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Best iMac Build for Gaming

just when I think I have a clue....

I read your responses and I change my mind.

If there is really no "big" net gain in going i7 for gaming and getting the extra 1GB of VRAM, maybe I should just stick with the base line-up. I would like to save the cash.

Thanks for the input.

The only intensive use I can forsee would be the gaming.

If you had to pick one upgrade for this would it be the 1GB bump up for the GPU or the CPU upgrade for gaming purposes?
 
henrikrox said:
Its not really, HT wont make a difference if you are just going to play games.

Also the 2GB isnt needed. Hell even the gtx 580 which is the fastest single gpu card uses 1535 mb or something.

the added vram wont help because of the core clocks of the thing.

sorry but thats a fact.
Click to expand...

The i7 will be faster than the i5, that's simple. You can disable HT if you want to. It's clocked faster and has more cache.

You are wrong about VRAM affecting multi-monitors. It doesn't. If your card supports it, it could probably run 12 monitors at 2560x1440 with 1GB of ram.

In terms of games, the 6970M is not fast enough to take advantage of 2GB of RAM, which would involve 8-16x AA/AF, high settings and maxed resolution in the most demanding games.
 
So the consensus is pretty much to just get the i5 with 1 gb?

I really just want to run BF3 :eek:
 
Zen0Jin said:
In terms of games, the 6970M is not fast enough to take advantage of 2GB of RAM, which would involve 8-16x AA/AF, high settings and maxed resolution in the most demanding games.
Click to expand...

Benchmarks show otherwise. The 2gb definitely helps with the higher resolution of the 27" monitor. HardOCP has a nice benchmark showing this. It's not on the 6970m but it is on the 6850 which is somewhat similar in performance.
 
archer75 said:
Benchmarks show otherwise. The 2gb definitely helps with the higher resolution of the 27" monitor. HardOCP has a nice benchmark showing this. It's not on the 6970m but it is on the 6850 which is somewhat similar in performance.
Click to expand...

Actually, they show the opposite.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/02/24/amd_radeon_hd_6950_1gb_performance_review/3

2GB version does allow you to enable AA and keep the FPS playable but otherwise there doesn't seem to be any difference.
 
Hellhammer said:
Like you can see above, the i5 actually beats the i7 in some games. While the i5 in iMac is slightly slower, there should not be any major difference. The i7 might give you an FPS more but it is not worth the 200$ price tag if gaming is your only heavy task.
Click to expand...

Think you can prob DIY a PC desktop with gaming specs for prob less than half of the premium iMac.
 
Hellhammer said:
Actually, they show the opposite.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/02/24/amd_radeon_hd_6950_1gb_performance_review/3

2GB version does allow you to enable AA and keep the FPS playable but otherwise there doesn't seem to be any difference.
Click to expand...

Yup, our 6970M is a slower 6850.

With this much faster desktop 6950:

"Radeon HD 6950 1GB vs. 2GB

Certainly, the first thing we wanted to know is if the reduction memory capacity with the Radeon HD 6950 GPU would cause a reduction in performance. We found that at lower resolutions like 1920x1200 the answer is no, performance was not impacted much if at all. Since both video cards use the same GPU the end-result was the same. Playing at 4X AA at 1920x1200 yielded no performance differences in any of the games.

It was only at the highest setting of 2560x1600 with 8X MSAA did we start to see differences. The 2GB Radeon HD 6950 clearly allowed 8X MSAA in some games to be playable, and in others allowed us to use Transparency Antialiasing at 2560x1600. The 1GB Radeon HD 6950 struggled with these higher settings. Still, in some cases performance was the same as long as the AA setting was lower at 2560x1600."

The 6970M is not powerful enough to have VRAM size make a difference playing at 2560x1440.

In fact, I will be booting up Starcraft 2 and Bad Company 2 later, but I highly suspect that I'll be turning my resolution DOWN to 1920x1080 to get playable 60FPS frame rates.
 
From what most of you are saying.... what is the point in getting the extra GB of VRAM?

Why would Apple even offer this?

What programs or tasks would this actually help besides (maybe) super-intense highly detailed gaming?
 
Seems like AA is the only answer for getting the 2GB VRAM card.

How about near-future games, such as Rage, that will use Mega Textures or the like?

I think I'll go with the i7 anyway though... Just because I can.. And it is probably the graphic card that is the limiting factor anyway. :p
 
To everyone saying that i5 is better than i7 for gaming:

your benchmarks compare the i5-2500 and the i7-2600, but the iMac uses i5-2400 vs i7-2600. The i7 iMac will be faster then i5 iMac in any usage scenario!
 
Zen0Jin said:
The i7 will be faster than the i5, that's simple. You can disable HT if you want to. It's clocked faster and has more cache.

You are wrong about VRAM affecting multi-monitors. It doesn't. If your card supports it, it could probably run 12 monitors at 2560x1440 with 1GB of ram.

In terms of games, the 6970M is not fast enough to take advantage of 2GB of RAM, which would involve 8-16x AA/AF, high settings and maxed resolution in the most demanding games.
Click to expand...

No one is debating that the i5 is faster than the i7. We are talking about gaming here. Going from a 3.1 i5 to a HT-disabled 3.4 is going to be a negligible improvement, at best, for a gamer. That $200 upcharge is a waste for a slight clock speed increase if they are not taking advantage of the HT-capability of the i7 processor.
 
Airforcekid said:
cant wait:)
Click to expand...

I tested TF2, L4D and WoW last night (in OSX). All ran beautifully. Keep in mind that you may need to drop from the native resolution if you want to max out all of the settings, though- depending on your frame rate preference.
 
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