Mac Pro as a gaming machine?

[H2SO4]

I found that Intel did have a sloppy PCIE board solution but only two big companies offered it and it would not have worked on a Mac Pro as we don't have the GPIO header to connect it to

http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2...herboards-desktops-and-workstation-computers/

A cleaner solution would have had the necessary hardware on the PCIE board and only transferred data to the CPU - a cut down Thunderbolt without the display port video channel. But that's not going to happen.

It just seems like they want to keep TB exclusive.

----------

You are right a MP 5,1 takes up less space than a PC and a nMP and i did consider that route. I already had the PC and a Mac Mini - use the mini as my main desktop and the PC for VMware and games. My requirements changed a little though and i found myself with less time for gaming, instead having to spend more time in VMware. I needed more than 32GB RAM that PC had and I was suffering from an explosion of kit all over the place. After a long debate with myself I decided that it wasn't worth buying a 5,1 MP as I already had external Thunderbolt storage on the mini. If I didn't already have the storage then I probably would have gone for the 5,1 MP (12 core), maxed out the RAM and put some 1TB SSD's in there.

Makes sense I suppose. Dang it’s expensive to go Mac!

 

[AlecZ]

I think a Hackintosh is the best option. You get OS X, you get upgradeable hardware, and you get really good gaming hardware for cheap.

The nMP was actually very good for the price as a workstation when it came out, cheaper than the sum of its parts. But it's overly expensive for gaming.

 

[nox-uk]

It's the best for some people, and not for others. That's pretty well established

Missing my 5,1 tho... Can't decide whether to go or another, or a mini and pc, or 6,1 or wait. Too many choices.

Nox

 

[A Hobo]

which method are you using to supply power to the 8pin and 6pin and for how long have you been doing it? Can you give idle and load readings from hwsensors app please?

just sold the card a few days ago, was running it fine with no issues for 8 months or so. replaced it with two gtx 970s. i plugged a 6 pin into the 6 pin and 8 pin, straight from the logic board.

 

[koyoot]

Can I get any serious performance numbers of gaming on Mac Pro?

Im interested only in gaming on OSX side(Blizzard's World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch(last two are not realeased yet)).

Can anyone post or test for me performance in those games, on any computer config?

I need a Mac, and I need it for two things - photo editing, and gaming. Thats why Im interested in Mac Pro.

I would really appreciate numbers from playing in 4K in those games.

I know there were reviews on Barefeats, Anandtech, but I wanted real life tests, from users of that computer.

 

[Zorn]

I think a Hackintosh is the best option. You get OS X, you get upgradeable hardware, and you get really good gaming hardware for cheap.

The nMP was actually very good for the price as a workstation when it came out, cheaper than the sum of its parts. But it's overly expensive for gaming.

Far from the best option. If you win the parts lottery, and the moon & stars all line up and the system decides to boot properly and accept your kexts - then it can be okay. Until the first 10.10.x update that downloads and breaks your config. I've personally never attempted anything as horrible and frustrating as trying to set up hackintosh. It was a soul-sucking experience that I would never want to repeat.

 

[TruckdriverSean]

As others have noted, gaming with a workstation isn't exactly cost effective, but is usually very possible.

Here is an Anandtech article about some newer 6 and 8 core Intel CPUs that include comparisons to older CPUs, including the i7-990X.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8426/the-intel-haswell-e-cpu-review-core-i7-5960x-i7-5930k-i7-5820k-tested/6

What I find interesting is the gaming performance of the i7-990X compared to much more modern offerings including the go-to gaming CPUs like the 4770k and 4790k. For those who might not already know, the Westmere generation i7-990X is for all intents and purposes the i7 version of the Xeon W3690/X5690. Same LGA1366 socket, same 3.46GHz base clock speed with 3.73GHz Boost, same 130W TDP, and same core count. It is just limited to single socket boards, has no ECC support, and is listed as being limited to 1066MHz RAM)

For those too busy to read it, the testing showed that with the same GPU, the 990X would game within very, very close proximity to the most modern "gaming" CPUs (~59?FPS compared to modern CPUs ~61 FPS on BF4) except where games had a very high frame rates, then performing at what I consider "high" frame rates (high 140s for the 990X instead of "stupid high" rates (mid 160s with most modern CPUs) in games like Bioshock Infinite using 2x GTX 770s in SLI. The numbers also fall within the same proximity of another article about PCIe 3.0/2.0/1.1, which might be applicable considering the 990X is limited to older motherboards with PCIe 2.0 AFAIK.

