iMac Gaming Performance Greatly Improved Over 2010

[TehFalcon]

So I Owned A Mid 2010 iMac Basemodel and It broke 3 times so I ended up getting the Mid 2011 As A Replacement. I Do game, and before you go saying WHY WOULD YOU GAME ON A MAC!?, Its because I Simply got the iMac because I Wanted a Mac, And Felt it would be better in the long run than building a PC, and boy was I right, well sorta, the Mid 2010 WAS HORRIBLE at gaming, But I Am here to tell you that Apple Really has proved the Fanboy's wrong about macs not being able to game, the Mid 2011 iMac I Would say from Personal Experience, is about 75% BETTER than the Mid 2010 (Last Generation) iMac in everything!

So Here are some Benchmark Scores and FPS I Am Getting in a couple games/Programs. Keep In Mind im running Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 with bootcamp 3.3 (I Need to update to 4.0), and the Catalyst 12.2 uncertified Drivers with the MBP 6750m ULTIMATE overclock.

Windows 7 Assessment Score:

Mid 2011 iMac: 5.9 (HDD is limited this)
Mid 2010 iMac: 5.7 (GPU/HDD Limited)

Battlefield 3:

Mid 2011 iMac: 50+ FPS (Medium/High Settings 720p)
Mid 2010 iMac: 30+ FPS (Medium 720p)

GTA IV:

Mid 2011 iMac: 45+ FPS (Medium/High Settings 1080p)
Mid 2010 iMac: 30+ FPS (Medium/Low Settings 720p)

Flight Simulator X (FSX):

Mid 2011 iMac: 45+ FPS (On Ground) 60+ FPS (In Air) (Maxed w/ REX 1080p)
Mid 2010 iMac: 30+ FPS (On Ground) 50+ FPS (In Air) (High w/ REX 1080p)

Halo 2 Vista Version (DX10):

Mid 2011 iMac: 60+ FPS (Locked) (Maxed 1080p)
Mid 2011 iMac: 48+ FPS (Maxed 1080p)

Portal 2:

Mid 2011 iMac: 145+ FPS (Maxed 1080p)
Mid 2010 iMac: 90+ FPS (Maxed 1080p)

Passmark Performance Test 7 64bit:

Mid 2011 iMac: Total Score: 1678.3
Mid 2010 iMac: Total Score: 1165.4


I Can Definitely Say that the iMac can be used for gaming Extremely Well as I Am doing it right now. I Don't Recommend the 27" For Gaming Because of its Resolution but the Best iMac For Gaming Would be the Top 21.5", though the Baseline like I Have is doing it extremely Well. I Thought I Would Share this!

 

[Grease2310]

I Don't Recommend the 27" For Gaming Because of its Resolution but the Best iMac For Gaming Would be the Top 21.5

Not that anyone should use an iMac as their primary gaming rig anyway but the 27'' has better graphics card options with more VRAM standard and an option to go to 2GB, and a core i7 option. It absolutely destroys the low end base model 21.5 inch, and just like you can run the 21.5 at 720p or 1080p or any number of other resolutions you can do that with the 27'' so I don't really see where your statement is coming from lol.

 

[Wreckie]

How you managed to pull out such FPS from GTA IV :/?
I have tried GTA IV on 6970m with 1080p and medium settings, it still gives some lag.

 

[nlr]

I hope the 2012 imac has a much better gpu.

 

[leman]

I hope the 2012 imac has a much better gpu.

Unfortunately, this is not up to Apple to influence

----------

I Don't Recommend the 27" For Gaming Because of its Resolution

The 27" has a graphics card which is twice as fast as the 21". Just saying.

 

[marzer]

But I Am here to tell you that Apple Really has proved the Fanboy's wrong about macs not being able to game

Hah! Love these threads. I've been gaming just fine on Macs for over ten years now, since the G3 days. Thanks for the update but no news here.

I Don't Recommend the 27" For Gaming Because of its Resolution

And where in your data does this prove out? (Sorry if its in your images but they didn't come thru for me.)

