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As a gamer should I get MacPro?

2011 MacBook Pro 13" Playing Rage

Hi I havnt owned a Mac for long and was glad to find that some newer games are being engineered to run on the new Intel HD 3000 I recently took a massive risk and purchased Rage and am now happily playing at 25-35fps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP22qWBHVJc

A link to the footage i recorded from my Mac.
 
New Mac Pro for gaming

I was wondering if the new Mac Pros will be able to handle high end games at maximum settings..
I am looking at the Two 2.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (8 cores) with 16GB (8x2GB) 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM and Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB's. Will this setup lag with, lets say.. MW3 at maximum settings, and similar games? I read the previous posts suggesting a PC at a much cheaper price, but the truth is I hate PC's, I've dealt with them my entire life, and after using a Mac once I have fallen in love. Besides games I also want to dabble around with garage band and maybe pro tools. To sum up, my question is, will these system spec's stand up to maximum settings in games?

-Also, which would be better for gaming: Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB or
ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB ?

Please advise!
 
BradleyC said:
I was wondering if the new Mac Pros will be able to handle high end games at maximum settings..
-Also, which would be better for gaming: Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB or ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB ?
Click to expand...

It depends on the game.
Far Cry 2 - the 5870 outperforms two 5770s in crossfire.
Anno 1404 Dawn of Discovery - the 5870 outperforms two 5770s in crossfire.
Call of Duty World at War - two 5770x outperform a single 5870.
Tom Clancey's HAWX - the 5870 outperforms two 5770s in crossfire.
Crysis WarHEAD - the 5870 outperforms two 5770s in crossfire.
Mass Effect - two 5770s outperform a single 5870...just barely

The HD 5870 will play Crysis WarHEAD 2xAA 1920x1200 at a very respectable 45 fps.

You'd have to run Windows 7 under Bootcamp for the above results.

The Guru of 3d
 
BradleyC said:
I was wondering if the new Mac Pros will be able to handle high end games at maximum settings..
I am looking at the Two 2.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (8 cores) with 16GB (8x2GB) 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM and Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB's. Will this setup lag with, lets say.. MW3 at maximum settings, and similar games? I read the previous posts suggesting a PC at a much cheaper price, but the truth is I hate PC's, I've dealt with them my entire life, and after using a Mac once I have fallen in love. Besides games I also want to dabble around with garage band and maybe pro tools. To sum up, my question is, will these system spec's stand up to maximum settings in games?

-Also, which would be better for gaming: Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB or
ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB ?

Please advise!
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that there are no 'new' models; the current model is 480 days old at this point. If you aren't in a rush to get a machine, it'd be worth waiting another few months. That said, do you have a particular use case in mind that'd benefit from 8 cores? It's only a little more expensive, but you'd be quite a bit better off if you got the 3.33GHz 6 core model (you have to select the entry level Mac Pro and then BTO the 3.33GHz upgrade). The 8 core 2.4GHz model is 3500$ while the 6 core 3.33GHz model is 3700$ to give you an idea of the price.

Gaming performance depends on the desired resolution, but for any decent resolution I'd go for the 5870 if you can afford it. Again, there will likely be better options whenever the Mac Pro line is updated. Also note that, while two 5770s Crossfired can improve performance over a single 5770, I don't think the Mac Pro supports Crossfire or SLI, so buying two 5770s won't help performance at all. Topper already posted the some benchmark numbers, so you can see how they'd stack up even if you could get Crossfire working. It isn't worth the hassle, frankly.
 
Mike Biggen said:
there will likely be better options whenever the Mac Pro line is updated.
Click to expand...

That's the direction I am going.
I suppose it's too much to ask for a Southern Island gpu with 186 to 332 GB/s of bandwidth.
But I'm not proud, I'd settle for an HD 6970. :D
 
BradleyC said:
I was wondering if the new Mac Pros will be able to handle high end games at maximum settings..
I am looking at the Two 2.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (8 cores) with 16GB (8x2GB) 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM and Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB's. Will this setup lag with, lets say.. MW3 at maximum settings, and similar games? I read the previous posts suggesting a PC at a much cheaper price, but the truth is I hate PC's, I've dealt with them my entire life, and after using a Mac once I have fallen in love. Besides games I also want to dabble around with garage band and maybe pro tools. To sum up, my question is, will these system spec's stand up to maximum settings in games?

-Also, which would be better for gaming: Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB or
ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB ?

Please advise!
Click to expand...

You want clock speed over cores. 2.4GHz is pretty darn slow for games. It'll work but a 2.66, 2.93, 3.33 will work better across more titles and the core count barely matters as they are all quad or better. A single card is always a better choice than a dual card solution. You will have general driver issues and problems scaling the 5770's. As any SLI, Crossfire user can attest to. You also have to deal with microstutter and in OS X you can only use one for each display, they do not bridge, crossfire not supported. 2x 5770 may be louder as well given you have 2 fans now. I stopped all SLI/ X-fire thoughts after loosing more time fiddling with my PC than playing games.
 
