OK, thanks
I though that it would have the exact same appearance on the Retina because it has exactly 4x the count of pixels of the non Retina, but it seems more complicated than that.
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Gaming on the base retina iMac
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OK, thanks
I though that it would have the exact same appearance on the Retina because it has exactly 4x the count of pixels of the non Retina, but it seems more complicated than that.
OK, thanks
I though that it would have the exact same appearance on the Retina because it has exactly 4x the count of pixels of the non Retina, but it seems more complicated than that.
In theory, some resolutions could work well, if they are exact multiples of smaller image sizes. For example, a 1600×1200 LCD could display an 800×600 image well, as each of the pixels in the image could be represented by a block of four on the larger display, without interpolation. Since 800×600 is an integer factor of 1600×1200, scaling should not adversely affect the image. But in practice, most monitors apply a smoothing algorithm to all smaller resolutions, so the quality still suffers for these "half" modes.
Source:- http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_resolution
It arrived!
Well, the imac arrived yesterday and I have been putting it through its paces. So far I am really impressed and so pleased I just bought the base model.
In OSX, I have found it snappy so far and not experienced/noticed the lag people are talking about yet.
I installed Win8.1 in bootcamp and left it downloading steam games last night. So far I have played:
Wargame red dragon
Company of heroes 2
Insurgency 2
All played at 1440p high settings. Fan ramps up slightly similar to the 2012 680mx, very pleasant noise wise.
I measured the power via my kilowatt meter and the machine idles at about 40w (brightness at 1/3) and gaming consumes between 130 and 160w
Couple of points.
1. the drivers are old, I updated them from amd.com using the new bootcamp drivers. These are ok but still do not add mantle support
2. I have the fusion drive and windows 8.1 on a hard drive is painful. I am now debating running windows from an external ssd or rippng the imac open and replacing the 1tb hdd for a 1tb ssd (I did this in my 2012 imac and it is quite easy).
Finally a big thank you to aevan who helped sway me to make the purchase.
Any questions please fire away.
Well, the imac arrived yesterday and I have been putting it through its paces. So far I am really impressed and so pleased I just bought the base model.
In OSX, I have found it snappy so far and not experienced/noticed the lag people are talking about yet.
I installed Win8.1 in bootcamp and left it downloading steam games last night. So far I have played:
Wargame red dragon
Company of heroes 2
Insurgency 2
All played at 1440p high settings. Fan ramps up slightly similar to the 2012 680mx, very pleasant noise wise.
I measured the power via my kilowatt meter and the machine idles at about 40w (brightness at 1/3) and gaming consumes between 130 and 160w
Couple of points.
1. the drivers are old, I updated them from amd.com using the new bootcamp drivers. These are ok but still do not add mantle support
2. I have the fusion drive and windows 8.1 on a hard drive is painful. I am now debating running windows from an external ssd or rippng the imac open and replacing the 1tb hdd for a 1tb ssd (I did this in my 2012 imac and it is quite easy).
Finally a big thank you to aevan who helped sway me to make the purchase.
Any questions please fire away.
Well, the imac arrived yesterday and I have been putting it through its paces. So far I am really impressed and so pleased I just bought the base model.
In OSX, I have found it snappy so far and not experienced/noticed the lag people are talking about yet.
I installed Win8.1 in bootcamp and left it downloading steam games last night. So far I have played:
Wargame red dragon
Company of heroes 2
Insurgency 2
All played at 1440p high settings. Fan ramps up slightly similar to the 2012 680mx, very pleasant noise wise.
I measured the power via my kilowatt meter and the machine idles at about 40w (brightness at 1/3) and gaming consumes between 130 and 160w
Couple of points.
1. the drivers are old, I updated them from amd.com using the new bootcamp drivers. These are ok but still do not add mantle support
2. I have the fusion drive and windows 8.1 on a hard drive is painful. I am now debating running windows from an external ssd or rippng the imac open and replacing the 1tb hdd for a 1tb ssd (I did this in my 2012 imac and it is quite easy).