GTX-980 PCIe 3.0/2.0/1.1 scaling article:
http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_980_PCI-Express_Scaling/22.html

Now whether all this is completely applicable to Westmere & later workstations or not I can't really answer for sure. For example, is there a gaming penalty for using two CPUs instead of one? My limited experience (bootcamp FPS gaming @2560 x1600 usually high settings or above with a single GTX-680) leads me to believe that unless gaming is your 9-5 job, you'll probably be very happy with the gaming performance you can get with a high-clock workstation matched with an appropriate gaming GPU. Just understand that you can almost always build an i5 gaming rig much cheaper than buying and up-gaming a used workstation.

 

[h9826790]

Just try to setup a gaming PC in Origin, I personally believe which is quite make sense to compare to the nMP. You can always build your own PC, but that's no warranty, and no one to build, test, and ship it to you.

---------------------

The OriginPC - CHRONOS ($3876)

Silverstone FT03 (Mini-Tower)
ASUS Maximus VII Gene
ORIGIN FROSTBYTE 120 Sealed Liquid Cooling System for 1150 Socket
Intel Core i7 4790 Quad-Core 3.6GHz (4.0GHz TurboBoost)
650 Watt Corsair RM650
Single 12GB NVIDIA GTX Titan Z
16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 1866Mhz
Genuine MS Windows 8.1 Professional 64-Bit Edition
256GB Samsung 850 Pro Series
8X Slim CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB Sound Card powered by THX TruStudio Pro
D-Link DWA-582 Wireless AC1200 PCI Express Dual Band Adapter
1 Year Part Replacement and Free Shipping Warranty with Lifetime Labor/24-7 Support

------------------

The new Mac Pro ($4099)

3.7GHz quad-core with 10MB of L3 cache (Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz)
16GB 1866MHz DDR3 ECC
256GB PCIe-based flash storage
Dual AMD FirePro D700 GPUs with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM each
Complimentary telephone technical support for 90 days from your Mac purchase and a one-year limited warranty.
-------------------

I've tried to get a small case for the Origin PC and use the hardware that which more comparable to the new Mac Pro, and end up has the above list.

In fact, the price difference is not that huge. Of course you can build your own gaming PC with dual 980 now, which has better cost / performance ratio. However, I pick the Titan Z, because it also provide 12G VRAM with 2 GPU and occupy less space.

If we go back to the time that nMP just release to the market, its cost / performance ratio was actually not bad if compare to a purely gaming orientated PC which made by a well known company with professional support and warranty.

Of course, it's not a good idea to buy the nMP now for pure gaming. It simply cost too much for something that is not up to date in the gaming world. And there is no need to buy a pre-builded gaming PC from a company that provide professional support. However, when the next nMP just release, may be we can still consider it's a good cost / performance ratio gaming machine again. It's all depends on how we make the comparison.

 

[AlecZ]

Far from the best option. If you win the parts lottery, and the moon & stars all line up and the system decides to boot properly and accept your kexts - then it can be okay. Until the first 10.10.x update that downloads and breaks your config. I've personally never attempted anything as horrible and frustrating as trying to set up hackintosh. It was a soul-sucking experience that I would never want to repeat.

You just have to choose the right hardware from the beginning, and you won't have to deal with that. And you should also stay one version of OS X behind (Mavericks in this case) anyway because it's completely supported, and there won't be more "10.x.x" updates for it.

I've installed OS X on two machines that weren't meant to be Hackintoshes (one a Dell). Yes, it was frustrating, and certain things were still messed up on each before I decided I had spent enough time on them. All the problems I ran into could have been easily avoided by using slightly different parts.

 

[H2SO4]

OCW, Create Pro and Editbuilder sell refurbs with full warranty if that's the worry.

