Advice on choosing the right iMac

[thirstyrobot]

I've decided on the 27-inch iMac with the Fusion Drive, but still on the fence about video. Should I stick with the stock NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M with 512MB, or pay extra for the 1GB model?

Other than Warcraft, I don't do much gaming. It's mostly for writing, web, email and photos. Would I be able to make-do with the 512MB for this?

 

[Apple fanboy]

Base unit will more than cover your requirements.

 

[Bear]

I've decided on the 27-inch iMac with the Fusion Drive, but still on the fence about video. Should I stick with the stock NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M with 512MB, or pay extra for the 1GB model?

Other than Warcraft, I don't do much gaming. It's mostly for writing, web, email and photos. Would I be able to make-do with the 512MB for this?

For WoW, you should consider the 1GB model at least if not the 2GB upgrade. The 660M will perform okay not, the 675MX and 680MX will be even better and since at each expansion, WoW makes heavier use of the graphics, what performs okay today maybe be poor performance in about 3 years for WoW.

For the price difference, you'll also get a 3.2GHz i5 instead of a 2.9GHz i5.

 

[udflyer]

Base model definitely.

 

[thirstyrobot]

I sure appreciate all the replies so far.

My understanding of WOW is that its performance is much more CPU and RAM dependent than on video card specs, owing to the older code base. But I figure the best way to find out is to ask what others are finding first-hand. At this point I'm leaning to the 512MB base unless I find a smokin' deal on the refurb page for a 1GB model.

 

[MultiFinder17]

I sure appreciate all the replies so far.

My understanding of WOW is that its performance is much more CPU and RAM dependent than on video card specs, owing to the older code base. But I figure the best way to find out is to ask what others are finding first-hand. At this point I'm leaning to the 512MB base unless I find a smokin' deal on the refurb page for a 1GB model.

I found the old Nvidia 9400M to run WoW acceptably - it wasn't wonderful, but it worked well enough. I upgraded recently to a mid-2011 iMac with a 512MB Radeon HD 6750M, and it runs WoW smooth as butter. You should be more than fine for several years to come with WoW on the base level GPU.

 

[Andrew*Debbie]

Other than Warcraft, I don't do much gaming. It's mostly for writing, web, email and photos. Would I be able to make-do with the 512MB for this?

Yes it will work. If you have to choose between the fusion drive and the better graphics, get the fusion drive. If you can find the money, go ahead and get the 675MX and the faster CPU.


The 675MX will play Diablo 3 maxed out. Not sure if the base GPU can do that. VRAM might be the limiting factor.

 

[Bear]

I sure appreciate all the replies so far.

My understanding of WOW is that its performance is much more CPU and RAM dependent than on video card specs, owing to the older code base. But I figure the best way to find out is to ask what others are finding first-hand. At this point I'm leaning to the 512MB base unless I find a smokin' deal on the refurb page for a 1GB model.

WoW is also dependent on the video card. iMacs with the 675MX and 680MX do keep appearing on the refurb page. Also remember what one person calls acceptable without numbers to back it up may not be acceptable to you. And remember the model with the 675MX has a faster i5.

It all depends on how many frames per second you want and how high you want the graphics options in WoW. What persoms at medium graphics today at 60FPS wcould wind up being 30FPS or less at lower graphics next WoW expansion. It might not, but it has happened with WoW expansions already.

Now I don't know the actual details of what the 650M egst in terms of WoW graphics performance, but if I were getting it, I would be looking at keeping the iMac for 4 or 5 years and therefore the graphics and processor upgrade of the higher model would be worth it to me.

 

[jtrainor56]

Go for the 2gig video, you're going for the 27", go all the way. This way you won't second guess yourself later. I've been playing WOW now for about a month and have no issues pushing settings.