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Gaming on the 27" iMac with the 4850
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Spanky Deluxe
macrumors 603
RA3 chugs at 2560x1600 on my Mac Pro in OS X. That's because of a bad port though. In Windows it's fine. My guess is that it'd be fine for RA3 at native in Windows on such an iMac too. WoW Cataclysm would probably be fine at native in OS X. The others will likely struggle at native though. Running at a lower res (a good one would be 1280x720) will likely be fine for all though.
There is no iMac with a 4870 -- the iMacs top out with the 4850, only the Mac Pros have the 4870s.
Downscaling the resolution will always produce some blurriness -- how much it bothers you will vary from person to person.
It is not that the 4850 Mobility is a joke, or even close to one. It just is one or two tiny notches from where the 27" iMac should be right now.
I meant to say 4850 sorry. And Diablo 3 will run fine as it is also a native Mac OS X version, like all of Blizzards games.
Ice Dragon
macrumors 6502a
As some are here, I am a Blizzard fan and if Diablo 2, Starcraft, and Warcraft 3 told me anything it was that I needed a good computer though not a super-computer to run their games. I suspect Starcraft II and Diablo III will be similar.
I want a 5xxx series ATI mobility GPU in these IMacs. I don't care if they need to down-clock the processor for it.
Within two years, thanks to GPU computing, what we call graphics cards today, will be just as important, if not more important, than what we today call the processor.
The processor will eventually be nothing more than a conductor to the thousand piece orchestra that is the graphics card.
The hardware is available. The foundation of the software required to make this happen has started to trickle in (Hi Snow Leopard!).
The 5xxx series graphics cards bring about double the performance across the product line to their 4xxx series counterparts. Trust me, you will wish you had this in your IMac two years from now. I guarantee you this.
Within two years, thanks to GPU computing, what we call graphics cards today, will be just as important, if not more important, than what we today call the processor.
The processor will eventually be nothing more than a conductor to the thousand piece orchestra that is the graphics card.
The hardware is available. The foundation of the software required to make this happen has started to trickle in (Hi Snow Leopard!).
The 5xxx series graphics cards bring about double the performance across the product line to their 4xxx series counterparts. Trust me, you will wish you had this in your IMac two years from now. I guarantee you this.
Apple has ALWAYS been known to lag in this department. However, the current ATI offering should suit your needs just fine for 3+ years.
The new Quad iMacs are as close to a gaming machine as its gonna get. You will be able to play games like GTA4 on it, not only because the card is a step up from the 8800gs, but the CPU itself. The 3.06 with the 8800gs just didn't cut it. Just back down the resolution if you have issues. The only way around this is a MP (And thats a stretch at the price), or just buy a PC. Given the options, I personally will tinker with the resolution. 🙂
Several game developers utilize multi core CPU's. I think you will be more than pleased with the I7.
The new Quad iMacs are as close to a gaming machine as its gonna get. You will be able to play games like GTA4 on it, not only because the card is a step up from the 8800gs, but the CPU itself. The 3.06 with the 8800gs just didn't cut it. Just back down the resolution if you have issues. The only way around this is a MP (And thats a stretch at the price), or just buy a PC. Given the options, I personally will tinker with the resolution. 🙂
Several game developers utilize multi core CPU's. I think you will be more than pleased with the I7.
God people are dumb.
If you want to go fast, Buy a Ferrari
If you want to pull a trailer, buy a rig
If you want to go fast, Buy a Ferrari
If you want to pull a trailer, buy a rig
The 4850 can run a lot of games on max at 1080P, even can run Crysis at high/very high at a lower resolution, so therefore it is good enough for me. Sure I would like a better card, but seeing as this one can run just about every game on high with a frame rate over 30/60, meh, it's good enough.
Spanky Deluxe
macrumors 603
2560x1440 is 60% more pixels than 1920x1200. The 4850 will struggle to run most games at native res, certainly not Crysis. Crysis is only just about playable with two 4870 1GB cards in Crossfire at 2560x1600.
FleurDuMal
macrumors 68000
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something, but with the resolution on the 27" iMac so high, you can reduce the resolution by half (so maintaining native resolution in the sense that it won't be blurry) and still enjoy HD gaming at 1280x720. If you bought a 27" TV this would be the standard resolution and it seems to look OK for console gamers 😕
OK its not ideal, but for certain types of games the extra eye candy and framerates this resolution would let you enjoy may make the trade off worth it.
OK its not ideal, but for certain types of games the extra eye candy and framerates this resolution would let you enjoy may make the trade off worth it.
I never expected to run at a resolution that high, I doubt that many cards could run a game max on such a high resolution. But from the looks of it, it can run 1080P in most games fine, so therefore it is a good card in my opinion. But I hope in 6 months they give an option for a better GPU, that would be great.
Spanky Deluxe
macrumors 603
Yeah that's what you'll have to do. Mind you, you may prefer to run a game at say 1680x1050 or something instead that will actually blur it a little and then switch off antialiasing (since the display will already blur it a bit). It depends on your preference. 1280x720 will look really quite blocky compared to native res since its a quarter the resolution.
I'm sure they will offer something else in six months time or so when the iMac is refreshed, however, its dependent on what ATI/nVidia (far more likely ATI) will put out there in that time. You'd need to see 5850 mobile chips within about three months in PCs to have any chance of getting them in iMacs in six months time. Right now the 4850 is pretty much the best graphics chip for laptops out there.
