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2.8 Quad has same performance as 8Core in gaming?

L

LEOMODE

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 14, 2009
566
58
Southern California
http://www.barefeats.com/wst10g.html

What he emailed me and told me was also that
as for gaming, quad core 2.8, 3.2 won't even make that much of a difference with 6 core, because the games usually don't use more than 2 cores anyway.
(there is a little difference, but barely I guess, +/- 10fps)

So should I just save money and buy 2.8 + ATI5870 instead of 6core?

Because my main concern is the framerate and play games on High or Ultra settings.

I'm planning to play Starcraft2, Diablo 3, and Final Fantasy XIV.

(except for gaming, my other purposes are pretty much casual, such as encoding movies, iMovie, iPhoto and such, not professional photograph or video stuff)
 
oh and I didn't want to get a custom computer cuz I've had it all my life, and I wanted to get a Mac Pro this time...

I was thinking of alienware too but I use Mac OS primarily, thus MacPro offering bootcamp was charming.

Also, with the same BTO spec, alienware was just slightly cheaper than Mac Pro anyway (with 4 core, 6 core, and graphic cards and such)
 
you're better off sticking to fewer cores and higher clock. a better decision might be to build a hackintosh tower since much of the advantages of a Mac Pro are wasted if it's just a gaming machine...but your call. I'm sure Apple didn't help by sticking the iMacs with a 5750.
 
would alienware run hacintosh just as well as mac machines? actually i wont just play games on it...but i have HD camcorder, DSLR, and such (but not professional, just consumer)
 
:) Those barefeast numbers look very attractive. Planning to buy a 4-core Nehalem 2.8GHz Mac Pro (2010) with Radeon HD 5870 ASAP. My use will be much the same of the OP. Some consider the Mac Pro to be a waste for that, but:
1) I can't stand the iMac display;
2)I want ONE main computer, not a gaming PC + some mac;
3)I already have an external display;
4)I don't like the hassle of a hackintosh;
5)I like the expandability
 
sinser said:
:) Those barefeast numbers look very attractive. Planning to buy a 4-core Nehalem 2.8GHz Mac Pro (2010) with Radeon HD 5870 ASAP. My use will be much the same of the OP. Some consider the Mac Pro to be a waste for that, but:
1) I can't stand the iMac display;
2)I want ONE main computer, not a gaming PC + some mac;
3)I already have an external display;
4)I don't like the hassle of a hackintosh;
5)I like the expandability
Click to expand...

Pretty much my reasons too. :)

I have had my 2,8 ghz Quad, ATI 5870, 2010 Mac Pro for about a month now and I'm very happy with it. It's currently connected to a 21" Eizo display.

Some figures:

Windows7 64 bit:
Resident Evil 5, EVERY single setting maxxed: 120-150 fps
Batman Arkham Asylum, every single setting maxxed (except nvidia physx obviously): 90-100 fps

OS X:
Starcraft 2, every single setting maxxed: 80-100 fps, drops sometimes but is always smooth as butter.

I also use this machine for ripping backups of my dvds, CS5, Final Cut Express and some Cinema 4D and I'm still impressed by its performance.

Overall a good purchase and regardless what others say, it's worth the money to me. And that's all that matters in this case. :)
 
chaosbunny said:
Pretty much my reasons too. :)

I have had my 2,8 ghz Quad, ATI 5870, 2010 Mac Pro for about a month now and I'm very happy with it. It's currently connected to a 21" Eizo display.

Some figures:

Windows7 64 bit:
Resident Evil 5, EVERY single setting maxxed: 120-150 fps
Batman Arkham Asylum, every single setting maxxed (except nvidia physx obviously): 90-100 fps

OS X:
Starcraft 2, every single setting maxxed: 80-100 fps, drops sometimes but is always smooth as butter.

I also use this machine for ripping backups of my dvds, CS5, Final Cut Express and some Cinema 4D and I'm still impressed by its performance.

Overall a good purchase and regardless what others say, it's worth the money to me. And that's all that matters in this case. :)
Click to expand...



