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Can I play any windows game on a Mac Pro?
- Thread starter StarQ1
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Depending on the graphics card requirements, it should be the same as on any PC.
If you're buying a Mac Pro for a gaming machine, you should reconsider. Games aren't really meant for workstation class processors, ECC memory slows down game performance, and the graphics card selection is non-existant. For a third of the price, you could get a Windows machine specced for gaming that will outperform a Mac Pro at playing games.
A Mac Pro is more for work tasks, like audio, video, or engineering type stuff. I suggest you do some research before spending that kind of money.
If you're buying a Mac Pro for a gaming machine, you should reconsider. Games aren't really meant for workstation class processors, ECC memory slows down game performance, and the graphics card selection is non-existant. For a third of the price, you could get a Windows machine specced for gaming that will outperform a Mac Pro at playing games.
A Mac Pro is more for work tasks, like audio, video, or engineering type stuff. I suggest you do some research before spending that kind of money.
If you want to play games, you'd be better off building your own PC. It'll be a lot cheaper, and you'll get better performance out of it. You can spend the money you save on a Mac Mini or maybe even an iMac.
The Mac Pro is a workstation, not a gaming platform. Gamers don't need 32GB of RAM, but they do need graphical performance, of which the Mac Pro has very limited options.
The Mac Pro is a workstation, not a gaming platform. Gamers don't need 32GB of RAM, but they do need graphical performance, of which the Mac Pro has very limited options.
^ double post. but that's ok. 
Anyway, the Mac Pro should be sufficient. It will not be the best gaming rig under the sun, but will handle those games without a hitch.
Anyway, the Mac Pro should be sufficient. It will not be the best gaming rig under the sun, but will handle those games without a hitch.
Yes. of course.
Because professional designers (especially 3D) work with handheld calculators nowadays and dont need serious graphic cards!
But seriously...
Its not a gaming computer, its not designed for running games, it has server ram and server cpus in it. > not as fast, but twice as reliable. it also doesnt have fancy stickers on it like "core2 EXTREME" .
however, GTA IV works smoothly maxed out on mine
(with 8800GT)but since GTA IV has just come out and its one of the most resourcehungry games, i think it will last a few more..
I bought my Mac Pro with the 8800 GT, running BootCamp and Windows XP Service Pack 3 in 1920x1200 I've been playing games such as COD - World At War, Left 4 Dead and Tomb Raider - Underworld just fine, I think I've made a few sacrifices like no v-sync and lower Anisotropic filtering but seriously no issues.
My PC freinds used to give me constant greif until they saw it that soon shut them up so go for it buy a Mac Pro you won't regret it
My PC freinds used to give me constant greif until they saw it that soon shut them up
so go for it buy a Mac Pro you won't regret it so would you recommend bootcamp or parallels when it comes to games on a mac? and I have vista ultimate sp1 64bit. or is that a bit to much for games?
I find i prefer gaming on a mac pro. first yes an imac and even macbook pro are adequate but they are harder to upgrade so easily. need another HD, no problem thing about a mac pro is that it will do whatever you ask it to...everytime. reliability is a big selling point for me
I find i prefer gaming on a mac pro. first yes an imac and even macbook pro are adequate but they are harder to upgrade so easily. need another HD, no problem
thing about a mac pro is that it will do whatever you ask it to...everytime. reliability is a big selling point for me 
so would you recommend bootcamp or parallels when it comes to games on a mac? and I have vista ultimate sp1 64bit. or is that a bit to much for games?
I find i prefer gaming on a mac pro. first yes an imac and even macbook pro are adequate but they are harder to upgrade so easily. need another HD, no problem
Boot Camp is the way to go... Parallels is a virtualization program that creates a virtual machine that you run other operating systems in where boot camp allow you to set up your machine to dual boot your OS's just like on a PC...
There is no 3rd-gen Mac Pro.
The Mac Pro is not a gaming machine. Why would you even think that it is? It's a workstation for professionals (hence the name) to do processor and graphically intensive work.
As has been said before, get an awesome gaming PC for half the price and a Mac Mini or iMac with the money you save.
as someone else said Boot Camp is free, but you will need a full copy of windows to install on your boot camp partition. You will not be able to use a software restore disk that came with a PC.
Gamers usually go for custom built / home built PCs and not the elite machines like the Mac Pro.
But I dunno; it's personal opinion.
Maybe you like the plastic black case with the plastic black door and a little dinky plastic window so you can see the bright blue lights inside while you try and get sleep. Perhaps it's the ability to buy $20 RAM that fails in less than a month?
Whatever it is, it's personal opinion. I love OS X; and after making the switch I can tell you- for sure- I'm never going back. I own my home business, and I build custom computers- most of which are gaming PCs- and even then I'm not going back.
But I dunno; it's personal opinion.
Maybe you like the plastic black case with the plastic black door and a little dinky plastic window so you can see the bright blue lights inside while you try and get sleep. Perhaps it's the ability to buy $20 RAM that fails in less than a month?
Whatever it is, it's personal opinion.
