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VERY disappointed with my 3.06 GT130
- Thread starter ucla95
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You know what, I think this all must be a driver issue, so I'm going to reserve judgement to maybe 2-3 months from now when we hopefully get some drivers here.
I love the Apple otherwise, and just can't imagine going back to a PC, so I'm going to stick with it. Life on WoW at 1600 isn't terrible although I'm a little apprehensive what it will be like in a busier zone.
I love the Apple otherwise, and just can't imagine going back to a PC, so I'm going to stick with it. Life on WoW at 1600 isn't terrible although I'm a little apprehensive what it will be like in a busier zone.
The iMac is utter garbage for playing games. If you really want to run OSX, just make sure all of your PC components are OSX86 compatible and dual boot. You'll spend less money and get a better computer.
Also, Nvidia's OSX drivers are garbage as well. Don't expect to get a performance upgrade with new drivers or firmware. The 8800GT didn't on the Pro, and those computers are actually advertised as being fast.
Also, Nvidia's OSX drivers are garbage as well. Don't expect to get a performance upgrade with new drivers or firmware. The 8800GT didn't on the Pro, and those computers are actually advertised as being fast.
I would have to say they pulled those numbers from the same place they pulled class balance from....
Not so, I have a Sony Vaio FW290 with a 512MB ATI HD3650. It is nowhere near as powerful as the 4850 and I get good performance at 1920x1080.
I just can't turn on all the AA and use Ultra setting. High will have to do most of the time. I tend to play RPG & RTS which do not have the same high-end requirements as FPS games buy WOW should be very good with an ATI 4850.
Cheers,
This entire post contradicts yourself. first of all the nvidia apple drivers are not junk. on my OSX86 computer i get better fps in OSX than vista or xp. OpenGL runs wow faster thats a fact. Secondly the drivers for OSX86 ARE the apple drivers. the 3rd party software you use to get video output on OSX86 arent drivers, they just inject information about your card into the current apple drivers.
to the OP. disable shadows would be a good idea. they have a major effect on how the game runs. Honestly you wont see a big difference with them on.
This is true but false at the same time. vsync limits your fps to your monitor refresh rate. if you use an lcd (which the imac does) you should never go higher fps than your refresh rate or you will get horizontal tearing on your screen. vsync limits you to that refresh rate so this does not happen.
typically that refresh rate is 60 or 75 so fps in his case would not even be affected.
heres some screenshots in different areas of wow on my osx86 machine
this is with 8800m GTS, 1.6ghz C2D, 3gb of ram
done with all settings of wow at default except for
Res 1440x900 (max for me)
Vsync ON
Tripple Buffering ON
http://img6.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot032309210311.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot032309211432.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot032309211547.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot032309211623.jpg
if your getting those fps rates at all max settings try doing my settings which are all focused for max fps without sacrificing resolution or playability.
this is with 8800m GTS, 1.6ghz C2D, 3gb of ram
done with all settings of wow at default except for
Res 1440x900 (max for me)
Vsync ON
Tripple Buffering ON
http://img6.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot032309210311.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot032309211432.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot032309211547.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot032309211623.jpg
if your getting those fps rates at all max settings try doing my settings which are all focused for max fps without sacrificing resolution or playability.
Uh, the osx86 partition is just to use osx. Nobody seriously plays games with osx, all games would be played in Windows. I'm sorry you get better gps in osx, but when a 3870 is more powerful than an 8800gt, something is wrong. Thanks for your osx86 explanation, I'm new to computers.
Wait, what? In Core Image sure but gaming no.Uh, the osx86 partition is just to use osx. Nobody seriously plays games with osx, all games would be played in Windows. I'm sorry you get better gps in osx, but when a 3870 is more powerful than an 8800gt, something is wrong. Thanks for your osx86 explanation, I'm new to computers.
Uh, the osx86 partition is just to use osx. Nobody seriously plays games with osx, all games would be played in Windows. I'm sorry you get better gps in osx, but when a 3870 is more powerful than an 8800gt, something is wrong. Thanks for your osx86 explanation, I'm new to computers.