Finally a big thank you to aevan who helped sway me to make the purchase.
Any questions please fire away.
Really glad if I helped in any way. I have no experience with opening iMacs, but you can run Windows on an external SSD. However, I didn't bother - as I use bootcamp just for games, and I don't mind HDD speeds for that.
Thanks for comparing the fans to the 680MX, I was wondering if the difference is huge and I'm glad it's not. iMac 5K is, so far, the quietest computer I ever used (even comparing to my MacBook Pro which is really quiet, but ramps up the fan more often and for some reason I find the iMac's fan more pleasant)
BTW, how big did you make your bootcamp partition? I went with 150Gb which is quite enough for a few modern games.
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At the moment I have a 200gb partition, this is just for testing though. I plan to trash it and do it properly once I know the machine is a keeper (which so far it definitely is, but I haven't really thrashed osx yet).
I must admit I only use the windows partition for games so a third option is to just have a 50gb bootcamp partition and then run steam/origin from an external ssd (I really like the quick level load times especially in multiplayer games where getting in early allows you to choose your class when they are restricted)
I am really happy with the fusion performance in OSX too which I am surprised about, I bought the base expecting to be unhappy with the fusion and to upgrade it myself
Thank you!
You can also set up your whole Windows/Bootcamp partition on an external drive: that's what I've done on an USB3 500GB drive, it is working great!
Welcome Alien Isolation, Bioshock Infinite, Far Cry 3... Fusion Drive is a very good system indeed. I'm very happy with it too
Woohoo congratulations, that was quite a fast delivery !
Interesting points about Windows, SSD and drivers not being up to date. I read somewhere drivers have already been updated twice for Windowze, I hope I'm not confusing topics. If it's true it means there is further improvement ahead soon.
From your combined comments about the HDD, I kinda feel the 256GB SSD is not on par with the 1TB fusion drive, as in, pure flash speed cannot make up the huge capacity difference, utility-wise.
And then Apple charging 800 EUR for an upgrade to 1TB SSD
What I want to do is try to get Evolve asap to play / test it. That's the highest end game I plan to play but I have no fears it will run well. If you've tried it by any chance, let me know.
Oh man ... weekend ahead and time for you to enjoy this incredible machine ! Have fun !
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How much cash are we talking about though ? USB 3, 500GB SSD drive, I find costs of around 500 EUR, that seems a bit steep - it's more than a PS4
What solutiion do you use ?
Interesting points about Windows, SSD and drivers not being up to date. I read somewhere drivers have already been updated twice for Windowze, I hope I'm not confusing topics. If it's true it means there is further improvement ahead soon.
From your combined comments about the HDD, I kinda feel the 256GB SSD is not on par with the 1TB fusion drive, as in, pure flash speed cannot make up the huge capacity difference, utility-wise.
And then Apple charging 800 EUR for an upgrade to 1TB SSD
What I want to do is try to get Evolve asap to play / test it. That's the highest end game I plan to play but I have no fears it will run well. If you've tried it by any chance, let me know.
Oh man ... weekend ahead and time for you to enjoy this incredible machine ! Have fun !
----------
Thank you!
You can also set up your whole Windows/Bootcamp partition on an external drive: that's what I've done on an USB3 500GB drive, it is working great!
How much cash are we talking about though ? USB 3, 500GB SSD drive, I find costs of around 500 EUR, that seems a bit steep - it's more than a PS4
What solutiion do you use ?
My Windows partition in only for gaming a few hours per week, so I took an old 500GB HDD than I put on a USB3 case. It doesn't bother me than the loading times are longer than SSD... And as you said, I don't wan't to invest the price of a PS4 on an external drive just to play a few hours per week.How much cash are we talking about though ? USB 3, 500GB SSD drive, I find costs of around 500 EUR, that seems a bit steep - it's more than a PS4
What solutiion do you use ?
