OS X FPS of Games

[feldman26]

I recently purchased a 2013 macbook air
(dual core i7, 8gb of ram, intel HD 5000). I know my options are limited so I'm just wondering, what is the average fps on these computers for games like Kerbal Space Program, Minecraft, and out of curiosity, Arma 2 Dayz? Any help/opinions appreciated.

 

[Red Cube]

I recently purchased a 2013 macbook air
(dual core i7, 8gb of ram, intel HD 5000). I know my options are limited so I'm just wondering, what is the average fps on these computers for games like Kerbal Space Program, Minecraft, and out of curiosity, Arma 2 Dayz? Any help/opinions appreciated.

2013 Macbook Air? Bootcamp it, and you can run Skyrim on it, plus loads of other games.

 

[feldman26]

Are you sure about Skyrim? Seems like it'd require a more demanding graphics card.

 

[Confusius]

I recently purchased a 2013 macbook air
(dual core i7, 8gb of ram, intel HD 5000). I know my options are limited so I'm just wondering, what is the average fps on these computers for games like Kerbal Space Program, Minecraft, and out of curiosity, Arma 2 Dayz? Any help/opinions appreciated.

There's a veeeery long thread on this here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1594690/

Long story short: you can play stuff pretty well on your new Air and even better under Bootcamp

 

[Huntn]

Instead of starting a new thread, decided to dump this info here. Want to see FPS of your Mac Game? If you run it in a Window, you can use this free Apple tool to check out your frames:

http://osxdaily.com/2015/04/02/monitor-frames-per-second-fps-live-mac-os-x/

 

[Dirtyharry50]

Instead of starting a new thread, decided to dump this info here. Want to see FPS of your Mac Game? If you run it in a Window, you can use this free Apple tool to check out your frames:

http://osxdaily.com/2015/04/02/monitor-frames-per-second-fps-live-mac-os-x/

The problem I have with that is I never play games windowed. I always play full screen and would want to see FPS there if I was making adjustments to a game. Fortunately, the Steam overlay provides this feature and you could always add a non-steam game to steam and get it that way via the overlay except for those unusual cases where a game conflicts with the overlay.

That's one way to get a useful (to me anyway) counter in game full screen. Over at MacGamerHQ they are currently developing an FPS meter for OS X games also. I have a test version of that and sent a report back with some feedback and haven't seen anything new about it for a while now. Presumably it is still being worked on I guess. I haven't bothered to ask where Steam generally covers this need for me here.

It's too bad the Apple tool doesn't offer a logging feature (that I could find anyway) and cannot be set to always be on top. I like that it shows CPU use as well as FPS. This would be especially interesting to view in upcoming titles developed with the Metal graphics API. I'll hang onto this and run Windowed if I have to (and can in a given game) just to have a look at that out of curiosity.

 

[Huntn]

The problem I have with that is I never play games windowed. I always play full screen and would want to see FPS there if I was making adjustments to a game. Fortunately, the Steam overlay provides this feature and you could always add a non-steam game to steam and get it that way via the overlay except for those unusual cases where a game conflicts with the overlay.

That's one way to get a useful (to me anyway) counter in game full screen. Over at MacGamerHQ they are currently developing an FPS meter for OS X games also. I have a test version of that and sent a report back with some feedback and haven't seen anything new about it for a while now. Presumably it is still being worked on I guess. I haven't bothered to ask where Steam generally covers this need for me here.

It's too bad the Apple tool doesn't offer a logging feature (that I could find anyway) and cannot be set to always be on top. I like that it shows CPU use as well as FPS. This would be especially interesting to view in upcoming titles developed with the Metal graphics API. I'll hang onto this and run Windowed if I have to (and can in a given game) just to have a look at that out of curiosity.

Bottom line it could be used for testing purposes. I just used it on the Mac version of ARK Survival Evolved to verify what I all ready knew, but allowed me to put a number on it, my 2011 MBP can't handle it.

 

[Dirtyharry50]

I might be wrong about this but part of my point was (that I failed to mention) I don't think the FPS is the same in windowed vs full screen modes. If somebody wants to correct me on that by all means please do but I'm pretty sure it differs in one mode vs the other. I would expect it to be higher in full screen but maybe I am wrong about that. My reasoning there is the operating system has to keep updating the desktop along with the game when it is running windowed whereas full screen I presume it does not have to draw anything to the screen but the game itself.

Anyway, if that is useful to you then good enough. I think I read somewhere, maybe it was you who posted about it, that the game is a very demanding one. I wrote elsewhere that it seems to me that one has to figure on upgrades of Mac hardware roughly every three years to be able to run demanding current games just as a general rule of thumb considering that with mobile GPUs we are starting in the midrange for performance the day we buy them as brand new for the current model year. So by three years they are bound to struggle with anything pushing the envelope.

You might want to try running the game full screen and measuring with Steam to see if it does any better or not that way although maybe it is just too much anyway.

