Wait for new Mac Pro or go for the windows alternatives?

[NickRichyRich]

Hello everyone,

I have been thinking a lot and trying to make a hard decision. To give everyone some background I am a college student going for my major in Computer Information Technology and minoring in Human Computer Interaction. I wouldn't really consider my self a gammer but I am really into World of Warcraft.

It is time for me to upgrade my computer and get something that is going to last me for awhile. I have been considering waiting for the new Mac Pro, being since I prefer Mac OSX over Windows and I have been dabbling into app development for OSX and IOS. I also prefer how everything Apple simply works together with ease. But I am worried that If I go with the Mac Pro I will be disappointed with the graphics performance in WoW being since I record much of the game footage for the guild and edit it. With a Windows machine I know I can just throw in another graphics card and everything should be fine. But I would really prefer the whole Mac experience compared to the aging and some what misguided Windows platform.

If anyone has some advice it would be greatly appreciate! Really just here to learn and get a greater perspective. Again I would like to stress that I am not going to be using the Mac Pro as a gaming machine but would like to make sure that I will get the performance that I am looking for something that I know is going to be a large investment.

Thanks

 

[dollystereo]

Wow performance

I was a hardcore Wow player until 5.3 (priest ftw!), and I have played in many machines.
The game is not very intensive, but 25 man could drag some power.
Any desktop mac would do perfectly fine with WOW, the current mac pro with the top of the line GPU, the 1799 imac or any macbook pro with discrete graphics.
As the new mac pro may come in soon, I think is wiser for your case to get a new imac when they upgrade to the new processors. The imac is goning to be better for your needs, It has a extremely fast processor, and excellent 27" display and the graphis are really fast. (the new mac pro has professional level graphics, not that good for games)
I played in a macbook pro late 2011, and It's enough.

 

[\-V-/]

The new Mac Pro would take a steamy dump all over World of Warcraft without batting an eyelash. That game doesn't require very much to run on maxed out settings. If you happened to play WoW on it... it would be massive overkill.

 

[NickRichyRich]

Awesome! Thanks for the replies guys! I have to say I think I am going to go ahead and go with the Mac Pro when it comes out. I like the amount of power it has to offer and I am interested in the fact that you might be able to upgrade GPUs via Thunderbolt. Will still be interesting to see what happens though!

Thanks again!

 

[\-V-/]

Awesome! Thanks for the replies guys! I have to say I think I am going to go ahead and go with the Mac Pro when it comes out. I like the amount of power it has to offer and I am interested in the fact that you might be able to upgrade GPUs via Thunderbolt. Will still be interesting to see what happens though!

Thanks again!

You can upgrade the internal GPUs... from what I've read.

 

[NickRichyRich]

Really! Wonder if they are some how hot swappable or something of the sort 0_0. Will be interesting to see, wonder if you are going to have to put your own thermal paste on and what not with the new heat sink design. No matter that is super easy for something that is always nice to have the option to upgrade!

 

[GroundLoop]

You can upgrade the internal GPUs... from what I've read.

Where did you see this? My understanding is that while the GPUs can be switched out, since they are proprietary cards, you won't be able to purchase them from anyone but Apple. Even if they do offer them for sale (and I don't think they will), the installation of these cards may be difficult depending on how the GPUs connect to the "thermal core".

I wouldn't bet on upgradeable GPUs.

GL

 

[\-V-/]

Where did you see this? My understanding is that while the GPUs can be switched out, since they are proprietary cards, you won't be able to purchase them from anyone but Apple. Even if they do offer them for sale (and I don't think they will), the installation of these cards may be difficult depending on how the GPUs connect to the "thermal core".

I wouldn't bet on upgradeable GPUs.

GL

They aren't proprietary GPUs.

 

[Tesselator]

The new Mac Pro would take a steamy dump all over World of Warcraft without batting an eyelash. That game doesn't require very much to run on maxed out settings. If you happened to play WoW on it... it would be massive overkill.

This is very true. I've tried all popular OS X native games and with just an upgraded MacPro1,1 (x5355 (8-core 2.66GHz), GTX 570, 32GB 667MHz RAM) there's only one game that isn't "very fast" at 1920x1080 with everything turned on and set to max. So for sure even a MP5,1 at 3.xGHz would be great. The trouble is that no games run "great" on OS X compared to Windows - and I'm going to assume bootcamp as well. When it comes to games OS X code and structure is simply inferior! It's inferior to huge degree too - like very close to half speed given identical hardware. And of course the other problem is that there just aren't very many game studios writing for OS X. Thus the number of titles available for OS X is a mere fraction of that available for Windows.


