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Games on MBP

M

MarkW19

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 13, 2002
1,209
1
Surrey, UK
I've just tried a windows game for the first time today (in Boot Camp) - Call of Duty 4 (demo).

And - it doesn't run too well. I currently have a MBP 2.2 (Merom), 4GB RAM, 128mb VRAM, 7200rpm - and I have to set it at one of the lowest resolutions (640* or 800*) for it to be even playable - and even then, it's not exactly the smoothest thing in the world. I'd love to be able to play at 1600*, or even 1200 would be a good compromise! I hate to see what something like Crysis runs like.

Anyway, the question is - I have a 2.5 Penryn MBP arriving next week - with the same 4GB RAM, and 7200rpm - BUT, it of course has 512mb VRAM. Will I notice a good difference in gaming with this machine?
 
Yes you will definitely notice a difference coming from the 128MB model in gaming. You likely won't see any improvement much over the 256MB model with the 2.4Ghz Penryn though due to the fact the 8600M GT isn't fast enough to use 512MB of VRAM. It only has a 128-bit memory bus so it can only pass so much data at a time. Tests show little difference between the 256 and 512.
 
mbp is not a alienware. sad to say but i had to acept this a while back too. i plan on playing warcraft 3 and cs:s and maybe supreme commander on nlow settings and battlefield 2. starcratft 2 should run ok i hope. but cod 4 is too new to run nice.
 
Portables for hardcore gaming = NO.

Portables for gaming = Possible.

Current MacBook Pros can run any current game out there. Guaranteed. Even Crysis, but future FPSes? Nope.
 
Thanks for the replies.

So, I should see a good improvement going to 256mb on the 8600M GT? That's good news.

I can live with having low-medium settings, just as long as gameplay is smooth! Which even with COD4 on its lowest setting, it isn't really!
 
ive posted this elsewhere, but on my penrynn 2.5gh 15" model; i run team fortress 2 at 1200 resolution, all graphic settings high, 4xAA + motion blur on. while nothing busy happens i get 50~60 fps, and when it gets heated - ala mass shootouts, i get get anyway between 30~50 fps. works very well on current games i would imagine. ill be testing cd4 soon when i get the game.
 
MarkW19 said:
I've just tried a windows game for the first time today (in Boot Camp) - Call of Duty 4 (demo).

And - it doesn't run too well. I currently have a MBP 2.2 (Merom), 4GB RAM, 128mb VRAM, 7200rpm - and I have to set it at one of the lowest resolutions (640* or 800*) for it to be even playable - and even then, it's not exactly the smoothest thing in the world. I'd love to be able to play at 1600*, or even 1200 would be a good compromise! I hate to see what something like Crysis runs like.

Anyway, the question is - I have a 2.5 Penryn MBP arriving next week - with the same 4GB RAM, and 7200rpm - BUT, it of course has 512mb VRAM. Will I notice a good difference in gaming with this machine?
Click to expand...

Hi! I have same Mbp and cod4 runs perfectly even on high grafics! I have boot camp xp. I just some problems with your mbp! It should be running smoothly
 
ozziegn said:
I don't play many games on my MBP, but I do like to play HL2 through BootCamp and it runs flawlessly.
Click to expand...

Maybe going to 512mb from 128mb will make all the difference for me then?

Just did some testing - need for speed most wanted (from 2005) works very playable on the top setting (1200*), but still a few jumps/lines etc. COD4 has to be on the bottom 1-2 resolutions (600/800) for it to be playable, but even then it's not too smooth. And Crysys has to be again on the very bottom setting (600*) and still jumps a bit, not exactly nice to play.

Hmm...hope my Penryn is better :)
 
MarkW19 said:
I've just tried a windows game for the first time today (in Boot Camp) - Call of Duty 4 (demo).

And - it doesn't run too well. I currently have a MBP 2.2 (Merom), 4GB RAM, 128mb VRAM, 7200rpm - and I have to set it at one of the lowest resolutions (640* or 800*) for it to be even playable - and even then, it's not exactly the smoothest thing in the world. I'd love to be able to play at 1600*, or even 1200 would be a good compromise! I hate to see what something like Crysis runs like.

Anyway, the question is - I have a 2.5 Penryn MBP arriving next week - with the same 4GB RAM, and 7200rpm - BUT, it of course has 512mb VRAM. Will I notice a good difference in gaming with this machine?
Click to expand...

XP or Vista? Which are you running? If Vista, which edition? SP1? If XP, Pro? SP2?

Also, I've noticed that a lot of people have gotten their video drivers from LaptopVideo2Go.com. Are they newer/better optimized than the current official drivers?
 
Well, Unreal Tournament 2004 plays awesomely on my MBP at full res and settings (1900*), but then again, it's only very slightly in front of my old PowerMac G5 with an ATI Radeon with 64MB VRAM (just a few frame drops here and there)! Both on my 23" ACD.

Hmm, I really wish I could get better performance for the newer games like COD4, and get them up to the same quality/playability as UT4 - the graphics in UT4 are still fantastic! But in bootcamp, I had to stick to the very lowest 800* res, and even then it wasn't smooth.
 
I'm willing to bet he's only using the Boot Camp drivers. I'm sure he would get better FPS with updated drivers.
 
Somethings definitely not right here.

I have a 2.2 C2D, 2 GB RAM and 128 VRAM and I run COD4 on high with 2x anti aliasing on 1440x900. Something sounds wrong with your drivers or omething dude.
 
I also have a 2.2 Merom MBP and I play COD4 on bootcamp (windows xp sp2) on 1440x900 graphics. it runs great, absolutely no problems. you should reinstall bootcamp drivers or see if there's something wrong with your graphics card.
 
games based on dx9 will all run prety well on higher settings. Even dx10 DTs and non frame rate intensive dx10 games will run like that, but stay away from fps dx10 games unless you default them to run in dx9 mode....,, a goodway to do this is run xp not vista, xp only supports dx9 so that way you always get the best framerates.


Just stay away from dx10 only games uless your running an 8800
 
Well I got my Penryn MBP (2.5) today, and something weird is going on with it...Unreal Tournament 2004 (Mac) doesn't play as well as on my Merom 2.2! Same RAM (4), same HD. Same resolution and settings. There's quite a bit of constant stuttering going on, and it was fully smooth before. It's the same in the Lego Starwars II demo off the Apple site too - at top res (1900*) it's silk smooth for about 3 seconds, then it starts stuttering, then goes smooth again, etc. Doesn't really seem to correlate with anything in the game.

Any ideas?
 
i have the same specs, 2.2, 2 gb, using xp sp2, 128 8600m gt.

I play to external monitor, at 1440x900 med to high graphics, no AA rather trilinear.

Single player couldnt be more smooth. Multiplayer i avg 50 fps. Sometimes as much as 120 (when its really cold inside my room, and not much action going on in game)

i do have the previously mentioned laptopvideo2go drivers for it.
 
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