How will StarCraft 2 perform on a 9600M GT?

[Yixian]

Hey peeps, wondering if anyone has any idea how StarCraft 2, released in a few days, will run on a MacBook Pro with a 9600M GT. I understand this game is largely CPU intensive so I am hoping that for once it will run as well as you'd expect on a less-than-2 year old laptop.

I have seen some footage of the beta running on a MBP 9600M GT, and very nicely at that, so that leaves 2 questions (they may be very difficult to answer):

1) Are we expecting the game to run a lot slower on OS X than XP as games usually do (including WoW)

2) Are we expecting performance to be significantly better in the final over the beta

Thanks,

 

[altecXP]

Not bad at all I had no problem on a machine at work I tested it on.

 

[Yixian]

Not bad at all I had no problem on a machine at work I tested it on.

On XP, Vista or OS X?

I would love to install it on OS X and not have to bootcamp but if we're talking a difference of 10-20fps like in WoW then no

 

[npropes]

I've been playing the beta in OS X for about a week now and it seems to run OK on the 9600M GT. It runs decently enough with settings at medium and resolution at 1280x800. As with any game, the Bootcamp performance is going to be better because the drivers are better for Windows. However, if you're not going to run it at full resolution and settings maxed out, then OS X works well.

Also, I've noticed that if you run OS X ONLY over an external monitor from the MBP that the performance is slightly better (5-10%).

 

[Yixian]

How big is the performance gap? Are we talking a few fps or the ability to up the res and details whilst still playing smooth?

If I can play on high in bootcamp at the same fps as medium on OS X then I'm gonna have to go with bootcamp, as much as it pains me..

 

[Rithem]

How big is the performance gap? Are we talking a few fps or the ability to up the res and details whilst still playing smooth?

If I can play on high in bootcamp at the same fps as medium on OS X then I'm gonna have to go with bootcamp, as much as it pains me..

I have a 330 and there seems to be a huge discrepancy between OSX and Windows 7 FPS rates, largely in favor of Windows.

 

[Yixian]

I have a 330 and there seems to be a huge discrepancy between OSX and Windows 7 FPS rates, largely in favor of Windows.

Bootcamp and overclocking it is then, what a shame.

 

[Meever]

oh dear lord. yes. Bootcamp. BOOTcamp. BOOTCAMP. You'll get higher framerates, better driver for mice, etc, etc, etc.

 

[cluthz]

On XP, Vista or OS X?

I would love to install it on OS X and not have to bootcamp but if we're talking a difference of 10-20fps like in WoW then no

I can only report from my i5 and a friends MBP 13 inch with 9400m.
The i5 runs very smooth on something between medium and high in OSX, a bit faster in win (I only have XP installed atm), but not that much that it worth to reboot.

My friends MBP 13 with 9400m runs decent on medium in XP and low in OSX, so the win version clearly superior.

I'm playing in 1680x1050 on an external screen, and he plays at 1280x1024 on an external as well.

Your MBP will perform somewhere in between those models, possibly closer to the i5.

StarCraft 2 is both mac and PC version, so i'd suggest install on mac first and see if it runs well enough for your standards, and if it doesn't, install it in bootcamp afterwards.

I know I'm gonna play in OSX, because the i5 runs SC2 with proper res and the eyecandy I find good enuff

 

[cathyy]

I've got a Macbook Pro with a 8600M GT. It runs well on Medium, unless there are really A LOT of units fighting at once (several hundred units out in the battlefield at once. Even then the game gets a bit choppy but it's still playable.

I don't think you could play it with a good frame rate on High though.

 

[Wafflausages]

i get about 60fps start then 30fps battles with the 330m on medium settings @ 1440x900

i know i had to set my shaders to medium or else i would be getting 30 fps start then 10 fps battles on this one 2v2 map esp w/ zerg since the creep has the reflection things (the one where both of you start off in the one base and its kinda darkish)

 

[MBHockey]

Just use boot camp. I can play in boot camp (win7 64 bit) with everything on Ultra except shaders on high with a steady 30 FPS (core i7, 330m GT) but in OS X i have to play it on medium and then even during large battles it will drop below 30 fps.

 

[cathyy]

i get about 60fps start then 30fps battles with the 330m on medium settings @ 1440x900

i know i had to set my shaders to medium or else i would be getting 30 fps start then 10 fps battles on this one 2v2 map esp w/ zerg since the creep has the reflection things (the one where both of you start off in the one base and its kinda darkish)

Is this on OS X?

 

[Wafflausages]

Is this on OS X?

i only tried it with bootcamp since i thought i'd be wasting my time installing it on osx because i knew when i installed css/tf2 my fps took a big hit on osx :/

 

[altecXP]

On XP, Vista or OS X?

I would love to install it on OS X and not have to bootcamp but if we're talking a difference of 10-20fps like in WoW then no

OSX, haven't tried on Windows

 

[Tmacfan4321]

Once I get my i7, I am definitely going to OC the GT 330M. People have been getting pretty good gains in W7.

 

[Minimoose 360]

No matter what setup you have, OSX graphics drivers suck. Use Windows!

 

[Yixian]

Yeah, Apple are going to have to start shipping far better than average cards in their machines for us to get the same performance on OS X as an average card does on windows. Too bad we're getting below average cards then, but I guess that's why god invented overclocking, I'll just need to invest in some insulted pants.

 

[PurpleShaman]

just out of curiosity, when running on win7, are you guys using the 32 or 64 bit? can I run the 64bit well with 4 gigs of RAM?

and...(im sure this has been asked a million times) is there a big difference between the 256 330M vs. the 512 300M cards?

 

[Maclarny]

Just brought the game home. Installed it on OSX on my MBP i5 2.53 330M - the performance was lackluster to say the least. I did not buy top-line hardware to watch my games languish at sub-par settings due to driver issues. I am currently installing the game on by XP Bootcamp partition and expect to get far superior performance. I will keep the game installed on OSX, as well, in anticipation of the 10.6.5 update. Hopefully that will bring Mac performance at least in the vicinity of PC performance.

 

[Tmacfan4321]

just out of curiosity, when running on win7, are you guys using the 32 or 64 bit? can I run the 64bit well with 4 gigs of RAM?

and...(im sure this has been asked a million times) is there a big difference between the 256 330M vs. the 512 300M cards?

64-bit will run well on any computer as long as the CPU supports it. The main issue is that 32-bit OSes don't support the full 4GB of ram.

 

[PurpleShaman]

@maclarny
how did the performance on win7 go?

 

[Maclarny]

@maclarny
how did the performance on win7 go?

Purp,

Note: My Bootcamp installation is XP SP3 - Performance was far superior compared to OSX - went from scraping by on medium settings at 1344x840 to flying on high settings at 1440 x 900. Game looks incredible - really need the eye candy to truly appreciate it.

I can only imagine that a Win7 installation would be on par or better than the performance that I have gotten on XP.

 

[PurpleShaman]

@mac, thanks man, that sounds great. im planning on gettin the base i5 (same GPU as u but slightly lower CPU). depending on what happens im trying to put 64bit Win7 on it, ill let yall know when i get some results

 

[Yixian]

Well, OS X performance is very poor, so I installed on bootcamp and of course, it took a few hours to fix my internet connection, it took a few hours to install (quicker on OS X) and now there is a patch loop bug meaning I can't update the fricking thing and therefore can't play it.

I swear, with PC gaming you're stuck between a rock and a hard place: stable and hassle free but absolutely pathetic OS X performance, or far better performance on Windows but constant bugs, crashes and general annoyance.