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Mobile atm so I can't reply with many details, but i will say that pushing the clocks much further than I already have causes hard reboots during gameplay. Not just a display driver crash but the whole machine shutting down instantly.
 
I posted some "extreme" game results on Friday (high settings at 2560x1440). I was particularly curious about how the mobile 680MX compared to to the desktop 680 Classified running in our 6-core Mac Pro.
http://barefeats.com/imac12g3.html

In those tests, the only time the 680 Classified beat the 680MX was when running WoW Pandaria and Diablo III. One expert source informed me that WoW and Diablo III are designed to let the GPU do its thing without the CPU getting in the way. Not necessarily so with the other games. X-Plane 10 was CPU bound according to our amperage readings of CPU vs GPU.

I pushed the GPUs further by increasing the Anti-Aliasing from zero or 4X to 8X when possible. In the case of Heaven Benchmark, when I went from no AA to 8X AA, the 680 Classified went from losing to winning against the 680MX.

However, the 680MX still beat the the 680 Classified when Left 4 Dead 2 and Team Fortress were increased from 4X to 8X MSAA. But there could be other factors -- like a "weak" port from Windows DirectX to OS X OpenGL. For example, at our extreme settings, the 680 Classified's 64 FPS (L4D2) under OS X jumped to 111 FPS with the same settings under Windows.

So the next task is to install Windows on the iMac with 680MX and run the same seven games at max settings including high anti-aliasing setting.

All this may be academic if you run at lower settings in which case you will be very satisfied with the performance of the 2012 iMac with the 680MX (or 675M) compared to a top performing Mac Pro.

I was just browsing your website and noticed you ran Heaven in OSX at 1440 x 900 - could you please tell me why you chose that resolution and how much you're getting at default and native res?
 
has anyone here installed win 8 in bootcamp? If so, I'm curious about performance. I have a copy of 7, but if I'm going to do a fresh install, might as well as go with the latest, IF there are no issues.
 
So dude, did I got it right? You OC'ed it to 990/5740 (GPU/vRAM) respectively? What's the temperature delta between standard clocks and OC'ed version? Did your iMac become louder?

The P8000 Graphics score is identical to desktop 660ti and 7950, which is quite nice, but the 680MX is identical to desktop 680, which has P10500 Graphics score, according to 3dmark website. And your clocks are just 5% lower than the desktop 680 clocks (1050/6000). The question is - why there is such a huge difference in 3dmark results between them (about 25%)?

The difference is likely due to the fact that Nvidia's desktop cards have a boost mode, akin to turbo books in intel CPUs, in which they automatically OC themselves when needed. Therefore, during an intense benchmark like 3DMark, a desktop 680 might be clocking itself somewhere in the high 1100s.
 
I'm glad to hear that a few of you all were able to install Windows on the 3TB Fusion Drive. I read somewhere online that some people were having issues with it. Reading this forum has me so stoked about my 27" iMac. Does everyone have a january timeframe listed for their iMac delivery date?
 
has anyone here installed win 8 in bootcamp? If so, I'm curious about performance. I have a copy of 7, but if I'm going to do a fresh install, might as well as go with the latest, IF there are no issues.

I have Win 8 Pro installed through EFI, no problems.
 
What audio options are available with gaming? Does the new imac only support stereo? For instance would I be able to play need for speed through bootcamp and get surround sound?
 
This is probably old news but I just thought I'd share. I haven't read through the entire thread. I just thought I'd share this just in case.

Here's a youtube video I found - most of it is in French. But it shows BF3 played on Ultra. Looks like the GTX 680MX can handle it for the most part. It seems to average around 30-35 frames and drops down to the high 20s in crazy firefights. Of course, I haven't entertained the possibility that this is someone saying it's a Mac when it it's not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hAZlSHVqw8
 
When playing at non standard resolutions like 1440 etc. doesn't the game graphics look horribly stretched? Or if not stretched then doesn't it just appear in a small window in the center of the screen?

How are folks dealing with that problem? For me it has to run everything at native resolution to avoid those issues.
 
When playing at non standard resolutions like 1440 etc. doesn't the game graphics look horribly stretched? Or if not stretched then doesn't it just appear in a small window in the center of the screen?

How are folks dealing with that problem? For me it has to run everything at native resolution to avoid those issues.

Everything scales properly. 1080P looks fantastic on the iMac, even though it isn't native. Likewise for 720p (perfect pixel doubling going on here).

This only holds true for games, however, as you'll likely notice some blur running the OS at a non-native res. The best option, if it's available, is to run a games interface at native res and render at 1080p.
 
Everything scales properly. 1080P looks fantastic on the iMac, even though it isn't native. Likewise for 720p (perfect pixel doubling going on here).

This only holds true for games, however, as you'll likely notice some blur running the OS at a non-native res. The best option, if it's available, is to run a games interface at native res and render at 1080p.

