XP, Parallels or WMWare on Mac Pro?

[umbilical]

hi I need know whats better for games and use... with XP, I install parallels on my new mac pro but sometimes not run good, its better wmware? I dont use Bootcamp beacuse I need restart zzzzzz when apple put that feature I use apple software.

thanks

 

[ChemiosMurphy]

Bootcamp really for games. Fusion has a DX9 mode with graphics acceleration, check it out.

 

[chrono1081]

I have vmware fusion but I suggest bootcamp for games. Virtual machines cannot utilize the hardware like bootcamp can. Every app I have works fine in my virtual machine and you cant tell its a virtual machine, until I need to use something that requires graphics accelleration.

 

[CWallace]

I prefer Parallels as a VM, but agree with my peers that the only real way to run games or other graphics-intensive applications is directly in XP via Boot Camp.

 

[umbilical]

Thanks guys, and yes the only thing that I dont use bootcamp is for the detail of restart... so I hope that apple in the next version of bootcamp put the option for dont need to restart... like coherence mode in parallels.

thanks

 

[rockinrocker]

Thanks guys, and yes the only thing that I dont use bootcamp is for the detail of restart... so I hope that apple in the next version of bootcamp put the option for dont need to restart... like coherence mode in parallels.

thanks

yeah, that's not going to happen.

my experience inclines me to agree with the others, games suck balls under parallels (haven't tried VMware).

 

[macmx5]

vmware Fusion

Had Parallels since it came out, had served me well. Last update kept making the screen flicker and garble - after a reboot it was generally OK.

Upgraded to Vista (thinking this may help my screen issue) and researched the net and found people liking Fusion. Did the swap and haven't looked back. Converted my old XP parallels virtual machine to Fusion (software from vmware to do this) and it is super smooth.

My experience is that Fusion is super fast compared to parallels for both Xp and Vista - had to use Fusion for Vista as I had a 64bit version (no parallels support). No screen issues in either and unity works far better than coherence. Speed and reliability is greatly improved.

Not a gamer, just keep Windows about for legacy use and for my partner to use Publisher while they learn pages/indesign...

John

 

[MacsRgr8]

I play quite a few games on my Mac Pro in Windows, and basically this is what I do:

1. Boot Camp with Vista for DirectX 10 gaming, like Crysis. Also installed Half Life 2 (64 bit mode, for bragging rights )

2. Boot Camp with XP for "older" games, and my racing games. I have experienced some issues with games like Richard Burns Rally and DTM 2 on Vista, so therefore installed XP... And because I don't want to reboot for games like GRID I have installed that on XP too (not DirectX 10 anyways).

3. Parallels vs. Fusion:
I have played around with Need for Speed 4 (High Stakes) on Parallels 3.0 (5608), and VMware Fusion 2.0 beta2 using both with DirectX 9 support activated.
Both have a Windows XP SP 3 installed, and the VM's tools installed.
2 GB RAM assigned to Windows, max Video memory.
After playing around ALOT to get the game working in both Virtual Machines, it is very clear that Parallels does it far better than the beta2 verison of Fusion 2.
I know Fusion 2 still is in beta, and therefore not a fair trial, but still....

I used NFS 4 because i adore the gameplay.... Gr8 fun racing against an opponent while being chased by the cops. Listening to the police radio sounds so cool in that game...
And I just NEEDED to play the game on my Mac Pro... and it works!!!

Setup:
- Mac Pro '08.
- 8 GB RAM.
- GeForce 8800 (not important for Parallels).
- Parallels 3.0 (5608), 2 GB RAM and max video mem for Windows XP Pro SP3.
- NFS 4 Full install, updated to 4.50 (+ all no-CD cracks), done "<1 MB" error-patch, done Patch10 for later video cards.
- Set Parallels to "adjust Mac resolution" for Windows full-screen mode.
- Game in max details, 1600 x 1200 res.
- Logitech MOMO USB racing wheel.

Everything works! Even FF on the wheel!! Occasional hick-up every other minute orso though.. but very playable!

However, sometimes the 3D engine won't work, and you have to force-quit NFS 4. Sometimes the MOMO has been "disabled" too...

So, not very easy to install correctly, and you have to live with an occasional restart of Parallels, and / or re-assign the MOMO USB wheel...
Bumpy road then, but IMHO a very much worth it!

Remember NFS 4 came out in 1999 / 2000, and Parallels has some difficulty running this game, but VMware's Fusion 2.0b2 is far worse. Getting around 15 fps in VMware running the game with the same settings as in Parallels. Parallels is smooth, but with an occasional hick-up every other minute.... seems sound related to me.. not too sure though...

EDIT:
Screenshot of NFS 4 setup

 

[Maddler]

I wouldn't even try running games through virtualization. You're not going to be multi-tasking anyway if you're playing a game, so just use Bootcamp.

I use Fusion to drive my console development kits for capture in FCP, and for compressing videos to binks. It works great, has never bothered or corrupted my Mac OS environment. I like being able to choose dual processors and allocating up to 8 GB RAM (though I'm not sure what good that does for XP since it can only address ~3.5 GB). The option to have XP on one screen full size, or just running it integrated with Leopard is nice too.

 

[MacsRgr8]

If, in my case, Need for Speed 4 didn't crash on Boot Camp (Win XP SP3), I obviously would've played that game when booted in Windows.
But, (as you would have guessed ) I really wanted to play it. And my only option left was via virtualisation.
And TBO it is fun to see how well... or badly... these games perform. I have a pretty fast Mac, and plenty of RAM for Parallels and Fusion to play around with, so basically testing these games like this does test how well the virtualisation software handles DirectX games.

BTW... if anyone is interested... I have found out my problem of the "having to force-quit" the game.
It seems the game want's to set the monitor resolution to 640 x 480 during the intro-screen. This low-res setting in XP (running on my ACD 23") doesn't always work for whatever reason.
If I manually set the resolution to 640 x 480 x 16 (need to go into "Advanced", "List al Modes") before starting the game it always works well!!

 

[~Shard~]

Boot Camp for games, Fusion for everything else.