Ah.... We're talking about WoW here... Which is played by a lot of people in OSX. Myself included.
Also, I'm curious- Have you tried playing in XP Pro?
Vista is not a great gaming OS, and in almost all situations, XP beats it.
For my gaming partition, I run a very stripped down version of XP pro and install nothing on it aside from games.
I'm not sure how performance of WoW compares from OSX to XP, though... some games it's quite dramatic, and some it's not so large.
Vista is not a great gaming OS, and in almost all situations, XP beats it.
For my gaming partition, I run a very stripped down version of XP pro and install nothing on it aside from games.
I'm not sure how performance of WoW compares from OSX to XP, though... some games it's quite dramatic, and some it's not so large.
Agreed. I've been playing WoW on my various macs since it's release. The one big thing to realize is that not every setting changes performance the same way. Cranking multisampling will hurt, full screen glow is brutal, shadowing(from what i heard) is shooting yourself in the foot.
If you want to get optimal performance, cripple every setting and reload the game. Seriously, minimize everything, and turn on/off anything that you can that will improve performance. Log in to a busy area (Dalaran would be optimal), and change things little by little, starting with the minor things, and moving to the more major things. Eventually, you will reach a point where you aren't willing to sacrifice more FPS to get more effects. Thats where you end up happy.
WoW is a very very different beast the any other games because its so dynamic. Performance in the middle of no where classic area vs performance in overcrowded dalaran vs performance during a heroic raid encounter might as well all have their own benchmarks.
For anyone with performance issues, start with full screen glow off and 1x multisampling, and shadowing low/off. Check the mac tech support section of the WoW forums for a lot of good information.
Very helpful. Thanks!
Apple must have hooked them up with a pre-release 4850 equipped iMac for testing purposes.
I wonder how accurate the performance numbers are, because from what Blizzard is reporting in that thread, the 4850 is going to perform around 30% better than the GT120 or GT130.
I apologize that I can't verify (the WoW forums are blocked at work), but read a little further down in the thread. I think the OP mentions that the 4850 fps numbers are only projections and he hasn't done actual testing.
I also seem to remember that the OP is not a Blizz employee, but rather a very involved community member.
Sorry if I'm mistaken w/ anything I've said. Will verify later when I get access. Just didn't want anyone making purchase decisions until they confirmed these things.
I can confirm everything you just said. The 4850 numbers are guesstimates, so I wouldn't count them for much, since we don't know what the OP was using to get his numbers. And its only a sticky thread, not a blizzard official post.
Most of the experienced mac guys on that forum seem to believe the 4850 will crush the 130, but again, just guesses.
My bad, as I thought the results were actually from Blizzard. While Apple might not hook up major developers like Blizzard with pre-release hardware and software, that's pretty much the norm for the rest of the computer hardware world.
Note from that link that they have the 8800GS as pumping out 60-70fps at the same settings they have the GT130 at 40-55fps!!
Note from that link that they have the 8800GS as pumping out 60-70fps at the same settings they have the GT130 at 40-55fps!!
But there are no benchmarks in that list, they've listed the GT120>130 in the same table, the 8800GS has it's own. Wait for barefeats to test WoW... They've tested some other games and have found the GT130 to be better than the 8800GS in every case so far.
You don't want to cap it at 60 either. There'll always be some areas were you'll get some slowdown so it's nice to overkill a little when it comes to video performance. That way you can ensure a nice smooth average framerate of 60 or more.
Doesn't vsync attempt to keep your fps to a set amount in increments of 15 or something like that? So if the system can't render the game at 60 fps, it'll automatically drop it down to 45 fps even though it can do 55? Or worse yet, 30 fps when it can do 40?
Wait a second. My macbook 2.2 with x3100 graphics doesn't tear on youtube videos. Something is wrong here.
Again I'll say, something is wrong. Core duo imacs with x1600 from 2006 could hit those numbers.