Gaming on the 27" iMac with the 4850

[SiliconDioxide]

I will be using bootcamp to install either Windows XP or 7, I will boot into that and the only 2 games I intend to run are Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins - both at medium to high settings. How screwed do you think I am?

(this will be either and i5 or an i7, default loadouts)

If you haven't already ordered one, you are just going to have to wait until they start shipping. People will run games and test its ability to run them.

As for another post about wow, it is a very poorly coded game. Because of this you can get horrible fps even with a top of the line PC.

 

[ma2ha3]

if you play game on imac, i only say.

what resolution are you playing at?

if you are not using the native resolution, the quality will not be good.

think of the heat generated,

play game? please look away from apple.

 

[sentros]

I mostly play WoW and personally I don't mind running it windowed. This way the picture looks good and it runs smoothly. And on top of that I can chat with friends and surf the web while playing.

 

[Shivetya]

WOW is 4 years old. Kinda bad game to judge a new system on. I am sure anyone spending good $$$ wants something that is future proof. If you going to run 16x12 just get the 21.5

I am not judging the system on for future performance. I am judging it on, does it do what I want it to do NOW?

Since I play WOW that is my only requirement game wise I need to meet.

If I wanted something future proof the last thing I would do is buy an iMac.


Commenting on a followup which stated not running at native resolution is a bad, not true. You just need to match that aspect ratio in many cases for the appearance to be just fine.

The nice thing about 2560x1440 (or whatever it is) you don't need AA to make it look good. I don't think AA has been needed since 1600+

 

[ElPinko]

I'm with the idea of running games in their original aspect ratio, I just want the games to run stably. Also I don't need the highest settings, just something pretty.

 

[MH01]

I am not judging the system on for future performance. I am judging it on, does it do what I want it to do NOW?

Since I play WOW that is my only requirement game wise I need to meet.

If I wanted something future proof the last thing I would do is buy an iMac.


Commenting on a followup which stated not running at native resolution is a bad, not true. You just need to match that aspect ratio in many cases for the appearance to be just fine.

The nice thing about 2560x1440 (or whatever it is) you don't need AA to make it look good. I don't think AA has been needed since 1600+

The original poster was referring to gaming on a 27 " . I am REALLY happy if you just want to run wow on it, complete waste of $$$ just to run wow though.

Do you actually have a 27" with a 4850 or are you just really HOPING that it will run fine at the 2560x1600? I got my money on hoping.

AA has not been needed since 1600+ are you serious??? Boy are all those game manufactures got it so so wrong then....

 

[DoFoT9]

I think availability played a huge role. If you configure the base 27inch with the 4850, the ship date goes from 3-5 days to November. But I don't think apple had much of a choice for mobile cards as the 5xxxx does not have a mobile version yet. I bet in March, we will see the 5770 or 5850 in one of the imacs.

i did not notice the dates going up there. so you think the reason is because of the GPU and not the availability of the CPU?

here in Australia the base 27" goes from 3-5 days to 4-6weeks. if i then go to the high end quad it automatically goes to "november".

i think it may be a combination of the two.

do you really think we will see the 5*50 implemented in March? you made me stop for a minute there and think, should i wait or not? i dont think i will wait. gaming doesnt really bother me that much - as long as i can play on a medium setting and a around HD res at 40+FPS i shall be fine.

 

[jvalente]

Do you guys think the 4850 will be able to run Borderlands on full res at moderate settings? That game is hell addictive hey.

 

[sgnhh]

Probably not full res with a playable framerate, but you should be able to use a high res.

For what it's worth, this is the only Borderlands benchmark I've seen online: http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...with-Unreal-Engine-3-Geforces-ahead/Practice/

Keep in mind the res is at 1680x1050 with details at max. On a Core i7@3.5GHz with 6GB of RAM, the desktop HD4850 averages about 28FPS, which is mostly unplayable for an online shooter. Given that the 4850 in the iMac is probably the mobile version, you could expect similar or worse performance on medium settings at native res. Bump it down a notch into window mode and it should be very playable and still look real good.

Also, for what it's worth, I plan on doing some gaming benchmarks (Valve games, Crysis, STALKER, possibly Dragon Age) for the 27" i7 iMac once I get it and Apple supports Windows 7 in Boot Camp.

 

[SiliconDioxide]

do you really think we will see the 5*50 implemented in March? you made me stop for a minute there and think, should i wait or not? i dont think i will wait. gaming doesnt really bother me that much - as long as i can play on a medium setting and a around HD res at 40+FPS i shall be fine.

I think the next update will have a faster cpu and gpu. Every update will make the imac better. So at some point you are just going to have to tell yourself this is it and pick one up and be happy with it.

There will always be a better imac around the corner.

 

[DoFoT9]

I think the next update will have a faster cpu and gpu. Every update will make the imac better. So at some point you are just going to have to tell yourself this is it and pick one up and be happy with it.

There will always be a better imac around the corner.

true. but the next updates wont be as impressive as this one - e.g. the jump from dual core to quad core basically doubles the power of the machine! the next update will be like what 10% faster?

 

[Yixian]

true. but the next updates wont be as impressive as this one - e.g. the jump from dual core to quad core basically doubles the power of the machine! the next update will be like what 10% faster?

But the jump from ATI HD4000 series to HD5000 will be very large. With the 5000 series you're reaching the point where for once, current gen games will be playable on high settings even with the mid-range cards.

As it stands Apple hasn't sold a personal computer that can do this for as long as I can remember. Certainly never with an Intel processor.

