Thoughts For New iMac Gaming

[Mikeeee]

I want to add gaming on my new iMac. High graphic games such as Borderlands 3 and COD for example. I have a couple of questions for the experienced gamers out there:

1) Is 32 GB - 40 GB memory sufficient?
2) Bootcamp or Parallels?
3) 1 TB HD. Would a split of 400 GB for Bootcamp (if I go that route) be sufficient?
4) Will iMac perform at least as well as PS4?

 

[Cookie18]

1. You don’t need more than 16GB for games.
2. Bootcamp.
3. Probably not but it depends on the games, some games are over 200GB these days. Many are around 100GB. Modern Warfare is about 250GB.
4. That depends on the iMac, are you looking to buy one or do you already have one? If you already have one, what model is it?
   

 

[CheesePuff]

Agree that Boot Camp is the only way to go for gaming (Parallels does support DirectX 11 now, but its still a performance hit).. however you can always look into getting an external SSD drive like the Samsung T7 which offers up to 1 GB/sec read and write speeds, a 1 TB is $170. There are many guides on getting the Mac to boot into Boot Camp on an external.

Side note if you were going to go the 1 TB route as a BTO from Apple, IMO get the 5700 GPU upgrade instead and the external SSD route.

 

[Mikeeee]

1. You don’t need more than 16GB for games.
2. Bootcamp.
3. Probably not but it depends on the games, some games are over 200GB these days. Many are around 100GB. Modern Warfare is about 250GB.
4. That depends on the iMac, are you looking to buy one or do you already have one? If you already have one, what model is it?

I just picked up a 2020 i7 8 core 10th generation, 5500XT.

 

[Cookie18]

I just picked up a 2020 i7 8 core 10th generation, 5500XT.

In that case you will be able to play games at higher than PS4 settings at 1080p. You will be able to play most games at high/ultra settings at 1080p.

I’d second getting an external HDD or SSD for games. Games all still run fine on HDDs so you can get more bang for your buck there. Maybe don’t put multiplayer games on the external though as they aren’t as reliable and you can lose connection.

 

[Mikeeee]

In that case you will be able to play games at higher than PS4 settings at 1080p. You will be able to play most games at high/ultra settings at 1080p.

I’d second getting an external HDD or SSD for games. Games all still run fine on HDDs so you can get more bang for your buck there. Maybe don’t put multiplayer games on the external though as they aren’t as reliable and you can lose connection.

Thanks for the info. I'm pretty satisfied with PS4 but wanted to give the new Mac a try if it wasn't too much hassle and no loss on performance.

 

[Cookie18]

Thanks for the info. I'm pretty satisfied with PS4 but wanted to give the new Mac a try if it wasn't too much hassle and no loss on performance.

Nah, it will be a great experience so long as you play in bootcamp. The 5500 XT is a solid graphics card for 1080p gaming.