iMac Gaming Performance

[SnakePlissken]

I know there have been threads about this topic already, but I haven't found a single one that suits me. I just purchased a new i7 and want some framerates and a decent idea of what to expect when I get home and start using this bad boy. I don't do any real heavy gaming - mostly just old school titles...quake 3, counterstrike, escape velocity (kidding). I plan on playing some starcraft 2 and was mostly curious if I would be able to run the game on utlra at native res. What sort of framerates are you all seeing with sc2?

Also I'm working in Afghanistan right now and my net blocks almost all user posted images. If anyone has some digital shots of their new 27" iMac and wouldn't mind sending them to me, I'd be very grateful!

Cheers

 

[byron_hinson]

Not ultra but close. Shaders one lower than ultra and you get 30fps

 

[MacAndMic]

I play COD World at War, COD Modern Warfare 2 and and Left 4 Dead. I run all of the graphic settings full tilt as far as quality goes but have to keep the resolution at 1600 x 1280 (have to check that last number, I think it's 1280, could be 1200 or 1050) but at this resolution everything is super fast and super quality.

If I go any higher in resolution, that is where I start to lose frame rates and do not feel it is acceptable for online play for FPS games. I could turn some graphic settings down to go to a higher resolution but I have to say that I am VERY happy at these levels.

FYI, I ran Q3 just for yucks, it's childs play to these machines.

troutspinner

 

[Jakelshark]

I like running it at 1920 ultra, I only do native ultra when I have my fans cranked up

 

[Ausn]

reading this thread i was thinking how cs 1.6 would look on an imac 27' played at 640*480

 

[Jakelshark]

reading this thread i was thinking how cs 1.6 would look on an imac 27' played at 640*480

I got the CE of SC2 that has SC1 on it. It's 640x480 and on fullscreen...well you could be legally blind and still see it in its glorious pixely goodness

 

[aki]

To be honest there isn't a huge difference between ultra and high settings in SC2. I usually play native resolution with mostly high settings for the campaign and a combination of med and high for multiplayer. But I never get the impression the hardware is particularly concerned.

Your i7 should perform very well with the current generation of games. You aren't going to be getting the same performance as under Windows, but it ain't bad (especially after the recent Graphics Update).

Edit: Oh! I forgot. SC2 and framerates. At the moment, SC2 has no framerate limiting by default. This means on many hardware configurations, it will push out as many frames as it possibly can, rapidly heating your GPU (and everything else). Ie. high framerate in this particular case = bad. The simplest fix is to be sure to enable v-sync in Options/Graphics. This will ensure your fps doesn't run above 60 fps.

 

[TMRaven]

You will notice a difference for ultras shaders when it comes to campaign when inbetween missions. Actually playing the game, you will be hard-pressed to notice any difference between high or ultra shaders. With a gpu around the performance of mobility 5850, and everything set to ultra and shaders set to high on native resolution, you average around 30-40fps (during battle.) Campaign scenes inbetween the missions average lower fps.

 

[SnakePlissken]

Nobody out there playing CS 1.6, or CS:S? I was an avid player on PC back in the day - no idea what to expect from the mac platform.

 

[w00tini]

that computer will own the face off of CS or CSS. max everything and it will look great. those are very, very old game engines and your purty new iMac will back-hall-nade-wall them to mars.

enjoy

 

[aliensporebomb]

Ah

I can max out all settings in X-Plane 9.2 and actually get it to play quite well, it's great!

Framerates? I don't know, but there's no lagginess or pauses or error dialogs reporting the thing can't do it or the like.