Windows: Skyrim 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro benchmarks (Boot Camp)

[TheInteractive]

Originally Posted by Huntn

Disregarding what is really a minimal expense, would the lack of an internal drive make you hesitate purchasing the retina display MBPs?

I had not used an optical drive in 5 years before I purchased this machine so it sure didn't stop me. And I'd been using a MacBook Air for about a year before I bought the Retina MacBook Pro — they don't have optical drives either. And neither do most ultrabooks in the PC market.

There was one frustration, though: Microsoft does not offer a digital download version of Windows 8 system builder, only a DVD version. So I had to use my iMac to make a bootable USB drive from the Windows 8 DVD to install Windows on the retina. That is, instead of just making a USB drive from a downloaded ISO — wasn't really any more trouble, but the point was I did have to use a DVD drive on another machine to get Windows on this thing.

And that was literally the only time I've used a DVD drive in about 5 years. I don't own any movies on DVD anymore either, just digital copies from iTunes, Amazon, etc.

It's only going to get more so that way, so I don't see why the lack of a DVD drive would stop anyone. And yeah, if for some reason you did want one, $80 is a pretty minimal additional expense if you're already spending $2500- $3000.

[Huntn]

Originally Posted by TheInteractive

I had not used an optical drive in 5 years before I purchased this machine so it sure didn't stop me. And I'd been using a MacBook Air for about a year before I bought the Retina MacBook Pro — they don't have optical drives either. And neither do most ultrabooks in the PC market.

There was one frustration, though: Microsoft does not offer a digital download version of Windows 8 system builder, only a DVD version. So I had to use my iMac to make a bootable USB drive from the Windows 8 DVD to install Windows on the retina. That is, instead of just making a USB drive from a downloaded ISO — wasn't really any more trouble, but the point was I did have to use a DVD drive on another machine to get Windows on this thing.

And that was literally the only time I've used a DVD drive in about 5 years. I don't own any movies on DVD anymore either, just digital copies from iTunes, Amazon, etc.

It's only going to get more so that way, so I don't see why the lack of a DVD drive would stop anyone. And yeah, if for some reason you did want one, $80 is a pretty minimal additional expense if you're already spending $2500- $3000.

I keep a lot of archived stuff on DVDs. For me a drive internal or external would be required.

[mrcheerio]

I mainly use my MBPr for gaming w/ windows 8 and mostly play LoL (league of legends) and found that it runs on 1920x1200 w/ everything max out and it doesnt dip below 50fps , Once you change it to the native resolution of the display 2800x1800 things start to get choppy and you would probably have to put all the settings to med/low for it to run smoothly

[Huntn]

Originally Posted by mrcheerio

I mainly use my MBPr for gaming w/ windows 8 and mostly play LoL (league of legends) and found that it runs on 1920x1200 w/ everything max out and it doesnt dip below 50fps , Once you change it to the native resolution of the display 2800x1800 things start to get choppy and you would probably have to put all the settings to med/low for it to run smoothly

My guess is that visually the difference between the two resolutions is minimal, yes?

[mrcheerio]

Originally Posted by Huntn

My guess is that visually the difference between the two resolutions is minimal, yes?

correct, 2880 x 1800 is obviously the recommend resolution for windows but you would have to raise the DPI for you to actually read the icons and text in windows, but after you do that some games wont play nice ex: LoL, BF3. It's best to just run windows on 1920x1200 resolution. After playing guild wars2 , I am actually surprised to see that Guild Wars 2 actually plays really well on 2880x1800 for it being a MMORPG with a big visual etc.

[Chillaz]

I'm interested in Dota 2 & LoL if that is possible. If you need a Dota 2 key in order to test it, let me know. I know a guy.

Also, Borderlands if possible.


Thanks for doing this.

[efirmage]

Borderlands 2 and Civ 5 would be great!

But this is immensely helpful already. Thanks!

[MaggieNoodle]

90% of these games wont run on a Mac... Why the benchmarks?

Skyrim: ~130 fps

[Chillaz]

Originally Posted by MaggieNoodle

90% of these games wont run on a Mac... Why the benchmarks?

Skyrim: ~130 fps

Read title then read the thread.

