Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

SSD-GUY

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 20, 2012
1,159
2,118
Interstellar
Hi all

Anyone have any benchmarks/details on the gaming performance on the new skylake Retina MacBook, as compared to the 2015 Broadwell version?

Thanks
 

rixard

macrumors member
Nov 9, 2012
33
11
Sweden
I am waiting for tests on games AND my m7/512 - I'll do some tests when I get mine if someone doesn't beat me to it.

I usually play:
* Minecraft
* Left 4 Dead 2
* Counter strike: GO
* Old DOS games and emulated consoles
 

Ovedius

macrumors 6502
Aug 2, 2012
438
402
Norway
I'd love to hear how Starcraft 2, Invisible Inc, Deus Ex Human Revoution (this one is a stretch, I know), Homeworld Remastered and Civilization 5 run if anyone have any of them.
:D
 

keviig

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2012
498
225
I was about to post the exact same question. Would love to hear if the less throttled nature of the Skylake chips make the difference in gaming performance more than the 25% Apple quotes.
 

827538

Cancelled
Jul 3, 2013
2,322
2,833
I'm actually seriously impressed by how well that Broadwell rMB performed! Considering its size and that it's completely fanless and using iGPU it's quite something. I'm guessing Civ 5 will be entirely playable judging by that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: keviig

lite426

macrumors regular
May 24, 2013
238
57
How much higher frame rates does new Macbook get on left 4 dead compared with old?
 

Mathias Denichi

macrumors 6502
Jun 21, 2013
454
637
I'm interested in how the m7 performs as well. Very well may sway me to get the rMB over the upcoming rMBP. Wasn't impressed by my 2015 1.2ghz rMB that could barely run smite, a dx9 game on low.
 

in Cider

macrumors member
Jan 28, 2016
59
15
My guess would be whatever fps the 2015 rMB runs it at x1.25-1.4 (apple/intel performance increase claims).

I hope this is truly the case, I would upgrade my 2015 immediately if I see 40% increase in OpenGL games.
 

0983275

Suspended
Mar 15, 2013
472
56
Anyone with M7 able to test WarThunder on minimum settings? Or Diablo 3 please?

I'll be able to test Diablo 3 sometime this week when I get my rMB, though it'll be with m5 instead of m7 and under OS X instead of Windows, so whatever the result is, expect it to be a bit smoother since m7 has slightly higher iGPU clock.
 

magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,997
2,367
Don't expect miracles as (at least under windows) the HD515 is just a bit slower than the HD6000 on my 3 year old rMBP13, which is only barely playable in most newer games at the lowest settings. Be prepared to game at 720p...or 10+ year old games like HL2.
 
  • Like
Reactions: keviig

keviig

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2012
498
225
Don't expect miracles as (at least under windows) the HD515 is just a bit slower than the HD6000 on my 3 year old rMBP13, which is only barely playable in most newer games at the lowest settings. Be prepared to game at 720p...or 10+ year old games like HL2.
True... +25% on such a small number of fps to begin with doesn't suddenly make it good for gaming. Even the Iris 6100 in my 2015 rMBP won't run any newer games at decent resolution/graphics/framerate. But older games, or 2d games will work just fine.

I just tried Dark Souls 3 in bootcamp Windows 10 for ***** and giggles, and i barely managed 25 fps at 800x600 everything at the lowest setting
 

Mathias Denichi

macrumors 6502
Jun 21, 2013
454
637
Don't expect miracles as (at least under windows) the HD515 is just a bit slower than the HD6000 on my 3 year old rMBP13, which is only barely playable in most newer games at the lowest settings. Be prepared to game at 720p...or 10+ year old games like HL2.

Well that's fine being that the scaled resolution is 1280x800 on rMB. The 2015 wasn't even able to handle low on most games.
 

kitt9000

macrumors 6502
Mar 15, 2012
459
702
Hi there, I don't post here much (a "lurker?"), but just received the m7 macbook yesterday. Overall, a notably smoother experience just getting around the OS. However I am not much of a gamer..but one of my fav games on the mac is Batman Arkham City, quite old now. Sorry to say that even with the upgraded specs, and at 800x600 with all settings to low (literally everything checked off), the game is barely playable and has frequent frame drops and slowdowns...really unplayable. My 13inch macbook pro 2015 (which I was considering selling) with i7 and iris graphics, runs it at 1440x900 (i believe is default) with "high graphics" without a hitch. I'm not a gamer really, but was hoping it would be able to do this one. Otherwise, still some stutter with high graphic websites but overall very impressive performance compared to the 2015...overall smoother. Also did an iMovie conversion of an .mp4 file (a 2 hour video) took about an hour and 40 mins to convert and really kept pace well with the macbook pro 2015. In fact with video conversion, the macbook pro's fan came on the entire time and the battery drained very very fast...macbook was maybe 5 mins slower but kept its battery going very well. and of course silent. That was impressive. So I think its still the graphics card that not quite capable but the m7 processor seems to be doing its job.
 

magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,997
2,367
True... +25% on such a small number of fps to begin with doesn't suddenly make it good for gaming. Even the Iris 6100 in my 2015 rMBP won't run any newer games at decent resolution/graphics/framerate. But older games, or 2d games will work just fine.

I just tried Dark Souls 3 in bootcamp Windows 10 for ***** and giggles, and i barely managed 25 fps at 800x600 everything at the lowest setting
My 2012 rMBP 15 was the last decent performing Apple laptop when it came to gaming for it's time. The most recent dGPU's in rMBP have all performed almost at the same speed. Hopefully Apple is able to get Polaris into the next gen rMBP 15 to end this stagnation...
 
  • Like
Reactions: keviig

keviig

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2012
498
225
My 2012 rMBP 15 was the last decent performing Apple laptop when it came to gaming for it's time. The most recent dGPU's in rMBP have all performed almost at the same speed. Hopefully Apple is able to get Polaris into the next gen rMBP 15 to end this stagnation...
I agree! I sincerely hope AMD pulls off Polaris. Nvidia needs some serious competition in the mobile GPU market.
 

Mathias Denichi

macrumors 6502
Jun 21, 2013
454
637
Hi there, I don't post here much (a "lurker?"), but just received the m7 macbook yesterday. Overall, a notably smoother experience just getting around the OS. However I am not much of a gamer..but one of my fav games on the mac is Batman Arkham City, quite old now. Sorry to say that even with the upgraded specs, and at 800x600 with all settings to low (literally everything checked off), the game is barely playable and has frequent frame drops and slowdowns...really unplayable. My 13inch macbook pro 2015 (which I was considering selling) with i7 and iris graphics, runs it at 1440x900 (i believe is default) with "high graphics" without a hitch. I'm not a gamer really, but was hoping it would be able to do this one. Otherwise, still some stutter with high graphic websites but overall very impressive performance compared to the 2015...overall smoother. Also did an iMovie conversion of an .mp4 file (a 2 hour video) took about an hour and 40 mins to convert and really kept pace well with the macbook pro 2015. In fact with video conversion, the macbook pro's fan came on the entire time and the battery drained very very fast...macbook was maybe 5 mins slower but kept its battery going very well. and of course silent. That was impressive. So I think its still the graphics card that not quite capable but the m7 processor seems to be doing its job.
Was Arkham played on Mac OSX or bootcamp btw?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.