VMWare gaming on a Mac Pro with Nvidia 285?

[MatthewKing]

I am considering a Mac Pro to replace my 2007 Macbook Pro. At the moment I have that, and a gaming PC, the cost to replace both would come in at about £2800 which puts me firmly in Mac Pro territory, and having one computer would be more convenient on several fronts.

The spec that I am considering is a Quad Core 2.93ghz, 8GB Mac Pro with an Nvidia 285 (when they're available).

I was wondering, with that setup, is gaming on VmWare an option? I know I can always use bootcamp but I miss the simplicity of just launching games directly, then getting back to work without messing about rebooting the computer, or switching cables (as I have to with my macbook pro + gaming pc).

The games I usually play at the moment are: BF2, CoD4, Tiberium Wars, Supreme Commander, Dawn of War, Age of Empires III - but I would like to play some newer titles too with the Mac Pro.

Is it viable? I would think I could give the VmWare instance 3GB of ram, 2 cores - and with the 285 that should work pretty well?

Any feedback appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[edesignuk]

Gaming with any VM, if it's more than Solitaire, don't bother. You will need to Bootcamp.

 

[MatthewKing]

Gaming with any VM, if it's more than Solitaire, don't bother. You will need to Bootcamp.

Well.. VMWare have built native directx support in for that purpose, so I would assume its achievable with the right hardware. A friend of mine tried out Tiberium wars on his late 2007 model Macbook Pro yesterday, and was able to play it in low settings.

So I would guess that the Mac Pro with its superior spec would do it, but that's all I have to base it on at the moment.

I would assume if someone is able to do it on a 4870 then it will work on the 285 too, and probably to a better level.

 

[edesignuk]

Most stuff will work...to a point.

If you're going to have good hardware there's no point in watering it down hugely using it via VM.

VMware emulates the video card. Don't be fooled by any marketing blurb. Games will be crap.

Bootcamp is the way to go. VM's are more for applications.

 

[Cindori]

Forget it. VMware is slow enough for normal tasks.

 

[MythicFrost]

Parallels 4.0 has a virtual graphics card, totally irrelevant what graphics card you have, apart from the amount of graphics memory you can dedicate to the VM, I'm sure vmfusion is the same.

W/ parallels, AoE3 TAD runs OK not great though, a little laggy,
No AA, and only high on shader compared to Very High

I'd never try CoD4!

Kind Regards

 

[Tesselator]

Most stuff will work...to a point.

Bootcamp is the way to go. VM's are more for applications.

Yup! VMWare or Parallels can't cut games that need a frame rate - not even with the most awesome GFX card. Bootcamp is really needed for games just like edesignuk said.

 

[MatthewKing]

Oh well.. it was a nice thought while it lasted!

Thanks for the feedback all.

 

[macz1]

The only game I saw run well and smoothly on very high settings through VMware was Max Payne II... If you want to game with a virtual machine you will probably have to stick to old 3d games.
Unless some majur updates of VMware will improve DirectX emulation in future.... But it will never be as good as starting windows natively.

 

[NoNameBrand]

Gaming with any VM, if it's more than Solitaire, don't bother. You will need to Bootcamp.

If your desires are humble and expectations low, it works great!

I play Left4Dead, TF2, and Red Orchestra (UE2.5 game) using Fusion/XP Home on my 2006 Mac Pro/ATI 3870. The two Steam-based games are very sluggish when they first load (also: avoid cutscenes), but after a minute it settles down to be very playable. I play in a window at some small resolution.