Seriously Considering Windows 7 (for gaming)

[flipster]

So yes i know valve has released steam for macs, and although its awesome, apple's graphics card drivers totally suck. Im getting terrible fps in Left 4 Dead 2, and people with half of my hardware specifications are getting double my frame rates in windows.

Im getting 20 fps maxed settings on l4d2 on mac
People with half my hardware are getting 60 on maxed settings with windows


Why are apples drivers so bad? There so far behind windows its crazy.
Do you think i should just do it?
If I do install windows 7, keep the bootcamp drivers or update them?

Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz
6GB of 800 mhz ram
24" screen
nvidia geforce 8800 gs 512 mb
Snow Leopard 10.6.6

I know Apple is supposedly working on better drivers, but seeing as they drop support so quickly, i dont even think that they'd update mine.

 

[Grannyville7989]

On Windows, I've always found it's best to keep your drivers up-to-date for the best performance from it. Plus, you have more access to the library of games on Steam on Windows.

Plus, Windows 7 on a Mac is very good. I'm sticking to buying MacBook Pros to run Windows on, as well as Mac OS X of course , from now on. Excellent piece of hardware.

Can't wait for Lion and Windows 8.

 

[green86]

Use Windows for all your gaming needs if you are half serious about performance. Use the bootcamp drivers, but then update the graphics drivers.

 

[flipster]

Use Windows for all your gaming needs if you are half serious about performance. Use the bootcamp drivers, but then update the graphics drivers.

Just a question though, when i partition the hard drive, please tell me that i don't have to uninstall or reformat the whole thing cuz i have tons of pictures and programs on mac os x now that it would almost not be worth it

 

[Grannyville7989]

Mac will repartition your computer on the fly either through Boot Camp or Disk Utility. Everything on your Mac partition will remain intact.

 

[balamw]

Mac will repartition your computer on the fly either through Boot Camp or Disk Utility. Everything on your Mac partition will remain intact.

Unless of course you run into a glitch. Non-destructive or not, proceed only with a good backup of anything irreplaceable.

B

 

[vistadude]

I know little to nothing about computer programming, but is it possible that it has nothing to do with drivers? I mean, looking at stuff like printers or scanners, neither mac or windows is faster in my opinion. But windows might have a better platform for gaming. Sort of like how certain apps work faster on android vs windows phone 7 or vice versa with equivalent chips and ram, and how some games look better on ps3 than xbox 360 or vice versa. Even on windows, if you choose direct 3D vs open GL, there's usually a huge difference in graphics and performance. It might be that windows has a better gaming platform than Mac OS? It might be something silly like hard drive to RAM transfers are faster on windows... or it could be the programming language is more efficient?

Someone chime in if this sounds like monkeys eating oranges.

So yes i know valve has released steam for macs, and although its awesome, apple's graphics card drivers totally suck. Im getting terrible fps in Left 4 Dead 2, and people with half of my hardware specifications are getting double my frame rates in windows.

Im getting 20 fps maxed settings on l4d2 on mac
People with half my hardware are getting 60 on maxed settings with windows


Why are apples drivers so bad? There so far behind windows its crazy.
Do you think i should just do it?
If I do install windows 7, keep the bootcamp drivers or update them?

Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz
6GB of 800 mhz ram
24" screen
nvidia geforce 8800 gs 512 mb
Snow Leopard 10.6.6

I know Apple is supposedly working on better drivers, but seeing as they drop support so quickly, i dont even think that they'd update mine.

 

[flipster]

I know little to nothing about computer programming, but is it possible that it has nothing to do with drivers? I mean, looking at stuff like printers or scanners, neither mac or windows is faster in my opinion. But windows might have a better platform for gaming. Sort of like how certain apps work faster on android vs windows phone 7 or vice versa with equivalent chips and ram, and how some games look better on ps3 than xbox 360 or vice versa. Even on windows, if you choose direct 3D vs open GL, there's usually a huge difference in graphics and performance. It might be that windows has a better gaming platform than Mac OS? It might be something silly like hard drive to RAM transfers are faster on windows... or it could be the programming language is more efficient?

Someone chime in if this sounds like monkeys eating oranges.

Lol, its because apple updates their graphics cards drivers very rarley, they have just started to but they are horrid. People prefer windows bootcamp to game because windows has much, much better drivers that its a night and day performance difference when gaming on an imac, macbook pro or mac pro. Apples drivers are old, crappy and the reason why people use windows to game on their macs. They need some serious work.

 

[ayeying]

When it comes to games... I just stick with Windows. It's easier and faster. Furthermore, you get a wide range of choices for games compared to a limited amount of titles currently available for OSX.

I have 1/2 of my hard drive dedicated to Windows 7. It hosts my games and all my windows-only applications. With 8GB on this baby, it flies running in Parallels or VMware Fusion.

 

[munkery]

Games with Mac specific binaries play equally as well their Windows counterparts. Games ported to Mac using an emulation API do sometimes lose some performance. Unfortunately, many popular games coming from Windows to Mac use a porting API. Luckily, if you bought the game through Steam, it can be installed in both OSes.