2017 iMac Gaming Performance

[Ledgem]

Thank you for all the answers I'm really considering getting a gaming PC instead, but for some reason my dad reall, really hates Windows. If I got a gaming PC, would I be able to dual boot Windows and Hackintosh and is Hackintosh stable? I really don't want to spend $3000 (I'm in Canada)

If your parents are paying for it and you're fine with either choice, then the iMac will be a big upgrade from what you're currently using either way. You can install a Bootcamp partition and run Windows natively for optimal gaming performance, too. It'll still be more expensive and perhaps not as powerful as a dedicated gaming system, but someone else is paying, so...

Hackintoshes are stable, but with each new release things are likely to break and incompatibilities may crop up.

 

[BergerFan]

That is your video correct? Looks really good.

Assetto VR offers display quality options, in that video what were all your settings (resolution, anti aliasing, world detail, shadow resolution, etc etc)?

I've just spent the evening testing optimum Oculus performance in Assetto and these are my new settings:

I'm not sure if the resolution setting matters in the Rift, as I didn't see any notable visual difference, although I could be wrong there.

16x AF
4x AA
Maximum World Detail
Ultra Shadow Resolution
Ultra smoke in mirrors
High quality mirror reflection
High Reflection Quality
Supersampling in the Oculus Tray tool: 1.1

With 20 cars at Brands Hatch things were still silky smooth!
This GPU is better than I thought!

 

[cynics]

I've just spent the evening testing optimum Oculus performance in Assetto and these are my new settings:

I'm not sure if the resolution setting matters in the Rift, as I didn't see any notable visual difference, although I could be wrong there.

16x AF
4x AA
Maximum World Detail
Ultra Shadow Resolution
Ultra smoke in mirrors
High quality mirror reflection
High Reflection Quality
Supersampling in the Oculus Tray tool: 1.1

With 20 cars at Brands Hatch things were still silky smooth!
This GPU is better than I thought!

Better than I would have expect too.

 

[AFEPPL]

If you want to play games just get a windows PC.

 

[robeddie]

I got the top end 21.5 inch (4gb radeon 560). Started playing Prey (2017 version) the other day in Windows 10 (bootcamp) and very pleased with it's performance.

I dial most of these higher end games to 1920x1080 resolution with high graphics quality settings, which I think looks fantastic and it runs smoothly with everything I've thrown at it.
[doublepost=1504223860][/doublepost]

If you want to play games just get a windows PC.

Nonsense. These 2017 iMacs are very good gaming machines. Especially if you run windows in bootcamp. I don't want a second desktop cluttering up my house or my desk anyway.

 

[AFEPPL]

Compared to what!!! And for what - casual games?

Gaming rig every time- customisable and upgradable.. and you're entitled to an opinion but I'm not going that way.

 

[blesss]

About 3 weeks after I purchased and took delivery of this iMac, I asked on this forum, on Reddit, and elsewhere, to see if someone had already tried VR with this iMac, but I came up short.
So, I decided to "find out for myself". I installed Windows 10 to a 500 GB partition of my 3TB total storage and installed a few Steam games (Doom demo, Assetto Corsa etc).
Those were running fine in 1440p with medium/high general settings, which was very nice indeed.

which spec iMac is this?

 

[BergerFan]

If you want to play games just get a windows PC.

I don't have the room or the desire for another machine, when I can have both in one machine. I can play games just fine, thanks.
[doublepost=1504232895][/doublepost]

which spec iMac is this?

Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017
Intel 7th-gen Core i7-7700K 4.3 GHz
AMD Radeon Pro 580 8GB
24 GB DDR4 2400 MHz RAM
Windows 10 (via Bootcamp)
[doublepost=1504233013][/doublepost]

Compared to what!!! And for what - casual games?

Gaming rig every time- customisable and upgradable.. and you're entitled to an opinion but I'm not going that way.

No-one's forcing you, were just stating that for those who want both options in one package, they're good to go.

 

[AFEPPL]

It's great to have choices.

But a 3k iMac is not on par with a gaming rig at half the cost - assuming you have the space and or screen already... A 580 8GB has roughly 2/3s the graphical horse power of the GTX 1070 and less that half that of a 1080Ti, which might not be a problem if you don't want high frame rates or 4K. It's slightly less than that of the xbox to give some perspective but with a 1/3 less memory bandwidth (not that I'm saying the Xbox is bad, it's not, it's a great device at 1/9th the cost).

 

[_Kiki_]

It's great to have choices.

But a 3k iMac is not on par with a gaming rig at half the cost - assuming you have the space and or screen already... A 580 8GB has roughly 2/3s the graphical horse power of the GTX 1070 and less that half that of a 1080Ti, which might not be a problem if you don't want high frame rates or 4K. It's slightly less than that of the xbox to give some perspective but with a 1/3 less memory bandwidth (not that I'm saying the Xbox is bad, it's not, it's a great device at 1/9th the cost).

So, you saying GTX 1070 it's on the par with xbox?

Forza Horizon 3 resolution 4K Ultra-High settings stable 60fps

xbox resolution full hd, like medium-high setting and 30 fps cap, right ?