I love OS X; and after making the switch I can tell you- for sure- I'm never going back. I own my home business, and I build custom computers- most of which are gaming PCs- and even then I'm not going back.
iMac + Windows gaming machine. I thought about it, but here's why I went for a Mac Pro (despite not using any 'Pro' apps that really capitalize on the horsepower).
1) I have a 30" (from MBP days) that the iMac could not run. DisplayPort has changed that, but this was 1.5 years ago.
2) I love screen real estate. I use 3 of my 4 DVI ports (on 2 video cards) and will use a 4th before long. Spaces is a work-around for lesser Macs, and I use it when pressed, but it's no substitute for my 7.3 million pixels I have right now.
3) Way more upgradeable. You can change HDD and go to 4GB on other Macs. You can go nuts with a Mac Pro (I run 5 HDDs and 7GB) and it's the only Mac that enables you to upgrade video cards (people whine about lack of choice, but there's already 2 better cards that I can upgrade to - that's better than the nonexistent upgrade path of any other Mac) and even processors (I'm thinking to go from Dual to Quad Core if/when Snow Leopard makes that beneficial).
4) Will last longer. I was thrilled when I heard about Snow Leopard. My 4 cores rarely hit over 10%. I used to change laptops every 15-18 months. I was at that pace after switching (right after Tiger came out - say mid 2005) but the Mac Pro will last me years. Especially if a better card comes out than the 8800 - but even if it doesn't, I think that'll be good enough for my games (mostly RTS) and the ability to upgrade to 8 cores and have oodles of memory - with Snow Leopard, should be awesome.
Anyway, that's why I went for a Mac Pro.
StarQ, it will be the best thing you ever did. Definitely put the 8800GT card in.
Honestly, I can't believe I have to defend a Mac for gaming to a bunch of Mac Enthusiasts....I'm used to such defenses against my PC friends, but here I am surprised.
I've been on Apple since AppleIIe, and I also build custom gaming rigs. I've built quad cores with SLI and Raid Arrays...and this machine outperforms them all.
The Mac Pro 8 Core is the best computer I have ever owned and it ROCKS FOR GAMING. I say this 8 months after I've purchased it....usually after 8 months I'm looking for the next best thing.
I will never build myself a custom gaming PC again.
Listen, I am an pro audio guy. I am also a semi pro gamer. This machine handles ALL my needs. From Video editing in After Effects, to Sound recording in Cubase with a Motu-828 to Flash Development. At the end of the day, I boot windows and rock out on some CoD: World at war.
I used to play competitively in CAL and TWL, so I know about changing config files and removing the FPS cap. I had CoD4 getting 350 FPS on this machine on a custom config I wrote.
The only downsides are lack of sound card, and lack of inexpensive installation of Raid drives...but honestly I do not miss them. I am actually thinking of putting in an Audigy-ZS from an older computer knowing it will only work in windows for 7.1.
Don't listen to these guys who say this is for professionals only. Buy one for ALL your needs, you'll be happy you did.
Honestly, I can't believe I have to defend a Mac for gaming to a bunch of Mac Enthusiasts....I'm used to such defenses against my PC friends, but here I am surprised.
I've been on Apple since AppleIIe, and I also build custom gaming rigs. I've built quad cores with SLI and Raid Arrays...and this machine outperforms them all.
The Mac Pro 8 Core is the best computer I have ever owned and it ROCKS FOR GAMING. I say this 8 months after I've purchased it....usually after 8 months I'm looking for the next best thing.
I will never build myself a custom gaming PC again.
Listen, I am an pro audio guy. I am also a semi pro gamer. This machine handles ALL my needs. From Video editing in After Effects, to Sound recording in Cubase with a Motu-828 to Flash Development. At the end of the day, I boot windows and rock out on some CoD: World at war.
I used to play competitively in CAL and TWL, so I know about changing config files and removing the FPS cap. I had CoD4 getting 350 FPS on this machine on a custom config I wrote.
The only downsides are lack of sound card, and lack of inexpensive installation of Raid drives...but honestly I do not miss them. I am actually thinking of putting in an Audigy-ZS from an older computer knowing it will only work in windows for 7.1.
Don't listen to these guys who say this is for professionals only. Buy one for ALL your needs, you'll be happy you did.
If ECC memory slows down gaming performance in such a way that it is noticeable, then it would slow down all apps noticeably.
A Mac Pro is an Intel machine that happens to use Xeon processors which are brilliant in gaming, because they simply are fast CPU's.
The GeForce 8800 GT card may not be the most ultra card out there, but it handles every game perfectly, with the exception of all grfx card killers like Crysis.
I do agree with you that if you simply want a gaming rig, then yeah.. of course... get a cheaper PC with an even better grfx card.
But, of you're lucky enough to own a Mac Pro, and have the GeForce 8800 GT card, then it will perform as a brilliant gaming machine next to your professional apps. No need to get a gaming PC too... duh.
Thats not true. ECC doesn't slow anything down. What your getting at though is the FB-DIMMS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fully_Buffered_DIMM
So it has more Latency. This isn't apples fault as the XEON CPUs require it. The dells have the exact same thing. This just allows us to have more RAM.