Graphic Performance of ARM Mac's - Steam/Cities Skylines

[MuckrakerJG]

I saw a Youtuber playing World of Warcraft with the M1 MacBook Pro earlier today. They were also streaming to Twitch using OBS on the same device. Note that while Blizzard is providing native support for WoW today, that patch, 9.0.2, was not live at the time of this stream, meaning WoW and OBS were both being used under Rosetta at the time I watched this on YouTube.

The game got 30 FPS at 1080p resolution on graphics settings 5 out of 10.

I assume FPS will be higher once the native patch goes live and also higher if you are only running the game and not also streaming to Twitch. But I thought even the 30 FPS on 5 was impressive considering the conditions.

 

[ag99uk]

UMMMMMM...WHAT! My favorite game! What settings, rez??? Did you run the gathering storm or basic benchmark? I find it hard to believe it's running at 60FPS! Civ VI is another CPU limited game - I have a Dell XPS 13 9310 with i5-1135G7 Iris Xe chip and it is running the gathering storm benchmark at ~65ms average at the end.

Also - in cities skylines - did you hit space bar in game to resume time. By default, maps load with time paused - you may just need to hit space bar to get time moving to see everything moving. I loaded a 25K city on my gaming PC, and at 1440P, max settings, zoomed out I'm at 45-60FPS, but zoomed in close, or any camera angle that is more level (looking at the horizon) the FPS can drop to 30FPS pretty easily. This game is just CPU bound and folks get used to running the city at 20-30FPS most of the time. I'm no pro though.

Shows you that I don't normally play Cities. yes pressing the spacebar got it working at 20-30 fps. seems to work fine.

For CIV VI I did nothing fancy, just turned on the stream FPS display and ran the game with a few moves. I am sure it will be more challenging for the MBA with a more advanced game, but it should still be doing all the calculations in the background. I'll try a saved game from my Mini later and see how well it does.

 

[wyatterp]

Shows you that I don't normally play Cities. yes pressing the spacebar got it working at 20-30 fps. seems to work fine.

For CIV VI I did nothing fancy, just turned on the stream FPS display and ran the game with a few moves. I am sure it will be more challenging for the MBA with a more advanced game, but it should still be doing all the calculations in the background. I'll try a saved game from my Mini later and see how well it does.

Ahh ok, so not a late game benchie, a fresh blank map. Should be easy for you to just run the benchmark though built in with pulling save game?

 

[wyatterp]

You have the 7 or 8 core MBA? Wonder what happens to performance after 10 minutes?

 

[ag99uk]

Ahh ok, so not a late game benchie, a fresh blank map. Should be easy for you to just run the benchmark though built in with pulling save game?

I just saw the benchmarking built into CIV VI. Running it I get average frame time 13.424ms and 99th percentile 17.739ms if that helps.

 

[ag99uk]

You have the 7 or 8 core MBA? Wonder what happens to performance after 10 minutes?

8 core.

 

[wyatterp]

I just saw the benchmarking built into CIV VI. Running it I get average frame time 13.424ms and 99th percentile 17.739ms if that helps.

This is gathering storm or baseline benchmark (i.e., DLC or base game) - but regardless - this is making my jaw hit the floor. I don't think this will change much with the 7-core MBA I have arriving today because as stated, this game is CPU bound, just like Cities. Also Skylines running at native rez 20-30fps is very playable on a big city. I think the CPU chops of this M1 are simply astonishing.

 

[ag99uk]

This is gathering storm or baseline benchmark (i.e., DLC or base game) - but regardless - this is making my jaw hit the floor. I don't think this will change much with the 7-core MBA I have arriving today because as stated, this game is CPU bound, just like Cities. Also Skylines running at native rez 20-30fps is very playable on a big city. I think the CPU chops of this M1 are simply astonishing.

I only have the base game, so it is that benchmark.

 

[Mcdevidr]

Civ6 benefits from metal right? Paradox games have been notoriously slow on Mac OS for instance EU4 runs slow as hell on a 2020imac with an i7. I am really curious how fast it runs on this new MacBook Air.

 

[wyatterp]

I only have the base game, so it is that benchmark.

Meant to ask - what are the settings at too, like MSAA 2x, low, medium, high...etc? My Dell here is running all LOW settings 2x MSAA, at 1200P and nets that 65ms on gathering storm benchmark.

You have 16 or 8gb ram? Sorry for the many questions, but having a fanless machine to play full desktop class CIV VI would literally make my day if my base MBA can do that. I like the ipad pro version of CIV VI, but textures and graphical bells and whistles are really stripped back.

 

[wyatterp]

I was looking at this

Civilization 6 on Mac: macOS FIX and Benchmarks | Mac Gamer HQ

www.macgamerhq.com

And basically - the old RX560 equipped MBP from 2017 only nets 27FPS late game benchmark at 800P. So if you are getting nearly 60 at native rez - I actually just find it hard to believe to be honest.

 

[ag99uk]

Meant to ask - what are the settings at too, like MSAA 2x, low, medium, high...etc? My Dell here is running all LOW settings 2x MSAA, at 1200P and nets that 65ms on gathering storm benchmark.

You have 16 or 8gb ram? Sorry for the many questions, but having a fanless machine to play full desktop class CIV VI would literally make my day if my base MBA can do that. I like the ipad pro version of CIV VI, but textures and graphical bells and whistles are really stripped back.

8 gb RAM

 

[wyatterp]

Thanks - I'm still impressed - can you run at medium settings and native rez for that benchmark? I should just be patient, but my order progress says "preparing for delivery" today, but not sure what that means lol.

