iMac Pro iMac Pro for Gaming

[seasurfer]

Never heard of the Corsair One. Looks like a nice machine. How is the fan noise and is there any throttling?

I'm thinking of getting the F131 from Maingear or Bolt from Digital Storm. Small tower with full acrylic side panel and hard-line tubing...what a dream.
But I'm open to a mini tower that looks sleek & minimalist like that Corsair.

IMO, if one is at all serious with gaming, just get a dedicated PC for it (and a ultrawide monitor ).
Mac for anything else.

The Corsair One is actually very good. I am very impressed with it. Not only it is beautifully designed in a small-form factor, it is also very quite and cool. It is the quietest PC I have seen. While playing World of Warcraft at all max setting on an Ultra-Wide 34 inch Alienware at 1440P and 120Hz, and WOW is getting 120 FPS constantly, the Corsair One is still surprisingly very quite. The CPU temp hover around 50-60C. My iMac 5K 2014 version on the other hand, you can hear the fan spinning loudly with a setting of 5/10, and after sometime it will just boot me out of WOW.

To answer your specific question:
If you are just browsing internet, using Words etc. The iMac is probably quieter. You can still here an extremely faint fan sound on the Corsair with very light work, assuming our house or room is extremely quiet like mine.
On the other hand, under heavy load, Corsair One will be significant more quiet than then iMac.

The only problem is, it is a PC. It has so more wires compare to the iMac. I like minimalism and clean.

From a gaming perspective, it may be the perfect machine. I have the 1080TI, 7700K, it is very speedy doing anything. Customer support is also great.

 

[Mac32]

The Corsair One is actually very good. I am very impressed with it. Not only it is beautifully designed in a small-form factor, it is also very quite and cool. It is the quietest PC I have seen. While playing World of Warcraft at all max setting on an Ultra-Wide 34 inch Alienware at 1440P and 120Hz, and WOW is getting 120 FPS constantly, the Corsair One is still surprisingly very quite. The CPU temp hover around 50-60C. My iMac 5K 2014 version on the other hand, you can hear the fan spinning loudly with a setting of 5/10, and after sometime it will just boot me out of WOW.

To answer your specific question:
If you are just browsing internet, using Words etc. The iMac is probably quieter. You can still here an extremely faint fan sound on the Corsair with very light work, assuming our house or room is extremely quiet like mine.
On the other hand, under heavy load, Corsair One will be significant more quiet than then iMac.

The only problem is, it is a PC. It has so more wires compare to the iMac. I like minimalism and clean.

From a gaming perspective, it may be the perfect machine. I have the 1080TI, 7700K, it is very speedy doing anything. Customer support is also great.

Corsair One sounds like a great machine. How is your display compared to the iMac 2017/iMac Pro? The lamination, colour quality and pixel density on the iMac Pro monitor is something special. Playing games in 2160P/4K resolution is so crisp and detailed, I fear I would miss the iMac retina screen.

If gaming is a serious hobby (online competitive playing etc.), and one is fine with the Windows OS, then a PC makes more sense. I prefer to do my work in the OSX environment, it's not even a close call. Also the iMac Pro makes for an unbeatable minimalistic setup, together with a wireless mouse and keyboard, is as good as it gets.

A Windows PC will be more flexible and tweakable. The full Vega Pro driver from bootcampdrivers.com didn't pan out this time unfortunately, and we can't do overclocking/undervolting, which could improve Vega Pro performance with the same thermals. Having said that, the current unofficial 18.2.2 drivers work just fine for now, and afaik the machine runs less hot than the iMac retina models. Playing many games maxed out in 2560x1400 (Crysis 1, STALKER, Doom etc.), the temperature stays in the 60s and 70s, and you'll basically have silent gaming. Though, 4K looks really nice.

If the Corsair One could function well as a Hackintosh, then I would consider it. However, I can't find any user experiences on the Internet with the Corsair One. If only the iMac Pro will allow being used as an external display for a PC, then a Corsair all-in-one could be bought down the line to supplement the iMac Pro. I wouldn't get my hopes up, though...

