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Gaming on M395X: I'm satisfied

iemcj said:
So how DO you get updated bootcamp drivers? I've never seen an option to do this sorta thing, amd released a bunch of new drivers the past two weeks (no shock considering all the new games that came out), how do we as imac owner download them?
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We'll have to wait until Apple takes these new drivers and signs them with the Apple blessing.
Seriously, nothing's stopping you from downloading them, but things will come to a halt once you're trying to install them. That's the ugly truth, tried it several times myself..
 
Ok and once they do, how do we get them? I've never once seen an option to download new drivers from apple.
 
iemcj said:
So how DO you get updated bootcamp drivers? I've never seen an option to do this sorta thing, amd released a bunch of new drivers the past two weeks (no shock considering all the new games that came out), how do we as imac owner download them?
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I just booted Windows 10 on my 2014 5K iMac, ran the Apple Updater Application, and there was now listed a BootCamp Driver 6 selection along with the normal iTunes, iCloud, etc. selections. This did enable the Windows 10 5K resolution capability for the 2014 RiMac display driver.
 
hfg said:
I just booted Windows 10 on my 2014 5K iMac, ran the Apple Updater Application, and there was now listed a BootCamp Driver 6 selection along with the normal iTunes, iCloud, etc. selections. This did enable the Windows 10 5K resolution capability for the 2014 RiMac display driver.
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Excellent! I've been waiting for this. :)

I'm in bed now (it's pretty late here in Sweden), so I'll check this during the afternoon. Just to check with you: Do you have the M295X? Would be pretty disappointed if this only applies to the M290X, although that would be highly unlikely.
 
Fried Potato said:
Excellent! I've been waiting for this. :)

I'm in bed now (it's pretty late here in Sweden), so I'll check this during the afternoon. Just to check with you: Do you have the M295X? Would be pretty disappointed if this only applies to the M290X, although that would be highly unlikely.
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Yes ... using the M295X iMac

Set the UI fonts to around 200% and it is easy to read. I haven't tried very many application programs to see how well they handle the increased resolution, but the few I use seemed to work well.
 
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I am quite happy with the gaming performance of my iMac 5k i7 r395x 8GB. I did not buy this to be a gaming machine, because its not suppose to be one, however I do play WoW and I am amazed that I am able to play WoW at 5k on high settings and still get up to 36fps, and even in battle it may go down to about 25 fps, which for me, is still quite playable. Of course 5K will not work in big dungeons or raids, for that I will have to lower there res quite a bit I am sure, but for me it is a nice trade off in fps for the incredible eye candy. A couple of 5K screenshots included.
 

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hfg said:
I just booted Windows 10 on my 2014 5K iMac, ran the Apple Updater Application, and there was now listed a BootCamp Driver 6 selection along with the normal iTunes, iCloud, etc. selections. This did enable the Windows 10 5K resolution capability for the 2014 RiMac display driver.
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This update is sadly not for late 2015k iMac.

MandiMac said:
Yeah, and it's Apple's fault for tweaking the drivers in the first place.
Don't mind me asking, I'm with you here: I too fancy having the newest drivers on my hardware, but is there another reason why you'd want to update the driver?
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Simply to get the best performance possible. With the driver updates, game engines get better support and are being processed more efficiantly, while boosting performance.

LinusTechTips (I believe) did a test witch the same hardware, but with drivers that are 1+ years old. There were very noticable differences in performance in games.

Now, the current driver might be the newest one, so I'm probably covered for now, but looking at apple's bootcamp update cycle, it kinda sucks knowing I will be waiting for another year to update my machine. Look at the m295x update.... Last years model updates today with the current (?) GFX driver. :(
 
Laai said:
This update is sadly not for late 2015k iMac.
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I was under the impression from reading other threads here that the 2015 iMac was capable of full 5K resolution after the latest massive Nov. (1511) Windows 10 update ... but the 2014 iMac wouldn't see it (as I verified). After this latest Apple Download driver update, myself and others are now seeing the 5K option for the 2014 iMac as well.
 
hfg said:
I was under the impression from reading other threads here that the 2015 iMac was capable of full 5K resolution after the latest massive Nov. (1511) Windows 10 update ... but the 2014 iMac wouldn't see it (as I verified). After this latest Apple Download driver update, myself and others are now seeing the 5K option for the 2014 iMac as well.
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Yeah they do. But (for me) if I switch to say 4K resolution, I can not revert to 5K, except if the screen is flipped sideways or upside down (in another thread someone else is having the same issue). I only hope that apple keeps updating the GFX Drivers.
 
