Base 27 inch with fusion- Gaming first impression

[Wakeywarrior]

Just received my base 27 with Fusion. Have not added any additional memory yet.

First thing done (just for a test, I normally would not game on a desktop) was download Witcher 2.

It was very choppy in native resolution on medium settings. Also the screen was not full screen for some reason- perhaps a driver issue?

However, I dropped it down to 1080p (it looks fine at that resolution) and it runs smoothly full screen at Ultra settings.

So I am pleasantly surprised that whilst not cutting edge, it still has enough horsepower to run demanding games at high quality settings, albeit at 1080p.

 

[jido]

Did you give the computer enough time to move hot files to the SSD, to finish its Spotlight indexing?

I would not run benchmark just after receiving a Mac, I don't think they are representative.

 

[Wakeywarrior]

Did you give the computer enough time to move hot files to the SSD, to finish its Spotlight indexing?

I would not run benchmark just after receiving a Mac, I don't think they are representative.

Sorry new to iMac- is it a case of just leaving it on to do this?

I did notice after a couple of starts (as I was messing with the settings on W2 and restarting) that it booted the game incredibly quickly.

It also seems to run silent whilst gaming, although I have only had it on for half an hour.

 

[jido]

Sorry new to iMac- is it a case of just leaving it on to do this?

I did notice after a couple of starts (as I was messing with the settings on W2 and restarting) that it booted the game incredibly quickly.

It also seems to run silent whilst gaming, although I have only had it on for half an hour.

For the hot files, I read it takes about one hour (yes leaving it on its own).

For Spotlight, check the magnifying glass in the top right corner - it has a dot in the centre if it is still indexing.

 

[Wakeywarrior]

Yes its not got a spot in the magnifying glass (how's that different to finder by the way- a bit off topic). Time Machine doing a first backup though so not sure if that affects it.

Am pretty happy to be running Witcher 2 in Ultra though on 1080P it looks pretty good.

 

[FuriousGreg]

Yes its not got a spot in the magnifying glass (how's that different to finder by the way- a bit off topic). Time Machine doing a first backup though so not sure if that affects it.

Am pretty happy to be running Witcher 2 in Ultra though on 1080P it looks pretty good.

Good to hear, I picked up W2 a while ago when it was on sale and have been waiting to play it...

What are your settings (AA, etc.) and how's it play when theres a lot going on? Do you know the FPS?

 

[Wakeywarrior]

Good to hear, I picked up W2 a while ago when it was on sale and have been waiting to play it...

What are your settings (AA, etc.) and how's it play when theres a lot going on? Do you know the FPS?

Don't seem to be settings from the version on the app store- just medium, high and ultra. Don't know what frames per second its running at but seems reasonably smooth.

Thinking maybe when I up the ram to 24gb it might improve things further- what do you think?

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Just found them in advanced settings.

Dont seem to see much difference with AA on or off in 1080p at high quality.

High quality seems best- maybe just higher frame rate than with ultra and not much difference in graphical quality.

How do I see frame rate?

 

[FuriousGreg]

Don't seem to be settings from the version on the app store- just medium, high and ultra. Don't know what frames per second its running at but seems reasonably smooth.

Thinking maybe when I up the ram to 24gb it might improve things further- what do you think?

Probably won't notice a difference with more than 8gb ram for most games.

I haven't opened W2 yet, my machine arrives Wens, but I believe if you open Options/Graphics within W2 you'll get more settings to play with. Ultra should have most of those setting maxed out but maybe not. Adjusting AA and other settings will change performance, getting you from "reasonably smooth" to smooth.

You need a separate program to see FPS, I can't remember the name of it...

 

[Outrigger]

Did you give the computer enough time to move hot files to the SSD, to finish its Spotlight indexing?

I would not run benchmark just after receiving a Mac, I don't think they are representative.

For ingame performance, I don't think its going matter much moving the files to SSD since this is more GPU based. Having the game files on the SSD would dramatically decrease the loading time, but it wouldn't help much pushing native res. The base model's GPU really isn't anything to write home about.

 

[FuriousGreg]

The base model's GPU really isn't anything to write home about.

I don't know, if the 675mx is running W2 on Ultra "reasonably smooth" then it can't be too bad a card, Th Witcher 2 is a serious GPU hog.

 

[Wakeywarrior]

I don't know, if the 675mx is running W2 on Ultra "reasonably smooth" then it can't be too bad a card, Th Witcher 2 is a serious GPU hog.

Its the 660MX

 

[FuriousGreg]

Its the 660MX

Cool, even better news as I've got the 680mx coming.

 

[Wakeywarrior]

Cool, even better news as I've got the 680mx coming.

I was thinking I maybe should have got that, but I don't really have time for gaming and when I do I prefer the couch with the Xbox. You will be able to max everything out on that I imagine at native res.

 

[leman]

However, I dropped it down to 1080p (it looks fine at that resolution) and it runs smoothly full screen at Ultra settings.

OS X or Windows?

 

[MagicThief83]

How do you guys think the Witcher 2 will run on the GT 650M, at 1080p? Might have to bump down the resolution I think for a more fluid experience?

 

[Wakeywarrior]

OS X or Windows?

OSX.

It must be on Fusion as from the menu to it starting when you click starts takes about 3 seconds.

 

[Trinite]

How do you guys think the Witcher 2 will run on the GT 650M, at 1080p? Might have to bump down the resolution I think for a more fluid experience?

My question, too. If the 660M is so good, and - as someone said on another thread - because it has fewer ppi to drive, the 650M is EFFECTIVELY more powerful, will it be able to handle Witcher 2 w/o too much trouble? Or will its 512MB VRAM doom it (and us all...)?

Anyone tested this yet?

 

[Wakeywarrior]

Witcher 2 struggles a bit more when it hots up - the battles in the castle etc.

I found the optimum settings seems to be set to 'high' and a resolution of 1280x 720.

Strangely, when you lower the resolution, or take off some of the more complex graphical effects such as AA, it seems to either have no effect on the framerate or actually slows it down further.\


Its just about playable on this on the heavy scenes- as it is just about the most graphically intense game you can get its not bad.

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Actually maybe I am being a bit harsh- watched some Youtube vids of it and it is not the smoothest of games on any PC by the looks of it- probably because so much going on at any one time.

 

[MagicThief83]

Or will its 512MB VRAM doom it (and us all...)?

Lol, where all doomed!...doomed I tell ya! In Bootcamp, I feel the GT 650M should be able to handle the Witcher 2 on high and a decent resolution, let's say 1600 x 900?