iMac 27 with retina 5k display for gaming

[vacklm]

hi,
I'm thinking of getting a iMac for an Alround computer purpose.
But, for the gaming side would the iMac work with games such as call of duty, battlefield and mine craft without lag. Would any upgrades get rid of any lag?
If so what could I do to get my new Mac to standard where I could play these games so they are perfect, playable and Smoove.

 

[AlifTheUnseen]

Welcome.

If you bother to look at the threads on, let's say, the last couple or three pages of this forum, you'll see a couple of threads are discussing more or less exactly this point. I suggest you take the time and read them. As far as I can see, there are two different positions:
- Some expect new iMac models from October on and suggest to wait, as the 27" RiMac is 1 year old and the 21" iMac is even 2 years old…
- Others proudly post that they just bought a new iMac, that they are happy and others congratulate them…

If you're primary purpose is gaming, maybe you should look for a gaming pc. Remember, the iMac is a desktop all-in-one that has notebook-grade parts, apart from the CPU (which is not THAT important for gaming). As even the maxed-out GPU doesn't have the Oomph! to allow 5K gaming, you will not benefit of the gorgeous RiMac screen for gaming.

So, if you want to play state-of-the-art games now and possibly the next two years on a 1-year-old notebook, well, I have no experience, I doubt it'll be smooth in the highest quality option. So you should check an option for a gaming pc with a desktop-grade GPU…

I think others who actually have a RiMac might share their experiences… I'm sure you'll find a number of threads if you're going to look for them...

 

[TechZeke]

Welcome.

If you bother to look at the threads on, let's say, the last couple or three pages of this forum, you'll see a couple of threads are discussing more or less exactly this point. I suggest you take the time and read them. As far as I can see, there are two different positions:
- Some expect new iMac models from October on and suggest to wait, as the 27" RiMac is 1 year old and the 21" iMac is even 2 years old…
- Others proudly post that they just bought a new iMac, that they are happy and others congratulate them…

If you're primary purpose is gaming, maybe you should look for a gaming pc. Remember, the iMac is a desktop all-in-one that has notebook-grade parts, apart from the CPU (which is not THAT important for gaming). As even the maxed-out GPU doesn't have the Oomph! to allow 5K gaming, you will not benefit of the gorgeous RiMac screen for gaming.

So, if you want to play state-of-the-art games now and possibly the next two years on a 1-year-old notebook, well, I have no experience, I doubt it'll be smooth in the highest quality option. So you should check an option for a gaming pc with a desktop-grade GPU…

I think others who actually have a RiMac might share their experiences… I'm sure you'll find a number of threads if you're going to look for them...

Well, the OP did say that he/she wants the iMac to be an all-around computer. Best bet would be to get the M295X upgrade for sure, although keep in mind the reports of throttling.

I definitely agree on waiting at this point. The October event is literally two months away.

I'm currently having an internal conflict myself, as my current iMac is more than powerful enough for everything I do except gaming. I can't decide whether I want to put the money I'm currently saving into a Gen-2 Retina 5K in October or a new Gaming PC. Problem is, I like the convenience of the iMac as a single machine and OSX.

 

[ninja2000]

I bought a retina iMac as an all around PC and do all my gaming on it (in bootcamp).

I chose the AMD 290x as I didn't want the heat and fan noise associated with the 295m.

For me its been an amazing machine, and the 290x has a good amount of performance as long as you don't need to be running everything at ultra. I play BF4 at 1440p medium/high settings and thanks to the 5k screen it looks gorgeous and runs smoothly.
I also play COD BLOPS2, COH2, wargame series, total war rome 2 and shogun 2 and CS GO.

For me there is so many benefits that out weigh the pure GPU muscle of a windows gaming machine (of which I have built many in the past)
I love the lack of noise from my iMac, the compact design, the great built in speakers for when I can't be bothered to wear a headset. And best of all that screen, it needs to be seen. Also because it is a retina screen it scales well and games still look good at 1440p or even 1080p

 

[vacklm]

I bought a retina iMac as an all around PC and do all my gaming on it (in bootcamp).

I chose the AMD 290x as I didn't want the heat and fan noise associated with the 295m.

For me its been an amazing machine, and the 290x has a good amount of performance as long as you don't need to be running everything at ultra. I play BF4 at 1440p medium/high settings and thanks to the 5k screen it looks gorgeous and runs smoothly.
I also play COD BLOPS2, COH2, wargame series, total war rome 2 and shogun 2 and CS GO.

For me there is so many benefits that out weigh the pure GPU muscle of a windows gaming machine (of which I have built many in the past)
I love the lack of noise from my iMac, the compact design, the great built in speakers for when I can't be bothered to wear a headset. And best of all that screen, it needs to be seen. Also because it is a retina screen it scales well and games still look good at 1440p or even 1080p

So there's no lag when you play

 

[vacklm]

Well, the OP did say that he/she wants the iMac to be an all-around computer. Best bet would be to get the M295X upgrade for sure, although keep in mind the reports of throttling.

I definitely agree on waiting at this point. The October event is literally two months away.

I'm currently having an internal conflict myself, as my current iMac is more than powerful enough for everything I do except gaming. I can't decide whether I want to put the money I'm currently saving into a Gen-2 Retina 5K in October or a new Gaming PC. Problem is, I like the convenience of the iMac as a single machine and OSX.

Ok, you said new macs are coming out on October but when is he next gen of iMacs coming out?

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

I bought a retina iMac as an all around PC and do all my gaming on it (in bootcamp).

I chose the AMD 290x as I didn't want the heat and fan noise associated with the 295m.