We may have access to using the screens native resolution with the late 2015 imac but that doesn't mean we're fully up to date. Amd has released driver updates two weeks ago that us imac users don't have access to. Everyone else who has a m395x graphics card? Yep, they can download it, install it, and get better performance out of fallout 4, battlefront, ect. But we are at the mercy of apple and how quickly they decide to let us have access. :(
 
Laai said:
Yeah they do. But (for me) if I switch to say 4K resolution, I can not revert to 5K, except if the screen is flipped sideways or upside down (in another thread someone else is having the same issue). I only hope that apple keeps updating the GFX Drivers.
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Hmmmm ... strange ... I just verified for another member that my 2014 295X based iMac would switch resolutions between 5K, 4K, and 1440P without issues, which it did. He was having problems getting out of the 5K mode with the same setup.
 
I downloaded the 5k drivers several hours ago. 5k resolution works fine here (Windows 10).

Also, does Fallout 4 perform better with these drivers? Not sure if it's only placebo, or actually real. It feels a bit smoother...
 
Fried Potato said:
I downloaded the 5k drivers several hours ago. 5k resolution works fine here (Windows 10).

Also, does Fallout 4 perform better with these drivers? Not sure if it's only placebo, or actually real. It feels a bit smoother...
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Amd specifically says it optimizes for Fallout 4 and battlefront. So us late 2015 top of the line imac guys are missing out on properly updated drivers! grrrr http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx

actually potato, wana do me a favor? Can you look at your drivers and let us know if this 15.11.1 version is what you have installed?? Thanks!
 
iemcj said:
Amd specifically says it optimizes for Fallout 4 and battlefront. So us late 2015 top of the line imac guys are missing out on properly updated drivers! grrrr http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx

actually potato, wana do me a favor? Can you look at your drivers and let us know if this 15.11.1 version is what you have installed?? Thanks!
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I just checked the drivers. According to Catalyst Center, the "Driver Packaging Version" is: 15.201.2001.
 
Fried Potato said:
I just checked the drivers. According to Catalyst Center, the "Driver Packaging Version" is: 15.201.2001.
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On my Device Manager page:
AMD RADEON R9 M295X
Driver Date: 10/5/2015
Driver Version: 15.201.2001.0

Looking in c:\ProgramFiles\AMD\CIM\Bin64 shows a bunch of files dated 10/5/2015 including Setup, InstallManager.App (5.6MB), a .sys file and a bunch of .dll files.
 
mosher said:
just tested my own iMac 27 with i7 395x DOTA 2:
  • 2560x1440 All settings maxed out -> 50-70FPS
  • 5120x2880 All settings maxed out -> steady! 30FPS
Cooler stayed all the time at 1200rpm, no noise at all.

i'm happy!
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Hm.. I wonder I I should jump on that configuration. I never play games anymore but I'd want to at least be able to play Dota 2. I mainly just browse the Web and use python to do data analysis.

I have a 2014 r macbook pro i7 with the Nvidia card so I don't need a computer but that imac is sexy
 
Just to clarify, does this mean that we will have to wait for Apple to release new AMD graphics drivers and that we can't use the standard drivers from AMD's site?
 
Laai said:
Yupp :(
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Damn. That's frustrating. Anyone know why this is the case? Every intel mac I've owned so far, nvidia or amd, has allowed me to install standard graphics drivers from their websites.

I suppose there's no indication as to how long Apple will take to release a new driver...
 
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