Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MacBook Air 2013 Gaming Performance (Intel HD 5000)
- Thread starter Yixian
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Actually wanted to get a MacBook Pro because I like to play games ever now and then... but reading all this I think an Air would be more than enough, seeing as I don't really play high-end computer games anyway. And my bank balance would be happier as well.
Has anyone tried these games in native Win 8 Bootcamp mode? Just curious if they're playable on any setting or not.
Could you try it with texture on high and shader+shadows up a notch? I'm interested to see what it can handle. Also, what map did you test?
I'm in the same boat as you. The MacBook air is great for light-medium gaming. Most current games can be played at mid-high settings with 30+FPS. I would assume the same for games that come out in the next year as well. I'm not nut when it comes to graphics and effects, so even future games on low will be sufficient.
Thanks for the input, although I'm more interested in the i5 performance. But at this point I don't think the FPS would be that much different between i5 and i7. For the CPU intensive games, loading time will be longer on the i5 but that's OK with me.
I wonder if you can do a more detailed test to see exactly what highest settings are acceptable. Or better connect the Air to an external display for better resolutions.just hoping out loud here!
I turned everything to max in the video settings and I definitely noticed frame rate drop, but it still seemed playable IMO. That said I didn't have a lot going on, on screen. I cranked it back down to Medium and I've been playing without any issue.
I don't have an external display so I'm afraid I can't test that.
----------
Yeah, I can confirm that as well. The only noticeable heat is around the hinge.
Also, although the fan does kick in, it's that not that bad. NOWHERE near as loud as my POS Dell work laptop which sounds like it's trying to break earth orbit when ever you load a game on it.
I know we've seen sort of a test already, but has anyone been playing much Dota 2 on their MBA?
Not sure if this is helpful to anyone but I just tried out Trine with everything on max except for AA and as far as I could tell it ran incredibly smooth. I have a base 11" and was a bit surprised by how well it performed, I may have underestimated this machine.
A tip for you guys if you didn't know, Trine and Trine 2 is on 80% sale on App Store. Great value!
A tip for you guys if you didn't know, Trine and Trine 2 is on 80% sale on App Store. Great value!
I've pre-ordered Europa Universalis IV native for Mac, to be released on 13th August. I'll post details as soon as play.
Yesterday, i received my i5/8/256 13" and tested diablo 3 and WoW. My setup was the closed mentioned mba on a mstand wired with a full hd lcd.
The results: WoW was playable fine (25-50 fps) with medium/good settings in situations of questing, 5 man hcs and scenarios. When raiding shen lei the fps dropped to about 15-18 fps during the encounter. I think it's ok for casuals, but unplayable for hardcore raiders. Changing the grahpical settings did not show any difference, so this might indicate that the i5 cpu is the bottleneck in this game.
In d3 i got about 20-30 fps in non-fight sitations and 12-20 fps in fights with many enemies on the screen. Similar to wow, setting down the graphics made no difference.
To conclude, the HD5000 seems to be just fine, but the 1.3 ghz i5 is the true bottleneck. I will test another mba with an i7 at the end of the week with the same setup. In my expection the i7 might show significant more performance in those games.
Stay tuned
The results: WoW was playable fine (25-50 fps) with medium/good settings in situations of questing, 5 man hcs and scenarios. When raiding shen lei the fps dropped to about 15-18 fps during the encounter. I think it's ok for casuals, but unplayable for hardcore raiders. Changing the grahpical settings did not show any difference, so this might indicate that the i5 cpu is the bottleneck in this game.
In d3 i got about 20-30 fps in non-fight sitations and 12-20 fps in fights with many enemies on the screen. Similar to wow, setting down the graphics made no difference.
To conclude, the HD5000 seems to be just fine, but the 1.3 ghz i5 is the true bottleneck. I will test another mba with an i7 at the end of the week with the same setup. In my expection the i7 might show significant more performance in those games.
Stay tuned
Last edited:
Yesterday, i received my i5/8/256 13" and tested diablo 3 and WoW. My setup was the closed mentioned mba on a mstand wired with a full hd lcd.
