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So What WOULD the Dream Apple Gaming Comptuer Be?

O

OnlyMarcusCannn

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 19, 2007
110
0
Las Vegas, NV
I know the whole "Mac gaming" debate is as old as Mac is itself, but it seems to have come up a lot recently between my mac-owning friends and myself. I've been getting more and more into gaming recently (for about 4 or 5 months) after getting a HP Pavilion Slimline s3020n as a gift about 6 months ago. So far (after dumping Vista and going back to XP SP2), gaming has been pretty good for my standards, and that's with the base specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ / 2 GHz, and I think nVIDIA GeForce 6150 with 2 GB of Ram. I got another copy of XP for bootcamp on the Macbook, installed a few games, and to my dismay the gaming experience wasn't very much the same at all. Besides the (lack thereof a) dedicated graphics card, the specs are pretty much the same, and I even upgraded my macbook to 4 GB of memory for a short period.

All that said, what would it take for a Mac to be the "dream" gaming device, or even just a decent one, as far as specs go? Like I said before, I just got into the whole realm of gaming on PC's and Mac's alike, so I couldn't really point out any specs for my liking, I just wanna be able to have 1) more compatibility from developers & 2) A choice from Apple to remove & replace, say, a graphics card if I wanted to.

And I apologize if this thread has been brought up before. I searched and didn't find anything specific to this subject. Also, sorry if my post seems a bit uneducated. I really would like to be informed on why the Mac already isn't a perfect gaming system and what could be done to make that possible. :D
 
In large, part, it's because Apple doesn't use the absolute bleeding-edge graphics cards to allow for the maxing out of all options, which some people think is the only way you could ever possibly enjoy a game. That, and the only Mac with the ability to upgrade the graphics card is the Mac Pro, which is out of the price range of most computer buyers. An ideal Mac gaming machine, to those who hate Apple's current offerings, would be a tower that has maybe 3 PCIe expansion slots, an 8600 GT standard, desktop RAM instead of FB-DIMMs or laptop RAM, a desktop version of the Core 2 Duo (the iMac has the laptop version), all at the price of anywhere from $1200 to $1500.
 
I'm in the process of convincing my dad to let me build a gaming computer (it will be used as the family pc too) that has an AMD Phenom processor, 4gb of ram, 1tb hard drive (2 500gb hdd's), Nvidia 8800gt graphics (hopefully sli when i get the money) and all the other essentials. If apple were to build a gaming mac, I'd expect something similar with the exception of the AMD processor
 
There isn't one "dream" gaming PC, because gamers are notoriously brand-loyal, and one gamer's dream machine is junk to some others.

But it a broad sense, the Mac serious gamers would like to see would be a mid-tower box with a single high-end consumer brand CPU that responds well to overclocking, a single high-end gaming oriented GPU and space for at least two fast HDDs and an optical drive. Target price would be something like $1300-1800 with software depending on the specific parts used. The ability to run a dual-GPU (SLI/CrossFire) setup would be a plus for some.

Even more importantly, said computer would have to "keep up with the Joneses" by being upgradeable with a new high-end GPU/CPU every 6-12 months if desired for at least 2-3 years.

Not going to happen, of course.
 
tominated said:
I'm in the process of convincing my dad to let me build a gaming computer (it will be used as the family pc too) that has an AMD Phenom processor, 4gb of ram, 1tb hard drive (2 500gb hdd's), Nvidia 8800gt graphics (hopefully sli when i get the money) and all the other essentials. If apple were to build a gaming mac, I'd expect something similar with the exception of the AMD processor
Click to expand...

Don't get the AMD Phenom the current rev is very buggy and over all there very slow for the money.
 
The "Dream" gamer-Mac is obviously an Apple-styled pre-Dell Alienware running OSX. ;)

Realistically, I'd love a highly-configurable and expandable iMac, probably in a different chassis to accommodate higher-end GPUs.

Or in other words, a cheap high-clock single-socket dual-core Mac Pro using desktop parts (plain ol' non-ECC/Registered DDR2 or DDR3, PCIE2.0 slots, etc..) :D
 
I think the idea of Apple releasing a gaming machine and marketing it as that is pretty silly. It's just not the kind of thing Apple would do. No, the dream gaming Mac would be introduced quietly and incorporated into the existing lines. It would simply be:

1. MacBook Pro w/ upgradeable dedicated graphics.

2. Mini Tower (not advertised as a gaming machine) w/ upgradeable dedicated graphics.

3. Possibly an iMac w/ upgradeable dedicated graphics? Or just a Mac Pro.

The only spec that's really holding back any Mac at all is the dedicated graphics. Most of Apple's CPUs are more than capable. Beyond that, it's all comes down to the lack of good games for OS X. Having to bootcamp into Windows is just silly, and I won't do it. Personally, I just stick with games that can run natively in OS X like Unreal, and for other things--that's what I have a Wii for.

And to the OP: it was the integrated graphics.
 
everyone missing the point

before talking about a uber leet mac gaming system; maybe we should talk about os x eating performance. bottom line if u boot ur untel mac into windows; ur games will run faster :(

i think a fix to this would be more important then a new videocard.

other then than the mini;macbook, and air; all the apple systems have great video cards/ram/proc.
 
