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iMac 5k Gaming: OS X vs Bootcamp

-BigMac-

-BigMac-

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 15, 2011
2,492
2,859
Melbourne, Australia
Hey Guys;)
Can anyone provide some FPS/Benchmark comparisons on gaming on OSX vs Bootcamp on the Late 2015 5k iMac?

Thank you so much.

Please reply in the following format please, to keep the thread informative and clean, as some similar threads have gotten out of control :rolleyes:

CPU/GPU:
Game:
OSX/BootCamp (FPS):
Additional Notes:

Thanks so much :) :apple:
 
Like mentioned just google search OpenGL vs DirectX benchmarks. Since the test are performed on the same system you'll get an idea of OSX vs Windows performance on a Mac.

We might see some improvements with Metal but I don't put much stock in any devs except for the biggest putting much effort into it. And if you half ass it you might as well use OpenGL. And now with SteamOS (using Vulken I believe) my hopes for Metal feel more abysmal.
 
As others have said, just install Windows if you want to play games with decent performance.
 
I've been playing Elite Dangerous for months on the Mac side because the 5k iMac with the 290X card is a HUGE pain in the butt to configure since the driver supplied by apple fails over and over. It works pretty decent and I think X-Plane works a little better even.
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
Why bother windows in bootcamp will be superior for 90% of games...
Click to expand...

Koudspeel said:
In general OSX performs 20% less due to DirectX vs OpenGL. No point in this thread really..
Click to expand...
I definitely understand the desire, because if you're in OS X all the time, why boot out of it to play a game. With that said, I agree completely. If you want to game then Windows is the platform that you should be running on (even if its in bootcamp).

I was getting decent frame rates on Fall out Las Vega in Windows, but then my wife bought me a PS4 for Christmas and now my iMac hasn't seen the windows logo since then :p
 
I still stubbornly try to play native OS X games if I have them. All of my Blizzard stuff is installed on my OS X partition. I really loathe having to boot into Windows, even though it is smoother and I have a lot of Windows only games.

Fortunately a lot of the casual and older stuff I like to play has no issue running on either OS as the requirements are so low that even unoptimized stuff runs great.
 
-BigMac- said:
Hey Guys;)
Can anyone provide some FPS/Benchmark comparisons on gaming on OSX vs Bootcamp on the Late 2015 5k iMac?
Click to expand...
Don't listen to a lot of stuff that is said both in this thread and others on MR.
The late 2015 iMac with M395X with OS X is a great gaming platform. The fact that using Windows in Bootcamp makes it a better gaming platform doesn't detract from the fact that in OS X it is still great!
Some examples - I get great frame rates at Ultra settings @ 2560x1440 on OS X in the following:
Alien Isolation
GRID Autosport
Elite Dangerous
F1 2013
Thief (2014)
Shadow of Mordor
Hitman Absolution
SOMA
Max Payne 3
and others.
Speaking personally, the fact that I could get 10 fps more in Windows in no way makes it worthwhile coming out of OS X. (The only thing I do that for is Witcher 3 as it's not available on OS X.)
I await the flames!
 
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Just another data point...

Not an iMac, but i hackintoshed my PC with a GTX760 in it for a while and frame rates in OS X using the Nvidia web driver are way worse than under Windows in a lot of stuff. Like, 30% different at a guess. Haven't benchmarked, but rather than silky smooth in BL2 with physX turned on for example, it starts to chunk occasionally and no physX.

OpenGL support in OS X is pretty meh, the only reason you'd not bootcamp is because you don't want a windows install. Which is fair enough, but be aware there is a performance cost.

Depending on what games you want to run, it may not be a problem at all. But for other games it may be the difference between silky smooth and annoying.
 
