Graphics question: would i notice much difference?

[JWFerne]

I've been using a windows machine for a bit and now I'm back to my Mac. I enjoy FPS games and since i'm switching back to my iMac, I'm not sure it'll have much horsepower for some gaming.

If I were to upgrade from my iMac 2.8 w/ATI RadionHD 2600 to a newer 2009 imac with Nvidia 130 or the ATI 4850 would I notice a big increase in frame rates on games. I would be using bootcamp and playing in Windows btw.

I'm not sure it's worth the upgrade price, but perhaps I'm not seeing it correctly.

Thanks for any help!

 

[MacsRgr8]

Well, going to a Radeon 4850 will make a huge difference in gaming! At least, if you play "newer" games which demand a good grfx card.

Both on Mac and Windows you'll notice it.

 

[MacMini2009]

ATI 4850 is great for games.

 

[JWFerne]

How would the iMac w/ATI 4850 compare to an older Mac Pro with a nvidia 8800gx?

Is the Nvidia 130 any good? Getting a stock iMac would be nice rather than custom.

Are there any heat issues with the new faster graphics card? My current iMac hovers about 110-120F with it's current one and gaming.

 

[zedsdead]

I don't think you would see a big enough difference to warrant purchasing an iMac with the GT 130. If you do, go for the ATI card (or at this point, I would wait for the next update personally).

 

[MacsRgr8]

How would the iMac w/ATI 4850 compare to an older Mac Pro with a nvidia 8800gx?

Is the Nvidia 130 any good? Getting a stock iMac would be nice rather than custom.

Are there any heat issues with the new faster graphics card? My current iMac hovers about 110-120F with it's current one and gaming.

The ATi Radeon 4850 is faster than the nVidia GeForce 8800 GT, and as most games only are "single core" compatible (sometimes a game game can offload few instructions [audio, scenery loading] to more cores) the iMac with the Radeon 4850 will beat the Mac Pro with GeForce 8800 GT.
If that same Mac Pro had the ATi Radeon 4870, the iMac would loose... simple as that.

 

[JWFerne]

Interesting enough my iMac 2.8 is faster in iMovie than my Mac Pro 4 core 2.66.

I took the exact same clip and had them both check a scene for stabilization and the iMac was about 6-10% faster. I guess iMovie is only using one core?

I basically just use my machines for email, photos, iMovie and bit of gaming on the windows side. I'm starting to think I should sell my mac pro

 

[Hellhammer]

How much you get for your iMac? If you can get good money, the sure, but I would consider building gaming PC. You can get one for less than 800$ which will outperform any iMac

EDIT: Just looked refurb store and your iMac goes for 1199$ and on eBay used 2.8 iMacs goes for about 1000$ so you would get something between 900$ and 1100$ for your iMac. New 2.93 iMac with ATI card is 1999$ which is about 1000$ more than you would get for your current iMac. I think that's quite poor value and that's why I recommend you to build a gaming rig. You can get a good one for less than 1000$

 

[JWFerne]

I hear you Hell... I built a nice gaming rig recently, however my room is getting so hot with two machines and honestly I need to back away from the amount of gaming I was doing. I just want to condense to an iMac and live with the simplicity and elegance. I like to game from time to time, but now it's secondary to family movies, photos and general computer use.

I just wasn't sure if my old iMac would be a decent enough of a replacement for my gaming rig, but it sounds like I should bump up to a ATI 4850.

 

[Hellhammer]

I hear you Hell... I built a nice gaming rig recently, however my room is getting so hot with two machines and honestly I need to back away from the amount of gaming I was doing. I just want to condense to an iMac and live with the simplicity and elegance. I like to game from time to time, but now it's secondary to family movies, photos and general computer use.

I just wasn't sure if my old iMac would be a decent enough of a replacement for my gaming rig, but it sounds like I should bump up to a ATI 4850.

Okay, I understand your point. It just sounds ridiculous for me to pay 1000$ for ATI 4850, because your current has quite similar specs, only GPU is worse.

How about PS3 or X360? Those are quite cheap and good media players as well. I'm just throwing out some ideas, you don't have to take 'em seriously