 

[seasurfer]

Corsair One sounds like a great machine. However, how is your display quality compared to the iMac 2017/iMac Pro? The lamination, colour quality and pixel density on the iMac Pro monitor is something special. Playing games in 2160P/4K resolution is so crisp and detailed, I fear I would miss the iMac retina screen.
.

That is another thing that bug me for a long time and still bugging me.

Eventually it boils down to 3440x1440 with 120 Hz and 120FPS vs 5K with 60Hz and 60 FPS. Fast refresh rate vs crispy image but slow response, how do you pick?

There is no points going above 60FPS in any Apple computer, since the screen can only do 60Hz.

After using the Alienware 34 inch curved monitor for a week, not only I am enjoying the bigger space, but I am definitely noticing the difference between 60Hz and 120Hz. Right now when I go back to my iMac 5K, though the image looks crispy, but there is something missing...the eyes kind of feel it...

The ideal solution will be to have a 5K monitor that has a refresh rate of 120Hz or more. Sadly there is no such monitor on the market at this time. Even if there is...I am not sure if there is any graphic card out there that can support it...5K at 120FPS....that is unheard of.

 

[aoaaron]

I would just buy the cheapest imac you can for your apple needs... then devote the rest of the cash into a gaming rig.

 

[Mac32]

Seasurfer, sounds like you mainly use your home computer for entertainment and gaming, then the PC route makes sense. I like to game quite a bit, but my main time is spent doing other things. IMO one looses too many things going the PC route, I doubt working with text and reading on an ultra-wide PC monitor comes close to the retina iMac screen.

Maybe it's placebo, but the 2017 retina screen seems more responsive than my previous late 2012 iMac. I've never tried a 100hz+ computer monitor, but obviously the visuals will be smoother during movement there.

For those that have limited space, and need something fairly compact, two systems w/seperate monitors might not be a desirable option. I can get good framerates in any game @1440p I've tried so far with the Vega Pro 64, and for work it's a great machine. The iMac Pro with its compact all-in-one form factor is a compromise for certain things, but has all the benefits of Apple's ecosystem. Very happy with it, overall.

 

[Rockadile]

Don't all-in-ones offer only one less wire advantage (monitor cable)?
I could put that Corsair One off the desk, under or to the side and hide a lot of cables.
Put the One and nMP (or iMac, Mac Mini) next to each other and hardly any space is used for two systems. If you don't even have space for that than I truly feel bad for you

IMO, games are best on ultrawide.
Whether its for the cinematic look playing singleplayer or added peripheral vision in multiplayer.
I would use 5k for something static like text documents and photo editing.

Try going to a Best Buy and move the mouse cursor around on the demo 120hz monitors. I was in awe with the fluidity. Last time I felt like that was first boot up using SSD.

 

[Pangalactic]

Hi! I have the base Imac Pro, and I can tell you it's fairly decent at gaming - think gtx 1070 with an i7. Stuff like LoL/Civ 5/ EU4 works wonderfully in 2K at max setting, but beyond the less demanding strategy games you'll have to boot to windows.

The problem is iMac pro would be around a $1500 windows gaming rig in terms of performance, and sometimes much worse because Radeon and weird core usage.

I also have an Xbox One X for around $500 and it's a much better gaming machine (with a $600 4K TV), to the point where if I want to play something like Tomb Raider I would definitely choose it over the iMac.

So my advice - if you want to play non-demanding strategy games or LoL/Dota 2 or older games, it works absolutely fine. But if you want to play Witcher 3 in 4K then, well

 

[Mac32]

I'll test out a high refresh rate monitor tomorrow, if I can find one in the local stores. I'm still skeptical about loosing the retina screen for productivity work, the latest iMac retina screen is outstanding. I got a particular good unit too, it's very uniform with minimal backlight bleed. Afaik a recent Windows 10 update gave borderless capability for regular gaming, so all games I've played so far had triple buffered vsync by default, and capping the framerate at 59 gaming feels responsive and quick, for me at least.

The iMac Pro w/Vega Pro 64 can easily get steady 60fps w/maxed out settings in 2560x1440. I've tried Crysis 2 w/MaldoHD v4, Crysis 3, Doom etc. maxed out w/decent amount of AA, works great. 1440p keeps the temperature mostly in the 60s and 70s too, and you have a silent running machine. 4K really heats up the GPU, and I've found its not worth the subtle improvement (mostly for older games relying heavily on outdoor areas, like STALKER).

