BF: Bad Company 2 on i7 iMac (Poor Performance)

[jbrucato]

Hey everyone,

I've done some searching and have come up somewhat empty handed. I recently purchased a 27" i7 iMac w/ 3.4Ghz, 16GB RAM, 256 GB SSD + 2TB HD and the 6970m 2GB video card.

I've installed an OEM version of Win7 Home Premium 64 bit for dual boot on the 2 TB drive. After getting that installed I went through the whole process of installing drivers, etc.

I downloaded and installed BF:BC2 from Origin and fired it up. Unfortunately, the performance was terrible. I started with the native resolution, thinking that the machine could handle it but the was not the case. Long story short, the best settings I could get are around 1024x768 resolution and medium graphics (this looks pretty bad).

I ran the Apple Hardware Test (extended) and everything showed up fine. I don't think installing on the SSD would have an huge effect on the graphics performance. I came across multiple videos of people just about maxing out the settings with lesser components and it was running great.

Is there something I am totally missing? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

EDIT: For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JdqsUAZwcE

 

[jbrucato]

Resolved

Hey everyone,

I ended up blowing away the Windows partition and reinstalling on the SSD to see if maybe there would be any difference. To my surprise, everything ran perfect at full graphics.

I figured, I'd try reinstalling on the secondary 2 TB drive just for the heck of it and it worked perfect. I'm not sure where I went wrong with the initial installation. I think what I did was use the Mac OS X DVD that came with the machine (10.6.7) and used that to install the Bootcamp drivers.

When you start the Bootcamp process, you are prompted to download and burn the latest Bootcamp drivers to a disc. MAKE SURE TO DO THIS!! I guess I need to work on my speed reading as I skipped over it the first time!

-John

 

[Dragonforce]

Running Apple Software Update would have been enough, which downloads all the new Bootcamp drivers. Also, updating your GPU driver manually via nVidia or AMD is recommended.

 

[jbrucato]

I updated the driver manually the first time but that seems to have caused some issues. I was reading on another forum that the latest Apple drivers for the chipset turn off some sort of GPU controller in the processor. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it? I tried looking for the link again but couldn't find it. Also, software update didn't come up with anything to update the first time so I'm not sure what I was doing wrong?

I had issues, initially, trying to install the latest Radeon drivers from AMD's website. It said that my hardware was in compatible. The latest version I think is somewhere around 11.0, where the video drivers I have now are 8.12.0* or something like that. It's working great now, so I don't want to risk another issue trying to upgrade the drivers.

 

[KrrSplat]

I updated the driver manually the first time but that seems to have caused some issues. I was reading on another forum that the latest Apple drivers for the chipset turn off some sort of GPU controller in the processor. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it? I tried looking for the link again but couldn't find it. Also, software update didn't come up with anything to update the first time so I'm not sure what I was doing wrong?

I had issues, initially, trying to install the latest Radeon drivers from AMD's website. It said that my hardware was in compatible. The latest version I think is somewhere around 11.0, where the video drivers I have now are 8.12.0* or something like that. It's working great now, so I don't want to risk another issue trying to upgrade the drivers.

I play BC2 on a top of the line mid 2010 imac with no problems what so ever.
well, it isnt really top of the line, only 4 gigs of ram, no ssd, and the standard hdd. Anyways, i run at native resolution, with all setting set to high except for the aa stuff. i set the top aa setting to 1x and the one below that to 2x. game runs perfectly for me, no slow downs and fps around 40-60. I also have V-sync enable because if i dont, i get some screen tearing. I got my copy of BC2 through steam. I did NOT use the apple supplied video card driver. i got the mobility 5800 series driver from catalyst. at least i think it was catalyst. it should also be noted that i used msi afterburner to overclock my gpu. the settings i use can be found somewhere on these forums.

 

[jbrucato]

I play BC2 on a top of the line mid 2010 imac with no problems what so ever.
well, it isnt really top of the line, only 4 gigs of ram, no ssd, and the standard hdd. Anyways, i run at native resolution, with all setting set to high except for the aa stuff. i set the top aa setting to 1x and the one below that to 2x. game runs perfectly for me, no slow downs and fps around 40-60. I also have V-sync enable because if i dont, i get some screen tearing. I got my copy of BC2 through steam. I did NOT use the apple supplied video card driver. i got the mobility 5800 series driver from catalyst. at least i think it was catalyst. it should also be noted that i used msi afterburner to overclock my gpu. the settings i use can be found somewhere on these forums.

I'm running the drivers that Apple supplied and using native resolution with both AA options maxed. Would you recommend upgrading the video drivers to the latest version? I wonder if that would increase performance at all?

The driver that Apple supplies doesn't have the Catalyst Control Center (or whatever it's called), it's just the driver itself. I'm not sure if that has more options with tweaking the performance.

Do you face any severe heat issues with over clocking your GPU? My iMac gets pretty hot as it is...