Gaming on M395X: I'm satisfied

[Ezekiel_Black]

Does FFXIV crash both in full screen and windowed dx11?
How is the fps in 1080p ultra and high desktop?

It crashes no matter what configuration I try in DX11. Sometimes it will run for a good 10-15 minutes, other times it will crash within 3-5 minutes.

FPS in 1080P maximum is 60-65 and desktop high 75-80. However, I've noticed the higher I go the more micro stutters I see that are not reflected in the fps. The stutters annoy me, so I've fiddled around and I play at 1440P, Borderless Window, FPS limited to 60, Laptop high.

FFXIV is definitely the "poor performer" of the three games I play. GW2 and SWTOR run beautifully. Perhaps with driver updates the DX11 will resolve and things will be better.

 

[gian8989]

It crashes no matter what configuration I try in DX11. Sometimes it will run for a good 10-15 minutes, other times it will crash within 3-5 minutes.

FPS in 1080P maximum is 60-65 and desktop high 75-80. However, I've noticed the higher I go the more micro stutters I see that are not reflected in the fps. The stutters annoy me, so I've fiddled around and I play at 1440P, Borderless Window, FPS limited to 60, Laptop high.

FFXIV is definitely the "poor performer" of the three games I play. GW2 and SWTOR run beautifully. Perhaps with driver updates the DX11 will resolve and things will be better.

Have you tried the fps in crowded fates?
What is the difference between laptop high and desktop high?
On AMD site they say the problem is with borderless window mode but I don't know if with other mode is ok.
Just to say, but they have been having this kind of problems with dx11 in a lot of games with all R9 3xx for 5 months. I was deciding between and iMac and a 5820k PC with AMD card but judging by horrible support I'll avoid AMD if possible.

 

[Ezekiel_Black]

Have you tried the fps in crowded fates?
What is the difference between laptop high and desktop high?
On AMD site they say the problem is with borderless window mode but I don't know if with other mode is ok.
Just to say, but they have been having this kind of problems with dx11 in a lot of games with all R9 3xx for 5 months. I was deciding between and iMac and a 5820k PC with AMD card but judging by horrible support I'll avoid AMD if possible.

I have not tried in fates, I have run an Alexander raid and it sat at 60 fps. The differences between the two modes are just some lower settings, like lower quality shadows etc. To be honest, I don't see a huge difference visually.

I too read about about the borderless windows mode thing. When I run in DX11 borderless windows, the game freezes, and I cannot access any other windows in bootcamp, so I cannot close the game. I can open task manager, but cannot click anything on it. I need to do a complete restart of the iMac. When I run in Full Screen, I get a driver error message and the game crashes, at which point I can close it and not require a full reboot.

 

[gian8989]

I have not tried in fates, I have run an Alexander raid and it sat at 60 fps. The differences between the two modes are just some lower settings, like lower quality shadows etc. To be honest, I don't see a huge difference visually.

I too read about about the borderless windows mode thing. When I run in DX11 borderless windows, the game freezes, and I cannot access any other windows in bootcamp, so I cannot close the game. I can open task manager, but cannot click anything on it. I need to do a complete restart of the iMac. When I run in Full Screen, I get a driver error message and the game crashes, at which point I can close it and not require a full reboot.

So in conclusion:
- I want to play ffxiv? --> crash
- I want to connect iMac to TV to watch videos? --> I can't turn off iMac screen
- I want to watch 4k videos? --> It gets hot (link)
- I have to hope to not have backlight bleed and dead pixels
- I have to hope that the fan is not defective (link topic ; link audio)

I'll go and see tomorrow at the Apple store how it is the noise but I don't think there will be any i7 395x to try.
I know that i'm been paranoic but for a 3000+ € computer It has a bit too many issues. (stupid ultra slim design and Amd)

 

[pip8786]

Small update: It seems to depend on the heroes. Played two rounds without a drop, and when playing Singed with his Poisoned Trail the FPS vary between 55 and 60. Noticed a half-second-long drop to 40 FPS in a teamfight in that game, but nothing serious...

1440p, Very High, Fullscreen, OS X.

Man I'm starting to wonder if something is wrong with my mac. I feel like it should be working fine, even my rMBP from 2012 can run the game better.

