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New iMac, help with Dragon Age

I

iggy097

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2009
6
0
First off, Hi!, new here. I just sold my dell XPS 1530 laptop, in favor of this new imac.
Specs are 3.06 ghz intel core 2 duo, 4gig 1067 ram, geforce 9400.

Now, I'm running win 7 in bootcamp, and playing Dragons Age,and the game runs like crap. I thought for sure this mac would run the game at least as good as my dell XPS laptop which had the 256GT graphics card.

I'm running the game on medium graphics, low textures, no AA, Vsync.
any tips or help?
I mean the game runs, just not very smooth. Tried any a few different resolutions.
 
I beleive they are, I can't figure out how to update the graphics drivers on my mac?
I'm running snow leopard.
 
iggy097 said:
First off, Hi!, new here. I just sold my dell XPS 1530 laptop, in favor of this new imac.
Specs are 3.06 ghz intel core 2 duo, 4gig 1067 ram, geforce 9400.

Now, I'm running win 7 in bootcamp, and playing Dragons Age,and the game runs like crap. I thought for sure this mac would run the game at least as good as my dell XPS laptop which had the 256GT graphics card.

I'm running the game on medium graphics, low textures, no AA, Vsync.
any tips or help?
I mean the game runs, just not very smooth. Tried any a few different resolutions.
Click to expand...

oh noes... you serious? :( I just ordered an imac 27 i7 with 8 gig of ram, the only games im really looking to play on it was sc2, d3 and dragon age.. :( I read on some other post that it ran pretty smoothly.. I just hope its some driver issues or something. I don't really game anymore but I was hoping I could at least play those 3 games without problems / lag.
 
iggy097 said:
I beleive they are, I can't figure out how to update the graphics drivers on my mac?
I'm running snow leopard.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the Mac fold.

You update the drivers on your Windoze side just like you would do in Windoze on your old Dell. The reason that game is looking so rough is because it's a lot to handle for that card. Your iMac is fine but the 9400 is not about to show off anything pretty in DAO. That game more than puts the 4850 through its paces.
 
My baseline 27" with the HD 4670 in Bootcamp runs LOTRO at native resolution with everything high and textures very high at 50+ FPS
 
I wouldn't get any computer with a 9400M G and expect beyond gaming on low settings for newer titles. If the 9400M G doesn't meet the gaming expectations for Dragon Age then I suggest doing some more research next time before buying. We are talking about a 16 shader IGP from late 2008.
 
*sigh*
I'm starting to wish I had just got the hp with the quad core 2.5, the 1gig graphics card, 8gig of ram and 23" monitot foe 200 bucks cheaper. especially since I do my video editing in sony vegas pro.
Maybe after I teach myself how to run final cut pro it will be worth it, but I really thought the mac could handle the game better than it does. This sucks :(
 
iggy097 said:
*sigh*
I'm starting to wish I had just got the hp with the quad core 2.5, the 1gig graphics card, 8gig of ram and 23" monitot foe 200 bucks cheaper. especially since I do my video editing in sony vegas pro.
Maybe after I teach myself how to run final cut pro it will be worth it, but I really thought the mac could handle the game better than it does. This sucks :(
Click to expand...
There has to be a cheaper way to learn to see if a Final Cut workflow is what you want. If you're already using an application that you're familiar with, why the change?
 
iggy097 said:
*sigh*
I'm starting to wish I had just got the hp with the quad core 2.5, the 1gig graphics card, 8gig of ram and 23" monitot foe 200 bucks cheaper. especially since I do my video editing in sony vegas pro.
Maybe after I teach myself how to run final cut pro it will be worth it, but I really thought the mac could handle the game better than it does. This sucks :(
Click to expand...

I think Apple will give you 14 days to return it. They may or may not assess a restocking fee. Then you can either go for the HP, or try to get an iMac with either of the Radeon cards. The cheapest one with the radeon is $1500. They might waive the restocking fee if you mention you intend to get a higher end (more $$$) model.

The problem was that the weakest part in your machine (video) is also the part the games depend on the most. Sorry that it didn't work out, but next time make sure that you use these forums and ask questions like "Will the $1200 model be able to run Call of Duty MW2?" before you buy.
 
well, the video editing I do isnt exactly porn. more like fetish :D

I use vegas now, but it seems rediculous to buy a mac and use windows to do my work on. I have final cut pro 5.1 already I just havent taken the time yet to learn it.
I do own a ps3 i can game on, it's just hard going from a pc to mac when I dont really no why I switched yet. Except because the manager at best buy and my brother swayed me over.
Can someone please give me good reasons to choose the mac over a pc? Please don't say virus and such, I do like the looks of the mac, and the interface is really growing on me as well.
 
ok i run an imac with similar stats little older 3.06 4gb ram and the 8800gs

i run dragon age under vista32 and it runs great, beautiful

now ok its true what is beautiful is different from person to person a bit and maybe our standards are different - but i certainly have no problem at all playing the games with not everything max but close to max graphic settings (from memory the resolution is not native, and the aa is x4 or maybe x2, everything else is max - i think)

if you are having poor performance other than checking for normal windows type problems and dragon age updates and all that, you should update your video card drivers. the bootcamp ones are very old.

