Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Gaming on Windows on a MBP?

L

LathspeLL

macrumors newbie
Original poster
For MacBook Pro owners, how well your games perform on Windows?

Which games you have tried so far? Did you try latest games? (MoH: Airborne, Bioshock, TF2, etc...) What is your average frame per second?

Which method do you use? BootCamp? Parallels? Vmware?
Which one performs the best for gaming?

Do you experiance any problems with Windows? Can I leave MBP open for 24/7? Is there any heat problem or compatibility issues?
 
I've run StarCraft and UT 2004 (demo) with no problems. I tried the beginning of Half Life 2 demo, and it worked well; I'll buy that later this year. I've not tried any new games yet.

Parallels is not suitable for 3D games. It only supports DX8, I believe and is just not fast enough for anything graphically intensive. Maybe StarCraft would work?

I leave my MBP on 24/7. Any modern computer (past 10 years) can be left on continuously, unless you want to reduce your electric bill as much as possible.
 
DaveF said:
I've run StarCraft and UT 2004 (demo) with no problems. I tried the beginning of Half Life 2 demo, and it worked well; I'll buy that later this year. I've not tried any new games yet.

Parallels is not suitable for 3D games. It only supports DX8, I believe and is just not fast enough for anything graphically intensive. Maybe StarCraft would work?

I leave my MBP on 24/7. Any modern computer (past 10 years) can be left on continuously, unless you want to reduce your electric bill as much as possible.
Click to expand...

Just curious, why do you leave your MBP running all the time? What is it doing while you are not using it?

I know that people run servers on notebooks - not sure that the Harddisks are specified for this type of usage. I usually switch my MBP to standby when I am not using it. It takes no time at all (to shutdown and wake-up) and I just feel that it is a waste to let something run while I am not using it...
 
Some theories suggest that turning it off and on is harder on the machine. I upgrade cycle is between 2 to 4 years so it I turn my off if I am not using mine.
 
Detektiv-Pinky said:
Just curious, why do you leave your MBP running all the time? What is it doing while you are not using it?

I know that people run servers on notebooks - not sure that the Harddisks are specified for this type of usage. I usually switch my MBP to standby when I am not using it. It takes no time at all (to shutdown and wake-up) and I just feel that it is a waste to let something run while I am not using it...
Click to expand...
There's not benefit in shutting it off, except minor power savings. But it's much more convenient to leave it on all the time; in particular it's faster to get going again when I want to use it. My wife's G5 also runs 24/7. Besides, when idle, the machines go to sleep for minimal power usage.
 
DaveF said:
There's not benefit in shutting it off, except minor power savings. But it's much more convenient to leave it on all the time; in particular it's faster to get going again when I want to use it. My wife's G5 also runs 24/7. Besides, when idle, the machines go to sleep for minimal power usage.
Click to expand...

OK, maybe some misunderstanding here. I myself are not shutting the machine down - I am putting it into sleep mode (Power button - press Tab once - Spacebar). All the applications stay open, restart is immediate.

I thought that you have it running all the time, in the sense of sitting idle or doing some server tasks...
 
I run flight simulator X on windows XP and boot camp. I am very happy with the performance. My only issue is the heat generated after a long session. My CPU is about 75C and the GPU is about 80C after about 30 minutes never any hotter. Will this hurt the computer over time or is that the way they are now.
 
So far I've tried Bioshock, doom 3, Half Life 2: Lost Coast, and GTR2.

All work flawlessly, just bioshock the res has to be turned down to 1024x600 to get fluid speeds with everything on (DX10). The other games, being from the last generation, run very fast!

I have installed a fan controller (inputremapper 1.04) and cpu throttle controller (rightmark cpu clock) to put the fans on near max and keep the cpu throttled to only 1.8Ghz. This means that temps stay right around 60C, which is not as insanely high as they get if you just run the games on a plain installation.
 
I play HL2 in XP under Boot Camp and it runs just fine. I run the game at 1920 x 1200 and it runs silky smooth.
 
Detektiv-Pinky said:
OK, maybe some misunderstanding here. I myself are not shutting the machine down - I am putting it into sleep mode (Power button - press Tab once - Spacebar). All the applications stay open, restart is immediate.

I thought that you have it running all the time, in the sense of sitting idle or doing some server tasks...
Click to expand...

alt - command - eject works too..and easier 🙂
 
my MBP runs oblivion at 40-60 fps with mid-high settings and tiberum wars on high..both at native resolution

btw..how did you get your mbp to run 1900x1200 in bootcamp? I can't get mine to work under DVI.
 