Oh wow, if you already have the machine that I might want to get, would you mind running a benchmark on Final Fantasy XIV on Windows and see what the score for LOW and HIGH is?

here is the link for the official benchmark program. I would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/media/benchmark/na/download.html

and i didnt know that starcraft 2 runs so well on mac pro. because in my macbook pro, it runs well under low settings (but good on medium to high settings on bootcamp windows because I heard that nvidia didnt update good drivers for mac osx yet)
 
Yeah I must second the request for a FFXIV benchmark number, I'm holding out for a 5870 for my Mac Pro 2,1 just for FFXIV
 
I'm going a bit off topic but can someone explain to me the following sentences found on http://www.barefeats.com/wst10g2.html where they tested the HD 5870 on the various Mac Pros ?


One concern we had was the existence of the two Mini DisplayPorts in addition to one DVI port. We can confirm that the 2008 and 2009 were able to drive our 23" Cinema displays with the Mini DisplayPorts (using Apple's Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter). I'm confident that the 24" LED Cinema display and soon-to-be-shipping 27" LED Cinema display will work fine as well. As for our 30" Cinema display, we used the DVI port while testing the 3G game listed above.

Why did they use the Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapters ? Can't one directly connect an external monitor to the Mac Pro using the DVI port ??? Do I need that to connect my old 20" ACD to the Mac pro ?
 
LEOMODE said:
http://www.barefeats.com/wst10g.html

What he emailed me and told me was also that
as for gaming, quad core 2.8, 3.2 won't even make that much of a difference with 6 core, because the games usually don't use more than 2 cores anyway.
(there is a little difference, but barely I guess, +/- 10fps)

So should I just save money and buy 2.8 + ATI5870 instead of 6core?

Because my main concern is the framerate and play games on High or Ultra settings.

I'm planning to play Starcraft2, Diablo 3, and Final Fantasy XIV.

(except for gaming, my other purposes are pretty much casual, such as encoding movies, iMovie, iPhoto and such, not professional photograph or video stuff)
Click to expand...

I'd recommend the 3.2 Quad as it's a fairly small bump in price.

regards
JohnG
 
Starcraft 2 plays smooth as silk at 2560x1440 and all settings on ultra/high on my rig (hex-core, 5870). it only hits two cores so you'll be fine on the quad core for gaming. just get the 5870, at least 6Gb of RAM and you'll be fine.
 
w00tini said:
Starcraft 2 plays smooth as silk at 2560x1440 and all settings on ultra/high on my rig (hex-core, 5870). it only hits two cores so you'll be fine on the quad core for gaming. just get the 5870, at least 6Gb of RAM and you'll be fine.
Click to expand...

chaosbunny said:
High:
Score: 4651
Load time: 42148 ms

Low:
Score: 5539
Load time: 17538 ms

Have fun! :)
Click to expand...


Thanks guys so much! but I think Ive decided my mind and went with the 6 core 3.33ghz for even better performance and future-proof purposes! (Also you cannot change the processors in the future, so I went with the fastest processor since they cant go further than 4.0, as I regret my MacbookPro being 2.66 I shouldve CTO with 2.9ghz when I had the chance but oh well) Not to mention I also do a lot of encoding movies and multitasking at the same time and Im sure 6core is a little bit pricey but will serve my purposes for about next 5yrs or so.


Cheers for the Mac Pro users with gaming ;)
 
Yeah, cheers for ths guys, I've just got a Mac Pro 5,1 and it arrives in a couple of days, 2.8 Ghz Quad, 5870, 6Gb RAM, anything more seemed a little OTT for gaming! Glad it runs so well, especially at 2560x1440 as I've bought a LED Cinema Display too!
 
congrats guys! my only suggestion is to game in windows via bootcamp. performance is better than OS X.
 
Has anyone tried civ5 on a 2010 mac pro yet?

I'm getting my first mac pro in December/January (running Logic Pro in OSX and hopefully Civ5 in boot camp - amongst other thing).
 
mcash1 said:
Has anyone tried civ5 on a 2010 mac pro yet?

I'm getting my first mac pro in December/January (running Logic Pro in OSX and hopefully Civ5 in boot camp - amongst other thing).
Click to expand...

I'll let you know how Logic runs when it gets delivered!
 
mcash1 said:
Has anyone tried civ5 on a 2010 mac pro yet?

I'm getting my first mac pro in December/January (running Logic Pro in OSX and hopefully Civ5 in boot camp - amongst other thing).
Click to expand...