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imacken said:
Don't listen to a lot of stuff that is said both in this thread and others on MR.
The late 2015 iMac with M395X with OS X is a great gaming platform. The fact that using Windows in Bootcamp makes it a better gaming platform doesn't detract from the fact that in OS X it is still great!
Some examples - I get great frame rates at Ultra settings @ 2560x1440 on OS X in the following:
Alien Isolation
GRID Autosport
Elite Dangerous
F1 2013
Thief (2014)
Shadow of Mordor
Hitman Absolution
SOMA
Max Payne 3
and others.
Speaking personally, the fact that I could get 10 fps more in Windows in no way makes it worthwhile coming out of OS X. (The only thing I do that for is Witcher 3 as it's not available on OS X.)
I await the flames!
Click to expand...

But that is the question here, not which one you prefer.

I personally agree with you. I play all my games under OS X. However I can see improvements under Windows, I just prefer not to run Windows.
 
imacken said:
Don't listen to a lot of stuff that is said both in this thread and others on MR.
The late 2015 iMac with M395X with OS X is a great gaming platform. The fact that using Windows in Bootcamp makes it a better gaming platform doesn't detract from the fact that in OS X it is still great!
Some examples - I get great frame rates at Ultra settings @ 2560x1440 on OS X in the following:
Alien Isolation
GRID Autosport
Elite Dangerous
F1 2013
Thief (2014)
Shadow of Mordor
Hitman Absolution
SOMA
Max Payne 3
and others.
Speaking personally, the fact that I could get 10 fps more in Windows in no way makes it worthwhile coming out of OS X. (The only thing I do that for is Witcher 3 as it's not available on OS X.)
I await the flames!
Click to expand...

I am looking at buying a new iMac, and I have friends trying to get me into Elite Dangerous. The reason I would use Bootcamp/Windows with this is that the newest upgrade-Horizons- to Elite is Windows only.

I am curious what your system specs are, since it I would like to use my machine in a similar way to the way you use yours.
 
imacken said:
I await the flames!
Click to expand...

Not sure what your point is. Windows is superior in terms of gaming. Not sure why you wouldn't want to squeeze ever bit of performance you can out of your machine. I don't believe anyone is saying OS X is bad, it's just not as good as Windows at gaming. The Mac has the capability to run Windows natively of course, so why not take advantage of an Apple sanctioned technology?
 
blut haus said:
I don't believe anyone is saying OS X is bad, it's just not as good as Windows at gaming.
Click to expand...
I don't know if Metal is a direct competitor to direct-x but the fact remains Windows is more optimized (if you want to call it that) for games, and there's simply more games available on the windows platform.
 
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Thing is Mac OSX supports scaling way better than Windows, you can run games at a much lower resolution and they still look rather good stretched out on the 5K screen. I dunno how Apple does it but Windows sucks for scaling, I end up just running my games on my Macbook at 1200 x 800 (I think it's that) and it scales to the 1440p resolution and looks great. I could never do that on my Windows machine, it would just look so bad...
 
maflynn said:
I definitely understand the desire, because if you're in OS X all the time, why boot out of it to play a game. With that said, I agree completely. If you want to game then Windows is the platform that you should be running on (even if its in bootcamp).

I was getting decent frame rates on Fall out Las Vega in Windows, but then my wife bought me a PS4 for Christmas and now my iMac hasn't seen the windows logo since then :p
Click to expand...

I understand the desire as well, but the OP specifically wanted to know the difference in performance between Windows and OSX, which to me seems pointless. If possible I play my games on the OSX side of things, but as soon as things start to lag I switch to my Windows partition. All in all, I really hope game developers give Metal a try, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon because of what cynics said.
 
blut haus said:
Not sure what your point is. Windows is superior in terms of gaming. Not sure why you wouldn't want to squeeze ever bit of performance you can out of your machine. I don't believe anyone is saying OS X is bad, it's just not as good as Windows at gaming. The Mac has the capability to run Windows natively of course, so why not take advantage of an Apple sanctioned technology?
Click to expand...
Windows is better, there is no doubt of that, but, the difference is not big enough to justify booting in and out of OS X to get that extra few fps. For example, if I am playing any Feral game, I just need to 4-finger swipe to get back to my emails, notes, documents and all the other stuff I use my Mac for.
There is very little difference between playing a game at 50fps or 60fps in my view.
[doublepost=1452692632][/doublepost]
EdT said:
I am looking at buying a new iMac, and I have friends trying to get me into Elite Dangerous. The reason I would use Bootcamp/Windows with this is that the newest upgrade-Horizons- to Elite is Windows only.

