd play games quite well - not at insane ultra settings with a zillion fps, but pretty well.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Workstation graphics cards are often appallingly bad for gaming.
 
MacsRgr8

MacsRgr8

macrumors G3
Sep 8, 2002
8,284
1,753
The Netherlands
We just have to wait to find out which configs of (Dual?) GPU's on the new Mac Pro will be available.

The current Mac Pro's also feature a high-end workstation grfx card which is not best suited for games.
But the Mac Pro is also configurable with "desktop" GPUs' which are suited for gaming.

Let's hope that the new Mac Pro will be configurable with "desktop" class GPU's as CTO.
 
ElderBrE

ElderBrE

macrumors regular
Apr 14, 2004
242
12
The ones presentes ar WWDC are basically 7970 with another name. The main difference are drivers, which is basically the extra you are paying for the same hardware plus ecc memory.

Like others are saying, they may even offer gaming specific Gpus, but. Wouldn't hold my breadth. If you want to game, it will obliterate stuff, but if you want to game with the biggest bang for your buck, you'll just have to make a gaming windows rig.
 
S

superdx

macrumors regular
Jul 23, 2009
130
11
Those DirectX benchmarks don't say much about how it'll perform on OSX where games tend to use OpenGL.

Hopefully there's an option to swap the GPU boards or to connect a Thunderbolt 2 expansion box that has a gaming GPU in it. I'd be very happy with that setup.
 
C

Christian159260

macrumors newbie
Aug 4, 2014
2
0
canadax14 said:
Dude the Mac Pro will destroy those games. My 2012 iMac runs all of those at Ultra settings with like 60+ fps. Don't even worry about it. While I wouldn't buy the new mac pro purely as a gaming machine (way overpriced...I'm assuming)...if you are a pro user who enjoys playing games...it is going to be heaven! :)
Click to expand...

The only problem is that mac pro has workbench GPU's, so the imac's GPU's are actually better for gaming

Still
getting a mac pro here

CUZ IT shud FTW

----------
Bear said:
The GPU in the Mac Pro should play games decently. Just don't expect 100+ FPS at Ultra settings all the time. Some games are more intensive than others. And newer games tend to be even more graphics intensive.

Gamer GPUs are designed a bit differently (as has been mentioned) however, unless you're a dedicated gamer, the GPU in the Pro should be good enough, especially if you need the Mac Pro for your computer work.
Click to expand...

Wh oneeds 100 fps, the screen with the highest possible framerate is only 110-120fps, although, most screens are 60fps, and the human eye can only (average) see 60 fps.
 
AidenShaw

AidenShaw

macrumors P6
Feb 8, 2003
18,667
4,676
The Peninsula
You do!

Christian159260 said:
Who needs 100 fps, the screen with the highest possible framerate is only 110-120fps, although, most screens are 60fps, and the human eye can only (average) see 60 fps.
Click to expand...

Benchmarks quote average frame rates - yet games vary greatly in complexity (and FPS) from scene to scene.

If you have the 60FPS system because you think that the "human eye can only see 60 FPS", you might be in the very low teens on complex action scenes. And the human eye does notice 12 FPS.
 
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