PS: To say Vega Pro 64 is similar to Geforce 1070 isn't entirely correct, maybe in dx9-dx11 yes. However AMD is great for dx12 and Vulkan. There are several dx12 and Vulkan games, where Vega 64 performs similar to 1080TI. Now that both dx12 and Vulkan are becoming more common, Vega Pro 64 should perform well in 1440p for several years.

 

[gobie_01]

IMO, that’s the beauty of having a high Hz monitor. We can enjoy the best possible graphics without tearing, or noticeable frame drop.

What my experience is more or less same as yours. I can't tell the difference between 120 and 70FPS. And the pixelated effect is not that noticeable most of the time. So, my setting is as follow.

Turn the graphics settings as high as possible (including AA) with V-sync off (because my monitor only has FreeSync, no G-sync). And let the FPS vary between 60-144. As long as the variation is within this range, I can't tell the difference, and I won't see any tearing.

If even at max setting, the game can still deliver >144FPS, then turn on Dynamic Super Resolution. The graphic will be further improved, and the performance will eventually drop to below 144FPS.

If the lowest FPS drop to below 60, then reduce AA. But the 1080Ti is really a beast, most of the games can run at MSAAx4 without issue. It actually makes my 9 years old Mac able to deliver max performance in VR
View attachment 751535

I am a newb and have searched, just acquired a MAC Pro 5,1 mid 2010 and saw you have windows 10 on your 2009, when I try to open bootcamp in High Sierra it won't even open and I get the unsupported dialog box. Any chance you know the thread for help. I have searched.

 

[h9826790]

I am a newb and have searched, just acquired a MAC Pro 5,1 mid 2010 and saw you have windows 10 on your 2009, when I try to open bootcamp in High Sierra it won't even open and I get the unsupported dialog box. Any chance you know the thread for help. I have searched.

I install Windows 10 way before High Sierra exist. So, not 100% sure how to make bootcamp work.

In general, the easiest way to install Windows 10 on cMP is

1) Burn a disc (leave it inside the super drive)
2) Shutdown the Mac
3) remove all hard drives except the one that for installing Windows (leave it connected to one of the native SATA port)
4) Hold down "C", and then boot the Mac. (This will boot from the Windows installation disc)
5) Follow the on screen Windows installation instruction

I tried this with my non-flashed 1080Ti (no boot screen). It works. And this procedure is totally macOS version independent, should work on your 5,1.

 

[ThatSandWyrm]

You may have the perfect machine for a hackintosh. Why not check www.tonymacx86.com for your hardware and see if all components are supported, and then just buy an extra drive to boot OSX from. I have bought a beefy set of pc components and a 4K display and built myself a super-quiet beast of a hackintosh for a lot less money. Not comparable to an iMac Pro ofc, but that thing is built for video, not gaming. A lot of the CPU cores will sit idle while the GPU does the work.

I do my work on OSX, and reboot into Windows within a few seconds to play windows-only games. Works great, only have to be careful with OS updates. It's not for everyone, and this was my first PC build I have ever done in my 20 years of computing. The case is ugly as most are, but I went for quiet, and I dropped it under my desk. If you don't mind tinkering a bit from time to time, it's great.

Having tried the Hackintosh route (that machine is now my dedicated Windows game/VR rig), I will warn everyone that it's not a reliable solution for doing professional work. It's more akin to running Linux, where little problems and incompatibilities constantly pop up, and you have to either play whack-a-mole, or live with bugs like not having proper CUDA support, iTunes refusing to stream content, or an app you need (iBooks Author in my case) opening into a blank window where the app is running, but nothing is drawn to the screen.

If you're relying on your computer for your living, and need/like MacOS, buy a real Mac. If you're after a gaming machine, stick to a dedicated PC. I spent a lot of time and money building a Hackintosh because I needed better 3D performance, only to end up buying the iMac Pro because I needed reliability more.

 

[gobie_01]

I install Windows 10 way before High Sierra exist. So, not 100% sure how to make bootcamp work.

