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MacBook Air 2013 Gaming Performance (Intel HD 5000)
- Thread starter Yixian
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Here's a list from when I last had a Macbook Pro Retina (13", 8GB, HD4000), the list mostly consists of games I tried on my MBA before that (13", 8GB, HD4000)
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=1038395
I now have a 13" MBA 2013 model (i7, 8GB, HD5000) and look forward to trying more
Currently playing Fallout 3 @ 1440x900, it works well. I'm also 3/4 of the way through San Andreas (Native, almost maxed). I wish Assassin's Creed games worked well, so far AC2 + Brotherhood have run like balls (native, lowest details)
Reading through the thread... I don't understand how any of you can play at anything below native, it looks effing horrible -_-
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=1038395
I now have a 13" MBA 2013 model (i7, 8GB, HD5000) and look forward to trying more
Currently playing Fallout 3 @ 1440x900, it works well. I'm also 3/4 of the way through San Andreas (Native, almost maxed). I wish Assassin's Creed games worked well, so far AC2 + Brotherhood have run like balls (native, lowest details)
Reading through the thread... I don't understand how any of you can play at anything below native, it looks effing horrible -_-
Thanks Riz ! SWTOR is my favorite and have been looking for more feedback on how its working on the new MBA !
My Air arrived last night, and I've been playing some games on Dolphin, I'll have Steam set up by tommorow, but in the meantime:
Super Smash Bros Melee/Brawl runs at full speed, drops slightly to 50FPS when there's 4 players involved.
Mario Kart Double Dash runs at full speed, no slowdowns anywhere.
Going to try Worms Revolution, Bioshock Infinite soon.
Super Smash Bros Melee/Brawl runs at full speed, drops slightly to 50FPS when there's 4 players involved.
Mario Kart Double Dash runs at full speed, no slowdowns anywhere.
Going to try Worms Revolution, Bioshock Infinite soon.
Really impressed to see Dolphin running that well! We're you outputting just to the Air's screen or to any external monitor?
Just the Air for now, an external monitor is a few months down the line, then I'll see how it runs
Borderlands 2 runs at native resolution (1440-by-900) with details set to a mix of low/medium, bullet decals turned on, FXAA turned on, and 16x anisotropic filtering turned on. The game runs perfectly fine and is completely playable (varies between 25-35 frames per second). No noticeable lag in my opinion.
13" Air, 1.3 GHz i5, 4GB
13" Air, 1.3 GHz i5, 4GB
The HD5000 seems sensitive to resolution more than effects in my experience. Personally on most games I start by bumping down to 720p, turning off AA, medium shadows, and then I increase the other effects to get the best graphical quality/performance- but that's personal preference. For example Starcraft 2 OSX can run at a mix of high and ultra settings at 720p, but things slow right down if you go to native (still completely fine on medium/high). But of course, if you want performance install Windows and you will double frame rates. I managed to get Skyrim running impossibly well on a HD3000 through ini tweaks etc. Haven't tried with the new MBA yet, but I imagine it would be much better. Ultra portable gaming is more a curiosity to me than something I actually want to do- it's far easier to play console
MBA 2013 13" i7 8GB
I've been playing a few games after finally getting Windows 7 to work.
If you click the link below, there's a few shots and details of how the 3 games run.
I'll be testing some more later.
Enjoy!
http://darylbaxter.com/post/56509729233/sonic-generations-bioshock-infinite-worms
If you click the link below, there's a few shots and details of how the 3 games run.
I'll be testing some more later.
Enjoy!
http://darylbaxter.com/post/56509729233/sonic-generations-bioshock-infinite-worms
Impressed with MacBook Air's Capacity for Casual Gaming
Really surprised as to how high the frame rates are on some of these games. I have the late 2008 (first unibody) model of the MacBook Pro with maxed out specs (excluding SSD) and back in my WoW days I was playing with 20-30 fps with medium settings. Thinking that I probably do not need to by the rMBP as my next laptop and would be fine with a MacBook Air. Very helpful thread, thank you.
Really surprised as to how high the frame rates are on some of these games. I have the late 2008 (first unibody) model of the MacBook Pro with maxed out specs (excluding SSD) and back in my WoW days I was playing with 20-30 fps with medium settings. Thinking that I probably do not need to by the rMBP as my next laptop and would be fine with a MacBook Air. Very helpful thread, thank you.
Really surprised as to how high the frame rates are on some of these games. I have the late 2008 (first unibody) model of the MacBook Pro with maxed out specs (excluding SSD) and back in my WoW days I was playing with 20-30 fps with medium settings. Thinking that I probably do not need to by the rMBP as my next laptop and would be fine with a MacBook Air. Very helpful thread, thank you.
I had the same one, with the 9600m GT w. 512mb. The 2013 MBA is a phenomenal step up from that old tractor.
I'm going to try Tomb Raider later tonight and see how it runs.
In the meantime, i've added another post which shows how 'Dolphin' runs on the Air.
