Windows Finally caving into getting Windows/bootcamp. Advice needed.

[n8mac]

After many years of trying to support Mac gaming by buying only Mac games I am finally biting the bullet and getting Windows for my Mac Pro, mainly to get Planet Coaster and realizing that Apple will never update OpenGL again. Some questions...

1. I have my dad's Windows 7 pro DVD that I am guessing is an OEM disk that came with his computer. It is white and says "Licensed for use with the registered refurbisher program. registeredrefurb". Can I use this DVD to install Windows if I buy a license key online?
2. If yes to #1 where is a good legit place to buy a Windows 7 key? If no then where is cheap place to buy Windows 7 pro DVD? Ebay brings up confusing results, with some auctions saying I can't install on Macs. Odd.
3. How much would you recommend for the Windows partition? My SSD has 396GB free space. I won't be getting too many games for the windows side as I will still buy Mac games when possible.
4. Is there any gaming features I would be missing by getting Win 7 over Win 10? Will Win 10 even install using bootcamp on my 5,1 Mac Pro? Apple says my Mac Pro is not supported, and I am trying not to pay $120 for Win 10.

PS - I am using a non-flashed PC nvidia GTX 670, so whatever I install I need a way of switching back and forth from MacOS and Windows without a bootscreen.

Thanks.

 

[aidanpendragon]

What's your OS version and flavor of Mac Pro? Later versions of OS X and Bootcamp will only support Windows 10. Check Apple's site for a list. Per your post, if older Mac and OS, Win 7 might be OK.

I allocated 100 gb to my Win 7 install and didn't have a lot of games, but started feeling a space pinch before too long.

 

[0098386]

I allocated 100 gb to my Win 7 install and didn't have a lot of games, but started feeling a space pinch before too long.

One option, for both OP and yourself, is to use an external drive for games and stuff you don't need constant access to. I have an iMac with a large internal HDD but my MBP only has 512gb, both are split 50-50 Windows and Mac. But due to the MBP's smaller drive I keep all my photos in the cloud, Apple Music handles my music in the cloud too, and then it's just games on an external drive.

OP time!

1- Yes you can. In fact you can download a Windows ISO from MS' own website.
2- You can buy Windows keys from MS themselves. Other than that I dunno. I'm certain you can buy legit keys from eBay or wherever, research the seller of course.
3- Maybe hand 1/4 of the SSD over to Windows if you keep your games on an external drive, or just install one or two games at a time.
4- I have Win7 on my iMac and 10 on my MBP. Honestly I haven't noticed any difference in terms of game compatibility. Granted I don't play much. But I also haven't heard of games being Win10 exclusive - I'm sure they exist, I just haven't come across them. Though Win10 is pretty nice as far as user experience goes.

 

[Paulk]

Drakensang online can be played on a Mac, don't need bootcamp and it is free to play. Visit http://playbymail.net/mybb/showthread.php?tid=3120&pid=136291#pid136291.

 

[blesscheese]

Re: Win7 vs. Win10, the only difference I am aware of is Win7 won't support DirectX12, but most games don't have that built in yet, esp. the older games. DX11 is still widely used.

 

[iModFrenzy]

You could get a card that supports boot screens and throw it in ,no? Like a Radeon 5000 series GPU for example paired with your 670

I'd then look into finding a way to get your monitor to switch to the 670 when booted up, I'm assuming the monitor would automatically look for a signal once it's lost... but every monitor is different

 

[Washac]

You may find this useful to boot in and out of Windows, some have problems on later OS's, some told me that it should not work for me, but it does so worth try.

https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/28468/bootchamp

 

[n8mac]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this thread, and thanks for your answers.

In short, I was able to load Win 7 fine, except one issue. I couldn't find a way to buy a Win 7 key from Microsoft.com so I bought a key from gamecheap.com but when installing from my dad's DVD windows said that the key I bought was not valid So I need to contact them and find out why it didn't work.

After some headaches in getting Windows to work and setup I am able to play Planet Coaster fine and boot back and forth from MacOS to Windows using bootcamp. BTW I am on a 5,1 Mac Pro from 2010 and El Capitan. I was able to achieve medium graphics settings with complex parks and high settings with simple parks/coasters. The game looks great.

 

[Huntn]

One option, for both OP and yourself, is to use an external drive for games and stuff you don't need constant access to. I have an iMac with a large internal HDD but my MBP only has 512gb, both are split 50-50 Windows and Mac. But due to the MBP's smaller drive I keep all my photos in the cloud, Apple Music handles my music in the cloud too, and then it's just games on an external drive.

OP time!

1- Yes you can. In fact you can download a Windows ISO from MS' own website.
2- You can buy Windows keys from MS themselves. Other than that I dunno. I'm certain you can buy legit keys from eBay or wherever, research the seller of course.
3- Maybe hand 1/4 of the SSD over to Windows if you keep your games on an external drive, or just install one or two games at a time.
4- I have Win7 on my iMac and 10 on my MBP. Honestly I haven't noticed any difference in terms of game compatibility. Granted I don't play much. But I also haven't heard of games being Win10 exclusive - I'm sure they exist, I just haven't come across them. Though Win10 is pretty nice as far as user experience goes.

Because of how stingy Apple is with their SSDs, this is what I do with my MBP with Windows 10 installed, currently using an external 2TB drive to store my games in general and significantly my Steam library.
[doublepost=1486912706][/doublepost]

Re: Win7 vs. Win10, the only difference I am aware of is Win7 won't support DirectX12, but most games don't have that built in yet, esp. the older games. DX11 is still widely used.

I was very satisfied with Win7 and Windows gaming, migrated to Win 10 because my new MBP did not support Win 7.

 

[Washac]

Because of how stingy Apple is with their SSDs, this is what I do with my MBP with Windows 10 installed, currently using an external 2TB drive to store my games in general and significantly my Steam library.
[doublepost=1486912706][/doublepost]

How do you store and use your games from an external drive ?
What format is that drive setup in ?
Can this only be done with Windows 10 ?

 

[Huntn]

How do you store and use your games from an external drive ?
What format is that drive setup in ?
Can this only be done with Windows 10 ?

It can be done with Windows 7 just as easy as Windows 10. For Win 7, I used FAT32 so my Mac could interact with it. Honestly I'm not sure with Win10 if it's FAT32 or NTFS.

While running Windows, simply choose that drive to install Windows games. If they are Steam games, Steam allows you to create a second Steam library on an external drive. In fact I have both Steam and the Steam library on the external drive.

 

[Washac]

It can be done with Windows 7 just as easy as Windows 10. For Win 7, I used FAT32 so my Mac could interact with it. Honestly I'm not sure with Win10 if it's FAT32 or NTFS.

While running Windows, simply choose that drive to install Windows games. If they are Steam games, Steam allows you to create a second Steam library on an external drive. In fact I have both Steam and the Steam library on the external drive.

As easy as that, thank you.

 

[DaveNinja]

Windows 10 is basically free. You can download it from MS. If you dont activate it, it just bugs you every once and a while in the corner to activate. The only limit the non-activation puts on the install is that in order to change the desktop background, you need to right click on a picture instead of setting it up through the control panel.
I was all set to pay to activate it until i found out you dont really need to.