Bootcamp with Windows.

Anything is possible!

[efirmage]

Also Starcraft 2 would be awesome! This is one of the most helpful threads for me in deciding on a Retina MBP, so thank you!

[GalakFyarr]

Originally Posted by BlazednSleepy

What amount of fps are you averaging?

well to be honest, I have no idea how to monitor that :/ If you could tell me, I'll try doing it.

All I can say is it runs smoothly.

In more recent news, Assassin's Creed III also runs "smoothly" , with all settings on High (there's a couple of settings that can be set to Very High, but didn't try that out yet). However, some cutscenes (very few, think i've encountered 3) seem to drop FPS heavily sometimes (immediately goes back to normal once it's finished)

Side note: I'm not using a rMBP, just the regular one. The graphic card is the same though.
2012 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro without Retina Display
2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
8 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 650M 1 GB
Windows 7 via Boot Camp

[cluthz]

Originally Posted by GalakFyarr

well to be honest, I have no idea how to monitor that :/ If you could tell me, I'll try doing it.

You install a small application like FRAPS, this will show the FPS in top left corner of your screen by default.

[xPurpleblob]

possible to do call of duty modern warfare 2 or even 1?

[Valkyre]

This is an awesome thread!! can you do the witcher 2 in bootcamp?

[koolmagicguy]

Originally Posted by xPurpleblob

possible to do call of duty modern warfare 2 or even 1?

I installed Windows 7 on my machine 3 days ago for the sole purpose of playing MW2. Intel HD3000 MBP 13". I got FLAWLESS graphics at what must be 60 FPS. Also installed MW3 and it's buttery smooth as well. Fans work and machine gets warm but its an incredible experience.

I have CoD4: MW on my OS X partition and it runs great as well.

Just make sure to update your drivers. I also have 8 GB of RAM. 512 V-RAM.

[Trubbles]

I can not seem to come anywhere near these numbers

I have a 15" rMBP w/ 2.6GHz / 8 GB / 256 GB and Windows 7 64 Ultimate via Bootcamp.

The Bootcamp drive is also set up for use in Parallels (so it has the Parallels tools installed), and it has AVG (which I have tried disabling) and Steam and GW2. That is all!

In SkyRim, on high settings with 1920x1200 or even 1650x1080, its in the teens stuttering at 14-17 FPS just walking around a quiet area. Even on medium at 1440x900, it's barely playable until I enter combat, at which point it becomes unplayable!

I have installed the latest nVidia drivers (via the nVidia website) and Windows has all of it's updates.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm very frustrated

----------

Well I reset my SMC and everything is fine! What a difference!!

[TweakOnline]

Thanks for those benchmarks, Skyrim runs pretty well on 1920x1200 at ultra!

[goodtime416]

Originally Posted by mrcheerio

I mainly use my MBPr for gaming w/ windows 8 and mostly play LoL (league of legends) and found that it runs on 1920x1200 w/ everything max out and it doesnt dip below 50fps , Once you change it to the native resolution of the display 2800x1800 things start to get choppy and you would probably have to put all the settings to med/low for it to run smoothly

Is it just me? I play LoL in my MBPr 16GB ram 2.5Gz
Bootcamp Windows 7 64bits

Max everything 2880 fps steady at 60 (in fights, 10 ultra tgt etc.), however this only happens when it is plugged in with power.
When its not charging (not plugged), it goes down to 30 and does not really "bounce" up nor down. And this is NO MATTER how i change the setting, ie 1024, everything off/min, its still fixed at 30.

And when I literally plug it back it gets back to 60.
It's not just the numbers change, it feels like 30


And I try this in OSX (using boompje), everything is fine. Max 2880 run smooth as butter

Does this means in Windows 7 GPU automatically lock its performance at a fixed point when the machine is not plugged?

Or it's just me?

BTW I have reset the SMC and still got the same result (I have had some problem with Street Fighter IV and by resetting the SMC, it fixed my problem... sadly not this one)

PS. Windows 7 installed two weeks ago, everything is updated, and assuming im installed with the latest drivers(?)

[midego]

Thanks for the benchmarks, very helpful!