 

[Ezekiel_Black]

So in conclusion:
- I want to play ffxiv? --> crash
- I want to connect iMac to TV to watch videos? --> I can't turn off iMac screen
- I want to watch 4k videos? --> It gets hot (link)
- I have to hope to not have backlight bleed and dead pixels
- I have to hope that the fan is not defective (link topic ; link audio)

I'll go and see tomorrow at the Apple store how it is the noise but I don't think there will be any i7 395x to try.
I know that i'm been paranoic but for a 3000+ € computer It has a bit too many issues. (stupid ultra slim design and Amd)

Well to be fair, the FFXIV DX11 crash is not an apple thing, but I guess you are stuck with an AMD card. I've done a lot of gaming and the card got to 93 once, mostly it get to 85, the fan comes on, which I cannot hear over the game, and it goes back down to 75. I've only watched short 4K vids, so not sure about the temp with that. My screen is flawless, but I guess the chance is always there to get a dodgy one. Ultimately, if FFXIV was very important to me, or gaming in general was, I probably would have stuck with my PC. But for my photo work, writing, general internet, and casual gaming, I love my 5K.

 

[gian8989]

Well to be fair, the FFXIV DX11 crash is not an apple thing, but I guess you are stuck with an AMD card. I've done a lot of gaming and the card got to 93 once, mostly it get to 85, the fan comes on, which I cannot hear over the game, and it goes back down to 75. I've only watched short 4K vids, so not sure about the temp with that. My screen is flawless, but I guess the chance is always there to get a dodgy one. Ultimately, if FFXIV was very important to me, or gaming in general was, I probably would have stuck with my PC. But for my photo work, writing, general internet, and casual gaming, I love my 5K.

If I were a gamer i wouldn't even think about a mac.
I only play 2 hours at night and FFXIV is the only game i've been playing in the last 2years so It's a bit of a pain (but i'll probably switch to Dragon's dogma online if it comes to europe). I've been using osx the last 8 years without problem but i have to admit that i never updated from snow leopard (tried newer os but find snow leopard to be the best). Moreover windows 10 on my father PC seems good unlike w8 and w7.
I'll probably flip a coin tomorrow to make a decision

 

[MandiMac]

Man I'm starting to wonder if something is wrong with my mac. I feel like it should be working fine, even my rMBP from 2012 can run the game better.

Reset the VRAM, start in safe mode, restart normally and try again. I really don't get why your rMBP should be any better, this defies any logic for me :/
I can't really give better advice (besides play under Windows, haha). Thanks @Ezekiel_Black for your input here!

 

[Serban]

M295X 1440p OSX i can play LOL at 60 fps

 

[toofargone]

I'll go tomorrow to an Apple store and check the fan noise... any idea how to push fan to 2000rpm with stock app?

I'd like to know this, too. Please update if you find a good solution. Going to have the "personal assistant" unbox mine at the store so I can check the fans before hauling it home.

 

[AlifTheUnseen]

Man, is that ever wrong. In Lightroom it takes 2 min 15 sec just to import and render 1:1 previews on 30 photos from my Sony A7RII. That is on a top-spec 2015 iMac. This process is highly CPU-bound, not I/O or GPU-bound. On some projects I take 1,000 photos per day. That is only stills, not 4k video which is even worse.

I agree, there are of course things that can bring a top-speced iMac to its knees, and you gave a good example. The iMac is a general-purpose 'home' computer, though, not exactly a professional workstation. If you are taking 1000 photos per day in certain projects, I'm afraid you are deep in professional territory… maybe an iMac, even the top speced, isn't the optimal choice for you. My message applied to the general public, not to the demanding professional. People who take 1000 photos per day, handbrake 100 dvds per day or arrange 100 track-songs in Logic every day are probably underspeced even with the top iMac.

 

[MandiMac]

I agree, there are of course things that can bring a top-speced iMac to its knees, and you gave a good example. The iMac is a general-purpose 'home' computer, though, not exactly a professional workstation. If you are taking 1000 photos per day in certain projects, I'm afraid you are deep in professional territory… maybe an iMac, even the top speced, isn't the optimal choice for you. My message applied to the general public, not to the demanding professional. People who take 1000 photos per day, handbrake 100 dvds per day or arrange 100 track-songs in Logic every day are probably underspeced even with the top iMac.

And that's what a Mac Pro is for, right? Assuming it's getting an update next year, it should be top notch again.

