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Nikkei

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2013
7
0
This is my MAC pro (mid 2010):
Processor: 2.4Ghz
OS: Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard
RAM: 4.0GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 320M (256MB)

I see more and more games for 10.7 and 10.8 only, soon enough, people say september 10.9 will be out...for using gmail and facebook a change of OS is not really needed, but I'd like to game..

Is upgrading the solution?
For running XCOM:Enemy Unknown minimum requirements
Processor: 2.0Ghz
OS: Mac OS X 10.7.5
RAM: 4.0GB (or 8 if you have an NVIDIA 320m)
Graphics: 256MB
so even if if upgrade my lame graphic card will stop me, because I don't have 8GB RAM!

if yes, to which system upgrade? is it worth waiting 10.9?
maybe for gaming purposes 10.7 is actually better than 10.8, or there is no expectation that 10.9 will be worth waiting for gaming..

I hope you can help me make my mind!
 

QuarterSwede

macrumors G3
Oct 1, 2005
9,778
2,026
Colorado Springs, CO
I can't speak too much about gaming performance with what you have but any upgrade will run Facebook faster. Even the jump from 10.7 to 10.8 was definitely noticeable in the web speed department.
 

Dirtyharry50

macrumors 68000
May 17, 2012
1,769
183
Is it possible to upgrade the system to 8 gigs of RAM? 3rd party memory is cheap if the system will accept more. That would solve one problem.

Otherwise, I think you answered your own question. If what you want to play has system requirements for a newer version of OS X, the choice is pretty clear I'd say.
 

jmiddel

macrumors regular
Mar 3, 2010
170
37
Land of Enchantment
What is holding you back now is memory. 4 gs of ram and 256mbs of gpu is just not enough for games on a decent monitor. You'd need at least 8 or better 16 gs of ram and a video card with 1 g of memory at least.
 

cluthz

macrumors 68040
Jun 15, 2004
3,118
4
Norway
What is holding you back now is memory. 4 gs of ram and 256mbs of gpu is just not enough for games on a decent monitor. You'd need at least 8 or better 16 gs of ram and a video card with 1 g of memory at least.

4GB ram is enough for most games, believe me or not. 8GB might be faster, but 16GB is a waste. I know I have 16GB ram, and most games do not go past 4GB for itself, and 2GB is enough for all system tasks and so forth, unless you plan on running 10 apps in the background while gaming (which is a bad idea anyways).
 

Nikkei

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2013
7
0
so, beside the upgrade of OS X, I should upgrade either:
A - RAM
B - SSD

I cannot afford to do two or three of these upgrade, so which one of these has the best rate price/improvement?
 
Last edited:

saturnotaku

macrumors 68000
Mar 4, 2013
1,978
97
An SSD is not going to make the game run faster in terms of frame rate, but it will noticeably decrease the times it takes for your system to boot and launch applications. If you can only afford one upgrade at present, buy 8 GB of RAM. Your GPU is still going to hold you back for games, but the experience should at least be a little bit better.
 

TheGreatWumpus

macrumors regular
Sep 21, 2012
180
20
Vermont
Mavericks is supposed to contain speed improvements for games. Perhaps just for specific one's, perhaps all around. It will be worth it on some level at least.
 

lunaoso

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2012
1,332
54
Boston, MA
Get a better,cheap GPU (maybe a GTX 650 ti, not too sure on the AMD side). Even for around 150 bucks you can get a decent graphics card.
 

Mr. Retrofire

macrumors 603
Mar 2, 2010
5,064
518
www.emiliana.cl/en
Get a better,cheap GPU (maybe a GTX 650 ti, not too sure on the AMD side). Even for around 150 bucks you can get a decent graphics card.

Is it worth to upgrade? from Snow Leopard to Mavericks

This is my MAC pro (mid 2010):
Processor: 2.4Ghz
OS: Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard
RAM: 4.0GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 320M (256MB)

He talks about his 13" Mid-2010 MBP:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...o-2.4-aluminum-13-mid-2010-unibody-specs.html
 

Dirtyharry50

macrumors 68000
May 17, 2012
1,769
183
What is holding you back now is memory. 4 gs of ram and 256mbs of gpu is just not enough for games on a decent monitor. You'd need at least 8 or better 16 gs of ram and a video card with 1 g of memory at least.