if you are lucky you can do this the same way you would on a normal pc, just go to the card company website

if you are unlucky like i was the driver installers dont recognize your mac as what it is and will refuse to run

in that case go to laptopvideo2go and either download the latest doxdrivers (they are a bit old now, they arent updated anymore) or (what i do these days) download the newest driver and the modified inf file which will let it install on your mac (or anything else)

as i said i have a different video card from you but updating the video driver the first time was a major boost

again ill admit maybe personal standards are different; but there is no way you should be disappointed with the graphical perf in dragon age after a laptop

so try the drivers first anyway

re video editing i used to do a lot and final cut is a great app cant compare it with vegas which i havent used, and as with all pro apps there is a learning curve but i like it a lot

re pc v mac it depends on what you want to do. for video editing macs work very well i think - for me when we are talking doing real "work" work reliability counts for a lot and not to go on about virii in particular but just generally pcs req more maintenance and babying for me at least. (i accept part of that is probably just i understand macs better, being fair)

for gaming its not that macs -cant- game its more just a case of that you get more gaming power for your $ on a pc - so if games is your only thing then a mac buy is a bit silly

if you are gaming under bootcamp tho then you get exactly the same performance as a regular pc with the same hardware (given you can update drivers yourself)

again ymmv but for me ive never regretted the two imacs i bought (g5, then this core2duo). for me they do my video photography and windows gaming great and thats what i wanted

(im presuming your card is newer and better than my 8800gs btw. it is right? i dont know card names much hehe)
 
I sincerely hope this experience have taught you to do a bit of research before plunging that much cash on a purchase.

The integrated 9400M is actually pure crap. I have no idea why you expected it to be a decent performer in anything other than the original Counterstrike or Solitaire.
 
I guess I could always play my PS3 for the games.
I really love the screen on the mac, the design, and the layout.
Thanks for all the replies here and opinions as well, I still have 7 days to return to bestbuy if I choose.
I was just thinking that the graphics card would run as good as my dell, which also has an nvidia 256, GT though.
 
Return it!!

iggy097 said:
I guess I could always play my PS3 for the games.
I really love the screen on the mac, the design, and the layout.
Thanks for all the replies here and opinions as well, I still have 7 days to return to bestbuy if I choose.
I was just thinking that the graphics card would run as good as my dell, which also has an nvidia 256, GT though.
Click to expand...

That 9400m is integrated rubbish for games. low to med settings only and slow even then on any modern game. Return it now and get the ATI 4670 or better. I prefer PC games and as a prior post stated the refurb 24" with the 8800GS play most games quite well and only costs $1149.

Cheers,
 
i thought i read on many reviews that dragon age is a more CPU multi-core intensive game? so if you have quadcore your pretty much good to go?

* CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
* RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
* VIDEO: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
AMD Phenom II X3 Triple-Core 2.8 GHz or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space

those are the recommended stats from the website..
isn't the GPU inside the new imac 27 i7 better than the one stated / listed?
 
Yeah it is I have a celeron 2ghz 2 gigs of ram and a 256mb 7800 gt evga video card that has windows xp installed. It also has ubuntu on another partition. Dragon age runs fine on the windows partition fine so i say the 9400 would run it fine what os were u running again.
 
whoisrhp said:
i thought i read on many reviews that dragon age is a more CPU multi-core intensive game? so if you have quadcore your pretty much good to go?

* CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
* RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
* VIDEO: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
AMD Phenom II X3 Triple-Core 2.8 GHz or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space

those are the recommended stats from the website..
isn't the GPU inside the new imac 27 i7 better than the one stated / listed?
Click to expand...

Only the considerably more expensive 21,5" ($1499) and both the 27" iMacs are better.

The low-end 21.5" iMac has a piss-poor Geforce 9400M.
 
Pressure said:
Only the considerably more expensive 21,5" ($1499) and both the 27" iMacs are better.

The low-end 21.5" iMac has a piss-poor Geforce 9400M.
Click to expand...

oh... i just noticed he stated he had a geforce 9400M GPU my bad.

Has anyone played Dragon Age on the new Imac 27's does anyone want to make a youtube video so I can watch? :D
 
whoisrhp said:
i thought i read on many reviews that dragon age is a more CPU multi-core intensive game? so if you have quadcore your pretty much good to go?

* CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz Processor or equivalent
* RAM: 4 GB (Vista) or 2 GB (XP)
* VIDEO: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
AMD Phenom II X3 Triple-Core 2.8 GHz or greater
DVD ROM (Physical copy)
20 GB HD space

those are the recommended stats from the website..
isn't the GPU inside the new imac 27 i7 better than the one stated / listed?
Click to expand...

The Geforce 9400M doesn't even meet the minimal requirements
 
then how come a 7800gt 256 mb ram that is technically weaker than the 9400 less shader models and everything to the 9400 runs it fine
 
ljonesj said:
then how come a 7800gt 256 mb ram that is technically weaker than the 9400 less shader models and everything to the 9400 runs it fine
Click to expand...

How do you figure? Notebookcheck has the go 7800 rated significantly higher than the 9400.

In practical use the 9400 is marginally better than the intel 4500. I don't like playing games on either.

Cheers
 
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