I've been playing Civ 5 under boot camp since release with everything maxed and no real issues. Once you start getting to the end of 500 turn games on large maps the game starts to chug in between turns, but that occurs regardless of your system specs. I have the 2.4 Octo with 5870 and there's not really been a game that's given me issue with it, so I think you're more than safe with any of the higher clocked machines.

To be honest I was expecting a bigger performance hit from running a lower clock CPU for games and it really hasn't given me any grief so far. The GPU seems to more than make up for everything I've thrown at it.
 
I am a bit clueless what to do

Hello fellow members, what is your advice for a guy like me? My MP is a 2008 8 core 2.8Ghz model. Besides making music and editing videos I love games. (For me gaming means Windows only.) The 5870 is 626 USD where I live, besides being unavailable ATM. The other option is a dedicated gaming rig for about 1100 USD. I am a bit baffled because I love a simple setup but OTOH the 5870 could be bottlenecked in games by the 2.8 Ghz core 2 CPU. For gaming I could get better value with a Core i5/Gtx 460 combo.:confused:
 
SeanDL said:
I've been playing Civ 5 under boot camp since release with everything maxed and no real issues. Once you start getting to the end of 500 turn games on large maps the game starts to chug in between turns, but that occurs regardless of your system specs. I have the 2.4 Octo with 5870 and there's not really been a game that's given me issue with it, so I think you're more than safe with any of the higher clocked machines.

To be honest I was expecting a bigger performance hit from running a lower clock CPU for games and it really hasn't given me any grief so far. The GPU seems to more than make up for everything I've thrown at it.
Click to expand...

Cool - thx - I'm on a huge/epic game - turn 800 and its just misery for my 2008 unibody MBP - I don't mind the load times its just the amount of time it takes to scroll around - as long as the detail is super high and you can navigate around the screen that's great!
 
Matrixfan said:
Hello fellow members, what is your advice for a guy like me? My MP is a 2008 8 core 2.8Ghz model. Besides making music and editing videos I love games. (For me gaming means Windows only.) The 5870 is 626 USD where I live, besides being unavailable ATM. The other option is a dedicated gaming rig for about 1100 USD. I am a bit baffled because I love a simple setup but OTOH the 5870 could be bottlenecked in games by the 2.8 Ghz core 2 CPU. For gaming I could get better value with a Core i5/Gtx 460 combo.:confused:
Click to expand...

the 5780 is a lot more powerful than many people think. i'm a hardcore PC gamer and have been more than happy with its performance. have a look at my initial thoughts and benchmarks with it here.

the best part about the MacPro for us OS X lovers that play PC games is that you can have the best of both worlds in one box, running on one monitor arrangement, using one keyboard and mouse.

my only recommendation is that you run PC games in Bootcamp. while there are many cross platform titles out there, Win7 is still the best for resource management in current games.
 
Matrixfan said:
Hello fellow members, what is your advice for a guy like me? My MP is a 2008 8 core 2.8Ghz model. Besides making music and editing videos I love games. (For me gaming means Windows only.) The 5870 is 626 USD where I live, besides being unavailable ATM. The other option is a dedicated gaming rig for about 1100 USD. I am a bit baffled because I love a simple setup but OTOH the 5870 could be bottlenecked in games by the 2.8 Ghz core 2 CPU. For gaming I could get better value with a Core i5/Gtx 460 combo.:confused:
Click to expand...

If you are not hard core PC gaming guy, I'd just go boot camp. Remember you don't have to wait for an Apple 5870, you can stick any PC video card in there for the boot camp side. It won't work in OS X, but you'll save money and have a larger variety to choose from.

If you are hard core PC gaming guy, you should get a gaming PC. You state it's a better deal now and it will be a better and easier to upgrade a piece or two at a time to keep it constantly up to date. If you are low on desk space, get a microATX setup and use a KVM switcher to use the same keyboard/video/mouse on both machines.
 
johnnymg said:
I'd recommend the 3.2 Quad as it's a fairly small bump in price.

regards
JohnG
Click to expand...

+ I'd buy this as well, almost for every users applications needs.
 
sinser said:
Why did they use the Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapters ? Can't one directly connect an external monitor to the Mac Pro using the DVI port ??? Do I need that to connect my old 20" ACD to the Mac pro ?
Click to expand...
To confirm it works, and because some people need more than one monitor. If you're only going with one, just go pure DVI, you'll be fine.
 
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