iMac 2017 & Gaming - Whats your experience?

[Peter_M]

$5,000 iMac Pro generates massive heat when gaming.

4 years now of 5K iMacs and still no compatible film content available, from iTunes or Apple at least. You could buy a bluray disk yourself but how you gonna use that when they don't include a CD/DVD/Bluray disk drive any more?

- Just a couple of things I picked up today.

Not anymore. After 18.8.2 I can play games on my iMac Pro w/Vega 64 in Bootcamp with no issues. Before even setting the fans at max, the GPU could go up to 100C. Now, I set the fans at 1800RPM, and the GPU maxes out in the low-mid 80s Celsius. This is with games like Witcher 3 and Kingdom Come Deliverance. At that speed you don't hear the fans while gaming. The CPU stays at 3.9-4.0ghz.

Obviously I didn't get the iMac Pro primarily for gaming, but when I first starting playing I got hooked, because the performance is great (PS: Witcher 3 is amazing..lol). Buying a new regular iMac with a downclocked Radeon 580M, is maybe not the best idea if you want to play newer games. You'll have to make fairly big compromises with the visual settings.

 

[gian8989]

Buying a new regular iMac with a mobile Radeon 580, is maybe not the best idea if you want to play newer games. You'll have to make fairly big compromises with the visual settings.

The 2017 iMac are not using mobile GPU anymore.

 

[Peter_M]

The 2017 iMac are not using mobile GPU anymore.

But it's downclocked (because of thermals), so it has lower performance than the desktop variant.

 

[J.Gallardo]

iMac27" i5 R580 here... and good gaming. (And I've found most games are designed with 1080p in mind, where Radeon580 is a strong contender... Even most demanding games work nicely).

http://barefeats.com/imacpro_vs_pt3.html

 

[torment12345]

iMac27" i5 R580 here... and good gaming. (And I've found most games are designed with 1080p in mind, where Radeon580 is a strong contender... Even most demanding games work nicely).
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http://barefeats.com/imacpro_vs_pt3.html

Would the Vega56 be much different? Thinking about picking up the base imac pro because of the $4000 price tag. Don't need the iMac pro for work but enjoy the OS

 

[J.Gallardo]

Would the Vega56 be much different? Thinking about picking up the base imac pro because of the $4000 price tag. Don't need the iMac pro for work but enjoy the OS

http://barefeats.com/imacpro_vs_pt5.html
(I wonder if Vega56 is so different from Pro580 as price says...)

 

[Peter_M]

That FPS graph is definitely not representative of the general performance difference between Vega 64 Pro vs. Radeon 580 Pro, most of the time the difference will be bigger - especially with newer games. Cherrypicking numbers doesn't make the 580 Pro any faster overall, though it's decent enough for less demanding games (like Dirt Rally), or when turning down some graphics settings.

As far as 1080p goes, it looks crappy on a 5K monitor, unlike 1440p. 2048x1152 scales better afaik, though I haven't tried it (nothing under 1440p for me).

If you're that into gaming anyway, and want a good-looking and compact solution, ditch the iMac and get a Corsair Elite and a high quality monitor instead. You could always get a 4K monitor, if you work a lot with text and want a higher PPI.