Problem is what doesthrow in as a superior mobility option.
The ATI 4850 is only surpassed by the 4870 which being ATI's top line currently costs more and produces more heat for little performance improvement, so therefore does not seem an option for Apple.
The NVidia option is the Mobility 260M and 280M but as ATI manage to produce mobility graphic cards very similar in performance to their desktop variants the ATI options beat the rebranded,rebranded,rebranded 2yr old Nvidia cards.
Until ATI release the 5xxx series mobility cards sometime in Q1/Q2 then were stuck with pretty much the best option available.
I guess in typical
Not to mention ATI's mobility drivers! 😡
4890 1gb i had in my compy before selling it to be mac exclusive.
Even the 4870 with 1gb helped running the large monitors like we use. Is not as if apple doesnt have options, and I dont think ppl would mind enlarging imac thickness to get a solid GPU in there and maybe an extra fan.
Arent we moving away from nvidia graphics now, especially in mobile architecture?
i can't wait to see Starcraft II running on the new imac ^_^
but i guess that i will be dead before it would be released...
maybe my children or my grand children will see it one day...
remember this game called star something... grandpa used to talk about it back in 2009... 🙁
but i guess that i will be dead before it would be released...
maybe my children or my grand children will see it one day...
remember this game called star something... grandpa used to talk about it back in 2009... 🙁
I think I decided that by the time they get refreshed again, I will have enough money. But is it likely that the GPU would get upgraded? I don't want to wait all that time and then nothing gets released, as I will probably game a fair bit on it, but please don't tell me to get Windows. And the next refresh is likely just to be minor right? Still look the same, the same price etc, just maybe a better GPU or something? I would hate to have to pay like $1000 AU more like the last models costed, or lose out on some features or something.
akdj
macrumors 65816
"You'd need to see 5850 mobile chips within about three months in PCs to have any chance of getting them in iMacs in six months time. Right now the 4850 is pretty much the best graphics chip for laptops out there."
Exactly Harmonica....
How in the WORLD is Apple supposed to load their current (new) crop of iMacs with GPUs that don't exist? (They probably have a 100,000 units already built, right?🙂) The 4850 is going to be a fine card for 99% of what's on the market right now, and most likely 95% for the next 18-24 months. As mentioned earlier, the GPU sector has been hit by the world's economy...slower movement will mean a slower push to maximize the latest hardware by developers. Blizzard (Diablo, WoW, etc) has always been very smart about this as a developer....very playable upon release, even on machines a generation or two old.
Microsoft on the other hand...LOL...I'm a flight sim geek, MFS and XPlane. Those are taxing programs as well. I think these CoreI7 implementations on the 27" iMac with a decent bank of RAM will do plenty to help nudge these "Lowly" 4850s along🙂
Pretty exciting news, IMO! What a bad-ASS machine for 2k!!!! Insane and a possible video editing option in lieu of the Mac Pro.
Count me happy
J
Exactly Harmonica....
How in the WORLD is Apple supposed to load their current (new) crop of iMacs with GPUs that don't exist? (They probably have a 100,000 units already built, right?🙂) The 4850 is going to be a fine card for 99% of what's on the market right now, and most likely 95% for the next 18-24 months. As mentioned earlier, the GPU sector has been hit by the world's economy...slower movement will mean a slower push to maximize the latest hardware by developers. Blizzard (Diablo, WoW, etc) has always been very smart about this as a developer....very playable upon release, even on machines a generation or two old.
Microsoft on the other hand...LOL...I'm a flight sim geek, MFS and XPlane. Those are taxing programs as well. I think these CoreI7 implementations on the 27" iMac with a decent bank of RAM will do plenty to help nudge these "Lowly" 4850s along🙂
Pretty exciting news, IMO! What a bad-ASS machine for 2k!!!! Insane and a possible video editing option in lieu of the Mac Pro.
Count me happy
J
its interesting to see what core clocks of 4850 and 4670 in new imacs.
mobility 4850 in old imacs has low clocks.
I can find it out with ioreg dump from those computers.
mobility 4850 in old imacs has low clocks.
I can find it out with ioreg dump from those computers.
maybe is early here, but are you saying 4890s don't exist? Or is it just that 4850 highest mobile card...because I was trying to say even the 70 desktop edition underclocked slightly would be worth enlarging and adding a fan onto the 27" imacs. It seems as if everything else on the new machines are getting close to prouser capability, so why did we hold back on a new card release here? Makes one wonder
Will this be possible
"cheap" gamer PC to 27 "iMac via mini displayport conector 😕
Of cours I wil have to instal Windows on the iMac, in order to use the iMac as a screen for the PC?
Off cours this is only for gaming, if it's possible, it would solve all my problems, and it's far cheaper than buying a Mac Pro.
"cheap" gamer PC to 27 "iMac via mini displayport conector 😕
Of cours I wil have to instal Windows on the iMac, in order to use the iMac as a screen for the PC?
Off cours this is only for gaming, if it's possible, it would solve all my problems, and it's far cheaper than buying a Mac Pro.
The best thing with an Apple Update is that you can start looking forward to the next one. I predict a new iMac update in March 2010 where we will see some juicy ATI 5XXX mobility GPUs 🙂
will be interesting to see if you have install windows on bootcamp to run it...but i am guessing not.
just plug it in!? well hopefully