Better would be to run games at 1440P without anti aliasing! :)
 
I used MSI afterburner and ran the video card with +250 gpu / +350 memory without any problems - benchmarking, Mechwarrior Online, etc etc. Rock stable. Amazing 33% overclock!?!?
 
Planetside 2: Win7 in bootcamp with 310 nvidia drivers. All settings high, 1440p. Average 45fps, 35 in large battles and 50 otherwise. 10+ hours and the fan barely broke a sweat.

Interesting, are there settings higher than that?

From what I hear this is an absurdly demanding game, if this can play at those settings then odds are it can probably play pretty much anything over the next year at high at least. From what I've heard the GTX 680 performs identical to worse in most cases (partially dependent on CPU too).

Thank you very much for testing that one. :)

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This!!! Far cry 3 looks 100x better at 1440p with all settings on medium then at 1080p with all setting on ultra. No need for AA at 1440p either.

From what I read I though you don't need to run only at medium for 1440p for a stable frame rate... I thought Far Cry 3 ran at ultra on native resolution with no AA and FX low?
 
From what I read I though you don't need to run only at medium for 1440p for a stable frame rate... I thought Far Cry 3 ran at ultra on native resolution with no AA and FX low?

You can run at ultra on everything with postfx on low but it does not run at 60fps. For solid 60fps you need to have some of the other settings on high and medium (i think you can have them all on high actually) at 1440p. Even gaming rigs with SLI setups are struggling at 1440p with everything maxed with Far Cry 3!!! Also having Postfx on low at 1440p creates some unwanted artifacts especially on the paths as you are walking up them, at 1080p it is fine with it on low... Personally i run a 1440p. no AA, everything on high including postfx and take the hit in FPS, i still average 45fps which is actually really smooth.
 
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Well I'm not exactly after 60, I'm just hoping for the best look with a minimum of 35fps, despite fx, is that possible with ultra? In any case, I'm happy to hear planetside 2 runs pretty well, should mean its safe. That and we still haven't seen the full potential given we still use beta drivers. I'm almost certain ill be getting the iMac, I just like to hear more reassurance as everything I got a new comp I never could play anything new or even old we'll. :p
 
Well I'm not exactly after 60, I'm just hoping for the best look with a minimum of 35fps, despite fx, is that possible with ultra? In any case, I'm happy to hear planetside 2 runs pretty well, should mean its safe. That and we still haven't seen the full potential given we still use beta drivers. I'm almost certain ill be getting the iMac, I just like to hear more reassurance as everything I got a new comp I never could play anything new or even old we'll. :p

At 1440p on ultra you will dip bellow 35fps. It looks awesome on high anyway and you get 45fps+
 
WOW. What were your temps while gaming?

This is a necessary that should be taken seriously. Even if the 680MX can be over clocked that, however impressive that may be, is a serious risk to the machine. Given how compact the unit is, there is a serious question as to what damage those temperatures might cause to the card itself and to the surrounding components. Not to mention the fans must go nuts, and hope to god they actually work to cool things down significantly enough... o_O
 
New videos of Far Cry 3

Just to show, Far Cry turn with the GTX 680 MX. In 1440p and Ultra is good but Framerate is just. 30/35. It's playable but in 1080p I got 52 FPS. It's better.

 
New videos of Far Cry 3

Just to show, Far Cry turn with the GTX 680 MX. In 1440p and Ultra is good but Framerate is just. 30/35. It's playable but in 1080p I got 52 FPS. It's better.


Wow, thanks a lot! Nice to see a direct comparison between the different settings. I played FC3 on my 360 but will replay it on my iMac and it seems like it will run just fine (and a lot better than on any console).
FC3 is one of the most demanding games right now, so the 680mx will be good enough for the highest setting for at least a year.

How good is the interpolation/downscaling quality to 1080p on the screen itself? If its good, it won't be necessary to buy the adapters and cables to use my TV as the main display while gaming.
 
Wow, thanks a lot! Nice to see a direct comparison between the different settings. I played FC3 on my 360 but will replay it on my iMac and it seems like it will run just fine (and a lot better than on any console).
FC3 is one of the most demanding games right now, so the 680mx will be good enough for the highest setting for at least a year.

How good is the interpolation/downscaling quality to 1080p on the screen itself? If its good, it won't be necessary to buy the adapters and cables to use my TV as the main display while gaming.

Upscale is prety good. You can see a little difference. But quality is prety good to play it on good condition.
 
I was just browsing your website and noticed you ran Heaven in OSX at 1440 x 900 - could you please tell me why you chose that resolution and how much you're getting at default and native res?

At 2560x1440 Default settings, Heaven clocks an average 39 FPS on the 680MX (OS X; OpenGL). Under Windows 7 and DirectX, I get 53MB/s with the Boot Camp driver 306.
 
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