Has anyone tried SC2 on the 799.99 Mini? If so what settings are you running in Lion and Bootcamp?
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Starcraft 2
- Thread starter Motliest Crue
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I was just interested in seeing what settings people were using with the new Mini's graphics card
Hey, I just tested my MBP (which is irrelevant to the topic, but still) and saw that Lion itself improves the gaming performance for your Mac. It was averaging about 25FPS on Medium/Shadow/Texture on Medium and everything else on low. Still very playable, so I believe the new dedicated GPU will beat the cr*p out of integrated GPUs.
Here are some benchmarks:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6630M.43963.0.html
EDIT:
Here are the statistics!!!!!
Here are some benchmarks:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6630M.43963.0.html
EDIT:
Here are the statistics!!!!!
Thanks! I actually bought the 799.99 Mini last week and love it. For SC2 I play on high with no slow down and 35-45 FPS.
would be nice if you could make a video showing gameplay performance
I'll see what I can do. I got the $799 model as well and SC works great on it. I often use graphic intensive builds as well (tons of zerglings and banelings). My 3 year old iMac ran SC but didn't have any of the animations involved. Exploding buildings and graphic deaths are new to me with my new mac mini.
here's someone playing it on a 2011 macbook air with dual-core i5 and intel hd 3000:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeAhFetoNWM
i'm sure the 6630m can handle it much better.
mac version of sc2 runs decent on my mini server 1280x800 medium settings. don't know how to measure fps though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeAhFetoNWM
i'm sure the 6630m can handle it much better.
mac version of sc2 runs decent on my mini server 1280x800 medium settings. don't know how to measure fps though.
Agreed I was actually playing on a 4 year old Dell desktop on low low low settings with under 15 FPS - I had no idea there were death animations....
To measure FPS hold your mouse over one of the top menu (I forget which one!) it will show you local time, FPS, and your internet connection strength
I'd just like to add...
It should be noted that you'll get better performance if playing on bootcamp. It's well documented that one gets better framerates when playing SC2 on Windows as opposed to on OS X. From barefeats.com:
*from http://www.barefeats.com/imac11e.html
In fact, many games fare better on Windows than OS X, likely due to Windows using DirectX versus Apple's OpenGL.
It should be noted that you'll get better performance if playing on bootcamp. It's well documented that one gets better framerates when playing SC2 on Windows as opposed to on OS X. From barefeats.com:
*from http://www.barefeats.com/imac11e.html
In fact, many games fare better on Windows than OS X, likely due to Windows using DirectX versus Apple's OpenGL.
Interlaced display in SC2 on mini with ATI video card
I have Mac Mini 2011 with ATI card (i5 2,5), connected via Display Port to NEC EA231Wmi monitor. Native resolution is set 1080p in OSX works just fine.
In SC2 I've selected 1920x1080 resolution. However, the image looks like interlaced video. Switching resolution to closest 1600x900 resolve the problem - image became progressive, text is clear, overall image is not blurred. But I don't like it, since this resolution is not native for my monitor.
Probably there is a problem with ATI drivers (assuming OSX GUI goes through built-in Intel Core video by default and is OK), which does not uses GUI settings for "p" or "i" and always set "i".
Anybody have the same problem?
I have Mac Mini 2011 with ATI card (i5 2,5), connected via Display Port to NEC EA231Wmi monitor. Native resolution is set 1080p in OSX works just fine.
In SC2 I've selected 1920x1080 resolution. However, the image looks like interlaced video. Switching resolution to closest 1600x900 resolve the problem - image became progressive, text is clear, overall image is not blurred. But I don't like it, since this resolution is not native for my monitor.
Probably there is a problem with ATI drivers (assuming OSX GUI goes through built-in Intel Core video by default and is OK), which does not uses GUI settings for "p" or "i" and always set "i".
Anybody have the same problem?
I bet it's related to the Display Port on your monitor. Is it a full sized Display Port or mini? Maybe try using HDMI out to DVI to troubleshoot further (I looked up your monitor's specs
).Found the solution - 50Hz
FullHD resolution works OK only with 50Hz setting. Switching it to 60Hz causes full screen OpenGL applications to appear interlaced, Starcraft 2 in particular. Desktop is shown OK in 60Hz.
Obviously there is a problem with ATI drivers!!!
FullHD resolution works OK only with 50Hz setting. Switching it to 60Hz causes full screen OpenGL applications to appear interlaced, Starcraft 2 in particular. Desktop is shown OK in 60Hz.
Obviously there is a problem with ATI drivers!!!
Hi, I'm thinking of getting a mac mini, with the 2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, and 4gb ram (I'll upgrade it to 8gb my self lol, alot cheaper).