Thankyou very much for this.
I have placed an order with Create Pro for a 5,1 today.

 

[Surrat]

Just wanted to chime in as I use my Mac Pro for gaming fairly often.

I was very lucky a few months ago, and came across a mid 2012 BTO mac pro that was still new and sealed in its box. Its a 12 core 3.06ghz, with 32gb ram, 2x 2tb drives, and ati 5770. Runs Yosemite just fine.

I have mildly upgraded it with 128gig ssd to hold my games, 2x 512gig boot drives, and a reference nvidia gtx 770. After VERY slow speed in OSX version of Second Life, I tried installing Win81pro, and got an insane speed boost from 15fps, to 98fps with same settings. This I chock up to bad programming on the second life port to OSX.

After dual booting 10.10.1, and windows 8.1 pro 64bit for a few months, I can say that both run very well, but for games, windows is noticeably faster. 8.1 also runs my ancient games that were made on 486's for windows 95. DOS-Box allows me to run my oldest pc games like wolfenstein 3d, with full sound and no glitches.

Its also nice to mp4 compress a ripped dvd movie, in about 6 minutes.

So in the end, i have to give a thumbs up to the 5,1 for gaming if you find one for a good price. These macs are great for upgrades, up to 12 cores at 3.46ghz, up to 128gig ram, 4x 6tb hard disks, ssd's, pcie ssd's, usb3 cards, sky is the limit with GPU's if you add an aux PSU in the lower dvd bay. gtx980, Titan, or even dual cards in SLI when you run windows.

Anyway, thats my 2 cents, a bit rambling, but its honest review from my experience.

 

[A Hobo]

Thankyou very much for this.
I have placed an order with Create Pro for a 5,1 today.

you'll get a 4,1 just so you know.

 

[apphotography]

Thankyou very much for this.
I have placed an order with Create Pro for a 5,1 today.

I also bought one from them. Excellent level customer service. The quality of the packaging was superb and they delivered within 24 hours at exactly the time I needed it delivered by 8AM. I saw they now offer a brand new chassis option so along with that their new machines are made of mostly new parts. On topic. I am not a gamer per se as I don't have time for it. But I did download some to test the graphics performance and my benchmark results were better than Barefeats even so I can confidently state that if anyone wants to use a Mac Pro for gaming they can.

 

[H2SO4]

you'll get a 4,1 just so you know.

Apparently not. I did specify, (How can I specify an ‘Original' 2010 5,1 system as opposed to a 2009 5,1 upgrade - by email), that it had to be an original 2010 5,1 model but we’ll see.
When it comes I’ll run System Prefs and check the frontside bus speed etc. The 4,1s were different were they not?
Mind you, I’m sure they have what it takes to re-write logic board serials etc….

AAaarrrggghh, now you’ve got me looking for ways to tell

----------

I also bought one from them. Excellent level customer service. The quality of the packaging was superb and they delivered within 24 hours at exactly the time I needed it delivered by 8AM. I saw they now offer a brand new chassis option so along with that their new machines are made of mostly new parts. On topic. I am not a gamer per se as I don't have time for it. But I did download some to test the graphics performance and my benchmark results were better than Barefeats even so I can confidently state that if anyone wants to use a Mac Pro for gaming they can.

Yep, they do seem pretty good, (so far).

 

[A Hobo]

Apparently not. I did specify, (How can I specify an ‘Original' 2010 5,1 system as opposed to a 2009 5,1 upgrade - by email), that it had to be an original 2010 5,1 model but we’ll see.
When it comes I’ll run System Prefs and check the frontside bus speed etc. The 4,1s were different were they not?
Mind you, I’m sure they have what it takes to re-write logic board serials etc….

AAaarrrggghh, now you’ve got me looking for ways to tell

----------



Yep, they do seem pretty good, (so far).

Theres a way of checking the SMC version. a real 5.1 has a different SMC on the board/processor plane. 1.39f11 is for the 5.1 and 1.39fs for the 4.1

and the 4.1 will be 1.39fs even if its been flashed to imitate a 5.1. you can PM me the serial when you have it and ill be happy to tell you any and all service history of the device if you wish.
Best regards.