 

[Laai]

Ok, so I installed Assassin's Creed Unity and played through a few sequences. All settings are on preset "High Settings" with 1440p resolution. The M395X is working almost all the time at the max clock speed at 909 MHz and the RAM is usually around 3,9 GB to 4 GB full. So AAA titles will indeed make use of extra RAM that you have, easy. The fan did, as expected, ramp up, but not too much.

In comparison, I play CS:GO at 1440p, high settings with about 200 FPS and the GPU uses around 1,5GB of memory.

So, yeah, on 1440p the new iMac is quite good for my mediocre standards. If you want to play AAA Games on a 5K display at full settings, you need to go ahead and buy yourself Titan X in SLI with 2 Cards and OC the hell out of your CPU.

 

[Toxe]

I don't want to derail this thread but I think this is a good place to ask seeing as people talk constantly about playing in various resolutions.

How does changing resolutions work in Mac games?

Just like it does on Windows i.e. you change the resolution in the options menu in the game? If that is the case then how does OS X cope with switching from the game to the desktop and back? Does it change resolution if you switch back and forth?

 

[AlexisV]

Yes.

 

[Toxe]

Yes.

Thanks.

 

[pip8786]

M295X 1440p OSX i can play LOL at 60 fps

Did you play in a real game with some of the older champions? It's only certain effects during teamfights that cause the FPS to drop to 20 (on my 395x)

Anyways, I installed windows over the weekend and get 250-500 FPS on 1440p with higher settings than OSX, where I was getting 20-120FPS. Apparently either the Mac client is no good or something didn't install right on my machine specifically, based on others' input here.

 

[iemcj]

I don't get why people worry about fan noise during gaming. Who in the world is playing a AAA graphically intensive game on mute and is going to be upset by hearing a computer fan??? You're going to have sound up anyway or, more likely, going to be listening to the audio on your Astro a50 headphones. Who are these people that need total silence when gaming??

 

[kødskjold]

I don't get why people worry about fan noise during gaming. Who in the world is playing a AAA graphically intensive game on mute and is going to be upset by hearing a computer fan??? You're going to have sound up anyway or, more likely, going to be listening to the audio on your Astro a50 headphones. Who are these people that need total silence when gaming??

I've wondered this myself. I'm an IT engineer and have academic & entertainment side hobbies on the comp (genetics, coding, casual gaming). Whether I'm working or playing, I've never been bothered by fan noise. Mostly b/c there's something else going on, be it music or game/video audio. And even when there's not... it's just soothing white noise.

 

[DCIFRTHS]

I've wondered this myself. I'm an IT engineer and have academic & entertainment side hobbies on the comp (genetics, coding, casual gaming). Whether I'm working or playing, I've never been bothered by fan noise. Mostly b/c there's something else going on, be it music or game/video audio. And even when there's not... it's just soothing white noise.

White noise drives me nuts. So does fan noise, monitor buzz, high pitched sounds etc. I love a silent PC

 

[kødskjold]

White noise drives me nuts. So does fan noise, monitor buzz, high pitched sounds etc. I love a silent PC

Ah. My wife is that way. I can passively tune anything out (clicking, buzzing, tapping, rattling,... people talking).. let's just say it can be a blessing and a curse.

 

[iemcj]

So DC, are you litearlly sitting there in TOTAL SILENCE with no music, no podcasts, no tv shows, NOTHING going? I can kinda sorta understand getting annoyed but noise you don't want but you gotta be sitting in dead silence or be in a tiny room to hear it. This imac is quietter than any other "desktop" style computer I've grown up with. If you need things that silent just get a mac pro. Or just listen to a song on itunes on 10 percent volume and it'll drown it out lol

 

[DesertSurfer]

So DC, are you litearlly sitting there in TOTAL SILENCE with no music, no podcasts, no tv shows, NOTHING going? I can kinda sorta understand getting annoyed but noise you don't want but you gotta be sitting in dead silence or be in a tiny room to hear it. This imac is quietter than any other "desktop" style computer I've grown up with. If you need things that silent just get a mac pro. Or just listen to a song on itunes on 10 percent volume and it'll drown it out lol

Mumbling and muttering are also good ways to mask the noise, plus nobody bothers you!

 

[Ricktracer]

Are there downloadable drivers from AMD for the 395x GPU that comes with the late 2015 RiMac? I searched online but came up empty.

 

[iemcj]

Are there downloadable drivers from AMD for the 395x GPU that comes with the late 2015 RiMac? I searched online but came up empty.

Should automatically do this when installing bootcamp. It did for me.