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Gamers Mac...

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Devie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 30, 2004
559
322
Adelaide, Australia
So once again no Mac Pro update. Whatever.

Now I want to know if anyone else here is waiting, or hoping, for the infamous headless iMac?

I really want a Mac that is a somewhat capable gaming machine. I don't want a super CPU powerhouse with 12 cores etc. I want a decent i7 CPU (not xeon) with a full sized graphics card which is removable. Room for added HDD's. Room for plenty of RAM. Room for an optical drive. So no, not a Cube like thing.
I pretty much want the Mac Pro chasis, at an affordable price.
The cheapest Mac Pro is $3k in Aust. That is pathetic. Make it the same price as the top iMac ($2k) and its a BYO monitor. Sounds like a good trade to me.

If they dont make it, my only option is a Hackintosh... and I really cant be bothered with that. Or I build a PC and run everything on that and use my iMac still for general computing. I dont want that, its doubling up for no reason.

I'm sure people are going to say to me that being a gamer I shouldn't be even looking at Mac. Well game support for Mac is on the rise. I do have Windows installed on my iMac for a few games aswell. I am mainly a console gamer anyway.

The new iMac's specs are pretty good. But I cant imagine the GPU's running Battlefield or CoD at ultimate with its mobile GPU. A brand new computer at that price should be able to run all games today at ultimate.

Anyone else in the same boat?
 
Devie said:
So once again no Mac Pro update. Whatever.

Now I want to know if anyone else here is waiting, or hoping, for the infamous headless iMac?

I really want a Mac that is a somewhat capable gaming machine. I don't want a super CPU powerhouse with 12 cores etc. I want a decent i7 CPU (not xeon) with a full sized graphics card which is removable. Room for added HDD's. Room for plenty of RAM. Room for an optical drive. So no, not a Cube like thing.
I pretty much want the Mac Pro chasis, at an affordable price.
The cheapest Mac Pro is $3k in Aust. That is pathetic. Make it the same price as the top iMac ($2k) and its a BYO monitor. Sounds like a good trade to me.

If they dont make it, my only option is a Hackintosh... and I really cant be bothered with that. Or I build a PC and run everything on that and use my iMac still for general computing. I dont want that, its doubling up for no reason.

I'm sure people are going to say to me that being a gamer I shouldn't be even looking at Mac. Well game support for Mac is on the rise. I do have Windows installed on my iMac for a few games aswell. I am mainly a console gamer anyway.

The new iMac's specs are pretty good. But I cant imagine the GPU's running Battlefield or CoD at ultimate with its mobile GPU. A brand new computer at that price should be able to run all games today at ultimate.

Anyone else in the same boat?
Click to expand...

Just get a six core refurb, whack in a 256GB SSD, more memory, new SATA card to get 6Gbps, usb3 card, GTX 670 and buy a decent IPS monitor, that will p*** all over even the latest BTO iMac.
 
Again thats not my point. I want this other product to exist. Doesnt anyone else think there is a market for it?

I can very easily go and build a nice PC for <$1500 and use a KVM and share the iMac's screen. Yes I have looked into it. I simply dont want to go down that route.
 
I have a 2009 MP 4.1 Quad (see my sig for details) that I picked up for 1300$ in perfect condition. I installed an EFI-flashed GTX 570 that runs full speed under OS X for another 600$ as well as a 128 GB SSD. In total I paid 2000$ and now I own a perfect mixture between work station and gamer pc - I can play BF3 on Ultra with 1920x1200 and still have CUDA power in After Effects and the whole thing runs very reliable. Didn't crash, hang, or whatever once.

Otherwise, I would really recommend you building a hack - or buy a PC that is hackintosh-compatible. You said you didn't want that, but as a gamer PC, nothing will top a good hackintosh.
 
Devie said:
If they dont make it, my only option is a Hackintosh... and I really cant be bothered with that. Or I build a PC and run everything on that and use my iMac still for general computing. I dont want that, its doubling up for no reason.

I'm sure people are going to say to me that being a gamer I shouldn't be even looking at Mac. Well game support for Mac is on the rise. I do have Windows installed on my iMac for a few games aswell. I am mainly a console gamer anyway.
Click to expand...

Stop punishing yourself by looking at Macs for gaming. Just get the best spec. PC you can afford but don't taint it by putting OSX on it. OSX still sucks for gaming.

This is ironic me saying it because I game on a Mac Pro (bootcamp only) but I intend to buy a beast gaming PC after I finish my PhD, that way I can use whatever GPU I want.

IMO, there is no market for a mid-range Mac. It would overlap with the price/specs of the iMac and Mac Pro. Also, such a product enters the "generic box" teritory which would appeal less to new customers. No-one in their right mind would buy an "xMac" over a gaming PC for gaming.
 
Devie said:
If they dont make it, my only option is a Hackintosh... and I really cant be bothered with that.
Click to expand...

It's really not that bad these days if you pick the parts that web sites like tonymacx86 tell you to pick, especially if you are already comfortable with building a PC. There are only small number of issues that tend to trip people up and they are easily fixed if you are willing to read forums for a few hours. Mine is just as stable as my Macbook and iMac. Never had a kernel panic or anything like that. Worst case, you give up and install windows and still wind up with a kick-butt gaming computer.

Gaming on a Mac may be on the rise but it's still nowhere near windows gaming. There are lots of good games that just aren't available on OSX. What I do is stay in OSX 90% of the time since almost all of the games I play are available for Mac. For the few that aren't, I boot into Windows.

Sure, I wish Apple made a product like you're asking for but they never will. Apple's in the business of making disposable computers/devices. They want you to have to buy a whole new one every few years. not to mention what would that do to the sales of their Mac Pros and high-end iMacs? There are lots of people who will pony up the extra money for one of those and would gladly spend less on a consumer Mac Pro if it were available.
 
Devie said:
Anyone else in the same boat?
Click to expand...

Not really, as I don't game, but I got a second hand Mac Pro for its flexibility (storage...), large memory (photo editing) and raw speed (video editing & encoding).

I could not justify buying a new one but will try finding another second hand one when mine dies (as late as possible).

Of course, a Core i7 Mac Pro would suit me as well and could be affordable. But since Xeon are not faster than Core i7 (they just add some ECC RAM and muliprocessor support to Core designs), Apple will probably never introduce a cheaper range of Core i7 equipped Mac Pros: very few would still buy the Xeon ones.
 
I just did this. Got a 4,1 Mac Pro on a good eBay del, dropped in a GTX 480 flashed from MacVidCard on the board here, and running World of Warcraft on ultra very pleasantly. I'm planning on later updating the proc, but I don't feel the need right now. Total money in this project about 1100$ .
 
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