New IMAC (Bootcamp windows 7) + Empire:Total War (or other games)

[dannyUK]

I have been around on many mac forums to found out if the latest games like mw2 or empire total war are playable (with high settings) on the

imac
# 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
# 1TB Serial ATA Drive
# ATI Radeon HD 4670 256MB

I have seen many people talk about this issue but no definite answer was present. Some said yes and some said no plus people kept going off topic to the ATI R. 4850 saying it was better (which is obvious since the price is £1600+)

I just want a definite answer that this imac (one listed) will run smoothly with decent eye candy.

And if possible if there are other games that use hefty resources and are playable on this imac then please say so.

sorry if i sound abit arrogant. Its just that many there are so many topics on this issue but with no definite answer, or no answer and going offtopic.

I would really appreciate it if someone who has actually experienced to reply or someone who is professional

thankyou for reading.

 

[crazycat]

i can not give you an answer about the total war games because i have not tried to play them on my Mac under bootcamp. I can however say that when i tested WoW under bootcamp it ran faster then under OS X.

Here are the minimum spec required for Empire:

- Operating System: Windows XP 32(service pack 2), Windows Vista 32 OS.
- Processor: 2.4 GHz Single Core Intel or AMD equivalent processor.
- System Memory: 1GB RAM (XP) 2GB RAM (Vista).
- Graphics Card: 256MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (shader 2.0 or higher).
= Sound Card: Directx9.0c compatible sound card.
- Windows compatible mouse & keyboard.
- 15 GB free uncompressed hard drive space.

Hope that helps.

 

[wordoflife]

Everrything looks good but the graphics card. I play Modern warfare 2 on my computer on full 1920x1080 and it uses about 600mb VRAM. 256mb won't be enough for 1920x1080.

 

[dannyUK]

Everrything looks good but the graphics card. I play Modern warfare 2 on my computer on full 1920x1080 and it uses about 600mb VRAM. 256mb won't be enough for 1920x1080.

so basically if i put the resolution down ill b able to mf2 on this imac described?

i can not give you an answer about the total war games because i have not tried to play them on my Mac under bootcamp. I can however say that when i tested WoW under bootcamp it ran faster then under OS X.

Here are the minimum spec required for Empire:

- Operating System: Windows XP 32(service pack 2), Windows Vista 32 OS.
- Processor: 2.4 GHz Single Core Intel or AMD equivalent processor.
- System Memory: 1GB RAM (XP) 2GB RAM (Vista).
- Graphics Card: 256MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (shader 2.0 or higher).
= Sound Card: Directx9.0c compatible sound card.
- Windows compatible mouse & keyboard.
- 15 GB free uncompressed hard drive space.

Hope that helps.

so basically bootcamp runs games faster than on the primary operating system (OS X). ok thankyou very much.

 

[rigid]

Wow used to run faster for me under Windows 7, then when patch 3.3 came they reverted back to the old opengl engine for WoW (as well as enabling more cores by default) under OS X and now I get faster performance than under boot camp.

This is one an i7 however.

 

[dannyUK]

i can not give you an answer about the total war games because i have not tried to play them on my Mac under bootcamp. I can however say that when i tested WoW under bootcamp it ran faster then under OS X.

Here are the minimum spec required for Empire:

- Operating System: Windows XP 32(service pack 2), Windows Vista 32 OS.
- Processor: 2.4 GHz Single Core Intel or AMD equivalent processor.
- System Memory: 1GB RAM (XP) 2GB RAM (Vista).
- Graphics Card: 256MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (shader 2.0 or higher).
= Sound Card: Directx9.0c compatible sound card.
- Windows compatible mouse & keyboard.
- 15 GB free uncompressed hard drive space.

Hope that helps.

edit:
i understand i7 between i5 now i think

 

[NATO]

I've been playing Bioshock and Empire Total War on my iMac recently at full resolution and they play very well.

 

[dannyUK]

I've been playing Bioshock and Empire Total War on my iMac recently at full resolution and they play very well.

can i ask what imac you got? the one in your signature isnt clear enough compared to the ones in the apple store atm. (Unless yours is a old generation? if so how much was yours?)

thank for replying i believe your next answer would solve all my worries since bioshock is quite a hefty resourced game.

 

[NATO]

can i ask what imac you got? the one in your signature isnt clear enough compared to the ones in the apple store atm. (Unless yours is a old generation? if so how much was yours?)

thank for replying i believe your next answer would solve all my worries since bioshock is quite a hefty resourced game.

Mine's the latest 27" iMac, Core i7 Processor and ATI 4850 Graphics. I tend to play the likes of Bioshock, Empire Total War and Battlefield 2 and have no complaints whatsoever about any of those I think if you're planning to buy a new iMac and have gaming in mind, I would suggest you consider the 4850 graphics rather than the 4670 as it's definitely a much better graphics chip.

 

[gregorsamsa]

If you really want to be sure of playing those games maxed out but don't want the high-end 27" iMac, might be an idea to buy a Mini for all the OS X stuff you want to run & just get an upgradeable gaming PC. Those combined should cost less than the 27" iMac with 4850 graphics & might still leave you with just enough change to get a decent monitor as well.

 

[dannyUK]

Mine's the latest 27" iMac, Core i7 Processor and ATI 4850 Graphics. I tend to play the likes of Bioshock, Empire Total War and Battlefield 2 and have no complaints whatsoever about any of those I think if you're planning to buy a new iMac and have gaming in mind, I would suggest you consider the 4850 graphics rather than the 4670 as it's definitely a much better graphics chip.

great. thankyou for the answer

If you really want to be sure of playing those games maxed out but don't want the high-end 27" iMac, might be an idea to buy a Mini for all the OS X stuff you want to run & just get an upgradeable gaming PC. Those combined should cost less than the 27" iMac with 4850 graphics & might still leave you with just enough change to get a decent monitor as well.

thankyou very much for answering. I believe this will help many people who also has this question in mind.

And thankyou for the suggestion. Im thinking of buying the

# 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
# 1TB Serial ATA Drive
# ATI Radeon HD 4670 256MB (replace this with the 512mb)

now due to your suggestion and later ill buy a windows laptop

thanks again

 

[avihappy]

great. thankyou for the answer



thankyou very much for answering. I believe this will help many people who also has this question in mind.

And thankyou for the suggestion. Im thinking of buying the

# 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
# 1TB Serial ATA Drive
# ATI Radeon HD 4670 256MB (replace this with the 512mb)

now due to your suggestion and later ill buy a windows laptop

thanks again

If you want the 4850, get it when you buy it. Don't think you can upgrade the chip post purchase. That would be quite a surgery and would def void your warranty. Not to mention that it might not work at all...

 

[gregorsamsa]

And thankyou for the suggestion. Im thinking of buying the

# 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
# 1TB Serial ATA Drive
# ATI Radeon HD 4670 256MB (replace this with the 512mb)

now due to your suggestion and later ill buy a windows laptop

thanks again

No problem. Seems a good compromise as the graphics upgrade to a HD 4850 with 512 VRAM only costs £123.00 more from the Apple Store. Hopefully that'll get you "Empire: TW" maxed out without any lag. - Also good point by Avihappy above for those who aren't 100% sure.

Now if only we hadn't been lumbered with the madness of King George back then, how differently that war might have turned out.