In general, the easiest way to install Windows 10 on cMP is

1) Burn a disc (leave it inside the super drive)
2) Shutdown the Mac
3) remove all hard drives except the one that for installing Windows (leave it connected to one of the native SATA port)
4) Hold down "C", and then boot the Mac. (This will boot from the Windows installation disc)
5) Follow the on screen Windows installation instruction

I tried this with my non-flashed 1080Ti (no boot screen). It works. And this procedure is totally macOS version independent, should work on your 5,1.

Wow, perfect, I am starting this morning. Thank you very much for all the help. So I guess your video card is MAC native or has been flashed in order to get the boot screen?

 

[fathergll]

Don't all-in-ones offer only one less wire advantage (monitor cable)?

Sort of. Technically speaking the iMac Pro's internal speakers could eliminate the need for external ones and then add on the fact if the Corsair One is off to the side it might be a pain for adding peripherals.

Put the One and nMP (or iMac, Mac Mini) next to each other and hardly any space is used for two systems. If you don't even have space for that than I truly feel bad for you

I think in general the people who really need the all-in-ones are people who have the desktops in the same room as they host company. Unless you have a separate computer room having a desktop looks a bit ugly in many spaces. You are right you can put them off to the side it just isn't as clean no matter how you slice it. I could spend an extra $300 a month to get an apartment with an extra room but the amount of money spent on that would be in the thousands a year so a powerful all in one that dual boots OSs is a pretty cool thing. Not the cheapest way but if you are crazy about clean looking places they come in handy.

 

[h9826790]

Wow, perfect, I am starting this morning. Thank you very much for all the help. So I guess your video card is MAC native or has been flashed in order to get the boot screen?

I have a Apple HD4870, and a HD7950 Mac Edition on hand. But my 1080Ti is just a standard PC card (link in my signature). I didn't flash it, and I don't need boot screen for any daily use. If I really need that, I can alway install swap my 7950 back in within 5 min.

 

[gobie_01]

I install Windows 10 way before High Sierra exist. So, not 100% sure how to make bootcamp work.

In general, the easiest way to install Windows 10 on cMP is

1) Burn a disc (leave it inside the super drive)
2) Shutdown the Mac
3) remove all hard drives except the one that for installing Windows (leave it connected to one of the native SATA port)
4) Hold down "C", and then boot the Mac. (This will boot from the Windows installation disc)
5) Follow the on screen Windows installation instruction

I tried this with my non-flashed 1080Ti (no boot screen). It works. And this procedure is totally macOS version independent, should work on your 5,1.

I received an "installation failed due to not able to modify the boot configuration". I will search that now.

 

[h9826790]

I received an "installation failed due to not able to modify the boot configuration". I will search that now.

Inside the Windows installer? may be some partition issue. e.g. MBR vs GPT.

 

[infohou]

I install Windows 10 way before High Sierra exist. So, not 100% sure how to make bootcamp work.

In general, the easiest way to install Windows 10 on cMP is

1) Burn a disc (leave it inside the super drive)
2) Shutdown the Mac
3) remove all hard drives except the one that for installing Windows (leave it connected to one of the native SATA port)
4) Hold down "C", and then boot the Mac. (This will boot from the Windows installation disc)
5) Follow the on screen Windows installation instruction

I tried this with my non-flashed 1080Ti (no boot screen). It works. And this procedure is totally macOS version independent, should work on your 5,1.

Thanks for posting this. I did this a few days ago on my 4,1 that has been flashed to 5,1 using Windows 10 to a partition I created on a bootable drive that has Sierra on it. After finishing the Windows install there is no way to boot back to MacOS if you have a nonflashed card as do I. I have a standard 1080Ti and so cannot see the Mac boot menu. I installed Boot Camp for Windows by running setup for the Windows 7 version. It failed with a message about wrong Windows version. Windows 10 then asked if I want to run the Boot Camp installer in Compatibility mode. I did that and it installed and I could select the MacOS partition of the drive that Windows is on.

