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The ATI HD 5750 in the iMac is a mobility 5850.
- Thread starter TMRaven
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To what extent? How well could you make the new iMac perform comparing to an alienware or conventional gaming PC to play latest games and graphic intensive games?
Also I want to thank you as you have helped alot of people including myself
Well, theoretically that chip should go above 900MHz because it's based on desktop 5770 which has stock clock of 850MHz. That might run too hot because desktop 5770 is rated at 108W. I would say 725-750MHz should work without issues. That's little more than 5870 and already 20% increase from 625MHz (stock clock).
Maybe someone can try it for us? I'm not that familiar with GPU OCing, especially mobility chips but that chip does have a lot potential.
Use MSI afterburner to overclock, I've found that quite a few other overclocking utilities have problems (at least with my 4850) with mobility cards. Speed wise I run my 4850 at a higher speed then the desktop version so the 5850m shouldn't have any problems, just remember to use SMC fan control.
I remember now, I used MSI Afterburner. It didn't work though, it doesn't officially support mobile GPUs.
Is it safe to OC my iMac a little? And is there even much benefit?
EDIT: Is it safe to use AMD GPU Overclocking Tool to OC my GPU? Has anyone done it before?
MSI Afterburner should work if you enable unofficial overclocking
AMD GPU tool should work too but you have to re-overclock at every startup as it doesn't remember your settings.
AMD GPU tool should work too but you have to re-overclock at every startup as it doesn't remember your settings.
Bottom line for me, does anyone know if I'll be able to run Empire: Total War at decent settings with Windows 7 on the 27" i7 with the 5750?
I am sure you will. That game even runs on 9400m without any problems. Hell, I run WOW on 9400m on my MBP because I am too lazy to turn the 9600m on and it literally flies.
I am pretty sure that WoW is getting a graphics update to support DX10 which will make it more graphically demanding?
So I doubt that any mac will be able to run it all maxed out.
upgrade?
I recently (stupidly as I knew an upgrade was imminent) bought an imac 27 inch i5 with the 4850, but had never played a game before in my life so wasnt too bothered about gaming performance!! After trying half-Life 2 I am now utterly addicted, so was wondering if it is worth the effort and cost to sell my one month old imac and get the new one with the 5750? I would do it if I was guaranteed a NOTICEABLE improvement in gaming performance, but will there be? I havent used any games in bootcamp yet but plan to set Win7 up to do it.
I have read about overclocking the 4850 in bootcamp, so would this help performance on my current imac.
Not sure what to do - i do want better performance. For example, I cant play half-life 2 at native res on my imac (via steam). At one level down of resolution HL 2 episode 2, for example, is fantastic all the way through apart from one scene when the advisor goes crazy and picks Alex and Gordon up then goes away (the sound goes completely). I tried a demo of bioshock for Mac and it seemed very good at native res, so is this just about software rather than the 4850. Would bootcamp in my current Mac be the good enough as I want to try more up to date games at good settings or should i upgrade to the new imac.
thanks for any ideas - the recent posts here suggest it would be difficult decision unless cost is not an issue.
I recently (stupidly as I knew an upgrade was imminent) bought an imac 27 inch i5 with the 4850, but had never played a game before in my life so wasnt too bothered about gaming performance!! After trying half-Life 2 I am now utterly addicted, so was wondering if it is worth the effort and cost to sell my one month old imac and get the new one with the 5750? I would do it if I was guaranteed a NOTICEABLE improvement in gaming performance, but will there be? I havent used any games in bootcamp yet but plan to set Win7 up to do it.
I have read about overclocking the 4850 in bootcamp, so would this help performance on my current imac.
Not sure what to do - i do want better performance. For example, I cant play half-life 2 at native res on my imac (via steam). At one level down of resolution HL 2 episode 2, for example, is fantastic all the way through apart from one scene when the advisor goes crazy and picks Alex and Gordon up then goes away (the sound goes completely). I tried a demo of bioshock for Mac and it seemed very good at native res, so is this just about software rather than the 4850. Would bootcamp in my current Mac be the good enough as I want to try more up to date games at good settings or should i upgrade to the new imac.
thanks for any ideas - the recent posts here suggest it would be difficult decision unless cost is not an issue.
Wait for some gaming benchmarks, it's too early to say. How old is it? If it's fairly new, you may be able to return it.
@hedgehogmac, There won't be a huge speed difference between the old and new machines. So long as you crank up your fans using SMC fan control then overclocking and Bootcamp is the way to go. With my 4850 I'm currently running at core - 650 Mhz (stock - 500 Mhz) and RAM - 970 Mhz (stock - 850 Mhz), could probably get them higher too. My temps never go above 62 C.
Even a year ago, the 4850 was not a powerful card. It was the GPU of choice for budget PC gamers, building rigs in and around the $500 mark. The fact that it was the best card Apple could fit into its $2000 iMac was pathetic. By the time those machines reach their 2nd birthday it will be difficult to play new games on medium settings.
So at the heart of these gripes is future proofing. As fans of Apple's stuff we'd all LOVE to own one of the new iMacs, but it is a very hard purchase to justify given that you are paying BIG money for what is only a moderately powered computer.
