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i5 chipset

Hetalia

Hetalia

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 4, 2012
41
0
Pa
I was wondering (and this might be a dumb question) how is the i5 intel chipset when it comes to gaming? I really didn't intend to buy this computer for gaming but I would like to run FFXIV/FFXI once I get Windows 8 up and running on my MBP.
 
B... said:
Yes. The graphics chip.
Click to expand...
I'm running a Intel HD 400 Graphics card I think. I'm not really sure if that is what it is. My question would it be any better if I had a rmbp? I kinda now want to use this as a gaming pc and I'm willing to put money into it.
 
Hetalia said:
I'm running a Intel HD 400 Graphics card I think. I'm not really sure if that is what it is. My question would it be any better if I had a rmbp? I kinda now want to use this as a gaming pc and I'm willing to put money into it.
Click to expand...

A gaming PC would be better for gaming than a MacBook. That, I assume, is the Intel HD 4000, and the rMBP has the same. You want something like the 15", which also has a nVidia 650M to run with. If you want SUPER gaming capabilities, get an Alienware to the alike, and put in a custom 680/90 if you have $1000 to spare for a GPU.
 
if you want to put more money into your mbp, if you have a 2011 or 2012 model, you can buy a external gpu for it.

its basically a box that you connect via thunderbolt and inside it is a desktop gpu

I like the idea of the mLogic mLink or the sonnet echo express SE or the owc mercury helios, couple that with a 650 and you have a hassle free gaming solution for 400 (300 from the enclosure and 100 for the gpu)
 
B... said:
A gaming PC would be better for gaming than a MacBook. That, I assume, is the Intel HD 4000, and the rMBP has the same. You want something like the 15", which also has a nVidia 650M to run with. If you want SUPER gaming capabilities, get an Alienware to the alike, and put in a custom 680/90 if you have $1000 to spare for a GPU.
Click to expand...

well there goes my hopes of running Warcraft on this thing. I should of sprung for the extra 15 inch monitor.
 
If you are trying to game a lot, I suggest you build a PC.
i5 on MBPs are mobile chips so it wont be able to render as good.
And as you may already know, its GPU based.

Intel HD 4000 is only a integrated which is a solution to run a computer without any eGPU.
(Which is also the worst thing run a game on)
Even my 2011 MBP with Radeon 6750M 1GB struggles to run most games.
After all, Macs arent the best solution for gaming.
For light games, the HD4000 can handle it.
If you are expecting to play like BF3, CoD on high settings, I would just build one for under 1000USD.
 
Here's a good place to start if you want to find out how well the integrated GPU (HD4000) works with most games:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000.69168.0.html

Notebookcheck website benchmark different games and how well the HD4000 performs with these games under different video settings. I don't know how graphically intensive FFXI is but here's another website summary of the HD4000 (its laptop GPU) in relation to its gaming capability:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 Mobile are the successors of Intel HD Graphics 3000 Mobile.
They come embedded on the new Intel Ivy Bridge CPUS and the new features include DirectX 11 support, Shader Version of 5.0 and openGL Version of up to 4.0.
Benchmarks show that some modern games like Mass Effect 3 and Fifa 12 run smoothly at high settings while modern+demanding games like Anno 2070 and COD: MW3 can still be played at medium settings fluently. However, Very Demanding games like Metro 2033 and Risen 2 require very reduced settings and might not appeal to most casual gamers.
Ultimately, the performance depends on whether or not the system's memory is dual-channel, at which speed it runs and also on the CPU it's embedded since the max core-clock varies
Click to expand...
 
Even an i3 with a great graphics card will do really great. It's not about the CPU, it's about the GPU.
 
Hetalia said:
I'm running a Intel HD 400 Graphics card I think. I'm not really sure if that is what it is. My question would it be any better if I had a rmbp? I kinda now want to use this as a gaming pc and I'm willing to put money into it.
Click to expand...

it would be ALOT better with the 15" retina due to the 650m
 
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