Here's one screenshot used from many. Click below for more.
http://darylbaxter.com/post/56603922960/emulation-on-the-macbook-air-legend-of-zelda
In the meantime, i've added another post which shows how 'Dolphin' runs on the Air.
Here's one screenshot used from many. Click below for more.
http://darylbaxter.com/post/56603922960/emulation-on-the-macbook-air-legend-of-zelda
Heart of the swarm
Ive tested it on my MBA 13" 2013 i5, 8Gb.
It can run at Ultra during 1 vs 1 matches,
High at 2 vs 2.
Medium at 3 vs 3 or 4 vs 4.
FPS changes dramatically during gameplay, but usually it stays between 20-40fps with ocasional stutter.
This running at OSX, without bootcamp (which should improve at least 5-10 at each condition).
BTW, are you guys bootcamping your MBAs?
With windows 8 or 7?
I've installed windows 7 on it but the Wi-fi didn't work no matter what, and it also was a little bit unstable, freezing sometimes.
I'm considering installing windows 8.1 preview to see how it works...
Which version of windows do you guys prefer? Do you have any link to download an .iso file for it?
Thanks!
Ive tested it on my MBA 13" 2013 i5, 8Gb.
It can run at Ultra during 1 vs 1 matches,
High at 2 vs 2.
Medium at 3 vs 3 or 4 vs 4.
FPS changes dramatically during gameplay, but usually it stays between 20-40fps with ocasional stutter.
This running at OSX, without bootcamp (which should improve at least 5-10 at each condition).
BTW, are you guys bootcamping your MBAs?
With windows 8 or 7?
I've installed windows 7 on it but the Wi-fi didn't work no matter what, and it also was a little bit unstable, freezing sometimes.
I'm considering installing windows 8.1 preview to see how it works...
Which version of windows do you guys prefer? Do you have any link to download an .iso file for it?
Thanks!
The website anandtech.com had an extensive review of the i7 and i5 models trying to compare each CPU.
Their conclusion was that the i7 is usually 20% faster than i5. They didn't try any game on them.
BUT, the website notebookcheck.net also compared both models. There they compared both models too. When it comes to games they didn't see any noticeable difference.
Their theory is that both the CPU and GPU share a certain amount of power. When the temperature goes up, they suffer a very aggressive throttling which knocks both CPUs to 800 mhz (from 1.3ghz and 1.7ghz) and the GPUs to 400 (from 1000mhz).
As both processors have the same thermal signature, and can handle the same temperatures, the differences between them are much less noticeable.
When you use CPU intensive tasks only, of course the performance will be better, as the i7 is faster, and the GPU is not being stressed at all so all the energy goes to the CPU.
But when you put both to stress, the difference is not that big.
Their conclusion was that the i7 is usually 20% faster than i5. They didn't try any game on them.
BUT, the website notebookcheck.net also compared both models. There they compared both models too. When it comes to games they didn't see any noticeable difference.
Their theory is that both the CPU and GPU share a certain amount of power. When the temperature goes up, they suffer a very aggressive throttling which knocks both CPUs to 800 mhz (from 1.3ghz and 1.7ghz) and the GPUs to 400 (from 1000mhz).
As both processors have the same thermal signature, and can handle the same temperatures, the differences between them are much less noticeable.
When you use CPU intensive tasks only, of course the performance will be better, as the i7 is faster, and the GPU is not being stressed at all so all the energy goes to the CPU.
But when you put both to stress, the difference is not that big.
I loved this game from the pc, and didn't factor it into my purchase for the college pc.
I'm sure when I purchase CIV V and get it running I will be thinking "I bet ZBoater doesn't have this problem" when it slows down.
Minecraft 1.6.2
So, after a year or more of no Minecraft, I had decided to install it on my new MBA which I've had for about a month and a half..
Decided to uninstalled the game.. later today..
But if you are on the look of purchasing the game, I can tell you it has good frame rate, at 60fps on all highest settings at 1440x900 with a "normal" amount of entities (monsters) around me, sometimes dropping to 54fps. You can easily ramp up the frame rate to 100 fps if you lower some settings. I was getting no lag whatsoever, good colors and contrasts, very very smooth renderings and very fine and detailed as well. First time I see Minecraft so "pretty".
My reason for uninstalling the game, is very personal: The side where the magsafe port is, above the GPU, started to boil at a temperature that I didn't like. Obviously will get hot. I am aware of the thermals and capabilities of the computer including intel's forced shutdown if temperatures get too high; but this is the first time that I hear the fans on my MBA and the first time that it gets so hot so for me it is a no no, I need to take care of my computer during my Senior year, and throughout my entire Master's, so I decided to back down. I will not have time to play the game anyways during school time.
Please do not get discouraged from my personal view, the MBA can take a lot of heat, but I personally do not like to even have a warm computer next to me, much less hear the fan.
You can easily tell.. after a year or more of no gaming, I am not a gamer anymore. Haha.