I don't know as stating the obvious is very helpful. Of course buying a new computer would solve all the problems and I'm sure the OP is already well aware of that. Meantime, it sounds like he wants to try to get the most out of the computer he has now, thus the OS upgrade question, for whatever reasons. A lot of folks need to get maximum mileage out of their computers due to their expense and adding some RAM if he can and upgrading the OS would help him to do that for the time being at far less expense.

Also, you do not need 16 gigs of RAM to play games on that machine or any other. That's just overkill and a waste of money unless you actually need that much memory for other purposes. It is a simple affair to close your apps before running a game. 8 gigs of RAM is plenty for now and especially as an upgrade to an older system.

----------

so, beside the upgrade of OS X, I should upgrade either:
A - RAM
B - SSD

I cannot afford to do two or three of these upgrade, so which one of these has the best rate price/improvement?

Why are you even asking this? You need the OS and RAM upgrades to play the game you want to play, mentioned in your original post. Therefore, the answer to this question is obvious - forget the SSD and get the stuff you need so you can play XCOM. Enjoy!
 

edddeduck

macrumors 68020
Mar 26, 2004
2,061
13
This is my MAC pro (mid 2010):


I see more and more games for 10.7 and 10.8 only, soon enough, people say september 10.9 will be out...for using gmail and facebook a change of OS is not really needed, but I'd like to game..

Is upgrading the solution?
For running XCOM:Enemy Unknown minimum requirements

so even if if upgrade my lame graphic card will stop me, because I don't have 8GB RAM!

if yes, to which system upgrade? is it worth waiting 10.9?
maybe for gaming purposes 10.7 is actually better than 10.8, or there is no expectation that 10.9 will be worth waiting for gaming..

I hope you can help me make my mind!

XCOM needs at least 10.7.5 as OpenGL on Snow Leopard and older is pretty old and buggy now.

XCOM will run with 4GB of RAM but as you have an integrated graphics card the card will only get the full amount of shared RAM available if you have 8GB. It will play with 4GB but some of the largest levels will have some lag that disappears if you get 8GB.

Upgrading to 8GB is easy to do and is not that expensive. Google has many tutorials.

As for OS's Feral as a rule target only the latest 2 OS's as older OS's have bugs that will never be fixed and only a small number of people use them.

When 10.9 Mavericks is released this means 10.7.5 will no longer be targeted or tested on new releases.

Edwin

----------

4GB ram is enough for most games, believe me or not. 8GB might be faster, but 16GB is a waste. I know I have 16GB ram, and most games do not go past 4GB for itself, and 2GB is enough for all system tasks and so forth, unless you plan on running 10 apps in the background while gaming (which is a bad idea anyways).

If you have an integrated card like with a MacBook 13" the System RAM is also shared with the graphics card. Many of these cards will provide more RAM for the graphics card if you have 8GB instead of 4GB installed.

Games usually use 2GB+ and once you add the OS and the RAM the graphics card needs you are into virtual memory at times. This can cause stutters (on certain levels or areas) hence the 8GB for shared RAM cards.

Edwin
 

blesscheese

macrumors 6502a
Apr 3, 2010
698
178
Central CA
Thinking outside the box

Ok, don't flame me, but...has the OP or anyone thought about running games like XCom in Bootcamp, or in Wineskin?

Here are the Windows specs:
Minimum Requirements
OS: Windows Vista
Software: Steam Client
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 256 MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT/ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Recommended Requirements
OS: Windows 7
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz)
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 512+ MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9000 series/ATI Radeon HD 3000 series or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
 

edddeduck

macrumors 68020
Mar 26, 2004
2,061
13
Ok, don't flame me, but...has the OP or anyone thought about running games like XCom in Bootcamp, or in Wineskin?

Here are the Windows specs:
Minimum Requirements
OS: Windows Vista
Software: Steam Client
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 256 MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT/ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Recommended Requirements
OS: Windows 7
Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz)
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 512+ MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9000 series/ATI Radeon HD 3000 series or greater
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

BY all means try however in simple tests the Mac version runs better than Wineskin on the Mac using the PC XCOM. During dev I did a number of tests and the Mac runs better not to mention nice things like gamepad support, Achievements, online multiplayer etc that Wineskin is lacking.

Also what Feral call supported and what is supported on the PC is different. On the Mac we mean every level plays without issues with at least reasonable performance. On the PC min specs usually means you can load and complete every level but performance is not guaranteed. Dropping to 5 fps in areas on the PC makes the specs as long as it does not crash, on the Mac that same performance is unsupported.

Finally the min RAM has to take into account the RAM usage on OS X compared to Windows. Windows tends to use less RAM on the whole.

Edwin
 
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