 

[Train]

Cities:Skylines

I own the base model MBA, so the 7-core version. I just installed Cities: Skylines and tried two save games from the workshop:

1) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1888340418

It's a big city with a population of 300k. In world view I reached about 20 fps, it dropped to around 12 fps to under 10 fps on crowded places while zooming in.

2) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1705645460

It's a smaller city with a population of 22k. In world view I reached about 30 fps and it dropped to around 25 fps (and to 20 fps in some crowded areas like crossings).

I used the following settings which seem rather high:
(Sorry, screenshot is in German)

I tried to use the lowest settings on the second map but the fps nearly stayed the same.

 

[ag99uk]

Thanks - I'm still impressed - can you run at medium settings and native rez for that benchmark? I should just be patient, but my order progress says "preparing for delivery" today, but not sure what that means lol.

The resolution maxed at 1680 x 1050
Quality set to medium - memory optimised. MSAA set to 2x. all other settings the same.
frame time 15.401ms
99th percentile 18.383ms

Also tried external power and it didn't change the numbers.

 

[wyatterp]

The resolution maxed at 1680 x 1050
Quality set to medium - memory optimised. MSAA set to 2x. all other settings the same.
frame time 15.401ms
99th percentile 18.383ms

Also tried external power and it didn't change the numbers.

Wow, fantastic! And I can't believe you were giving me battery numbers all along. LOL

 

[wyatterp]

Cities:Skylines

I own the base model MBA, so the 7-core version. I just installed Cities: Skylines and tried two save games from the workshop:

1) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1888340418

It's a big city with a population of 300k. In world view I reached about 20 fps, it dropped to around 12 fps to under 10 fps on crowded places while zooming in.

2) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1705645460

It's a smaller city with a population of 22k. In world view I reached about 30 fps and it dropped to around 25 fps (and to 20 fps in some crowded areas like crossings).

I used the following settings which seem rather high:
(Sorry, screenshot is in German)

View attachment 1670926

I tried to use the lowest settings on the second map but the fps nearly stayed the same.

Considering I get bored of a city well before 300K (I'm not patient enough) and I've played skylines on my Nintendo Switch, this is more than workable for mid-sized city building.

I ran your #1 city on my desktop - 30 FPS zoomed in, max settings at 1440P - so it just shows how crazy CPU bound these cities can be. I have a 9700K and an RTX2060Super and 32GB of ram too.

I don't have it setup anymore, but I tried skylines on the i5-1135G7 Dell XPS13 I have - and it was largely unplayable even on a 22k city. I was not getting mid 20 FPS, but I don't remember what it was without getting that Dell up and running again (being packed up to return for this amazing new M1 MBA).

 

[bwillwall]

I tried Civilization VI as well and that works fine at a solid 60fps, but is not so challenging graphically, but shows steam games do work.

Wow. Nice.

Sure it might "not be so challenging graphically" but that doesn't stop it from maxing out the GPU and throttling my 2017 15" Pro. Honestly I'm pretty tempted to just sell this thing and get one of the M1 machines... that is if anyone is still willing to buy this thing for what it was worth a week ago.

Would you be willing to see how well it runs at native resolution and/or over an extended period? Is thermal throttling a big thing with gaming?

 

[wyatterp]

Wow. Nice.

Sure it might "not be so challenging graphically" but that doesn't stop it from maxing out the GPU and throttling my 2017 15" Pro. Honestly I'm pretty tempted to just sell this thing and get one of the M1 machines... that is if anyone is still willing to buy this thing for what it was worth a week ago.

I can run DOOM eternal maxed at 120+ FPS - but I can't really get CIV VI late game to run that fast on my loaded windows dekstop. Civ VI is still a graphically and CPU challenged game - as with all grand strategy type games once you have tons of animations, units, and AI to process. Hearing a passively cooled laptop can run late game at near 60FPS is stunning to me. They don't even have the ipad version of CIV VI, which is set with below low textures and no leader animations - running at more than 30FPS on my 2018 12.9. I am really curious to see how the iPad APP STORE version of CIV VI runs on the M1 (if they are allowing it). I can only imagine if some devs release M1 versions of App Store games with less ridiculous cut back textures (I'm looking at you XCOM 2).

 

[turbineseaplane]

Wow. Nice.

Sure it might "not be so challenging graphically" but that doesn't stop it from maxing out the GPU and throttling my 2017 15" Pro. Honestly I'm pretty tempted to just sell this thing and get one of the M1 machines... that is if anyone is still willing to buy this thing for what it was worth a week ago.

Would you be willing to see how well it runs at native resolution and/or over an extended period? Is thermal throttling a big thing with gaming?

Smart money is shedding their Intel Macs ASAP (particularly if it's a model that just got M1 replaced)

 

[Tafkaeken]

Also interested in CK3 and in a recent total war game of anyone care to try that.

 

[revs]

Thats pretty decent Cities Skylines performance - its known to run super slow, expecially with big cities and high settings. It's quite RAM intensive game too with custom assets.

 

[leman]

Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see what solution Apple ships with M1.

I have an update on this: my M1 MacBook Pro has arrived and the OpenGL renderer string literally says "4.1 Metal - 71.0.7". I think this should dispel any doubt we might have had that OpenGL on M1 is implemented as a wrapper over Metal...

 

[mrchinchilla]

Also interested in CK3 and in a recent total war game of anyone care to try that.

+1 for CK3.

 

[wyatterp]

total war Warhammer 2 is 30FPS solid on my 8-core on medium settings at 900P. Can probably squeak by with 1050P too, but 1200P was too much, unless maybe on LOW? I saw some benchmark (PCMAG?) saying 1200P was 30FPS on their MBP - so not sure why I'm lower. Overall very playable with FXAA 900P - and I used the Skaven bench which is harder on the GPU.