What Can I Do to Improve My Macbook's GAMING Performance?

[Saunderzs]

Hello everyone,

I have a straightforward question that I'm hoping is easy to answer.

APART FROM upgrading the internal hardware, is there anything else that can be done to improve the speed/performance - specifically when gaming - of a Macbook?

I'm thinking there may be certain 'tweaks' on the software/operating system side of things, or maybe even some applications that could help...?

Some personal context: I have a late-2008 aluminum unibody 13' Macbook (not Pro), 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2GB RAM, nVidia Geforce 9400M 256MB graphics card. I downloaded the public beta of Diablo III a few weeks ago and unfortunately I only got around 10 frames-per-second at all times. The game ran, but it was unbearable to play because of this extreme frame slowdown. Anyways, I bought an 8GB RAM upgrade kit just tonight and I'm HOPING this will help out some, I'm just wondering if there's anything else I can possibly do to improve my frames-per-second/speed/performance for gaming?

Thank you very much in advance for any input on this matter!

 

[Alaerian]

Upgrading the memory will most likely do nothing for upping speed, frame rate, etc. Putting the memory in will never hurt, but it very likely won't give you any performance boost.

 

[Saunderzs]

Upgrading the memory will most likely do nothing for upping speed, frame rate, etc. Putting the memory in will never hurt, but it very likely won't give you any performance boost.

Alrighty then. Sooooo, what WILL?

 

[miles01110]

Alrighty then. Sooooo, what WILL?

Nothing. Buy a new computer or build a Windows gaming machine with a real graphics card.

 

[\-V-/]

Nothing. Buy a new computer or build a Windows gaming machine with a real graphics card.

This. You're incredibly limited with a laptop. Either get a newer laptop with a better dedicated graphics card or like miles suggested, build yourself a gaming rig... much easier to upgrade a desktop than a laptop.

 

[orangezorki]

Exactly. Unless you have to be mobile with your gaming, you'll get much better value with a self-built gaming PC. I built one last year, and am very happy with it. I'm a total spendthrift, so maxed out pretty much anything and everything, but great performance in games doesn't cost too much. Here's what I would recommend:

Don't skimp on the case and power supply - these can last for a good ten years if you buy right. Also get a good monitor, keyboard and mouse. My personal feeling is that these last three should be a third of the total cost of the computer - they can last a long time, and as they are what you see and feel, are a huge amount of the total experience.

Games tend to be more GPU bound than CPU bound. Something like the Sandy Bridge i5-2500k is probably the sweet spot for price, and can still be overclocked. This will leave more money for a better or second video card.

Massive amounts of RAM are not required. 4GB is probably fine, but it is so cheap at the moment that 8GB is probably the best.

Gigabyte make good motherboards in general, and have a reputation for being able to boot OSX with minimum fuss. But if you do want to run OSX you will be very limited in what graphics cards (forget about the latest and greatest), and other stuff such as wifi cards you can use.

SSDs are expensive but fantastic. Get one large enough to hold the system file and your favourite games, then a decent but cheap HD for everything else - everything loads quicker and that's a big part of the experience.

Go to your favourite parts website, such as NewEgg in the USA or eBuyer in the UK and price out a decent computer. My bet is that you can build a great computer for less than the price of a barely adequate laptop for the games you want to play. As long as your current laptop does everything else you need, you're saving money!

David

 

[softwareguy256]

run the game on the lowest settings always.

Hello everyone,

I have a straightforward question that I'm hoping is easy to answer.

APART FROM upgrading the internal hardware, is there anything else that can be done to improve the speed/performance - specifically when gaming - of a Macbook?

I'm thinking there may be certain 'tweaks' on the software/operating system side of things, or maybe even some applications that could help...?

Some personal context: I have a late-2008 aluminum unibody 13' Macbook (not Pro), 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2GB RAM, nVidia Geforce 9400M 256MB graphics card. I downloaded the public beta of Diablo III a few weeks ago and unfortunately I only got around 10 frames-per-second at all times. The game ran, but it was unbearable to play because of this extreme frame slowdown. Anyways, I bought an 8GB RAM upgrade kit just tonight and I'm HOPING this will help out some, I'm just wondering if there's anything else I can possibly do to improve my frames-per-second/speed/performance for gaming?

Thank you very much in advance for any input on this matter!

 

[yusukeaoki]

run the game on the lowest settings always.

You think a MacBook can run BF3 on the lowest settings? lol

 

[\-V-/]

You think a MacBook can run BF3 on the lowest settings? lol

Yeah... it might catch fire.

 

[MOKHAN]

Yeah... it might catch fire.

Hahaha