I am up in the air about replacing my Mac Mini (2012) i7 2.3 with an Imac. The Mac Mini did most of what I wanted trans-code videos with handbrake, surfing the web, writing documents and being a plex server. It has however annoyed me with its performance on the strategy games I like to play like Civ V and Europa Universalis IV. Granted I do not have a lot of time to game in between piano practice and school but when I do I would like a smooth experience. I thought this machine would be good enough but it is not. I also was thinking of getting a thunderbolt display at some point down the line but considering all the factors I think an iMac is a better option for me.
So does anyone have experience with game performance on the 27 inch iMac. I am looking at either a 2012 refurb or possibly the latest model. Would I see a giant increase in game performance between 2012 GTX 675MX 1gb and the new 27 inch base model with the 775M? Also would I be able to do what I want possibly with the GT 660M 512mb (this would save me some money). I would like to possibly get 3 years or more out of the machine. CIV V and EUIV are probably the most demanding games I would play between now and 3 years unless one of them were updated with a new version in that time.
So does anyone have experience with game performance on the 27 inch iMac. I am looking at either a 2012 refurb or possibly the latest model. Would I see a giant increase in game performance between 2012 GTX 675MX 1gb and the new 27 inch base model with the 775M? Also would I be able to do what I want possibly with the GT 660M 512mb (this would save me some money). I would like to possibly get 3 years or more out of the machine. CIV V and EUIV are probably the most demanding games I would play between now and 3 years unless one of them were updated with a new version in that time.
