Graphics Intensive Games on iMac

[jeffberg]

How does the iMac handle hard games? I am thinking of getting one ( i know they are being updated soon) but I want to know how the 2 GHz Core 2 with the X1600 is running intense games. Games like C&C Tiberium wars, Half Life, and if anyone has the a 3d mark score, that would be awesome. I am mostly looking for what res they run best at, with the graphics all the way up, and what frame rates are you getting?

 

Thanks,

Jeff

[nylock10]

I have an Intel iMac Core Duo 2GHz with a Radeon x1600 256MB and 2GB RAM. Let me tell you, this thing is a beast! It runs smooth through all my games. I haven't run 3D Mark on my computer since I don't really see why I should, I already know its a good computer.

 

I put Vista on it via Boot Camp and run games from Steam (Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike Source, Day of Defeat Source etc) on it as well as other games (such as Battlefield 2, Armed Assault, Halo 2, SWAT 4, and others).

 

Later today I'll download the C&C3 demo and see how well it runs, I'll post a reply here telling you if it runs OK.

 

I'm happy I got the iMac, plus its all-in-on so I don't have a s***load of wires.

 

Great computer, but I recommend you wait until the iMacs are updated by Apple before buying.

 

Good luck, and happy buying.

[Jose_CH]

hi, i've just bought a mac book pro, 2ghz core 2 duo, 2 gb ram, 8500gt m 128 mb.

so i want to ask, if someone knows this notebook, or specially the graficcard.

is it possible to play game as above mentioned with this notebook?

i have installed vista ultimate. but no games until now. and i'm a bit feared because of the heat. is it possible to game without overeat the notebook?

 

 

thx for response and sorry for bad english

[EFI]

Check out my videos on YouTube. I have videos of me on my Macbook Pro (in my sig) playing Half Life 2 EP1, Flight Simulator X, FIFA 06, Quake 4, and Ill be uploading S.T.A.L.K.E.R soon.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/KamikazeX1

 

All games so far play flawlessy on extremely high if not maxed out settings.

 

Half Life 2 EP1 : 4X AA, 8X AF, 1440 x 900, Full HDR, maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 50

Battlefield 2: 4X AA, 8X AF, 1440 x 900 (forced resolution), maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 50

FIFA 06: 4X AA, 8X AF, 1440 x 900, maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 60 (the game locks fps at 60)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R : 2X AA, 16X AF, 1440 x 900, No HDR, maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 70

Transformers The Game: 4X AA, 16X AF, 1440 x 900, Full HDR, maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 60

Flight Simulator X: 4X AA, 8X AF, 1440 x 900, No Bloom, Ultra high settings. Avg FPS = 38

Doom 3: 4X AA, 16X AF, 1184 x 86? (forgot the exact number), Maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 45

 

and many more...

 

The game with the most weirdest FPS issue is S.T.A.L.K.E.R. If I have no AA, and no HDR..but with the rest of the game's settings maxed out @ 1440 x 900...then the FPS skyrockets to above 100 on average. However, once you turn on full HDR....believe or not, the FPS tanks to 15. I have no clue as to what the heck is going on for it to drop by more than 90%.

 

But in all those games mentioned above, if you turned of anti-aliasing...the FPS are rediculously high even though you might have maxed out the settings in the game...and still play at 1440 x 900.

 

BTW, these results only apply to the GeForce 8600M GT, which is on the newer Macbook Pros. I am not sure about the iMacs Radeon 2600 HD.

[Themaktima]

Hi KamikazeX1,

 

I saw your video on YouTube, that was awesome... However, I don´t seem to be able to get framerates like yours. I´m using the latest MBP 17" (8600M GT) and BootCamp 1.4 beta. If I run Stalker with lower resolutions like 1200 or 1440 and HDR off, i get between 20 and 30 fps, but the settings are far from maxed out then. Is there anything I forgot to do?

 

Cheers

Dirk

 

B.t.w., trying to update via Stalker´s menu doesn´t render any results. Seems to be the latest version.

[Cdnalsi]

For my experience, running games on Vista over Bootcamp has been a nightmare! The video drivers supplied by Apple are one of the best around, but still suck because of Vista. I've literally had 100% FPS improvement when switching from Vista to XP with the drivers supplied by Apple.

 

Now, if you don't want to get rid of Vista, there's always http://www.laptopvideo2go.com. You might want to mess around with these drivers. Just make sure you get the modified .inf files.

 

Yeah, I know it's a hassle, but if you don't wanna switch back to XP, that's what you have to do, pretty much.

 

@Jose: You can pretty much run those games just fine on the Macbook Pro, however, there's only a bunch of games which automatically start up the fans when the computer gets hot. What you can do, is get SMC Fan Control when you're in OS X, crank up the fans, and then boot into Windows. The fan speed will remain the same.

 

But yeah, on Macs, XP is still the best way to game. Thus far.

[smc90]

Check out my videos on YouTube. I have videos of me on my Macbook Pro (in my sig) playing Half Life 2 EP1, Flight Simulator X, FIFA 06, Quake 4, and Ill be uploading S.T.A.L.K.E.R soon.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/KamikazeX1

 

All games so far play flawlessy on extremely high if not maxed out settings.

 

Half Life 2 EP1 : 4X AA, 8X AF, 1440 x 900, Full HDR, maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 50

Battlefield 2: 4X AA, 8X AF, 1440 x 900 (forced resolution), maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 50

FIFA 06: 4X AA, 8X AF, 1440 x 900, maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 60 (the game locks fps at 60)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R : 2X AA, 16X AF, 1440 x 900, No HDR, maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 70

Transformers The Game: 4X AA, 16X AF, 1440 x 900, Full HDR, maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 60

Flight Simulator X: 4X AA, 8X AF, 1440 x 900, No Bloom, Ultra high settings. Avg FPS = 38

Doom 3: 4X AA, 16X AF, 1184 x 86? (forgot the exact number), Maxed out settings. Avg FPS = 45

 

and many more...

 

The game with the most weirdest FPS issue is S.T.A.L.K.E.R. If I have no AA, and no HDR..but with the rest of the game's settings maxed out @ 1440 x 900...then the FPS skyrockets to above 100 on average. However, once you turn on full HDR....believe or not, the FPS tanks to 15. I have no clue as to what the heck is going on for it to drop by more than 90%.

 

But in all those games mentioned above, if you turned of anti-aliasing...the FPS are rediculously high even though you might have maxed out the settings in the game...and still play at 1440 x 900.

 

BTW, these results only apply to the GeForce 8600M GT, which is on the newer Macbook Pros. I am not sure about the iMacs Radeon 2600 HD.

 

 

How is the Geforce 8600M GT better than the ATI Radeon 2600 HD? They both have the same amount of graphics memory of 256 MB, from my understanding.