For me its been an amazing machine, and the 290x has a good amount of performance as long as you don't need to be running everything at ultra. I play BF4 at 1440p medium/high settings and thanks to the 5k screen it looks gorgeous and runs smoothly.
I also play COD BLOPS2, COH2, wargame series, total war rome 2 and shogun 2 and CS GO.

For me there is so many benefits that out weigh the pure GPU muscle of a windows gaming machine (of which I have built many in the past)
I love the lack of noise from my iMac, the compact design, the great built in speakers for when I can't be bothered to wear a headset. And best of all that screen, it needs to be seen. Also because it is a retina screen it scales well and games still look good at 1440p or even 1080p

Off topic but I'd recommending playing at 5K for BF4; but then put scaling to 50%. This means that the UI will be rendered at 5K but the actual game will be upscaled from 1440p therefor giving you the same performance as 1440p but with an insanely sharper UI

Enjoy!

 

[Dirtyharry50]

Ok, you said new macs are coming out on October but when is he next gen of iMacs coming out?

Nobody can answer that with certainty. Apple's refreshes are always shrouded in mystery but just roughly tend to come on an annual basis overall for the iMac line. This is why there is speculation about this fall but then again there is speculation about further delay waiting on the next Intel offerings as in maybe in Spring I think I have read.

Unless you have a pressing need for the system now, I'd recommend waiting for the next iMac refresh and just stay tuned here for news on that. Given your desire to play games I'd also recommend when the time comes to buy a 27" iMac with best options as gaming goes.

I am enjoying gaming on my 27" iMac, currently playing Max Payne 3 at high settings with a stable 60 FPS. I think this is at 1440p if I remember right. I might have dropped down to 1080p. In any event, it looks great and is a lot of fun. It isn't a brand new game though even so. My system is a late-2013 with 8 gigs of RAM, Nvidia 775M GPU with 2 gigs video RAM, Intel Core i5 3.4 CPU and it does well but it is now showing its age already when I check specs of some new titles. Keep in mind here, my GPU in this case is one step down from the top end available for this system despite the advice I just gave. There is a good reason for that which isn't worth going into at great length here so I'll spare you the details. On a new purchase though, I'd have gone best available for a little longer life.

In my opinion, you can reasonably expect 3 years out of a new iMac if you play games with the understanding that in the last year of that particularly you will start seeing more titles where reducing resolutions and cutting back on settings will be necessary because at the end of the day, an iMac is basically a glorified laptop computer even if a very nice one. A mobile GPU is only going to go the distance for a more limited time than a PC desktop where you can update a GPU not to mention begin with a substantially more powerful one to begin with.

I'm trying to be real here without being negative or so positive as to be misleading. There are tradeoffs is the important thing to be aware of vs a Windows PC and maybe you are well aware of this already and just trying to feel out how much of a tradeoff it really is. Again, I am really happy with mine and given my backlog of games will probably keep it longer than three years but we'll see.

I am not good at being succinct but basically, if you want desktop Windows PC gaming performance and upgradability that's what you need to buy, a PC. If you are okay with scaling back slowly over the life of the system on some of the newest, most demanding games say over a 3 plus year period and otherwise love OS X and want a single system running it I think an iMac can be a great compromise so long as you don't skimp on the options when you invest initially.

Hope that helps.

 

[vacklm]

Does anyone experience any lag with games such as battlefield or cod with their iMacs?
I had a iMac in 2010/11 which I gave away last year and I got a fair bit of lag with games.

 

[vacklm]

Also how does ram affect lag?
What if I upgrade he ram? Will if decrease lag to be perfectly smoove?

 

[rkaufmann87]

Ok, you said new macs are coming out on October but when is he next gen of iMacs coming out?

No one but Apple knows when they will release new product for sure. Apple does not announce this information normally, please remember this is a rumors forum so release dates quoted on here are normally speculations based on the latest rumor. While some people may be correct, the chances are they may also not be incorrect.

 

[ninja2000]

Does anyone experience any lag with games such as battlefield or cod with their iMacs?
I had a iMac in 2010/11 which I gave away last year and I got a fair bit of lag with games.

Sorry, just noticed your question.
No lag at all in any games that I play. Bf4 is buttery smooth at my settings, I will monitor the fps later and let you know but it feels like 60+. I am very sensitive to playing at low fps and like to try an keep games over 60 even if it means dropping some settings.

8gb of ram is fine, won't cause any lag. You can upgrade that yourself later if you need

 

[Lennartz]

If gaming is really important to you, especially playing the newest most cutting edge games (Witcher, etc) it really feels like a wrong move to invest in an iMac. You start of with the wrong OS, you need Windows/Direct3D for 90% of the games so you need to bootcamp windows, furthermore you have a laptop-like casing with mediocre GPU's that need to be cool, silent and small-form factor. (and keeps getting smaller) Read: nothing cutting edge that a PC gaming desktop will feature. on top of that, improving the laptop-grade GPU is very expensive, yet even if you do you are not even touching the desktop performance you can have on a PC. Now don't get me wrong.... I LOVE the iMac and OS X. So my advise is... go for console gaming and use iMac for all the rest. If you insist on gaming on a "PC or MAC" and gaming is what makes your day...get a new PC.

 

[EnesM]

No one but Apple knows when they will release new product for sure. Apple does not announce this information normally, please remember this is a rumors forum so release dates quoted on here are normally speculations based on the latest rumor. While some people may be correct, the chances are they may also not be incorrect.

In fact, there are no rumors about an 27" 5K update, just about the 21" 4K. It doesn't mean it's not coming soon, but there isn't a single leak yet.

 

[pescartina]

If you're playing older or less intensive games at 1440p, I've had a smooth, lag-free experience:

Shogun 2: Total War
Borderlands 2
Cities: Skylines
Diablo III
League of Legends