Games i have tried on my 2.33 C2D MBP

BF: 2142
TES IV: Oblivion
Battlestations Midway
Medieval 2: Total War
Armed Assault
Last Chaos (Online MMORPG)
F.E.A.R

numerous others, everything runs great, some need to be turn down to med-high to get nice frames (40 FPS). MBP is a monster.... keep it tied up when not in use...
 
I like to use my SR MBP 2.2 Ghz in Bootcamp to get my RTS fix. Games that I've tried and run well on medium-max settings include:

Company of Heroes (and the expansion, Opposing Fronts)
C&C Tiberium Wars
World in Conflict (Beta)

The main concern isn't really not being able to run games but the heat generated. If I leave everything on default my CPU and GPU temps get into the low 80's C. Usually I crank up the fans (using SMC Controller in OS X before rebooting into Windows) and use a notebook cooling pad to bring the temperatures down to more reasonable levels.

Edit:
I have installed a fan controller (inputremapper 1.04) and cpu throttle controller (rightmark cpu clock) to put the fans on near max and keep the cpu throttled to only 1.8Ghz. This means that temps stay right around 60C, which is not as insanely high as they get if you just run the games on a plain installation.
Click to expand...

Would you mind providing links to these programs? Would be great to be able to adjust fans speeds in Windows and not just OS X. Thanks.
 
I'm still amazed with this machine running windows. It works better than my pc.😱

I've played BF2 online, and the new games running on pixel shader 3: bioshock and medal of honor: airborne. They all run fluidly even in the higher resolutions.
Unfortunately, the temps tend to rise, and honestly, i'm not that comfortable having the machine @ high temps.

Enjoy your mbp.
 
The MacBook Pro can definitely handle itself when it comes to gaming.
I've played all of these on high or highest settings all at max resolution, except for BF2 (doesn't support widescreen):
HL2, CSS, TF2, and other Source games
Oblivion
Medieval Total War II
BF2
Medal of Honor Airborne Demo
World in Conflict Beta
Quake Wars Beta (terrible game)
Far Cry
list goes on...

I keep a fan on the desk which keeps it cooler. 😀
 
In regards to the heat issue, I wouldn't worry about it.

a) Today's components are built to just shutdown if they even approach bad temps. (You would really have to stress the GPU to burn it out.)

b) People always complain about the MBP's heat. Keep in mind that the case is metal. Most laptops aren't. That is why the case gets so hot. If anything, this helps cooling. The case acts as a giant heat sink; pulling hot air from inside and depositing it outside.

With regards to actual gaming, the MBP has done very well. I have only the 128MB version, but it runs HL2 at native res (1440x900) completely maxed out. For Lost Coast, with the HDR, it runs ~30-40 FPS maxed out (everything highest, AA/AF turned all the way up). It looks purdy.

I run the Crysis beta at 1440x900 with most everything turned to Medium (cept shadows). It pulls that out with 30FPS. I'm hoping for better performance from the demo.

Overall, I'm happy with the performance.
 
Bougth The Orange Box (Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress 2), running very fine at 1400x900, every effect on, except AA at 2x. I have a 2.2 SR MBP.

Played a lot in the past week, NO prob at all.
 
Have you guys with the 2.2GHz MBP tried Supreme Commander/World in Conflict yet?

I'm still stuck between the 2.2GHz MBP or 2.4GHz MBP... with the price diff I could upgrade RAM and HDD, but just still not convinced on the 128MB cards gaming.

Note, I don't tend to play many FPS games...
 
Have you guys with the 2.2GHz MBP tried Supreme Commander/World in Conflict yet?

I'm still stuck between the 2.2GHz MBP or 2.4GHz MBP... with the price diff I could upgrade RAM and HDD, but just still not convinced on the 128MB cards gaming.

Note, I don't tend to play many FPS games...
Click to expand...

I've played both and they ran very well on my SR 2.2.
 
Yeah, gaming for me, at least in Windows, has always been significantly better than in Mac OS. Faster FPS for most games like WoW.
 
I have one of the latest generation MBPs (15 in, nVidia 9600M (dedicated), etc) and I am having trouble with Supreme Commander over Parallels 4. I launch the game, it gives me a splash, changes the desktop size for a moment, then says, "Please ensure your computer meets minimum specifications". My computer meets the specs with flying colors.

I am running parallels off of an external hard drive, but due to some strange circumstances I have to place Supreme Commander on the hard drive, not the virtual machine (the HD reads as a network drive, but everything else is fine).

Is there any way I can fix this?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back