We have always had to sacrifice this for a couple mm of thickness - particularly absurd on a desktop computer.

 

[itommyboy]

Also, for what it's worth, I plan on doing some gaming benchmarks (Valve games, Crysis, STALKER, possibly Dragon Age) for the 27" i7 iMac once I get it and Apple supports Windows 7 in Boot Camp.

Is support the operative word in that statement? I've been running Win 7 and gaming like mad via boot camp for months.

 

[sgnhh]

I'd prefer to not jump through hoops to install any drivers. Also wondering if they'll have a solution for the Magic Mouse on Windows 7.

Besides, by the time I actually get the iMac, the update will probably be out.

 

[DoFoT9]

But the jump from ATI HD4000 series to HD5000 will be very large. With the 5000 series you're reaching the point where for once, current gen games will be playable on high settings even with the mid-range cards.

yea see i still dont know about that. 2560x1440 is a MASSIVE resolution, and to be playing them on high settings will be a challenge.

As it stands Apple hasn't sold a personal computer that can do this for as long as I can remember. Certainly never with an Intel processor.

We have always had to sacrifice this for a couple mm of thickness - particularly absurd on a desktop computer.

yea i agree. but also, im not a big gamer so i dont particularly care. i want apple to implement OpenCL support for all the graphics cards, not just the 9400M. but that wont happen

the high end HD5000 series probably wont be implemented by apple in the near future, too costly, too hot etc. by the time we get a HD5000 series card there will be a new GPU out anyway!

 

[dagamer34]

Realistically though, just turn the LCD screen into a monitor with the DisplayPort at the back. A decent Window gaming PC can be made for $1200 easy. It's way better than dumping more money into hardware that can't be upgraded.

 

[DoFoT9]

Realistically though, just turn the LCD screen into a monitor with the DisplayPort at the back. A decent Window gaming PC can be made for $1200 easy. It's way better than dumping more money into hardware that can't be upgraded.

cant be upgraded? thats funny.

 

[Shivetya]

cant be upgraded? thats funny.

Lets see you replace the processor or gpu, c'mon, go for it

 

[DoFoT9]

Lets see you replace the processor or gpu, c'mon, go for it

you do realise that both the CPU & GPU can be replaced in the iMac?

CPU uses the i7 860 or i5 760 which use the 1156 socket, there are plenty of those types of sockets - easy to replace.

the GPU isnt soldered on (has been verified by a user on this very thread). if you can find a mobility GPU then you can put it in yourself.

i would purchase the i5 and upgrade to the i7, but its cheaper via apple.

other upgrades include RAM and optical drive - very easy to do.

 

[Lava Lamp Freak]

The nice thing about 2560x1440 (or whatever it is) you don't need AA to make it look good. I don't think AA has been needed since 1600+

With no AA at 2560x1440 the image will look the same as it does at 1024x768 with no AA. In WoW the setting you can change is multisampling, and at 1x AA it looks much different than it does at 4x. It's the difference between having a smooth image and one with sharp edges.

 

[nizuri]

With no AA at 2560x1440 the image will look the same as it does at 1024x768 with no AA. In WoW the setting you can change is multisampling, and at 1x AA it looks much different than it does at 4x. It's the difference between having a smooth image and one with sharp edges.

True. It's not about the resolution, rather the pixel density. If both the the 1024x768 and the 2560x1440 have the same ppi, it looks the same. But if you have a xga monitor with let's say 75-85ppi and compare it to the 27'' imacs ~109ppi there's going to be a big difference.

The higher the ppi the less AA you need. It's still a nice thing to have but having no AA at a display with 109ppi is not nearly as bad as it was when displays still had 75ppi.

 

[blacklotus]

my two cents....

i'd forget about any future upgrade of the GPU... the CPU instead seems pretty clear it can be upgraded in the future with little effort... notice the socket lever by the CPU on the ifixit.com imac screenshots. also that "warranty void if removed" sticky on one of the cooler screws is quite suspicious GPU however seems to have been left on its own as if apple took for granted it will be too tricky to replace if that is possible at all...

on the other hand, i can't find any trusted place (official or not) where it explicitly tells that 4850 is the mobile edition, not in the apple web page not anywhere else...so i am still hoping it will be the desktop ed.

also for what refers to gaming, note the 27" resolution is exactly x2 the 720p ...that means that running games in 720p res (1280x720) will scale neatly to half the display resolution and should look as if they where being ran at native resolution ... that's great imo, as something i particularly hate about playing games on an lcd in a non-native resolution is that scaling screws a bit the visuals and is particularly annoying to me ...

http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.com/igi/ktLKDUFPyGmyPPQJ

 

[itommyboy]

on the other hand, i can't find any trusted place (official or not) where it explicitly tells that 4850 is the mobile edition, not in the apple web page not anywhere else...so i am still hoping it will be the desktop ed.

You need not look any further than "about this mac" and the device ID of the 4850 (screenshot of mine attached). Device ID Ox944a = the mobile version. Don't worry it's a more than capable card for an iMac.

 

[blacklotus]

You need not look any further than "about this mac" and the device ID of the 4850 (screenshot of mine attached). Device ID Ox944a = the mobile version. Don't worry it's a more than capable card for an iMac.

oh ....that's too bad. hopefully that will only affect the gpu/mem clock :?

thanks for the info

 

[Darknight670]

oh ....that's too bad. hopefully that will only affect the gpu/mem clock :?

thanks for the info

And now we need to go on GPu-Z on bootcamp to find out whether Apple undeclocked the 4850M or not xD