CPU: X5677 (Quad 3.46 GHz) ~$60
RAM: 12GB ECC 1333 MHz (3x4GB) ~$30
GPU: GeForce GTX 680 2GB (ideally EVGA brand) ~$120
All eBay deals. Probably need to snipe some non-BuyItNow auctions to get the GPU for that low.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Advice for gaming on a 5.1 Mac Pro? (Six core)
- Thread starter LMR80
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
RAM: 12GB ECC 1333 MHz (3x4GB) ~$30
GPU: GeForce GTX 680 2GB (ideally EVGA brand) ~$120
All eBay deals. Probably need to snipe some non-BuyItNow auctions to get the GPU for that low.
Where do you guys get your games ??
I went on the app store and was very disappointed and steam doesn't seem much better , maybe I'm missing something !?!?
Any other options ??
It's for a tricked out full spec iMac 27 5k , golf games would be nice
I went on the app store and was very disappointed and steam doesn't seem much better , maybe I'm missing something !?!?
Any other options ??
It's for a tricked out full spec iMac 27 5k , golf games would be nice
Where do you guys get your games ??
I went on the app store and was very disappointed and steam doesn't seem much better , maybe I'm missing something !?!?
Any other options ??
It's for a tricked out full spec iMac 27 5k , golf games would be nice
There are lots of good games on Steam, at least all the famous games, you can't get them?
Anyway, IMO, it's better to avoid Win 10 AppStore games. They are NOT running in real full screen mode but just a boarderless window, that may have significant hit on gaming performance.
Sorry, looks like I didn't word my post right. I already have an SSD and 16gb ram. The game I want to play recommends a 4gb GPU. So I was wondering what GPU I can get for under $200. Thanks.
Ah right. Seriously, I would be tempted to upgrade the CPU anyway because the X5677 seems a hell of a deal. 60 bucks gets you the fastest single-threaded perf possible in the cMP, faster than any configuration Apple ever sold. After GPU, single-threaded CPU perf is a fairly significant factor in gaming.
GTX 680 4 GB versions can be had for less than $200 on ebay if you're a little bit patient. There are also publicly available ROMs for them if you want to flash it for Boot Screen support.
Thanks guys for all your help, the GTX 680 looks good. I've never done a processor upgrade before, but I will seriously keep that in mind after the GPU upgrade. I didn't think you could get one so cheap. I just gotta stay under budget to keep the Ms happy, especially since this machine isn't earning me any money.
Edit - So how would a GTX 670 compare to the 680? My first sweep of Ebay found a 680 4gb MSI for about $240, but I found at 670 4gb EVGA for $140. Both buy it now.
Edit - So how would a GTX 670 compare to the 680? My first sweep of Ebay found a 680 4gb MSI for about $240, but I found at 670 4gb EVGA for $140. Both buy it now.
Last edited:
You can compare those two cards on GPUBoss. I checked the 2 GB versions of those cards and they're very close in many areas, with the 680 being a little better, as expected.
I just bough a EVGA 4GB GTX680 as a Buy It Now on eBay for £100 (~$130). It looks a bit tatty but works perfectly. I flashed it myself for the Apple boot screen.
The smartest thing to do would be to just keep your current Mac and get a separate PC for gaming.
It just doesn't make sense to upgrade your Mac for gaming since gaming on Macs (even with retrofitted GPUs) sucks.
Seriously... consider getting a separate PC for gaming.
You'll be able to upgrade it whenever you want.
It just doesn't make sense to upgrade your Mac for gaming since gaming on Macs (even with retrofitted GPUs) sucks.
Seriously... consider getting a separate PC for gaming.
You'll be able to upgrade it whenever you want.
Get a GTX 980. It has support on OS X (NVIDIA Web Driver - not sure if it is built in to the OS X driver or not) and you can dual boot to Windows.
[doublepost=1468240469][/doublepost]
My 2010 Mac Pro with the GTX 980 beats an Xbox and Playstation. Most of the early games and some of the recent games are not even 1080p and 60fps.
[doublepost=1468240646][/doublepost]
Not for a while. The Xbox One will still be the primary console for developers. They will release a game for both, but the Xbox Scorpio version will only be slightly better. Sony and Microsoft greatly messed up this generation.
[doublepost=1468240469][/doublepost]
My 2010 Mac Pro with the GTX 980 beats an Xbox and Playstation. Most of the early games and some of the recent games are not even 1080p and 60fps.
[doublepost=1468240646][/doublepost]
Not for a while. The Xbox One will still be the primary console for developers. They will release a game for both, but the Xbox Scorpio version will only be slightly better. Sony and Microsoft greatly messed up this generation.
Maybe a GTX 960? I'm using it as an EGPU on my rMBP and while it struggles at 4k on new games (playing Technomancer now), but 1920x1080 is fine.
The GTX 1060 looks great performance-wise, but no mac drivers yet and its probably just over your budget. I'm thinking of swapping my 960 for that when it becomes available.
almost every single GPU card struggles to run games at 4K, look at PC sites like http://www.anandtech.com/show/8568/the-geforce-gtx-970-review-feat-evga/4
the GTX 970 will play 4K games but they benchmark on medium settings gets 51fps (stock card), the GTX 960 is more 1080P.
if you want 4K you need to look at the GTX 1060+ or RX 480.
but still no osx drivers for both but they will work fine if you boot in to windows.
I get my games from steam, they tend to work fine in osx but you will get much higher FPS at higher settings in windows (i use windows 7).
PS steam has relay good sales too
edit but on the bright side 4K displays work relay well in 1080p
the GTX 970 will play 4K games but they benchmark on medium settings gets 51fps (stock card), the GTX 960 is more 1080P.
if you want 4K you need to look at the GTX 1060+ or RX 480.
but still no osx drivers for both but they will work fine if you boot in to windows.
