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Is the iMac's graphics dated?

R

Reach

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2006
577
0
Norway
Hello,
sorry for the title, for all of you out there with new iMacs, I do believe they are great machines, which is the point of this post;
I'm considering buying one for my girl, but I'm hesitant because the ATI X1600 feels "old" and seems like a relatively weak card for a stationary machine.
I have the same card in my 1 inch thick Macbook Pro, I would think they could do better in a stationary.

The point is, she likes to play new games now and then, and how long will that card be able to play demanding games with high settings..?

Just asking for some thoughts really, before I buy. :)
 
I am assuming that "my girl" is your daughter, not your girlfriend. How old is she now and does the iMac play the games she likes to play now? Tell us what she currently likes and someone here will be able to tell you how well it runs.

How long do you think she will keep the computer? If you are planning on keeping the iMac for a long time, do you think she will still be interested in gaming for this period of time? These are questions to consider.

Of course if you are talking about your girlfriend then you are both probably old enough to start developing interests beyond gaming. Best wishes.
 
I think it's to do with heat. If the iMac had a big sticky out bit at the back they could put much better graphics in, but being Apple they are very conscious of the form factor, so go with something that's cool running even if its performance is well behind the cutting-edge.
 
Get the 256MB upgrade, or the 24 with the 7600GT. But unless you're playing some of the top games hard core, and even then, she should be fine. Might help if you told us what games though. And maybe check their FAQ for what the recommended specs are.
 
My girl as in my girfriend, mother of my boy. :p
Anyway, games like Caesar IV etc, new strategy-games. I'm guessing the current ones should play ok, I'm just kinda wondering if it'll be outdated in on or three years. (In terms of being able to play new games)
And we have developed interests apart from gaming, suggesting otherwise because I would like a decent graphiccard in a computer is kinda silly in my opinion, but nevermind. She's at home watching the baby all day long though, so I don't exactly blame her for playing a little to make time pass.
Anyway, the machine will probably be inherited by my son in a couple years, so I guess we'll get something better then. :)
It's hard buying for someone else, I feel kinda mean since I buy the (then) top of the line Dual 2,5GhZ G5 with 6800 Ultra graphics for myself, and an imac less than half the price for her. ;) I use it for work though, so I feel excused..
It'll probably be a 17" though, so the 256 update isn't avalable as far as I can tell.
 
Basically no current Graphics card will be able to play new games in 2-3 years time, if she games she probably want's a desktop PC so the graphics card can be upgraded in a couple of years, giving the computer a life of around 4-5 years. If you want to get a Mac get the Mac Pro.
 
The graphics card is not user changeable, no, but the option to getting an upgradeable PC or Mac pro, is to get a new Mac every two or three years and sell the old one instead of getting one and keeping it for four or five years. Used Macs don't drop in price nearly as fast as PCs... maybe partly because they're not very upgradeable so the buyer can be more certain the computer hasn't been tinkered with.
 
A stationary PC is out of the question, I don't want a PC just because I mentioned games here. I do want a mac that can play PC and therefore run the games I want though, so the iMac it is.
And yes, used-prices for macs are crazy, I sold my 3 year old Powerbook G4 17" for just below half the price I had to pay for my brand new Macbook Pro 17" not long ago, wonderful. :)

Anyway, is it the X1600 mobility that I have in my MBP, or is it the desktop-card? I assume they are different, and that the desktop-version is better?
 
I've got the 17" C2D iMac and I find it's great for games. Even quite resource hungry ones like Half-Life 2 and GTR2 run well. It would be fine for strategy games.
 
Reach said:
... I do want a mac that can play PC and therefore run the games I want though.
Click to expand...
If you ask for the unavailable, chances are, you won't get it.

You want a 1) Mac 2) Inexpensive and 3) with a high end video card for unspecified, future PC games. Pick 2 out of the three - you can't get it all in one machine. The flaw is not with Apple's design, it is with your expectations.
 
I'm not expecting too much, I'm just wondering. Maybe I'm wrong though, I just thought the x1600 wasn't that new anymore, I'm not asking for super high-end card, I know what I'm in for if I buy an iMac.
And thanks SpookTheHamster, that's really all I wanted to know! :)
 
If money were no object, and I was you, I would in this instance buy a Windows machine but for GAMES ONLY :p

And use the imac for all of your other digital needs, unless you were to get a Mac Pro.

Sorry, just trying to think of a way around it... and failed.:eek:
 
I just bought a Dell E521 for TV and gaming, fact is Apple is using poor GPU's to seperate its model lines instead of letting the consumer have it their way. The 7600GT & even 7300GT are good mid grade video cards. Its a shame they dont offer these two cards as options in any iMac. Apples whole structure of trying to move folks up the product lines just to get decent graphics is sickening for this long time Mac user. The x1600 is dated and even apples own iMac page benches will show that when you compare it to the other GPU's. Nothing worse then having a new machine just to find out you cant enjoy that favorite game.

A new machine should be able to do everything,TV,games or whatever the consumer is into. Its a shame Apple plays this stupid game of running off people who need a GPU. 3 options are......$2000 Promac,$2000 iMac or $800 PC.:mad:
 
Oh well, I ordered it the 6th, should be here by christmas. Hopefully it'll be good for a while at least, the CPU should at least be able to handle most regular stuff for quite some time.
 
The X1600 is sort of dated now, but is still a pretty decent card. Remember its a mid-range card, so it isn't going to be like the X1950. Lower resolutions, or no AA/AF is the sweet spot with newer games and the X1600.

I dont think the X1600 is a very popular card. When they were on sale at my store (Best Buy) on Black Friday for 99 bucks, we only sold about 10 of both PCIE and AGP out of the 60 PCIE and the 90 AGP we had in stock.

I agree with DontHurtMe. They are using some pretty bad options in their machines, and its unfortunate that they dont let you upgrade it.

For example, I was able to do this last night on my PC.

Opened case, unscrewed Radeon 9800XT, unplugged, pulled out. Pushed in AGP X1950 Pro, plugged in, turned on, installed drivers. Boom, over 4X the performance increase. All for 299 retail (235 for me)
 
Well the iMac's card is clocked much higher than the ones in the MacBook Pros, especially the Rev.A like mine, and I find it's very difficult to get a lower framerate. I can run UT2004 with everything on max, under Rosetta and I still get about 60 FPS. That's about the most recent game I have, but it's still pretty impressive IMO :rolleyes:
 
relatively bad performance from X1600 NEED HELP!

hi, i have an iMac 17", and its great, everything works well, except the graphics card. The ATI X1600 with 128mb vram, does not perform very well in most/all new games. In older games such as Half-Life 2, i am able to set all the graphics to the highest, with a 40-50fps, but in newer games, which i want to play, i can only run on the lowest graphics (with 800X600 res, which looks awful) with a 20-25fps, which really isnt nice to play with. I was very disappointed to learn that the graphics cards in iMacs are integrated and cannot be changed, and so i have been looking at other alternatives. At the moment external graphics cards are pretty bad, and wouldnt increase my performance at all. Then i heard about the Asus XG Station, which acts as a docking station which you can put better graphics cards in. Although it seems this cannot be connected to iMacs. Please HELP me, i really want to increase my graphics performance, with a GOOD card without having to buy a whole new computer!
 
My 17" iMac runs relative old games fine (Half-Life 2, Battlefield 2, BF2142 etc.) but new games, no way it runs the newest games fine. Last new game I've tried was the UT3 demo and it doesn't run that great on this machine.

But for somewhat older games it's fine, and maybe even a better choice than the 20" model with X1600 graphics due to the lower native resolution.
 
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