Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Latest iMac Lasting The Test of Time in Games?

LouieSamman

LouieSamman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 23, 2008
909
9
Orlando, Florida
I got the latest iMac available today with the highest upgradable options from checkout, except for ram (went with 16gb).

How long in the test of time with games would I be able to keep this iMac before games are in need for higher specs?

I get over 100FPS on some games now and over 50FPS on higher graphical games but I want to stay over 50FPS later in the years once games gets more graphical. I bootcamp with windows 8.

Here are the specs to my iMac.

3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X8GB
3TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2GB GDDR5
 
It depends on the games you're playing and how willing you are to turn the settings down. You're not going to buy anything now that runs things maxed out that will then run new games maxed out years down the line. The 680MX is an extremely capable chip and it's given a lot of Mac users a great platform to game on. I'm really impressed with how it handles new games, especially at the iMac's native resolution. That said, there are games now that won't run at 50fps maxed out on the iMac so you need to be prepared to play around with the settings and understand that it's not a gaming system at heart.
 
I've been of the opinion for several years that the consoles are so good at 3D gaming in terms of value for money that one of those makes sense as your main gaming machine. However FPS/Sims etc then nothing comes close to the good old mouse and keyboard in which case the current iMac should be ok for at least two years.

If you are hungry for high res high detail glory then you've probably got the wrong machine. The integrated nature of the iMac means your not going to compete with the gaming PCs of this work. I suspect however you already know that.
 
PJM82 said:
I've been of the opinion for several years that the consoles are so good at 3D gaming in terms of value for money that one of those makes sense as your main gaming machine. However FPS/Sims etc then nothing comes close to the good old mouse and keyboard in which case the current iMac should be ok for at least two years.

If you are hungry for high res high detail glory then you've probably got the wrong machine. The integrated nature of the iMac means your not going to compete with the gaming PCs of this work. I suspect however you already know that.
Click to expand...

This is good. I can just upgrade to the newest iMac every 2 years. That way I am up to par with what the game delivers. I feel the iMac will continue to move forward in terms of gaming graphics.
 
LouieSamman said:
I got the latest iMac available today with the highest upgradable options from checkout, except for ram (went with 16gb).

How long in the test of time with games would I be able to keep this iMac before games are in need for higher specs?

I get over 100FPS on some games now and over 50FPS on higher graphical games but I want to stay over 50FPS later in the years once games gets more graphical. I bootcamp with windows 8.

Here are the specs to my iMac.

3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X8GB
3TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2GB GDDR5
Click to expand...

You'll be good for 2-3 years.

Video cards and video card requirements improve about 20% per year:

So:

1 year: 83% frame rates
2 year: 69% frame rates
3 year: 57% frame rates
4 Year: 48% frame rates
 
LouieSamman said:
This is good. I can just upgrade to the newest iMac every 2 years. That way I am up to par with what the game delivers. I feel the iMac will continue to move forward in terms of gaming graphics.
Click to expand...

I suspect you are a lot like me. Yes the iMac will last longer than two years but its not a great feeling having to tone down your gaming for the latest games. Two years is what I aim for with each MAC/PC I have. That 680MX gives you the best chance plus it looks like it can handle a decent overclock to keep things lasting a little longer.

Also remember the latest consoles are just around the corner, and as they catch up to the desktop in capabilities, we have often seen games take a leap forward on the desktop as well but with high hardware demands. I don't think anything could get a decent frame rate on full max settings for the original Crysis when that came out for example.

Enjoy the new iMac. If your going to get more RAM keep an eye out over the summer as after that demand will likely increase due to the approach to the holiday season and DDR 4 production is now ramping up.

The unboxing experience is the best bit :). It reminded me of when I was gifted my first AMIGA 600 aged 10 in Christmas 1992.
 
Radiating said:
You'll be good for 2-3 years.

Video cards and video card requirements improve about 20% per year:

So:

1 year: 83% frame rates
2 year: 69% frame rates
3 year: 57% frame rates
4 Year: 48% frame rates
Click to expand...

Thanks this is exactly the kind of information I need to make the decision of when to get a new iMac. I think 2 years.

PJM82 said:
I suspect you are a lot like me. Yes the iMac will last longer than two years but its not a great feeling having to tone down your gaming for the latest games. Two years is what I aim for with each MAC/PC I have. That 680MX gives you the best chance plus it looks like it can handle a decent overclock to keep things lasting a little longer.

Also remember the latest consoles are just around the corner, and as they catch up to the desktop in capabilities, we have often seen games take a leap forward on the desktop as well but with high hardware demands. I don't think anything could get a decent frame rate on full max settings for the original Crysis when that came out for example.

Enjoy the new iMac. If your going to get more RAM keep an eye out over the summer as after that demand will likely increase due to the approach to the holiday season and DDR 4 production is now ramping up.

The unboxing experience is the best bit :). It reminded me of when I was gifted my first AMIGA 600 aged 10 in Christmas 1992.
Click to expand...

Yes I will be getting more RAM but my iMac have been doing well with the 16GB. If I see a 32GB DDR4 RAM this summer, I'm sure I'd get it :)
 
LouieSamman said:
Ah well it really doesn't matter to me. I just went with windows 8 because it is the latest of their operating systems and Iike to keep up to date.
Click to expand...

I'm doing the same thing. I can't stand to use it for actual work, but the Start Screen works fine for booting up games. I've essentially turned my Bootcamp partition into an Xbox. Plus, I got Windows 8 for $30, so yeah.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back