Gaming on rMBP 15"

[Starbuckpga]

Hey guys I've get a retina MBP 15" with a 2.6 processor and 16GB ram. More than enough to play the most average games.

Question when you guys play games, do you install/run from bootcamp? Where your actually booted into Windows? Or do you play the games through VMWare or Parallels?

Reason I ask is I tried to play Crysis 3 tonight on Win7 that I have set up as a virtual machine using VMWare. It appears the latest VMWare uses DX9 and Crysis 3 requires DX11.

So even if I setup up my rMBP with a bootcamp running Win7, will I finally be able to play Crysis 3 since it would actually be using DX11 from Win7?

Thanks for any help on what you guys do/use to play your games.

 

[johnnnw]

By using Bootcamp over Parallels you get the full capability of the system. When running a virtual machine over OSX it will still work, but not ideal for gaming where everyone is looking for maximum performance possible.

Bootcamp will work better for gaming vs running Windows in Parallels/VMware

 

[swerve147]

You can't truly game on a Mac without Bootcamp. Well you can, but your OSX gaming choices are limited in comparison. And don't even bother trying to run Windows games via VM, especially with a retina MBP.

I'm too cheap to buy Parallels and besides I don't usually multitask when I'm playing games like Crysis. So it's not a hassle for me to reboot just to game. John's right, though, accessing your Bootcamp partition with Parallels is the optimal setup.

 

[leman]

Some older games or less performance-demandign games (like Dota 2) will happily run in Parallels/VMWare Fusion. Demanding games like Crysis 3 - there is no way around Bootcamp here.

 

[revenent]

Boot camp is the way to go to play graphics intensive games.

 

[Freyqq]

Hey guys I've get a retina MBP 15" with a 2.6 processor and 16GB ram. More than enough to play the most average games.

Question when you guys play games, do you install/run from bootcamp? Where your actually booted into Windows? Or do you play the games through VMWare or Parallels?

Reason I ask is I tried to play Crysis 3 tonight on Win7 that I have set up as a virtual machine using VMWare. It appears the latest VMWare uses DX9 and Crysis 3 requires DX11.

So even if I setup up my rMBP with a bootcamp running Win7, will I finally be able to play Crysis 3 since it would actually be using DX11 from Win7?

Thanks for any help on what you guys do/use to play your games.

To make it very simple, in Parallels, it is running OSX and Windows 7 at the same time. Bootcamp is just Windows 7. Therefore, Bootcamp will run any program more smoothly because more resources are available to apply to the game.

 

[Zeov]

Bootcamp of course.

 

[dastinger]

Boot camp.

 

[Starbuckpga]

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I had a feeling I needed to setup bootcamp so Win7 could use all the systems resources.

 

[hellfire88]

Quick question (I can make my own separate thread if necessary)

For those gaming on rMBP 15" in Bootcamp, some more intense games will probably need to be played at lower than native (2880x1800) res for adequate performance. How well does the rMBP 15" scale the image? Like can I play games like Battlefield 3 at 1440x900 resolution full screen?

Thank you.

 

[leman]

For those gaming on rMBP 15" in Bootcamp, some more intense games will probably need to be played at lower than native (2880x1800) res for adequate performance. How well does the rMBP 15" scale the image? Like can I play games like Battlefield 3 at 1440x900 resolution full screen?

Yes you can. You can also probably play it at 1680x1050

 

[hellfire88]

Yes you can. You can also probably play it at 1680x1050

And it doesn't look "weird" or "off" since its not running at native resolution? If so, that'd be great!

 

[B...]

And it doesn't look "weird" or "off" since its not running at native resolution? If so, that'd be great!

No because 1440x900 is (1/2)x each direction of native res, so there is no pixel splitting.

 

[leman]

And it doesn't look "weird" or "off" since its not running at native resolution? If so, that'd be great!

I never noticed any quality issues when running games at non-native resolutions (any of them). It might be that is will look a bit blurrier than a native screen of that resolution, but I honestly didn't notice any difference. Bioshock Infinite looks stunning on that display at 1680x1050

 

[Newfiejudd]

One Question.

Under the nvidia control panel, what are you all using for scaling.

- I believe there are three selection.

No Scaling
Scaling
Aspect Ratio.

Maybe it's me with the wrong setting but the screen doesn't look that good while gaming at anything below 1920x1200. So performance takes a hit.

 

[BlueRaider]

I play ALOT of Black Ops 2, which isn't the most GPU intensive game, and I always play at 1920x1200 or 1920x1440. Sometimes on solo Zombie runs I up the resolution to 2048x1200 (or 1440, can't remember the second number) and it runs it just fine. This is in Bootcamp of course.

I'll have to give Nvidia props, the 650M is a potent little GPU.

 

[hellfire88]

No because 1440x900 is (1/2)x each direction of native res, so there is no pixel splitting.

I never noticed any quality issues when running games at non-native resolutions (any of them). It might be that is will look a bit blurrier than a native screen of that resolution, but I honestly didn't notice any difference. Bioshock Infinite looks stunning on that display at 1680x1050

Thank you guys for the feedback!

 

[fatlardo]

I play ALOT of Black Ops 2, which isn't the most GPU intensive game, and I always play at 1920x1200 or 1920x1440. Sometimes on solo Zombie runs I up the resolution to 2048x1200 (or 1440, can't remember the second number) and it runs it just fine. This is in Bootcamp of course.

I'll have to give Nvidia props, the 650M is a potent little GPU.

What are your temps while playing and for how long?

 

[BlueRaider]

My temps usually are around 80-85 after hours of playing. The key to keeping temps as low as possible is to place something under the corners of the back of the laptop to elevate it. The more air you can circulate under the laptop the better. It helps with intake and exhaust of cool and hot air.

 

[fatlardo]

My temps usually are around 80-85 after hours of playing. The key to keeping temps as low as possible is to place something under the corners of the back of the laptop to elevate it. The more air you can circulate under the laptop the better. It helps with intake and exhaust of cool and hot air.

Wow, thats good temps! What are your specific settings for it?

 

[swerve147]

My temps usually are around 80-85 after hours of playing. The key to keeping temps as low as possible is to place something under the corners of the back of the laptop to elevate it. The more air you can circulate under the laptop the better. It helps with intake and exhaust of cool and hot air.

Same here. Generally I see the temps initially spike to 100 C for about 5-10 seconds once i start the game, but then they level out to the mid 80s for hours on end, throwing anything at it. Elevating your notebook definitely helps with temps.

I still want to repaste, though, although I'm concerned about my warranty. The CPU and GPU look easy enough to get to, but...