It is because it's a "workstation graphics card" though the drivers for which are optimised for vastly different applications than gaming.
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Gaming on a mac
- Thread starter lbzcrazy
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It is because it's a "workstation graphics card" though the drivers for which are optimised for vastly different applications than gaming.
Not if you don't install the standard drivers.... My point is the Mac is a crap gaming platform compared to the PC. If the OP's primary use for the computer is games, then why get a Mac? I have both and the PC is much better at games. Just have some discipline and he won't get viruses, which is why he's moving to a Mac. Lack of discipline on any platform will mess you up in the end and the Mac is not immune to stupidity.
Hi there,
I have recently purchased a new iMac 5k, one of my activities was to game on it.
I can quite happily say it handles games very well, however when gaming the fan will ramp up a lot to around 2700 RPM. Shortly after quitting the game it will then return to a peaceful 1200 RPM.
I have played a selection of games:
Black Ops 3 Beta (Released: August 2015) - High settings, 1440p - 80fps
Advanced Warfare (Released November 2014) - High Settings, 1440p - 91fps (Cap)
Counter Strike: Global Offensive (Released: August 2012) - Maxed Settings - 1440p - Averaging around 200 fps (Maxed 270fps)
The heat was a concern of mine and it still is. the iMac does get very hot and the fans at 2700 RPM doesn't seem to do much apart from pushing out a lot of heat. Even with Fan Controls forcing the fan to not ramp up it still gets to the same heat and you can feel the heat on the iMac fairly quickly.
My other uses for the iMac are Graphic Design (Beautiful 5K resolution screen) and general day to day tasks.
I would highly recommend the iMac, however I would recommend getting Apple Care with it just incase anything does go wrong with it in the future. There have also been complaints on the forums of sluggish transitions, I haven't noticed any issues.
Also remember you have 14 days after the product gets to you to decide if you desire to return it to Apple.
Is the AMD Radeon R9 M20X 2GB GDDR5 good for gaming, or should i go for the 4GB one...
- AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2GB GDDR5
- AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB GDDR5
I am thinking about getting the
- 4.0GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz
- 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x8GB
- 1TB Fusion Drive
- AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2GB GDDR5
- Apple Magic Mouse
- Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
- Accessory Kit
- With the Apple Care
I would say if you don't mind turning down the graphics on games the AMD R9 M290X would be perfectly fine, the M295X is a very powerful card and i've had no issues with it! I've heard that the M290X doesn't have the same fan 'issues' as the M295X.
If you're looking to save some money, don't upgrade the RAM through Apple, by it from somewhere such as Crucial. It will turn out much cheaper. The 1TB Fusion Drive is good for both storage and speed. The reason why I went for the SSD was so I could have the maximum speed I could and so I could copy and share documents quicker on my Mac. Apple Care is a must these days you never know what could happen with it!
Thanks! i already knew that i was going to get 8Gb ram and then Upgrade to the 32 Ram for 200$ instead of 600. But thanks for the Tip on the Graphics card knowledge! To anyone who wants to get Ram and TONS of other stuff go here-https://www.macsales.com
Ok, there we got to your point.
"The Mac is crap compared to Windows for games" is such a vague indictment so as to be useless.
At least now you've made your agenda known.
Are you going to snipe and hide or are you going to offer something helpful to the thread??
Okay, now i think i am going to get the
Hardware
- 3.1GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
- 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X8GB
- 1TB Fusion Drive
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1GB GDDR5
- Apple Magic Mouse
- Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
- Accessory Kit
- Pages, Numbers, Keynote
- Photos, iMovie, GarageBand
- OS X
If gaming is your priority you'll want to be running Windows whether on a Mac via bootcamp or on a PC.
So then you need to ask yourself if the hardware you get with a mac is worth its price. In my opinion if gaming was my priority I'd say no...
I'd recommend a Mac to a lot of different people for a lot of different reasons but I would tell someone to look else where if gaming was their #1 priority.
I game on my iMac using OS X and its not that great of an experience compared to Windows. Dev support is lacking, and what little it gets doesn't have much to work with. There are generally a lot more bugs and there is a handicap with performance due to OpenGL and such.
I'm currently dealing with a bug with ESO. Get to a certain boss and the game will crash, a problem I can circumvent by just running it in windows.
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/212377/molag-kena-crashing
Some games I don't notice too much difference in performance and stability but I'd say the vast majority of the time performance is better in windows due to DX and such.
So then you need to ask yourself if the hardware you get with a mac is worth its price. In my opinion if gaming was my priority I'd say no...
I'd recommend a Mac to a lot of different people for a lot of different reasons but I would tell someone to look else where if gaming was their #1 priority.
I game on my iMac using OS X and its not that great of an experience compared to Windows. Dev support is lacking, and what little it gets doesn't have much to work with. There are generally a lot more bugs and there is a handicap with performance due to OpenGL and such.
I'm currently dealing with a bug with ESO. Get to a certain boss and the game will crash, a problem I can circumvent by just running it in windows.
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/212377/molag-kena-crashing
Some games I don't notice too much difference in performance and stability but I'd say the vast majority of the time performance is better in windows due to DX and such.
I'd recommend just going for the Magic Trackpad over the mouse; then get a gaming mouse
Best of both worlds! Everything else seems spot on though Have you considered waiting several more weeks? Currently you're paying for 2013 technology with 2015 dollars (assuming you're in the US).
All things point to new iMacs in October.
At the same price point, you'll more than likely end up with better hardware.
Just some recommendations to lower your costs. Get the i5, the only cost/performance advantage of i7 is hyper threading, unless you intend to specifically use such apps like virtual machines or commercial encoding. Go with the base 8GB, again unless your do industrial processing you will rarely exceed half of the 8GB capacity. I game (Steam), use business apps (MS Office) and other general computer apps and rarely use more than half of my 8GB memory. Best thing to do is use the computer for awhile, monitoring the memory use, if you frequently max out the 8GB then add more memory.
And for comparing GPU here's a handy list of benchmark performances:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php
And as suggested already wait for the anticipated October refresh before you consider buying an iMac.
I had bought an imac mid 2011 and still use it today i bought mine for similar reasons as you have especially on the viruses aspect. Macs are great yet lack in compatability and so can be a pain in the neck only get hardware and certain softwares to work, especially power pc software; On top of that wineskin doesnt always work. Though windows may seem unsafe if you make the correct proceedures then there should not be a problem so do not get drawn in by antivirus companies and make sure you do your research before blowing 100 quid. One last thing imacs or macs in general are not made to be upgraded frequently or ever an example: the cpu being soldered on to the logic board
Lastly ive used the apple magic mouse and it is terrible for gaming as it would scroll on it self changing the weapon and overall being a dick in games but outside of games it was quite cool and confortable
If youre still keen on buying an imac check out hackintosh as it may save you money as you will save money on the hardware
Lastly ive used the apple magic mouse and it is terrible for gaming as it would scroll on it self changing the weapon and overall being a dick in games but outside of games it was quite cool and confortable
If youre still keen on buying an imac check out hackintosh as it may save you money as you will save money on the hardware
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