Anyway I know it's a different game, but it's by the same people lol. How well do you think it'd run diablo 3 with a screen res of 1680x1050?. Doesn't have to be set to max, but I'm hoping beings the res is lower than the 1920x1080 res people seem to use for sc2 benchmarks, it'd run well on at least medium?
It's probably the only game I'll be playing on it. The main reason I want a mac mini is for streaming films to my iPad 2.
My pc I use ATM is a beast in a thermaltake armor case!, it takes up tons of room, and atm all it's used for is streaming films...
It'd run diablo 3 fine, probably on max settings, but my room is tiny and I can hardly move! So I need something smaller.
Oh yeah, also does the slower hdd make much difference when gaming? I'v never used a different speed hdd, I always buy the 7200 drives for my pcs.
Sorry if this is classed as thread hijacking lol, but the topic is rather similar, so thought it best to use this instead of making a new thread.
Anyway I know it's a different game, but it's by the same people lol. How well do you think it'd run diablo 3 with a screen res of 1680x1050?. Doesn't have to be set to max, but I'm hoping beings the res is lower than the 1920x1080 res people seem to use for sc2 benchmarks, it'd run well on at least medium?
It's probably the only game I'll be playing on it. The main reason I want a mac mini is for streaming films to my iPad 2.
My pc I use ATM is a beast in a thermaltake armor case!, it takes up tons of room, and atm all it's used for is streaming films...
It'd run diablo 3 fine, probably on max settings, but my room is tiny and I can hardly move! So I need something smaller.
Oh yeah, also does the slower hdd make much difference when gaming? I'v never used a different speed hdd, I always buy the 7200 drives for my pcs.
Sorry if this is classed as thread hijacking lol, but the topic is rather similar, so thought it best to use this instead of making a new thread.
It's not really possible to say whether Diablo 3 is going to run on the mini because the required specs are obviously not known yet. Blizzard usually tends to keep the minimal specs pretty low so I guess it will run, but it's very hard to say how well.
As for the 5200 rpm drive, it has a reputation of being slow. Games will load more slowly, but also the system might seem a little bit less responsive than you're used to (especially when the RAM is all filled up, though with 8 GB it won't be that much of an issue for now). I personally have the 7200 rpm hdd and It's quite ok.
General gaming performance is decent for such a small machine -- I have the mini with the 6630m video card, i7 and 7200 rpm hdd, upgraded RAM to 8 GB too and games load and play smoothly as long as you keep the specs around the low-to-medium mark. Starcraft 2 runs great at medium-high settings and I don't have any of the problems mentioned in this thread - no interlacing while playing in 1920*1080 at 60 Hz.
As for the 5200 rpm drive, it has a reputation of being slow. Games will load more slowly, but also the system might seem a little bit less responsive than you're used to (especially when the RAM is all filled up, though with 8 GB it won't be that much of an issue for now). I personally have the 7200 rpm hdd and It's quite ok.
General gaming performance is decent for such a small machine -- I have the mini with the 6630m video card, i7 and 7200 rpm hdd, upgraded RAM to 8 GB too and games load and play smoothly as long as you keep the specs around the low-to-medium mark. Starcraft 2 runs great at medium-high settings and I don't have any of the problems mentioned in this thread - no interlacing while playing in 1920*1080 at 60 Hz.
Thanks for the reply
The upgrade from 5400 to a 7200 hdd is £120!
I dont fancy paying that much (the hdd is worth nowhere near that much). So id have to try fitting a 7200 my self. So I checked on amazon and I can get a 128gb SSD for £130. I might just try fitting 1 of those.
The upgrade from 5400 to a 7200 hdd is £120!
I dont fancy paying that much (the hdd is worth nowhere near that much). So id have to try fitting a 7200 my self. So I checked on amazon and I can get a 128gb SSD for £130. I might just try fitting 1 of those.
sorry my ignorance, but im new to macosx and i want to ask you guys how this ''bootcamp'' thing works. i dont want to install a windows on my macmini and i have a couple of games in mind that comes only for windows.
taking the opportunity, anyone knows if The Sims 3 runs fine on 799 macmini?
Thanks
taking the opportunity, anyone knows if The Sims 3 runs fine on 799 macmini?
Thanks
It runs pretty well on my 2011 13 inch MacBook Air. 25-30 fps on medium graphics. The dedicated GPU in the high end Mini will do tons better probably.
Well, bootcamp is installing windows on your mac mini. Basically you install Windows on a separate partition to your OS X partition, and when you reboot your computer you hold down the option button or something and you can choose what partition to boot into. If you boot into windows, it's exactly the same as running a native windows PC (with different hardware, of course).
Ruahrc