 

[Kyakou]

Can you game with the Radeon Pro 580 in 1440p and 4K? I doubt it'll do very well in 4K though. Also, how good is video editing with something like Adobe Premier or Shotcut?

 

[Luxtrau]

Can you game with the Radeon Pro 580 in 1440p and 4K? I doubt it'll do very well in 4K though. Also, how good is video editing with something like Adobe Premier or Shotcut?

As I said, every modern game should be running smoothly in 1440p on the iMac w/ 580 Pro. 4k/5k only for low-end games.

I ran a couple of very graphic-intense games in 2560x1440 and got 35-60 fps. So very playable.

 

[Shivetya]

check out barefeats.com for some some good performance numbers, I make sure to mention that site anytime I find it appropriate as Rob does great work and does configurations many of us would not consider.

If anything the best feature of the new iMac is that we can easily use a external GPU to both increase the graphics power as well as extend the life of the base machine

 

[AFEPPL]

So, you saying GTX 1070 it's on the par with xbox?

Forza Horizon 3 resolution 4K Ultra-High settings stable 60fps

xbox resolution full hd, like medium-high setting and 30 fps cap, right ?

Depends on what number you compare. Based in the pre data it sits above the 580, but below the 1070
But I can't wait to get the X. 6.2TFLOPs, 326GB/s

 

[_Kiki_]

Depends on what number you compare. Based in the pre data it sits above the 580, but below the 1070
But I can't wait to get the X. 6.2TFLOPs, 326GB/s

Radeon Pro 580 5.5 TFLOPS
GTX 1070 6.46 TFLOPS

still much more than current generation Xbox

 

[blesss]

As I said, every modern game should be running smoothly in 1440p on the iMac w/ 580 Pro. 4k/5k only for low-end games.

I ran a couple of very graphic-intense games in 2560x1440 and got 35-60 fps. So very playable.

out of curiosity, which games are you referring to?

 

[snowtrooper1966]

Browser based?

Download Steam and then download your games from that.

I apologize if I'm missing something here....lol

There's a dedicated Steam client. There's no browser games - they're fully native.

Forgot about the client, LOL
Shows I have 0 experience using it, just my 11 year old's thing.
Id love to play SW Battlefront II once it's released, but as mentioned earlier, don't want to have to run an windows emulator.

Games DL'd through Steam are safe to run on the iMac, free of bloat/adware?

 

[EnderBeta]

Hmm... is there any way beside: refurb that I can get an iMac cheaper?

Wait for the next model to rereleased and buy the old one used or make a hackintosh.

 

[AFEPPL]

Radeon Pro 580 5.5 TFLOPS
GTX 1070 6.46 TFLOPS

still much more than current generation Xbox

Nope x is 6.2 TF just like I said..

 

[EnderBeta]

Nope x is 6.2 TF just like I said..

The Xbox One X is also $500. That is a lot of money for a mid generation upgrade console which may or may not have games that use the extra horse power and are of a pedigree of questionable quality.

For me the Xbox One X is a wait and see, especially in terms of reliability as my Xbox One power supply died and took my Xbox One with it and Microsoft told me tough. After having to replace my Xbox 360 twice and the Xbox One diving I'm not touching the Xbox One X unless it turns out to be in line with the Xbox 360 S in terms of reliability.

 

[mpConroe]

I use my iMac as a gaming machine. I played Battlefield 1, Mass Effect Andromeda, GTA V and Player's Unknown Battleground. All in Full HD or higher (even 1440), 30-60 FPS each. All playable and looks stunning on this big 27'' screen. I have never had a computer with such beautiful and big screen!

I hate one thing: I have to boot to Windows 10 to run this games. If only macOS had such a big Steam/Origin library...
Tomorrow arrives my 32GB kit from Corsair. It should helps with video editing on macOS and maybe it will increase gaming performance in Windows 10.

 

[AFEPPL]

YMMV, I still have a day one white 360 still working not a single issue. 2 other 360 slims all working. Day one Xbox one never missed a beat and 2 Xbox One S's. Reliability has been faultless. 450 vs 3300 is a lot of difference - just saying!

 

[_Kiki_]

Nope x is 6.2 TF just like I said..

One X wasn't released, so I mean current generation it's still One and One S

 

[EnderBeta]

YMMV, I still have a day one white 360 still working not a single issue. 2 other 360 slims all working. Day one Xbox one never missed a beat and 2 Xbox One S's. Reliability has been faultless. 450 vs 3300 is a lot of difference - just saying!

Just because you got lucky doesn't mean that it wasn't a problem. Microsoft would not have extended the warranty of the original white 360 units by another year if there was not a very real and major issue with a high percentage of the units.

Microsoft being incredibly cheap didn't extend the warranty on the original Xbox ones. However they wouldn't have a created a troubleshooting guide for a non major issue. https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/console/reset-power-supply-solution

The Xbox consoles are junk. I like the platform but the hardware is always breaking.

 

[AFEPPL]

You mean in your opinion- I don't share that point of view.
Better made than the PS which I had no end of trouble with, when an issue was identified MS stepped up - apple could do the same at times!!

Let's not throw stones when we are in a glass house.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203207