This kind of expensive upgrade cycle has me seriously considering a Mac mini next time around with a screen that can be used for it, consoles and possibly a home built windows gaming PC. The funny thing is (sort of) you can purchase everything I just listed brand new for less than a tricked out current model year 27" iMac would cost. That said, this would be a complete no-brainer for me but I do like having just one machine to deal with. I have over a year to think about this so I'll just see what the next Mac Mini refresh looks like, etc. Even on one of those, I could actually play a ton of games I currently own, particularly most of my GOG games but even a fair amount of less demanding Mac stuff by the time the Mini is refreshed I'd suspect which would be cool. I might just do the Mini and a console initially before spending on a PC build I may not really need. This is just stuff I'm mulling over for the time being.

I love my iMac but gaming on a Mac is an expensive proposition with less than optimal results to boot unfortunately. I'll never use a PC again for everyday stuff but I might for gaming if I am not satisfied with a mini/console setup here.

 

[antonis]

I love my iMac but gaming on a Mac is an expensive proposition with less than optimal results to boot unfortunately. I'll never use a PC again for everyday stuff but I might for gaming if I am not satisfied with a mini/console setup here.

That's what I did recently, after so many years of Mac-only usage, and never looked back. My trustworthy MBP is here (connected to the big monitor as well, when in home) following me everyday at my work too. And PC for games. Having an nVidia card on the PC also solves the capture/FPS show in games natively as these functionalities are offered by the drivers (I don't even need fraps anymore).

I'm tired of waiting for Apple to show real interest in gaming, and Intel to try to catch up with their iGPUs.
PC does the gaming. Mac does everything else.

 

[Dirtyharry50]

That's what I did recently, after so many years of Mac-only usage, and never looked back. My trustworthy MBP is here (connected to the big monitor as well, when in home) following me everyday at my work too. And PC for games. Having an nVidia card on the PC also solves the capture/FPS show in games natively as these functionalities are offered by the drivers (I don't even need fraps anymore).

I'm tired of waiting for Apple to show real interest in gaming, and Intel to try to catch up with their iGPUs.
PC does the gaming. Mac does everything else.

Yeah, I really think that's the direction I'll be going next upgrade cycle. While I'm not interested in anything on a PC aside of gaming I will say Windows 10 seems very nice and it boots to a responsive desktop quickly too. I think the Start menu among users is a sort of love it or hate it thing but I like how it currently works and have pinned stuff I want to play on it so the desktop stays clean and I just pop that open for rapid access to what I came there for. That works for me. I put certain apps and utilities of use to me there as well so what I want to use is easily accessible with no fishing around for it. I did install EverNote and Firefox for Windows given the sharing of data there with OS X for convenience. I primarily use Safari in OS X but I have gaming relevant bookmarks in Firefox that pertain to Windows in particular. It's nice i can use these apps on either side for gaming related purposes and the data is synced wherever I happen to be painlessly. I don't pay for EverNote though as I only need to keep a small number of notes, etc. for this stuff anyway.

Another thing I really appreciate about Windows from a gaming perspective is that while inevitably some games will break with age and operating system changes this is far less a problem in Windows than it is in OS X. I personally am not thrilled about the degree to which Apple changes the operating system such that so much software breaks every time they release a new version and now that is annually. It's ridiculous in my opinion.

 

[antonis]

Yeah, I really think that's the direction I'll be going next upgrade cycle. While I'm not interested in anything on a PC aside of gaming I will say Windows 10 seems very nice and it boots to a responsive desktop quickly too. I think the Start menu among users is a sort of love it or hate it thing but I like how it currently works and have pinned stuff I want to play on it so the desktop stays clean and I just pop that open for rapid access to what I came there for. That works for me. I put certain apps and utilities of use to me there as well so what I want to use is easily accessible with no fishing around for it. I did install EverNote and Firefox for Windows given the sharing of data there with OS X for convenience. I primarily use Safari in OS X but I have gaming relevant bookmarks in Firefox that pertain to Windows in particular. It's nice i can use these apps on either side for gaming related purposes and the data is synced wherever I happen to be painlessly. I don't pay for EverNote though as I only need to keep a small number of notes, etc. for this stuff anyway.

Another thing I really appreciate about Windows from a gaming perspective is that while inevitably some games will break with age and operating system changes this is far less a problem in Windows than it is in OS X. I personally am not thrilled about the degree to which Apple changes the operating system such that so much software breaks every time they release a new version and now that is annually. It's ridiculous in my opinion.

+1

Can't even comment further as you actually "photographed" my usage as well. I'm also using the start menu exactly the same way (still prefer the W8.1 tiles though), and all the other feelings related with having to live with a PC again. I've also installed only firefox in order to keep same links between the two OSes (you'll never know when you'll need to check about a tough quest in Witcher 3).

Sometimes I also capture things using the nVidia driver built-in ability, but then it's off to the Mac for processing and youtube uploading (man, I just love handbrake app).