The major problem with Mac gaming is that their biggest seller, the MB, has such crappy integrated graphics.

The only reason I see for this is to differentiate it from the Pro, and the same goes for the Mac Mini in comparison to the other lines of desktops. With 3 of 6 Mac lines Apple has going having integrated chips, there is no way gaming will take off in any way. Development of games for OSX will start ramping up once there is a big enough market of casual gamers, and this won't happen until the MB can perform.
 
filthandfury said:
other then than the mini;macbook, and air; all the apple systems have great video cards/ram/proc.
Click to expand...

So basically an iMac, MacPro and Macbook Pro. Cause that is what is left on the list.


Whatever system Apple would come out with needs to be easily overclockable. People are hitting 3.5-4 Ghz on air, I expect nothing less than the same thing from Apple for a gaming box.
 
Unfortunately one doesn't exist. If it did, it would basically be everything that has already been stated in previous posts.

It saddens me to know that my 3 month old iMac can't even play recently released games, and will never be able to run any of the games currently being released. Some people might accept turning all of their graphic settings off and running a game at 5-10 FPS...I did that with WoW on my Powerbook for a year and it was the most awful experience ever, I can't imagine trying any type of a serious game.

So...my dream apple gaming computer would be a Wii :(.
 
diamond.g said:
So basically an iMac, MacPro and Macbook Pro. Cause that is what is left on the list.


Whatever system Apple would come out with needs to be easily overclockable. People are hitting 3.5-4 Ghz on air, I expect nothing less than the same thing from Apple for a gaming box.
Click to expand...

Asking for a system to be over-clocked is ridiculous. Apple sets clock speeds on the systems; for an optimum balance of speed;heat;reliability.

I could see expecting faster proc's, but idk why someone would prefer to overclock?

build a hackintosh if you want to overlock.
only reason overclock is if you have an old crappy system you want to make useful for a bit longer; or your dealing with a hardware supplier that knows less about computers then you (i doubt you>apple sorry :( )
 
BrianKonarsMac said:
Unfortunately one doesn't exist. If it did, it would basically be everything that has already been stated in previous posts.

It saddens me to know that my 3 month old iMac can't even play recently released games, and will never be able to run any of the games currently being released. Some people might accept turning all of their graphic settings off and running a game at 5-10 FPS...I did that with WoW on my Powerbook for a year and it was the most awful experience ever, I can't imagine trying any type of a serious game.

So...my dream apple gaming computer would be a Wii :(.
Click to expand...
Your mistaken people are playing all kinds of games on iMacs and I would like to know if you bought a base iMac??? New iMacs are playing any game thrown at it. The Only thing Apple would have to do is have a full video card in iMac. iMac has grown into a terrific machine in my view and the 2600 is more then adequate for 99% of the games made today. Anyways I guess my dream machine would simply be an iMac with a replaceable GPU.
 
filthandfury said:
Asking for a system to be over-clocked is ridiculous. Apple sets clock speeds on the systems; for an optimum balance of speed;heat;reliability.

I could see expecting faster proc's, but idk why someone would prefer to overclock?

build a hackintosh if you want to overlock.
only reason overclock is if you have an old crappy system you want to make useful for a bit longer; or your dealing with a hardware supplier that knows less about computers then you (i doubt you>apple sorry :( )
Click to expand...

Dell does it on the XPS Systems. The simple reason for it being expected? Intel's E8400 can be ran at 4Ghz on air. Intel has so much clocking room it is silly.

Us Apple fans just wont ever get to see it due to Apples love for mobile chips, and EFI.

I don't see how the massive OC potential of the desktop chips is seen as an old crappy system. I don't understand how overclocking means I am supposed to know less about computers than Apple.
 
then why wouldnt apple sell chips @ 4ghz?

diamond.g said:
Dell does it on the XPS Systems. The simple reason for it being expected? Intel's E8400 can be ran at 4Ghz on air. Intel has so much clocking room it is silly.

Us Apple fans just wont ever get to see it due to Apples love for mobile chips, and EFI.

I don't see how the massive OC potential of the desktop chips is seen as an old crappy system. I don't understand how overclocking means I am supposed to know less about computers than Apple.
Click to expand...


If a chip runs stable @ 4ghz, why wouldnt apple or intel sell them at that?
Apple and intel prefer to makes less money and sell slower computers?
 
filthandfury said:
If a chip runs stable @ 4ghz, why wouldnt apple or intel sell them at that?
Apple and intel prefer to makes less money and sell slower computers?
Click to expand...
Milk people for upgrades. Besides Intel isn't making Apple use the CPU's they are using.

For reference I am talking about this post that alerted me to the crazy overclocks. I am sure it is probably the same at PCPer.

So realistically I guess I am asking for Apple to sell an xMac with a desktop CPU and a non-Intel reference design systemboard.
 
diamond.g said:
Milk people for upgrades. Besides Intel isn't making Apple use the CPU's they are using.

For reference I am talking about this post that alerted me to the crazy overclocks. I am sure it is probably the same at PCPer.

So realistically I guess I am asking for Apple to sell an xMac with a desktop CPU and a non-Intel reference design systemboard.
Click to expand...

I still would say processor speed is way down the list for mac gaming bottlenecks;
I would put coding quality/quanity first;
macmini/macbook videocards being second
 
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