One more thing, because Java 6 SE is needed to play the game (the game downloads and installs it by itself, with permission of course), I was a bit skeptical of uninstalling Minecraft and leaving Java on my computer, so after 5 minutes of messing around with the Minecraft folder and seeing the same on the web, the Java Plugin for Minecraft is stored on Minecraft itself, so if you delete Minecraft, you delete Java as well. This makes life so much easier.
Hoping my review, helps someone out there.
Buy the game, play the game, it is a great game!
So, after a year or more of no Minecraft, I had decided to install it on my new MBA which I've had for about a month and a half..
Decided to uninstalled the game.. later today..
But if you are on the look of purchasing the game, I can tell you it has good frame rate, at 60fps on all highest settings at 1440x900 with a "normal" amount of entities (monsters) around me, sometimes dropping to 54fps. You can easily ramp up the frame rate to 100 fps if you lower some settings. I was getting no lag whatsoever, good colors and contrasts, very very smooth renderings and very fine and detailed as well. First time I see Minecraft so "pretty".
My reason for uninstalling the game, is very personal: The side where the magsafe port is, above the GPU, started to boil at a temperature that I didn't like. Obviously will get hot. I am aware of the thermals and capabilities of the computer including intel's forced shutdown if temperatures get too high; but this is the first time that I hear the fans on my MBA and the first time that it gets so hot so for me it is a no no, I need to take care of my computer during my Senior year, and throughout my entire Master's, so I decided to back down. I will not have time to play the game anyways during school time.
Please do not get discouraged from my personal view, the MBA can take a lot of heat, but I personally do not like to even have a warm computer next to me, much less hear the fan.
You can easily tell.. after a year or more of no gaming, I am not a gamer anymore. Haha.
One more thing, because Java 6 SE is needed to play the game (the game downloads and installs it by itself, with permission of course), I was a bit skeptical of uninstalling Minecraft and leaving Java on my computer, so after 5 minutes of messing around with the Minecraft folder and seeing the same on the web, the Java Plugin for Minecraft is stored on Minecraft itself, so if you delete Minecraft, you delete Java as well. This makes life so much easier.
Hoping my review, helps someone out there.
Buy the game, play the game, it is a great game!
Wow, if those are really running full-speed then I am seriously impressed. I couldn't get full-speed Super Mario Galaxy 2 on my first-gen (but 6-core) Core i7 desktop.
Im interested in buying a Macbook Air.
It would be my first Apple product.
I am still undecided between 11" and 13" but apart from screen size know that I would go for i5-4250U, 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD.
I plan to primarily run OS X for all ordinary tasks like surfing, PDFs, viewing video streams, Spotify etc.
I also want to intensely play League of Legends, therefore I plan to set up a Windows 7 system through Bootcamp.
Now I am interested in how hot the Airs will get after several hours of LoL gaming in Windows.
I will use an external mouse but would like to use the built in keyboard.
Will the body and keyboad become painfully hot?
Is there a great difference in heat between 11" and 13"?
Also, how loud will the fan be?
I guess it would not be as well balanced as under OS X and a small fan at several thousand rounds per minute can create quite a hugh amount of noise.
Thanks a lot in advance!
It would be my first Apple product.
I am still undecided between 11" and 13" but apart from screen size know that I would go for i5-4250U, 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD.
I plan to primarily run OS X for all ordinary tasks like surfing, PDFs, viewing video streams, Spotify etc.
I also want to intensely play League of Legends, therefore I plan to set up a Windows 7 system through Bootcamp.
Now I am interested in how hot the Airs will get after several hours of LoL gaming in Windows.
I will use an external mouse but would like to use the built in keyboard.
Will the body and keyboad become painfully hot?
Is there a great difference in heat between 11" and 13"?
Also, how loud will the fan be?
I guess it would not be as well balanced as under OS X and a small fan at several thousand rounds per minute can create quite a hugh amount of noise.
Thanks a lot in advance!
I have the 13 inch model and it doesnt get considerably hot.
It is warm though after playing LoL for one hour or so.
The fan also is barely noticeable, nothing like bigger notebooks, but during demanding tasks it is very noticeable, though it never bothered me.
If you plan on installing windows, for whatever reason you might have, just go for at least 256 Gb ssd.
The 128 Gb ome will be VERY small for your tasks.
----------
And do consider getting 8gb of RAM.
OSX demands more RAM than windows.
More RAM improves SSD lifetime.
More RAM is kind of more "future-proof". Next iterations of OSX will likely demand more of it and it's not upgradable.
It is warm though after playing LoL for one hour or so.
The fan also is barely noticeable, nothing like bigger notebooks, but during demanding tasks it is very noticeable, though it never bothered me.
If you plan on installing windows, for whatever reason you might have, just go for at least 256 Gb ssd.
The 128 Gb ome will be VERY small for your tasks.
----------
And do consider getting 8gb of RAM.
OSX demands more RAM than windows.
More RAM improves SSD lifetime.
More RAM is kind of more "future-proof". Next iterations of OSX will likely demand more of it and it's not upgradable.