CS:GO on upgraded iMac 2010

[GreyLotus]

I recently upgraded my iMac 27" 2010 i7 2.93 with a metal-capable GTX780M and updated to Catalina.

I'm having fun playing CS:GO every now and then;
However it's not that much fun when I realise that my FPS are limping (averaging a good 40-50 FPS; if the map has big outdoor areas or playing casual matches it's usually worse). If you only have a tiny bit of ambitions in this game, you'll soon realise that when playing online, such a low framerate gives you a huge disadvantage. Funny enough, it's also prone to drop FPS, JUST when an opponent is peeking around a corner, or while you try control your spray....

I know that the CS:GO Mac version is not as good as the PC version, and that Mac's aren't made for gaming... yadda yadda.
I also know that the iMac's monitor is only 60Hz, meaning it might be limiting the GPU's capabilities.

But did anyone actually ever successfully get this game running on an iMac with 120+fps?
I read somewhere that people get better results when playing the game in Bootcamp on the same machine...

I'm running the game on 1600x900 with all settings on "low".

I'd be grateful for any advice. Also, I know some codes entered in the steam startup settings could help, but not sure which ones are ideal for my machine.

 

[LeonPro]

I'm playing CSGO in Bootcamp because I can't keep up with it under Mac OS. There's too much lag and some players even accuse me of "cheating" because of the lag. Sometimes I see them first and vice-versa. So they think I'm wall-hacking.

My understanding is that Valve only ported the game so it really isn't optimized.

Mind you this is being played on a 2019 Mac Pro with a high end video card. It can't correct the lack of optimization from Valve.

Under Bootcamp, I can match the competitiveness just fine.

 

[GoldfishRT]

The MacOS version runs, in a word, awful. The game will just plain stutter even if your framerate is otherwise okay. You say yadda yadda but, in this case it's really true. With that said, CSGO has become more demanding over time. You may be running into thermal issues in that era of iMac as well. Be sure you have v-sync turned off as well. If you're right on the edge of a smooth 60 having vsync will usually just make it drop hard in the name of not having screen tearing. Not worth it IMO.

Also while your monitors refresh rate is only 60Hz that shouldn't have any bearing on your computer pushing at more frames if it's capable, it just means that your display is only capable at max of updating 60 times a second, it's not limiting the GPU.

 

[retta283]

Source engine seems pretty poor under Mac OS. Even running the oldest Source titles like Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2 Deathmatch I see a lot of weird stutters and lag that I do not notice on Windows even on the same machines. Some older Macs I have like the 2008 iMac run the game abysmally under OS X and flawlessly under Windows at the same settings or even higher on Windows.