Besides, I've been gaming for two years on a 27" iMac and HIGHLY recommend it. At arms length its a very immersive experience over smaller iMac screens I've gamed on in the past (20" & 24").

Not that anyone should use an iMac as their primary gaming rig anyway

Hmmm, maybe it should be qualified with "fanatics", cause there's millions of Mac owners that do.

 

[lezmace]

Apple should replace the HDD with SSD and omit the built-in Super-Drive.
On this way they can use the saved space for a much better GPU including a bigger cooling system.

The built-in SSD would benefit the whole system and with TB or USB u got the ability to put on as much external drives as u want to (if u need it).

By not implementing a Super Drive, Apple will support their own philosophy of getting all the apps, music and movies in the APP or iTunes Store. Those who still need a DVD/CD drive can use an external one.

Just my 2 cents

 

[forty2j]

Apple should replace the HDD with SSD

Yep.

and omit the built-in Super-Drive.

Nope. Probably in the 2013 or 2014 model, but not the 2012.

On this way they can use the saved space for a much better GPU including a bigger cooling system.

Nope.

iMacs already use the best-available mobile GPUs. The kind of space you get back from the optical drive doesn't do a thing towards helping fit a desktop GPU; you'd need to add about an inch or more of thickness to the chasis to achieve that (in which case, there's no reason not to leave the superdrive in it).

 

[lezmace]

Nope.

iMacs already use the best-available mobile GPUs. The kind of space you get back from the optical drive doesn't do a thing towards helping fit a desktop GPU; you'd need to add about an inch or more of thickness to the chasis to achieve that (in which case, there's no reason not to leave the superdrive in it).

But there are some other solutions as double mobile gnu chips. i think alienware does it in some of their laptops.

 

[Yaboze]

I Am Glad It Worked out for You.

 

[lezmace]

or better: apple should offer a TB external GPU Solution

 

[wilycoder]

iMacs already use the best-available mobile GPUs. The kind of space you get back from the optical drive doesn't do a thing towards helping fit a desktop GPU; you'd need to add about an inch or more of thickness to the chasis to achieve that (in which case, there's no reason not to leave the superdrive in it).

NOPE!

The 6970m is not the best mobile GPU. Also, removing the superdrive could allow for a SECOND mobile gpu. As the 6970m is FILL-RATE limited when it comes to rendering into a 2560x1440 framebuffer, a second GPU would provide significant performance improvements.

If you're gonna cop a know-it-all attitude you might want to hit google first.

 

[forty2j]

NOPE!

The 6970m is not the best mobile GPU. Also, removing the superdrive could allow for a SECOND mobile gpu. As the 6970m is FILL-RATE limited when it comes to rendering into a 2560x1440 framebuffer, a second GPU would provide significant performance improvements.

If you're gonna cop a know-it-all attitude you might want to hit google first.

Ooh, look, there's a 6990m!

Generally the iMac will have the best-available for the chosen brand at the time it launched. That the 7xxxm's are out now is irrelevant; they're new, and probably part of the 2012 refresh. That nVidia's offering might have outperformed AMD's on paper is also irrelevant; the drivers for nVidia cards have consistently been poor quality and resulted in stability and performance issues in what may have nominally been superior hardware.

The 6990m was not available when the 2011 iMac launched.

The times when SLI/CrossFire are relevant and produce meaningful performance gain are, to my knowledge, pretty rare. Other threads have gone into that.

 

[Grease2310]

Hmmm, maybe it should be qualified with "fanatics", cause there's millions of Mac owners that do.

Well yes it's my primary machine for games too, but I guess I meant more "hardcore" gamers, though I hate that term.

 

[TehFalcon]

Unfortunately, this is not up to Apple to influence

----------



The 27" has a graphics card which is twice as fast as the 21". Just saying.

My Reasoning for Not recommending the 27" for gaming is for that price by then you might as well just build a way better gaming pc. With the 21.5" you get best of both worlds (mac and PC) while still maintaining a decent price.