Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
GMA 950 vs GeForce4 440 Go
- Thread starter dpaanlka
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
GMA 950 is supposed to be comparable from what I gather. Someone was using it with COD2.
Well, I can't speak so much for the GeForce4 Go, but I know my Mini (which uses the GMA 950 as well) can handle low and medium detail on more graphics-intensive games. The only game I really ever played on it was Battlefield Vietnam, and I got good frame rates at medium settings, on a Core Solo with 512MB of RAM. I don't know if upping the RAM would have helped, but if anyone wants to send me a copy of BF:V, I'd gladly reinstall it to let you know!
I posted about this with a screenshot not too long ago, I'll see if I can't dig it up.
Edit, I should add that X-Plane's system specs recommend a 1Ghz CPU or better, and "Video card: 32MB VRAM 3D supporting the OpenGL API minimum, 64MB recommended" which is definitely covered by the GMA950. BF:V recommends a GeForce3 or equivalent with 64MB or RAM, though from past experience I'd say my GeForce4 4200 ran it worse than the Mini. So I'd say you should be fine if you're just planning on running X-Plane.
I posted about this with a screenshot not too long ago, I'll see if I can't dig it up.
Edit, I should add that X-Plane's system specs recommend a 1Ghz CPU or better, and "Video card: 32MB VRAM 3D supporting the OpenGL API minimum, 64MB recommended" which is definitely covered by the GMA950. BF:V recommends a GeForce3 or equivalent with 64MB or RAM, though from past experience I'd say my GeForce4 4200 ran it worse than the Mini. So I'd say you should be fine if you're just planning on running X-Plane.
Don't expect wonders on the latest versions of X-Plane though. Even my MBP with 256MB X1600 and 2GB RAM has to cut detail sometimes.
I better solution I think would be a refurbed Macbook pro that has a real "GPU". Integrated graphics bite for gaming and what happens if you want another game? Bench after Bench shows integrated are just inferior. Notice you never get benches from the I love my Integrated graphics crowd. There is a reason they never give benchmarks, its allways it looks good to me kind of stuff. Im not busting on anyones machine but integrated graphics arent gaming GPU's unless you can be satisfied with things turned way down,or off and low sometimes stuttering frames.
I agree with you that the GMA950 is by no means a gaming GPU. And yes, if he plans on doing future gaming, a MacBook Pro might be more of the direction to take, though not even that has an upradeable GPU. If you're serious about gaming, a powerful desktop is the way to go.
And while I can't provide benchmarks (don't have anything installed right now,), I wrote this back at the time:
And BareFeats have done a quick GMA950 bench here:
http://www.barefeats.com/mincd.html
Oh, and a photo:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/2322295/
Fancy. If you do end up doing this, try and do some before/after benchmarks and post up the results. I'm saving up for a Core 2 Duo for my Mini, but don't know to what extent it'd be worth t to get the Core 2 Duo versus a regular Core Duo.
oh my, are you really going to? for 10% performance enhance, u pay extra $200?
Actually, if you actually look at the CPU unit prices online, you'll find that at, say, newegg, many of the Core Duos are equal or slightly higher in cost than the equivalent Core 2 Duo Meroms.
i thought if u buy a CD mini, the core duo is included and free of extra charge.
Sad part is the 950 is saturated by the duocore, putting in a Duocore2 does nothing because the 950 is allready pushed to its limit.(graphics wise)
^^You're only talking about the graphics, right?
And are we talking about the GeForceFX 5200 Go graphics card? That's the one that was used in the 12" 1GHz PowerBook, and every model after that, although the 1 GHz model was also 32 MB of vRAM while every other model after that had 64 MB, I think. The GeForce4 420 Go had 32 MB of vRAM and was only used in the 867 MHz model.
And are we talking about the GeForceFX 5200 Go graphics card? That's the one that was used in the 12" 1GHz PowerBook, and every model after that, although the 1 GHz model was also 32 MB of vRAM while every other model after that had 64 MB, I think. The GeForce4 420 Go had 32 MB of vRAM and was only used in the 867 MHz model.
Well, hopefully by the time Leopard comes out, they'll have released a Core 2 Duo Mini, or something similar. They can't hold the Mini back forever!
Ok, well, if you do, see if you can't sell the Core Duo CPU in the Marketplace. first! I should be ready to get one in the next 2 - 3 weeks...