The results: WoW was playable fine (25-50 fps) with medium/good settings in situations of questing, 5 man hcs and scenarios. When raiding shen lei the fps dropped to about 15-18 fps during the encounter. I think it's ok for casuals, but unplayable for hardcore raiders. Changing the grahpical settings did not show any difference, so this might indicate that the i5 cpu is the bottleneck in this game.
In d3 i got about 20-30 fps in non-fight sitations and 12-20 fps in fights with many enemies on the screen. Similar to wow, setting down the graphics made no difference.
To conclude, the HD5000 seems to be just fine, but the 1.3 ghz i5 is the true bottleneck. I will test another mba with an i7 at the end of the week with the same setup. In my expection the i7 might show significant more performance in those games.
Stay tuned
Wow, I'm surprised. I didn't think Turbo Boosted i5 would be a bottleneck for frame rate. Definitely follow up with the i7 please.
Thats what I saw with LoL.
** League of Legends Test**
Setting on both machines.
Resolution - 1368x768
Character Quality - High
Effect Quality - Medium
Environment Quality - High
Shadows - Off
i5 results:
Avg FPS:41
FPS Range:37-50
Heat: Warm, maybe slightly less warm than i7 , fans running fairly loud
i7 results:
Avg FPS: 48
FPS Range:44-58
Heat: Warm - No Fans (Actually ran i7 test twice, because thought maybe I didn't hear fan on 1st run.)
I was surprised the i5 fans spun up and the i7 did not. Heat was about even, maybe slightly cooler on i5, but it had the fans running where the i7 did not.
Did you use the OSX beta or the Windows client? If on OSX : Any possibilities to try this on Windows?
I used OSX version of LoL.
I havent installed Windows (Bootcamp) on it yet. (Not sure I am, other than maybe Parallels which would be worthless for LoL)
For the guy asking what i used to measure FPS, LoL has a built in FPS meter, i just used that.
If you're running windows, can you check to see if your Intel processor is boosting under stress? Last year's MBA had issues with that for a while.
I can get 100+ FPS under CS:GO at like 1024x768 with the 2012 MBA, I know because I've played competitively with it for a while. The numbers I am seeing are nothing like what they should be.
I can get 100+ FPS under CS:GO at like 1024x768 with the 2012 MBA, I know because I've played competitively with it for a while. The numbers I am seeing are nothing like what they should be.
Just played XCOM Enemy Unknown for a while (native Mac version) on an 11", i7/8GB/256. Ran great with all settings maxed; I'd say 30-50FPS.
I also played some Legend of Grimrock. I'd say something lik 20-40FPS, with all settings maxed.
This little thing's got some kick! The fans definitely kick into high gear when playing (as they should), and it does get warm. But not too bad, honestly. Quite capable for such a small, portable laptop.
I also played some Legend of Grimrock. I'd say something lik 20-40FPS, with all settings maxed.
This little thing's got some kick! The fans definitely kick into high gear when playing (as they should), and it does get warm. But not too bad, honestly. Quite capable for such a small, portable laptop.
And you've made my day, good sir, thank you. I'm currently playing XCOM with most settings on low-medium on an aging late-2008 MBP. This brings me closer to replacing it with a 13" MBA i7/8GB/256. Now I just need to search the forums for a way to install windows on an external drive with bootcamp.
Another games I've tested (stock MBA 13'', i5, 4Gb):
Cave: fluid with everything on. But if you turn some effects off it will still look good but the MBA will not turn on the fan for a while.
Dirt 3: fluid with everything on medium
Alan Wake: think this was already mentioned, but not playable due to AA (which can't be turned off)
Empire Rome Total War: very good on medium to high setting
Cheers
Cave: fluid with everything on. But if you turn some effects off it will still look good but the MBA will not turn on the fan for a while.
Dirt 3: fluid with everything on medium
Alan Wake: think this was already mentioned, but not playable due to AA (which can't be turned off)
Empire Rome Total War: very good on medium to high setting
Cheers