Pro vs Air for gaming - a question

[san23]

I play some old games (decade old or more) using Crossover + Steam

I find that a M3 Pro MBP (pro chip with 18GB RAM) runs almost all the older games smoothly. However a M3 Air (with 16GB RAM) handles some games well (as well as the Pro for the short durations I have tested them) but simply *cannot* run a few others (Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter being an example). I know the M3 Pro chip is 'better' than the M3 but also that 18GB vs 16GB RAM is not a huge difference. Also, the MBP has more GPU etc.

But why would the newest Air (with upgraded RAM of 16GB) struggle to run some decade-old games (that run nicely on the MBP)? Is there some setting I need to adjust? I tried turning down the display settings in my Air but that didn't help.
Thanks

 

[MRMSFC]

Have you checked the system monitor app to look for any bottlenecks? It may help narrow down your options.

The only thing that comes to mind would be issues with real time x86->aarch translation, specifically 32bit instructions, which would be more prevalent in older games.

But given how much faster modern Macs are than older PCs, I would think brute force would overcome that limitation.

 

[bradman83]

Also, the MBP has more GPU etc.

Depending the models the difference in CPU is significant; the non-binned M3 Pro chip has 80% more GPU cores than the 10-core GPU plain M3 chip. Especially since the games you mentioned are running under emulation it's possible some of them need that extra bit of GPU horsepower to compensate.

If the game is sufficiently taxing on the GPU you might also be running into throttling issues due to the lack of a fan.

 

[san23]

Thank you both. i'm not not very mac-tech-knowledgeable. I'll check the monitor app.

throttling is not the issue - since the games I'm talking about simply don't get to the 'start' screen on the Air but run on the Pro (plus my gaming is light and rare).

FYI: Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is one example that will NOT run on the Air but runs well on the Pro. So perhaps the extra GPU is the answer.