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MacBook Air 2013 Gaming Performance (Intel HD 5000)

Coflash said:
I now have a 13" MBA 2013 model (i7, 8GB, HD5000) and look forward to trying more

Currently playing Fallout 3 @ 1440x900, it works well.
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Fallout 3 doesn't support Intel graphic boards. What do you use to play Fallout 3 (Parallels, Wine, etc.) and how did you master the ATI/Nvidia requirements?
 
geefourx said:
Fallout 3 doesn't support Intel graphic boards. What do you use to play Fallout 3 (Parallels, Wine, etc.) and how did you master the ATI/Nvidia requirements?
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It doesn't require much of anything...

Fallout 3 System Requirements
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo processor
RAM: 2 GB System RAM
OS: Windows XP/Vista
Video Card: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA 8800 series, ATI 3800 series)
Sound Card: Yes

I believe the Intel 5000HD is on par with the 8800.
 
Jyby said:
I believe the Intel 5000HD is on par with the 8800.
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Performance-wise the Intel may be on par with the Nvidia but it's a different hardware and Fallout 3 by default doesn't support the Intel chip set.

There is a "d3d9.dll" mod that needs to be placed into the Fallout 3 folder to make the game run on Intel graphics but it doesn't seem to work with Wine on OS X. I am wondering if it works under Bootcamp or Parallels or how are Mac users playing Fallout 3 on Intel graphics?
 
Having bootcamp is a must imo.

If the fix works for windows it should work on the MBA
 
Ohhh yummy! Origin has a huge weekend sale on various titles right now, new and old. Any recommendations on what to get? I'm thinking games that don't really need mouse or controller when you're out and about.
 
MacBook Airs are not really designed for gaming, in my opinion. I know people like to game, but if you really want to on a Mac I would go for a MacBook Pro, or if you are willing for a desktop an iMac is a very powerful machine.

If you want a Mac that can REALLY play any game and have the money, and once again would go for a desktop...the New Mac Pro (nMP) would be my choice.

Though I do not have a desktop anymore, if I had the money I would buy the nMP without any hesitation. Unfortunately being a medical student without a job, I just do not have $3,000+ to buy one.

I would buy the older Mac Pro if I could find one for a decent price, since it can be upgraded with newer hardware.

I guess once I become an MD, I will have the money to buy whatever I would like. :)

Best of luck my friend.
 
SRLMJ23 said:
MacBook Airs are not really designed for gaming, in my opinion. I know people like to game, but if you really want to on a Mac I would go for a MacBook Pro, or if you are willing for a desktop an iMac is a very powerful machine.
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The point of this thread is that the 2013 MBA is actually a decent gaming notebook, with obvious limitations and compromises. It's not a "gaming rig" of course, but that it can play some games pretty well is worth noting. Personally, the only game I really play on mine is WoW, and it runs great on my MBA.

SRLMJ23 said:
If you want a Mac that can REALLY play any game and have the money, and once again would go for a desktop...the New Mac Pro (nMP) would be my choice.
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The Mac Pro is not designed for gaming; the graphics cards in them are for workstation graphics, not gaming. You *can* game with them, but you can get better cards for gaming for a lot less money. The Mac Pro is ridiculous overkill if you just want a gaming machine.

SRLMJ23 said:
I would buy the older Mac Pro if I could find one for a decent price, since it can be upgraded with newer hardware.
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The older Mac Pro is pretty far out of date in every specification; you could easily get a much nicer gaming machine for a lot less money. The iMac is actually a pretty decent gaming machine in comparison.
 
Just flip back a few pages, I've posted plenty of pictures of games running on the Macbook air
 
I don't know why this thread exists. If you purchased a macbook air, awesome. If not, and you are looking for something to game on, look elsewhere. Macbook Air over the years have always been 10~15% Slower than the 13" Macbook Pros. And it always like that because Pros have a bigger thermal threshold. So stop asking how much slower are the Pros from the Air. Gaming on HD5000 can be simplified to it is equivalent to the 620m performance. Check out youtube for gameplay. If you are gaming on this machine, you guys are retarded. Especially for games like Battlefield 3+. I am not saying you can't game, but it is more reasonable to play indie games not games like Tomb Raider and stuff. Don't think you're going to game on this machine, you will kill the components of your computer due to high temps. What you guys don't understand is that when game heavy, the cpu may stay alive, but the heat that the cpu emits goes to other components like the SSD, or other controllers in the system and they die earlier with extreme heat. My rule of thumb is to not exceed 70C when it comes to gaming or any intensive tasks. The heatsink is the size of my pinky. Think about how much it can cool. I usually disable cores why encoding a video or video editing and disable Turbo Boost. You should playing at low with vsync on and under 1024x768 at most.

What Im trying to say is if you want a macbook air, get one, otherwise get the pro or another laptop. Air should not play heavy games.
 