My Windows partition in only for gaming a few hours per week, so I took an old 500GB HDD than I put on a USB3 case. It doesn't bother me than the loading times are longer than SSD... And as you said, I don't wan't to invest the price of a PS4 on an external drive just to play a few hours per week.
Got it !
It's funny, looking at the iMac in your signature i get the feeling its even better at gaming at least than the new model. I mean, GTX780M with 4GB is rated way higher on GPUBoss than the M290X. I'd be totally buying a maxed out Late 2013 iMac if not for the Retina awesomeness
I've bought it in November: I had a 2007 24", it was time!Got it !
It's funny, looking at the iMac in your signature i get the feeling its even better at gaming at least than the new model. I mean, GTX780M with 4GB is rated way higher on GPUBoss than the M290X. I'd be totally buying a maxed out Late 2013 iMac if not for the Retina awesomeness
When I saw the Retina screen of the new 27" in an Apple Store, my jaw felt on the floor!
It is a major improvement and my next iMac will be Retina, that's for sure.I choose the late 2013 over the Retina because it is a lot of money for me, and I wan't a flawless machine. The late 2013 is powerful, silent, does not heat much, it is perfect for my needs. And the screen is not the Retina one, but it is far far better than the 1920x1200 24" of my mid 2007.
The nVidia GTX 780M is really powerful and does not heat, games are really beautiful in 2560x1440!!
Maybe I will switch to Retina in 2 or 3 years
Thank you!
You can also set up your whole Windows/Bootcamp partition on an external drive: that's what I've done on an USB3 500GB drive, it is working great!
Fusion Drive is a very good system indeed. I'm very happy with it too
What method did you use to create the external windows partition? I have been considering winclone. I have a usb3 enclosure and a 500gb ssd already here.
And with regards to the 780m being much faster than the m290x, well I do not notice much difference so far. For my day job I sell Alienware so am very familiar with 780m/880m/980m etc. The m290x is clocked at 975/1365 so much faster than a stock m290x. I get a 3dmark11 score of 7800 which is pretty good.
If there is any difference the screen more than makes up for it and I can lower the resolution which still looks good (unlike lowering the res on my 2012 680mx imac)
I've bought it in November: I had a 2007 24", it was time!
When I saw the Retina screen of the new 27" in an Apple Store, my jaw felt on the floor!
I choose the late 2013 over the Retina because it is a lot of money for me, and I wan't a flawless machine. The late 2013 is powerful, silent, does not heat much, it is perfect for my needs. And the screen is not the Retina one, but it is far far better than the 1920x1200 24" of my mid 2007.
The nVidia GTX 780M is really powerful and does not heat, games are really beautiful in 2560x1440!!
Maybe I will switch to Retina in 2 or 3 years
You made a great choice. Yes, the retina screen is beautiful, but that doesn't make the 2013. iMac any less great or capable. It also has a terrific screen and GTX 780 is awesome. Enjoy your iMac!
I use this method to install Windows 8.1 on the external drive. You need to follow thouroughly the tutorial and to attach the drive directly to the iMac, and it works perfectly. I advise you to try with windows 8.1 (I didn't succed with 7).
And with this tutorial, you don't have to touch the inner partition, that's why I've done this way.
All very good points. No reason to go into further benchmarkings, and not the point of the topic either.
Guys, I feel I'm not contributing to the topic at all but I do thank you all for the insights.
It's almost Monday now
All very good points. No reason to go into further benchmarkings, and not the point of the topic either.
Guys, I feel I'm not contributing to the topic at all but I do thank you all for the insights.
It's almost Monday now
Haha the wait is painful isn't it. I wanted the trackpad instead of the magic mouse but that would have added a 3 day wait and I am way too impatient
I will add a few more benchmarks as I play through/set up my games just for anyone else who may need any specific data. I am downloading ARMA3, Titanfall, BF4 and red orchestra 2 but they are so big it will take me a while
Haha the wait is painful isn't it. I wanted the trackpad instead of the magic mouse but that would have added a 3 day wait and I am way too impatient
I will add a few more benchmarks as I play through/set up my games just for anyone else who may need any specific data. I am downloading ARMA3, Titanfall, BF4 and red orchestra 2 but they are so big it will take me a while
Battlefield 4 is always a good one to test.