I am curious what your system specs are, since it I would like to use my machine in a similar way to the way you use yours.
Click to expand...
Yep, for Horizons, you have no choice but to use Bootcamp as there is, nor will there ever be, a Mac version. However, Elite Dangerous itself, works very well on OS X on my 5k iMac.
 
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What cracks me up is how many people mention how much of a pain/chore/issue it is booting into Windows. Really? It takes about 20 seconds on an SSD or a minute or two on a HDD. Is everyone's time so precious that they can't wait up to two minutes? Go get a drink and make yourself a sandwich. Sheesh.
 
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Hirakata said:
What cracks me up is how many people mention how much of a pain/chore/issue it is booting into Windows. Really? It takes about 20 seconds on an SSD or a minute or two on a HDD. Is everyone's time so precious that they can't wait up to two minutes? Go get a drink and make yourself a sandwich. Sheesh.
Click to expand...
What cracks me up is how some people don't understand how other people use a computer. A Mac is not a games console, it is a multi functional machine that everyday tasks, including gaming, are conducted on.
Booting in and out of Windows is not about a one-off daily 2 minute task, it's about disruption to all the other things that people do on their computers, several times over per day. As I said earlier, playing games on OS X means you are only a 4-finger swipe away from going back and fore to all productive tasks.
If you are able to segregate gaming from all other tasks in your daily routine, then good for you, but most people don't use computers in that way.
 
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imacken said:
What cracks me up is how some people don't understand how other people use a computer. A Mac is not a games console, it is a multi functional machine that everyday tasks, including gaming, are conducted on.
Booting in and out of Windows is not about a one-off daily 2 minute task, it's about disruption to all the other things that people do on their computers, several times over per day. As I said earlier, playing games on OS X means you are only a 4-finger swipe away from going back and fore to all productive tasks.
If you are able to segregate gaming from all other tasks in your daily routine, then good for you, but most people don't use computers in that way.
Click to expand...

I understand. These days some people need an iPad in one hand, an iPhone in the other, while they sit in front of their computer with iTunes playing, with the TV on in the background. Booting into Windows would undoubtedly disrupt that workflow.
 
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Windows is better for gaming.
As others have stated, there really isn't a need for the discussion honestly.

I've played so many games on both platforms and have *never* found one that's better on the Mac side, not even X-Plane (which I use extensively).
 
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imacken said:
Windows is better, there is no doubt of that, but, the difference is not big enough to justify booting in and out of OS X to get that extra few fps. For example, if I am playing any Feral game, I just need to 4-finger swipe to get back to my emails, notes, documents and all the other stuff I use my Mac for.
There is very little difference between playing a game at 50fps or 60fps in my view.
[doublepost=1452692632][/doublepost]
Yep, for Horizons, you have no choice but to use Bootcamp as there is, nor will there ever be, a Mac version. However, Elite Dangerous itself, works very well on OS X on my 5k iMac.
Click to expand...

It's not enough to justify it for you, and that's fine. But for me it's enough to justify it. But by all means keep arguing.
 
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imacken said:
Windows is better, there is no doubt of that, but, the difference is not big enough to justify booting in and out of OS X to get that extra few fps. For example, if I am playing any Feral game, I just need to 4-finger swipe to get back to my emails, notes, documents and all the other stuff I use my Mac for.
There is very little difference between playing a game at 50fps or 60fps in my view.
[doublepost=1452692632][/doublepost]


Yep, for Horizons, you have no choice but to use Bootcamp as there is, nor will there ever be, a Mac version. However, Elite Dangerous itself, works very well on OS X on my 5k iMac.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply.
 
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