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linjac951 said:
I don't know this thread exists. If you purchased a macbook air, awesome. If not, and you are looking for something to game on, look elsewhere. Macbook Air over the years have always been 10~15% Slower than the 13" Macbook Pros. And it always like that because Pros have a bigger thermal threshold. So stop asking how much slower are the Pros from the Air. Gaming on HD5000 can be simplified to it is equivalent to the 620m performance. Check out youtube for gameplay. If you are gaming on this machine, you guys are retarded. Especially for games like Battlefield 3+. I am not saying you can't game, but it is more reasonable to play indie games not games like Tomb Raider and stuff. Don't think you're going to game on this machine, you will kill the components of your computer due to high temps. What you guys don't understand is that when game heavy, the cpu may stay alive, but the heat that the cpu emits goes to other components like the SSD, or other controllers in the system and they die earlier with extreme heat. My rule of thumb is to not exceed 70C when it comes to gaming or any intensive tasks. The heatsink is the size of my pinky. Think about how much it can cool. I usually disable cores why encoding a video or video editing and disable Turbo Boost. You should playing at low with vsync on and under 1024x768 at most.

What Im trying to say is if you want a macbook air, get one, otherwise get the pro or another laptop. Air should not play heavy games.
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vladobizik said:
I suppose it is impossible to play Watch Dogs, even with the lowest settings, on a maxed-out 2013 MBA, right? :confused:
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I have a maxed out 2013 air, it does run on the lowest settings but it's not that much fun...nevertheless I can't stop playing it. I should probably just get a gaming PC or a ps4
 
Alright, guys, I hope this shuts you up about the performance of the macbook air.

should be around the performance of 630m and 7660g. @resolutions 1024x768 or less. <---Due to Memory Bandwidth Limitations.

Specs.
i7-4650u
128G
8GB Mem.
Software: Passmark 8
 

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Hey guys. So, I think about my first Mac, and I choice one. Yep, this is MacBook Air 2014 (i5, 8 Gb RAM) and i have one question. Which of this game below is running on this Mac in 30 fps. It doesn't matter the quality, but playability;)
Of course I mean games for OS X, not for Windows.

And I'm sorry for my bad english;)

attachment.php
 
linjac951 said:
I don't know why this thread exists. If you purchased a macbook air, awesome. If not, and you are looking for something to game on, look elsewhere. Macbook Air over the years have always been 10~15% Slower than the 13" Macbook Pros. And it always like that because Pros have a bigger thermal threshold. So stop asking how much slower are the Pros from the Air. Gaming on HD5000 can be simplified to it is equivalent to the 620m performance. Check out youtube for gameplay. If you are gaming on this machine, you guys are retarded. Especially for games like Battlefield 3+. I am not saying you can't game, but it is more reasonable to play indie games not games like Tomb Raider and stuff. Don't think you're going to game on this machine, you will kill the components of your computer due to high temps. What you guys don't understand is that when game heavy, the cpu may stay alive, but the heat that the cpu emits goes to other components like the SSD, or other controllers in the system and they die earlier with extreme heat. My rule of thumb is to not exceed 70C when it comes to gaming or any intensive tasks. The heatsink is the size of my pinky. Think about how much it can cool. I usually disable cores why encoding a video or video editing and disable Turbo Boost. You should playing at low with vsync on and under 1024x768 at most.

What Im trying to say is if you want a macbook air, get one, otherwise get the pro or another laptop. Air should not play heavy games.
Click to expand...

Wall of text from a horrible troll.

What is the point of your post?

Why are you calling people retarded for playing games on their MacBook Air?
 
linjac951 said:
Im certainly not saying intel is not capable of it. But every time you play a game you are spreading 100C of heat around a small area heating and potentially damaging other components in the process. And yes, Apple does not advertise this as a gaming machine for a reason, its not meant to be or used like one. Apple products are more for show not performance. If you want performance, I recommend the 15" retina or some other PC. Otherwise your computer will be short-lived.

I am just concerned for people, I am no troll. You are the one accusing me of one. If you knew a little bit of thermal dynamics and circuits. You would understand what I see. But you're just be ignorant and accusing me of being a troll when I am trying make people understand the harmfulness of gaming on this laptop.

I.E. I read a post recently of a person with artifacts with their macbook air, that is one consequence of gaming probably. SSD failures, and memory corruption is also in the same boat. Also logic board issues.

So when you accuse me of being a troll. I kind of take to heart and get pissed at people I'm trying to help understand about limitations of the air.

All in all, I am trying tell people they need to keep their MacBooks cool, and its not good running 100C temps for 1hour or more. Its a laptop for christ sakes. The heatsink is no bigger than my pinky. Literally, not a joke.

I truly believe all MacBooks are just for show except the 15" pro and the the mac pro desktop. 13" and 11.6" just aren't thermally resistant enough to even consider gaming on. The only heatsink apple made on the 13" that I thought was great to game on is the 13" retina 2012. Came with two fans cooling only 1 source of heat, the CPU. both fans separated from edge to edge of the laptop. The current ones, feel like its going to melt the aluminum unibody back to its liquid form.
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You are a troll...calling people retarded or dicks in a public forum over a specific technology brand.

I'm done in this thread until I have something to contribute and not feed a troll. You know nothing of thermal dynamics in technology.

I hope you get banned.
 
Yixian said:
Sure I can do that in OS X for you, is that a command prompt to display FPS?

It should blaze it.
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Minecraft is more taxing than you think. On my iris machine 13" rMBP I pull around 90-100fps on all high except render down to 8 chunks.

With the sonic ether shaders I get around 40-50fps.
 
Anybody know if the intel HD 5000 is stronger or weaker than an Nvidia GTX 560 card? Just trying to compare to my old Rig.
 
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