I get my games from steam, they tend to work fine in osx but you will get much higher FPS at higher settings in windows (i use windows 7).
PS steam has relay good sales too
edit but on the bright side 4K displays work relay well in 1080p
Last edited:
I don't think so. AFAIK, the games now are made to a level that no console and PC can handle, then downgrade and optimise accordingly.
If XB1 will limit the game's performance on other platforms. Then PC game cannot have good 4K graphics. If XB360 never limit XB1's game performance, then I think XB1 won't limit Scropio's graphic as well.
That is not possible. How can you develop an Xbox game if no Xbox OR pc can run it?
It seems you have no idea how they made the game. They build the game with extreme graphics now, and then downgrade the graphics and optimise until the console can run. I am not saying that they build the final product that no console or PC can run, but "during the building process".
Otherwise, when they release the PC version, they have to rebuild the game again (because that's much much higher quality then the console version).
Even thought the following video is not specifically about how to build games, but you can have an idea about what quality they do when they building the game, and what quality the final product is.
Even though the Scorpio is much stronger than XB1, but the processing power still fall behind PC. Therefore, as long as there is a high quality version that can release on PC, the Scorpio can have a version that much much better than ordinary XB1.
Um, I actually know how game programming works. You cannot build a game that you CANNOT test if no Xbox or PC can even run your alpha build.
You specifically said they build games that no console and pc can run. You are saying they develop a game where not even a 3x Titan X in SLI can run it? How do they do ANY testing then?
That is not how you build games. That is like me saying I will build a game that runs at 16K then downscale it to 1080p when I am done. No PC or Console can run my game at 16K according to your logic. So i am just coding and coding without testing ANYTHING.
If people are actually doing that, no wonder why gaming has become a joke lately. Too many games are released unoptimized anymore.
Last edited:
I got it. That's my poor English, I should be more specific to say that the original graphic quality during the early building phase is well beyond the console or PC can handle. If the game manufacture use all of those original graphics data to make the game, eventually even 4x TitanX may not able to run at decent frame rate. Therefore, at some stage, they will downscale, compress the graphic, and optimise for different platforms. Of course, at the latest phase, they will test the game as well. You are right, that latest part still a part of the game building.
However, what I want to point out is that, the XB1 performance will NOT limiting the Scorpio performance. If that's the case, then the current PC game will also be limiting by the XB1's performance. Or you believe that the game manufacture actually build XB1 game and the PC version separately?
If they plan to release Scorpio, then the XB platform game will be downscale, compress, optimise... base on the Scorpio performance, and the further down to XB1, and then further down to XB360. What matter is that the master graphic data should be well beyond the Scorpio can handle, otherwise, the PC version can never be better then the Scorpio.
They cannot correctly optimize two versions of the game (Xbox and PC). You expect them to optimize THREE versions (Xbox one, Scorpio, and PC)? I highly doubt it. My 980 has a difficult time on some new games. A lot of stuff is not optimized well for PC. Xbox 1 will be the primary console for a while. Xbox Scorpio will only be SLIGHTLY better.
And yes, XB1 is indeed limiting the Scorpio. Why would you spend all your developers resources if only a few people have it at launch?
No, it won't! Your 980 not running well doesn't mean the the Scorpio cannot. If only XB1 game can be optimised properly. Then PS4, XB360, PS3... will all sucks.
PC platform is well know the worst platform about optimisation. That's why I am so looking forward for the Scorpio. It's much much easier for the game manufacture to optimise a game that they know the exact hardware. If your theory is right, then when the XB1 launch, it's graphic can only be slightly better then the XB360. Because at that time, XB360 is the primary console for developers. And the fact told us, it's not!
Actually, the Xbox One at launch was only slightly better than the latest Xbox 360 titles at the time. A lot of Xbox One titles could not even do 1080p at 60fps. The Xbox 360 version of GTA V looked much better than the launch titles of Xbox One for example.
Well, we will see. Xbox one and PS4 will still be the most used, and be the most optimized.
How about this one?
Obviously XB1 look much better than the XB360 (or you can't tell the difference?). Also, ultra setting 1080P 60 and low setting 1080P 60 are totally different, you can't only use "resolution + frame rate" as the reference for graphic quality. Polygon number does matter.
Its only slightly better IMO. A high quality 720p image looks far worse than a low quality 1080p. And I seriously doubt the new Xbox will be able to handle 4K at 60fps since even the GTX 1080 struggles with it.
OK, it does't matter. Because we are now debating base on our own opinion but not fact. There is no objective standard about what is "slightly better". I think we can stop here.
Anyway, I also don't think the Scorpio can do 4K 60FPS properly. But as a console, at this moment, I assume it is to aim at running 4K 30FPS. I play action games, but not really a big fans of shooting game. So, 60FPS is not that critical to me. And I am quite sure Scorpio can do 1080P 60 very properly if any game really need it. It can go 4K doesn't mean that all game will run 4K on it. At least, now they have the choice to run 1080P 60 very very nicely on this new console.
Besides, my 4K TV is also an old one, only has HDMI 1.4 input. After some tests between 1080P 60, and 4K 30. I finally choose 4K 30 FPS (My main gaming machine still the console, and you know many of the games can only run at 30FPS on consoles. I think I am really already get used to it). I did that with TR, GTA V, Fallout 4, Sleeping Dog... very enjoyable. There should be an upgrade kit for my TV to go 4K 60FPS. However, that kit is not avail in Hong Kong. And I don't want to spend another $10000 - $15000 to get a new TV just because for 4K 60FPS. So, just a coincident, 4K 30Hz is a perfect match to my TV, haha~~