After testing the MacOS booting, I shut the machine down and put my PCIe based SSD back in with my main bootable Sierra partition. The problem now is Boot Camp for Windows does not see the SSD for booting. I have to boot to Sierra on the standard hard drive then select the SSD and reboot.

I am thinking that if I reinstall Boot Camp for Windows again it may find the SSD.

Hope that helps someone,
Robert

 

[Retromac2008]

I have an iMac 5K 2014 (aka the first iMac 5K), playing World of Warcraft and Diablo III on it is painful. It is choppy, laggy and a lot of screen tearing.

So I bought a gaming PC with 7700K and a 1080TI. Now, I can play WOW at max setting without any problem.

But, I am starting to miss my Mac OS and iMac minimalist look on my desk. The gaming PC may be powerful, but I really hate all the wirings.

Can anyone here share your gaming experience in an iMac Pro, both Vega 56 and 64? I may want to return my gaming PC and just spend more and get an iMac Pro.

no, you have a problem. i play all these games maxed out on a 2012 imac with gtx 680mx (oc)

 

[Unfair]

I have an iMac 5K 2014 (aka the first iMac 5K), playing World of Warcraft and Diablo III on it is painful. It is choppy, laggy and a lot of screen tearing.

So I bought a gaming PC with 7700K and a 1080TI. Now, I can play WOW at max setting without any problem.

But, I am starting to miss my Mac OS and iMac minimalist look on my desk. The gaming PC may be powerful, but I really hate all the wirings.

Can anyone here share your gaming experience in an iMac Pro, both Vega 56 and 64? I may want to return my gaming PC and just spend more and get an iMac Pro.

I just replaced my first gen 5K iMac (i7 295x, blah blah) with a base model iMac Pro. One of the major gripes I had was the terrible performance, especially in WoW. I haven't played WoW for the past year, but just installed it as a 'benchmark' to see how much better the iMac Pro runs over the old iMac.....

I run the game windowed, but, maximized, 100% render, 9/10 on the setting slider, running around in a crowded Stormwind getting 50-60FPS (is locked at 60FPS max in settings). Is smooth, is super clear, I am insanely impressed overall!

If you primarily play Blizzard games, the iMac Pro seems to do well!

Now to decide if I want to re-sub ... since it is actually playable!

 

[Mac32]

no, you have a problem. i play all these games maxed out on a 2012 imac with gtx 680mx (oc)

We are still waiting for a proper GPU driver in Bootcamp, so there is more performance potential waiting to be unlocked in our iMac Pros.

 

[seasurfer]

I just replaced my first gen 5K iMac (i7 295x, blah blah) with a base model iMac Pro. One of the major gripes I had was the terrible performance, especially in WoW. I haven't played WoW for the past year, but just installed it as a 'benchmark' to see how much better the iMac Pro runs over the old iMac.....

I run the game windowed, but, maximized, 100% render, 9/10 on the setting slider, running around in a crowded Stormwind getting 50-60FPS (is locked at 60FPS max in settings). Is smooth, is super clear, I am insanely impressed overall!

If you primarily play Blizzard games, the iMac Pro seems to do well!

Now to decide if I want to re-sub ... since it is actually playable!

After even more rigorous testing, you going to have to lower the setting down to 8 and may be lower SSAO.

When you go to Broken Islands, the FPS starts to drop, most of the time it is around 40-50.

The graphic looks great because it is 5K.

However, during intense fighting where spells and bombing effects are involved, the FPS can drop to even 10-20 even at the setting of 8, this will severely affect your gaming experience.

My conclusion on the iMac Pro: Gaming is "Fine", but not that great. This is certainly way better than the iMac 5K 2014, but no where near the level of a gaming PC like Corsair One 1080Ti with a 120Hz monitor.

 

[Retromac2008]

We are still waiting for a proper GPU driver in Bootcamp, so there is more performance potential waiting to be unlocked in our iMac Pros.

i can play em maxed out on macos too (btw i hate the new amd gpu on imacs , i want nvidia)

 

[fathergll]

 

[seasurfer]

Linus testing result for other games is pretty much consistent with my testing on WoW.

 

[varian55zx]

Just not for gaming, buying an iMac Pro for gaming purposes seems to make no sense at all, unless for some reason you have to be on OS X