 

[TruckdriverSean]

"About this Mac" will normally still show the correct year (early 2009) even on a flashed 4,1 - 5,1. At least mine does.

It isn't until you get to the System Report section where you'll find any mention of 5,1.

 

[Zorn]

Apparently not. I did specify, (How can I specify an ‘Original' 2010 5,1 system as opposed to a 2009 5,1 upgrade - by email), that it had to be an original 2010 5,1 model but we’ll see.
When it comes I’ll run System Prefs and check the frontside bus speed etc. The 4,1s were different were they not?
Mind you, I’m sure they have what it takes to re-write logic board serials etc….

Yeah with a 4,1 running a CPU native to that machine, it will show 5.8 for the QPI / bus speed. The 5,1 would be 6.4. However, if you flash to 5,1 firmware and install a Westmere CPU, you will get the same bus speed since the two machines have the exact same motherboard. Difference is only based on the CPU used and the 5,1 firmware.

 

[EdDuPlessis]

Thankyou very much for this.
I have placed an order with Create Pro for a 5,1 today.

Congrats. My next will be from them unless Apple offers something more substantive. Or I might build a Windows 10 PC.

 

[H2SO4]

Theres a way of checking the SMC version. a real 5.1 has a different SMC on the board/processor plane. 1.39f11 is for the 5.1 and 1.39fs for the 4.1

and the 4.1 will be 1.39fs even if its been flashed to imitate a 5.1. you can PM me the serial when you have it and ill be happy to tell you any and all service history of the device if you wish.
Best regards.

Now that is very useful info. I’ll be sure to get in touch. Tks.

----------

"About this Mac" will normally still show the correct year (early 2009) even on a flashed 4,1 - 5,1. At least mine does.

It isn't until you get to the System Report section where you'll find any mention of 5,1.

Never knew that either. Be interested to see if anybody else has that also.

----------

Congrats. My next will be from them unless Apple offers something more substantive. Or I might build a Windows 10 PC.

I can’t wait for it. I’d not go Windows PC myself. To my eyes, (and to my wallet but not sure for how long), the Mac hardware is just too sexy.

 

[AidenShaw]

I can’t wait for it. I’d not go Windows PC myself. To my eyes, (and to my wallet but not sure for how long), the Mac hardware is just too sexy.

You're on more than just acid if you have erotic feelings for your computing tools.

My newest 36-core 1 TiB server is really nice, but nothing happens in my pants when I use it.

 

[inhalexhale1]

I will sum up the various answers given over the years

1. The Realist - Yes, if you boot into Windows and buy a powerful graphics card.
2. The Anarchist - I boot into Windows too...on my Hackintosh
3. The Hopeful Optimist - Mac gaming is going from strength to strength...right?
4. The Delusional - Macs are awesome game machines
5. The Pessimist - Mac gaming is going nowhere. Every year the same promises and then we have to three years longer than everyone else to get the newest Call of Duty and I'm not installing Windows!
6. The Economist - Buy a console for gaming
7. The Cheap Bastard - Just game on your iPad/iPhone
8. The Hyper Forum Member - WTF you want to buy a three thousand dollar game machine for it's a workstaaaation it's for woooooork!!!11

Haha, awesome post! Should be a sticky.

 

[H2SO4]

You're on more than just acid if you have erotic feelings for your computing tools.

My newest 36-core 1 TiB server is really nice, but nothing happens in my pants when I use it.

Doesn’t just stop at computers……..

It’s just this second arrived too!!! Have to go back to work tho..

:^(

36 core? Dang!!!!

 

[H2SO4]

Theres a way of checking the SMC version. a real 5.1 has a different SMC on the board/processor plane. 1.39f11 is for the 5.1 and 1.39fs for the 4.1

and the 4.1 will be 1.39fs even if its been flashed to imitate a 5.1. you can PM me the serial when you have it and ill be happy to tell you any and all service history of the device if you wish.
Best regards.

Here we go…….

 

[apphotography]

Here we go…….

Time to update your signature

 

[Pending]

Time to update your signature

Hi apphotography has your GTX980 been flashed by mvc or is it a standard pc one?