Loving this thread as I am in the EXACT same boat as the OP. I have an early 2008 17" MBP that I have been using for work as a photographer, and videographer for years now. I also have a (what used to be) high end PC gaming rig that I built from scratch: See the Build Log here!

But I have decided that:
A) I need more power from my Mac for rendering, and processing which means a Mac Pro. The Mac Pro will run Final Cut Pro7, After Effects, Photoshop, lightroom, etc etc

B) I do not want to have two towers under my desk. therefor I intend to sell off my PC Gaming rig, and run Bootcamp on my Mac Pro. After reading this post it sort of makes me not want to do it anymore as people are basically downgrading the performance of a Mac Pro for gaming.

I had started another thread asking people which processor was better for both of my applications (Work & Gaming) and the general response was to get a higher end quad core, beef up the RAM, and upgrade the GPU. But some people are still telling me to go with the dual CPU options like an 8 core and I will be more future proof. For instance, if I ever decide to switch to Final Cut Pro X I would be able to take advantage of the multiple CPU's / Cores.

Lastly... I have been reading threads about the next refresh of the Mac Pro, and whether it will even happen, etc etc... I am so ready to buy, but I will be so annoyed if they release the new Mac Pros a month after my purchase, and my return date expires! (Happened when i bought my iPad!)

Anyway... Great thread. I am perplexed.

B
 
MaddieBrad said:
B) I do not want to have two towers under my desk. therefor I intend to sell off my PC Gaming rig, and run Bootcamp on my Mac Pro. After reading this post it sort of makes me not want to do it anymore as people are basically downgrading the performance of a Mac Pro for gaming.
Click to expand...

Downgrading certain Mac Pros. Mine is basically a Core i7 980x with an HD5870. It has no problems with ANY games right now. I game at 1920x1080 or 1680x1050 native on whatever screen I am using. You also do not need boot camp if you are dedicating a HD to Windows.
 
derbothaus said:
Downgrading certain Mac Pros. Mine is basically a Core i7 980x with an HD5870. It has no problems with ANY games right now. I game at 1920x1080 or 1680x1050 native on whatever screen I am using. You also do not need boot camp if you are dedicating a HD to Windows.
Click to expand...

Which Mac Pro runs an i7? My dilemma is basically all to do with the CPU.
Also, I didn't realize that you didn't need bootcamp if you have a separate Windows drive to boot from. That is exactly what I will do! I want my game time as far away from my work time as possible.

B
 
MaddieBrad said:
Which Mac Pro runs an i7? My dilemma is basically all to do with the CPU.
Also, I didn't realize that you didn't need bootcamp if you have a separate Windows drive to boot from. That is exactly what I will do! I want my game time as far away from my work time as possible.

B
Click to expand...

I said "Basically". It's a Xeon W3680. No Mac Pro's run i7 as they are inferior to Xeon of same variant. Should not matter.
 
derbothaus said:
I said "Basically". It's a Xeon W3680. No Mac Pro's run i7 as they are inferior to Xeon of same variant. Should not matter.
Click to expand...

What is this system "equivalent" to?
Two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores)

There is one one the refurbished section that is almost a grand cheaper than retail.

B
 
MaddieBrad said:
What is this system "equivalent" to?
Two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores)

There is one one the refurbished section that is almost a grand cheaper than retail.

B
Click to expand...

6-core 3.33GHz. It is all you need. Faster at games than the 12-core 2.93GHz.
 
MaddieBrad said:
Also, I didn't realize that you didn't need bootcamp if you have a separate Windows drive to boot from.
Click to expand...

You don't need to use bootcamp assistant in OS X.

However, you definitely should install the bootcamp Windows package that includes drivers and utilities.
 
You'd have to run Windows 7 under Bootcamp for the above results.

What exactly is bootcamping? does this mean Mac's OS's aren't compatible with first person shooters? What about blizzard games like diablo 3 and starcraft 2, aren't those games supported through MAC's OS's? How do I obtain bootcamp with windows 7?, is this something Apple's one to one initial setup can install for me?
 
BradleyC said:
What exactly is bootcamping? does this mean Mac's OS's aren't compatible with first person shooters? What about blizzard games like diablo 3 and starcraft 2, aren't those games supported through MAC's OS's? How do I obtain bootcamp with windows 7?, is this something Apple's one to one initial setup can install for me?
Click to expand...

Yes you can play OS X games on OS X. However, the selection of games for Windows is significantly larger and games available on both platforms tend to work better on Windows.

Bootcamp enables you to install and run Windows on your Mac. It is made up of two parts: Bootcamp Assistant, which helps you partition a single drive to handle both OS X and Windows, and Bootcamp software, a collection of drivers and utilities that you install on Windows.

I have no idea what "one to one" is or what they will do for you.
 
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