We all accept that the thin design makes high powered components and upgradability difficult from an engineering standpoint, the problem is Apple leaves us nowhere to go except the Mac Pro, which is even less value for money.
Enjoy your iMac, it's truly amazing machine if you can afford it, and don't play games.
Well, my current iMac which is a white plastic one has a Mobility X1600 with stock clock of 450/470 (core/memory). I'm able to play safely (no artifact/bugs/reboot at all) with around 515/700 (don't have the exact numbers as I'm on the OSX side). So, that's around 15% and 50% of increase in my plastic 20".
The 27" Aluminum should be a pretty good enclosure to get great OC from the GPU. Hell, people even OC this GPU in the big gaming laptops made of plastic !
I'm pretty sure, the GPU could reach a minimum of 10/15% increase from the 5870 stock clock.
When I OC my GPU, the enclosure doesn't really get much hotter than with the stock clock and I live in a city where we get more than 35° C constantly in the summer.
Its only a month old but will be two months old when I get back (I am traveling for work). I was wondering if I could go back to where I bought it and complain of several problems such as overheating, random start up/shut down problems etc and just want a replacement as i feel i have duff machine!! (lol). By the way I live in central America so it is not official apple store. I could probably bribe the guy in the shop with 50 bucks!!! (just kidding).
By the way - can a PC be used via the imac 27 inch display. I would be willing to build a gaming PC if that was possible (even though I am a Mac person). I would do it gradually as I enjoy a project and am attracted by the idea of having awesome graphics and game peformance via the Mac monitor. I thought is wasnt possible!
sorry getting off subject but after using the 27 inch imac display, i cant go back to anything else!! thanks to all for help - much appreciated
Apparently we can overclock the graphics card to perform 40% better so I assume we could play some decent games?
Hopefully in 6 months steve will actually think about gamers.
thanks very much - you mentioned msi afterburner: do you have any links to help me with doing all this or do I just need to download that in windows and follw fairly simple instructions? Thanks again
4850 was never for budget PCs. It's the third best Radeon 4000 series card, same as 5850 is now. You were not able to build 500$ rig with 4850 if you bought all parts as new. How do you know that it won't be able to play games? It's similar to 5750 so not a bad chip.
Macs have never been competitive in terms of performance/price ratio so what were you waiting for? Apple doesn't care about gamers
Any Mac can play games fine, just don't have too high expectations. If gaming performance is important, then you shouldn't even think about Mac unless you have a console or PC for gaming.
I don't get it why people keep whining all the time. If you want stunning graphics and great FPS, get a PC. It's that simple. The GPU was upgraded and is better that its predecessor, that should be enough and what we expected. If you were expecting desktop 58xx, then you had way too high expectations. It's sad but life isn't always fair. You can't have everything. If you want iMac which is AIO, you will have to make compromises in performance. I'd love to see iMac with high-end desktop GPU but given the current design and parts being used, it doesn't seem possible. Plus, what would be the meaning of Mac Pro then?
I haven't tested it myself but playing at 1280x720 should look pretty good on a 27" as it's exactly half the native resolution, so pixels are simply quadrupled in size. Much better than a weird ratio when going from 1280x800 to 1680x1050 for example.
From my experience with my old X1600, you're better off playing at a lower resolution with 2x/4x AA than native with no AA.
From my experience with my old X1600, you're better off playing at a lower resolution with 2x/4x AA than native with no AA.
Yeah, that can be done. Just make sure the GPU has (Mini) DisplayPort so you don't need 200$ adapter. There were some issues with some GPUs so maybe some can advice us what GPUs work with iMac (IIRC only 5970 works from 5xxx series), but it's possibly and definitely not hard.
MSI Afterburner
SMC Fan Control
Unofficial overclocking on MSI Afterburner
To get SMC to work you need to crank up your fan speeds (try 2000 - 2500) on the OS X side of things and restart (not shut down and reboot) into Windows. Download Afterburner and install and then you may need to enable the unofficial overclocking. Try boosting speed in small steps and as soon as you see any artifacting in 3D games then clock down a bit.
Use GPU-Z to check GPU temps, anything over 75 - 80 IMO is getting a bit warm for comfort so either downclock a bit or boost your fan speeds under SMC under OS X.
If I use SMC can I reset it back to default so my OSX/Windows fans are normal?
My 4850M after an intense bout of Crysis Wars is at about 73c. However, the Shader Core and MEMIO were around 83c, according to GPU-Z, does that matter? Is my GPU temp 73c or 83c? I'm leaning towards the former.
How can you say something so stupid when modern warfare runs in natve res all settings maxed at 70fps on the new imac i5 quad core with 5750. Apple has almost put the cast you can fit in the imac, and you still moan. GO away.
Its so dumb.
Sure, just use switch the fan speeds back to normal with SmcFanControl. You can create different profiles, I have 3 different. Default which has default fan speeds, normal which I usually use and has little faster fan speeds and cooling which has noticeably faster fans.
Those temps seems normal to me, over 90c is getting little hot