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How good is the ATI X1600?

B

BarryW

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 21, 2007
76
0
South Africa, Jo'burg /U.A.E, Dubai
Hi All,

My first post, after several months of lurking.

I have decided to buy an Apple notebook, this will be the first Apple product I will own.

I need to know how good the ATI X1600 is at running some of the newer games, specifically Flight Simulator X, Need for Speed: Carbon, Godfather, prince of persias etc.(running through bootcamp)

I use lightwave, for 3D work but the specs 256 mb card is ample for this program.

I will have to make the purchase by mid Feb, as that is when I leave, so I doubt any updated MBP will arrive here before then.

The reason for looking at the MBP instead of a MB + gaming PC is that I will only be getting a permanent residence after 9-12 months. Thus the power and the portability of the MPB is ideal - I also plan on buying an X-box 360(might not even need to buy a PC then)

So the real question is, will the MBP's graphics card last the next 12 months to play the newer games that are released?

Thanks,

Barry
 
BarryW said:
I need to know how good the ATI X1600 is at running some of the newer games, specifically Flight Simulator X, Need for Speed: Carbon, Godfather, prince of persias etc.(running through bootcamp)
Click to expand...

Hi, and welcome to MR!

I run Flight Simulator X on my MBP. I'm more concerned with Frame Rates so I have the graphics turned down to about medium low. But seriously, it would take a super computer to run it with anything above Medium... I think the next version of DirectX is supposed to help though... I haven't tried Prince of Persia, but I'm sure they would be fine.

The only other game I play is Silent Hunter III and it runs very smooth.

I don't know about it lasting 12 months. I'm sure you'd be able to play most everything, but not with full settings. Of course I've heard rumors of external graphics cards coming out soon...
 
My Intel iMac Core Duo has the X1600 with the 128mb of video ram. The system also has a single 1GB chip.

I boot camp to Windows to play Flight Sim X (WHAT A GAME) and it works really well. I can't jack the graphics up all the way, but at the medium-high setting, it looks awesome.
 
The X1600 is a mid-level card, so it isn't the best choice for a "pure" gaming machine. But it's no slouch either.

You should get good performance for the games you listed and it should be fine for a year plus.
 
I noticed a video playback problem on my macbook pro with ATi X1600, probably. It generates lots of particles in videos where they should look smooth and homogeneous. I compared the same video clip on my PC with an crappy intel etreme graphics2 and on macbook pro, and the video looks much smoother on PC. For example, the smoke looks like a cloud of particles, not tiny, but coarse ones, whereas it looks fine on PC.

I am not sure if this is the problem of the graphic card though, since my screen suffers the grainy problem, and I don't know if the grainiess has any distinct impacts on videos.
 
I used to play Need For Speed Most Wanted a lot under bootcamp and it ran great on medium-high settings. You should be fine for 12 months with it.
 
Thanks everyone for the feed back, much appreciated.

adrianblaine said:
Hi, and welcome to MR!

I run Flight Simulator X on my MBP. I'm more concerned with Frame Rates so I have the graphics turned down to about medium low. But seriously, it would take a super computer to run it with anything above Medium
Click to expand...

lamina said:
My Intel iMac Core Duo has the X1600 with the 128mb of video ram. The system also has a single 1GB chip.

I boot camp to Windows to play Flight Sim X (WHAT A GAME) and it works really well. I can't jack the graphics up all the way, but at the medium-high setting, it looks awesome.
Click to expand...
Adrianblaine, Lamina, what kind of frame rates are you getting at your current settings?
 
BarryW said:
Adrianblaine, Lamina, what kind of frame rates are you getting at your current settings?
Click to expand...

I haven't booted into XP for almost a week and I really can't boot into it right now... When I was running it, it seemed pretty smooth. Probably around 35. This is just going off of what I observed though. I've heard running it with most everything turned on high results in 10-15 FPS though...
 
Overlcocking update...

Company of Heroes BSOD's when I hit 490 MHz on the GPU core. My current settings are just fine at 480/510 MHz for my iMac.

Your milage may vary.
 
Not very good, but for a laptop, I guess its not bad. Its a joke when put into a iMac however, a desktop system at that price really should have a good video card, not a low-mid range one.
 
drake said:
Not very good, but for a laptop, I guess its not bad. Its a joke when put into a iMac however, a desktop system at that price really should have a good video card, not a low-mid range one.
Click to expand...
Putting up sh*t like this (see picture) speak for itself. :(
Even :apple: is making fun of it. :mad:
 

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my mac runs warcraft 3, world of warcraft, and the call of duty 2 demo just fine. i plan on getting COD2 when i have some more cash to throw around. for what is out right now i'd say you should be good... but like others have said, another year might be pushing it.
 
damien341 said:
this only shows that the 24" is a superfast gaming machine, which the 20" isn't. what's the problem for all the non-gamers of us!?
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No problem for those who don't play, but no fun for those that do. ;)
Do we have to buy a 24" or a MacPro to be able to get some "good" gaming? I don't think there's any good reason for this. They could easily have put the GeForce 7300 GT in the 20" as well.
 
IEatApples said:
No problem for those who don't play, but no fun for those that do. ;)
Do we have to buy a 24" or a MacPro to be able to get some "good" gaming? I don't think there's any good reason for this. They could easily have put the GeForce 7300 GT in the 20" as well.
Click to expand...

With the power requirments of the 7950GT they could have easily put one of those in. Compared to most high end cards it's not very power hungry or hot. (I'd even accept a downclocked version, lower clock speed = lower temp).

In this day and age a X1600 is crap and a 7300GT is almost as bad. the 7600GT or equivalent should be standard in the 24" with the option of a 7950GT. Personally i feel it should be standard in the 20" too with the 7300GT for the 17".

Although the joy of apple is that you'll always get last gen graphics in their next gen products...
 
drake said:
Not very good, but for a laptop, I guess its not bad. Its a joke when put into a iMac however, a desktop system at that price really should have a good video card, not a low-mid range one.
Click to expand...

It's not a joke. Its fine for the target audience. I've played virtually every EA Sports game made in the last year on my iMac (Bootcamp) with no issues; it's certainly not top-of-the-line, but it gets the job done.

Frankly, the iMac isn't your target machine if you're looking for a gaming platform.
 
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