One thing about today's games is, there are so many settings to configure and I honestly think you can cut some (like the 4xMSAA on BF4) and get a big FPS boost with minimal visual quality loss (at 1440p for example).
So in a way, I'm sure the M290X will run anything and make it look splendid even if some super high end details are cut behind the scenes.
I noticed the higher clock speeds, in fact I made a post about it
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1845564/
And the M290X is based on exactly the same chip as HD 7870 Ghz Edition and clocked almost the same (975 vs 1000) while it has a higher memory clock (1365 vs 1200) so I'd say it is equal to that desktop card. The "regular" M290X is underclocked in comparison, but the iMac version is, as I said, almost identical. And when you compare the HD 7870 with 780M, according to Gpuboss, they are roughly equal in performance (both scoring 7.4)
So, I'd say that base Retina iMac is roughly equal in gpu performance with the maxed-out 2013 iMac with GeForce 780M.
Of course, this all judging by comparisons I found online, I have no experience with the 780M.
And, judging by the great performance in games, I'd say that the iMac 5K is a decent gaming machine that will be capable to run most of the games for some time. As I mentioned in that post, my real test will be the Witcher 3 - as 7870 is the minimum required GPU according to the official requirements. We'll see if it'll be able to run it well in 1080p. And for everything else, including modern PC games, for now the 5K is quite capable.
Very true, and the good thing about the display is it copes with non native resolutions really well, so worst case 1600x900 will probably still look pretty good when the machine can't cope with titles at 1080p
So, you're saying that the higher resolution panel actually does downscaling better than a 'regular' 1440p screen? (Does that mean 1600x900 actually looks better on Retina screens than on non-retina 27"?)
there is a night and day difference. I normally hate running a monitor non native, but have been doing it for ages on my 15" macbook pro retina. On my 2012 iMac, 1080p looked terrible, I have just been playing DOTA 2 at 1080p max settings and it looks brilliant
If it makes any difference to anyone I'm a gamer and review loads of games. Picked up the iMac 5k base model simply for photography but I've tried a number of games out. Obviously if you attempt the full resolution its mostly 10fps or lower with the latest titles, but dropping down to 1080p and most games work ok.
What I have found is that for adventure titles - like Broken Age, The Book of Unwritten Tales 1 & 2, Shadowrun Returns etc the machine runs them pretty much at the highest res each game offers without any problem.
Obviously in the future this won't be the case, but current point and clickers and a few others work really well.
Just don't go into this base unit (or the top end one) expecting to play the latest 3D titles at the full resolution at anything higher than 20-25 fps, if that. Not even the latest top end graphics cards can currently do that even at 4k, let alone 5.
What I have found is that for adventure titles - like Broken Age, The Book of Unwritten Tales 1 & 2, Shadowrun Returns etc the machine runs them pretty much at the highest res each game offers without any problem.
Obviously in the future this won't be the case, but current point and clickers and a few others work really well.
Just don't go into this base unit (or the top end one) expecting to play the latest 3D titles at the full resolution at anything higher than 20-25 fps, if that. Not even the latest top end graphics cards can currently do that even at 4k, let alone 5.
Yes, of course. I don't think anyone expects to play games in 4K on either iMac 5K model. As you can see in the previous posts, we were clearly talking about running games at 1440p, 1080p and 900p. As long as the iMac can play most games in 1080p, I'm happy
Yes, of course. I don't think anyone expects to play games in 4K on either iMac 5K model. As you can see in the previous posts, we were clearly talking about running games at 1440p, 1080p and 900p. As long as the iMac can play most games in 1080p, I'm happy
Yes I should have probably read a bit more of the thread before jumping in!