What imac customizations for playing games (

[steveski]

Im buying a new imac mainly to play games like Half Life2 (and its numerous other editions), I used to only play on xbox so im a noob at this, what kind of customizations do I need to make the perfect imac for games?

Do I need to upgrade:

*Processor from 2.16 to 2.33? This is the most expensive upgrade so I hope iI dont need it but please be honest.

*Memory from 1GB to 2GB (or 3GB)?

*Graphics to ATI Readon X1600/256MB VRAM?


Also any other advice would be good, especially on how to use Boot Camp etc.

Thanks very much

 

[Atlasland]

Definately graphics for gaming. Even the highest graphics upgrade available on the iMac is not great (especially if you want to play HL2) - but it should be good enough.

Memory upped to 2GB is pretty damn important for all round usage, not just gaming.

I've never seen the point of spending £200 for what is essentially only a slight increase in processor clock speed. So, for me, this is the least important. Not sure what others would think.

 

[Eraserhead]

Up the RAM to 2GB, and possibly the graphics, though TBH that won't help much, HL2 will run well on an iMac.

 

[acoustics940]

If you want a computer solely for games I would recommend a pc over a mac. If you are just playing like blizzard games it should be fine because they can run on macs. Alot of games you will have to use windows anyways. But if you want more than just a gaming rig def get a mac.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

iMac can be a nice machine for those who dont have a decent monitor. I would wait for the next upgrade cycle because my guess is a gpu upgrade of some type. A 20 Incher with a modern GPU could be the sweet spot.

 

[steveski]

Thanks guys, thank goodness I dont need the processor upgrade, do I still need to buy another copy of Windows or can I use the disk I got with my pc?
Or does Boot Camp provide everything I need?

Thanks again

 

[Eraserhead]

You might need to buy another copy of Windows it depends on the country, in the UK you certainly are allowed to, in the US you can't (as we have better consumer laws ), TBH if you want to do a lot of gaming you're current PC is probably a better bet.

 

[DarkNetworks]

Gamers, Macs < PC. Black Screen of Death is around the corner. Oh yeah, try calling Apple.

Is this just a one time off Half Life 2 thingy?

 

[steveski]

not just Half Life2, any cool games but it needs to be capable of running at least Half Life2. And I download heaps of stuff from Limewire and itunes etc.

 

[acoustics940]

Well just take note alot of games are for windows only. It would be a waste if you had to use windows 90% of the time to play games. Some games like Blizzard games run on Mac to but some games dont

 

[weldon]

In order...

1. 2 GB RAM
2. 256MB Video Card
3. a bunch of other stuff like software
4. CPU upgrade

Seriously, I don't think the CPU upgrade is worth the cost.

 

[DarkNetworks]

Why bother buying a Mac when you want to play games? The curent iMac might suit some of your gaming pleasures now but think about it in a long run, is the iMac worth your money, no upgrades mate, slotting in a GPU might just be a huge problem. Boot Camp at this point isn't really supported by Apple, at least not until Leopard. If it's just for the cool sake, I'd rather get an Alienware.

 

[Eraserhead]

Why bother buying a Mac when you want to play games? The curent iMac might suit some of your gaming pleasures now but think about it in a long run, is the iMac worth your money, no upgrades mate, slotting in a GPU might just be a huge problem. Boot Camp at this point isn't really supported by Apple, at least not until Leopard. If it's just for the cool sake, I'd rather get an Alienware.

I totally agree, build your own PC for gaming, if you want the Mac experience buy a Macbook or bottom of the range iMac.

 

[steveski]

yeah but the thing is; I hate Windows.
Can't stand the frustrations of it and the amount of virusses that are manifesting within 5 minutes of starting up the computer and with no hope of repairing it and returning it to the responsive state it was in at purchase.
No, I will have to get an imac and live with the relatively small discomforts of the system.

Anyway, Tiger still has the ability to run some good games and thats all I need.

 

[clevin]

1. 2G Memory and 256MB graphic card, without either of them u can't play good game
cpu is non-issue here.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

yeah but the thing is; I hate Windows.
Can't stand the frustrations of it and the amount of virusses that are manifesting within 5 minutes of starting up the computer and with no hope of repairing it and returning it to the responsive state it was in at purchase.
No, I will have to get an imac and live with the relatively small discomforts of the system.

Anyway, Tiger still has the ability to run some good games and thats all I need.

Vista is coming but there are many who suffer windows for games, Just give me a machine with a modern graphics unit. Apple is using its graphics to distinguish its lines and thats pretty sad when any new cpu has plenty of speed for gaming so apple's solution is crippling the GPU to try to move people into higher priced Macs. I bought a Dell E521 for gaming, added a 7600gs and 2 gigs of memory and its great at games. $900. Apple doesnt have anything even close to this hardware configuration. Sad story is Apple doesnt aknowlege the gamer or TV user? Strange for a so called media center.

 

[Dreadnought]

Also, get another mouse then te one that comes with the iMac (or any Mac). Get a Razer Pro Solutions (or a Logitech).

 

[DarkNetworks]

Apple doesnt have anything even close to this hardware configuration.

That's exactly what I'm trying to point out in terms of specs other than price. Vista is on it's way mate, you might regret it later.