I don't dig dual boot solutions (like Boot Camp) myself but if you don't mind restarting every time you wanna game the MP6,1 would be fine - otherwise if gaming is important to you I would get a fast WinTel machine which can also run Hackintosh.

 

[\-V-/]

This is very true. I've tried all popular OS X native games and with just an upgraded MacPro1,1 (x5355 (8-core 2.66GHz), GTX 570, 32GB 667MHz RAM) there's only one game that isn't "very fast" at 1920x1080 with everything turned on and set to max. So for sure even a MP5,1 at 3.xGHz would be great. The trouble is that no games run "great" on OS X compared to Windows - and I'm going to assume bootcamp as well. When it comes to games OS X code and structure is simply inferior! It's inferior to huge degree too - like very close to half speed given identical hardware. And of course the over problem is that there just aren't very many game studios writing for OS X. Thus the number of titles available for OS X is a mere fraction of that available for Windows.

That is true and unfortunate. On my Hackintosh... a game on the Windows side will sometimes have twice the frame rate than its OS X counterpart simply based on the better driver support... sometimes even higher graphics options available. It's rather frustrating, but at least I can game in Windows if need be. The driver support makes a huge difference. When I get updates from NVIDIA, it'll say crap like "40% better performance with BioShock". You just don't get that kind of driver gaming support in OS X. The only updates I ever get from NVIDIA are CUDA drivers.

Fortunately for the OP, Blizzard tends to care more about OS X than other devs, and WoW for OS X is entirely 64-bit and runs smooth. It still runs better in Windows, though.

 

[GroundLoop]

They aren't proprietary GPUs.

Bad choice of words. It is a proprietary form factor for the card. I believe that GPU cards in that form factor will not be available in the retail market. Either way, I don't think that you will be able to upgrade them easily after purchase.

GL

 

[Nightarchaon]

Bad choice of words. It is a proprietary form factor for the card. I believe that GPU cards in that form factor will not be available in the retail market. Either way, I don't think that you will be able to upgrade them easily after purchase.

GL

Yup, much like the laptop MXM "standard" thats actually completely non-standard outside the manufacturing channel this Mac Pro is worse than the iMac for upgradeability, and thats saying something , apple are attempting to reduce the staying power of the MacPro and turn it into a 3year replacement cycle disposable item like its other products. They have to keep making money somehow now they have killed the desktop and laptop markets with the iPad and people are buying android phones for the larger form factors and features lol

 

[\-V-/]

Either way, I don't think that you will be able to upgrade them easily after purchase.

Not without much effort, I imagine. :/

The GPUs are just normal AMD workstation GPUs, but the way they're attached to the thermal core is the problem.

 

[Tesselator]

...My understanding is that while the GPUs can be switched out, since they are proprietary cards, you won't be able to purchase them from anyone but Apple.

I wouldn't bet on upgradeable GPUs.

GL

They aren't proprietary GPUs.

Yes they are. The central GPU chip isn't but the cards are!

And we totally know how apple likes to play it too. Just like with the MacPro1,1 I bet for the first six to eight months there will only be one or two cards available - and they'll add another one or two only when the first round is old and under-speced.!

 

[\-V-/]

Yes they are. The central GPU chip isn't but the cards are!

Well then... boo!

 

[GroundLoop]

Yup, much like the laptop MXM "standard" thats actually completely non-standard outside the manufacturing channel this Mac Pro is worse than the iMac for upgradeability, and thats saying something , apple are attempting to reduce the staying power of the MacPro and turn it into a 3year replacement cycle disposable item like its other products. They have to keep making money somehow now they have killed the desktop and laptop markets with the iPad and people are buying android phones for the larger form factors and features lol

This is where I see Apple failing. They will not be able to price this machine appropriately to provide a solid ROI for the customer on a three year lifecycle.

GL

 

[Nightarchaon]

This is where I see Apple failing. They will not be able to price this machine appropriately to provide a solid ROI for the customer on a three year lifecycle.

GL

Yeah, in my mind a pro machine needs to be a shell which can be incrementally upgraded, with the ability to upgrade GPU and CPU as needed , until the motherboard tech needs replacing, then its buy a new chassis time

 

[spaz8]

I thought it was the size. The cards in the new mac pro look like they are 60% the length of a "normal" double lane GPU.

 

[Wardenski]

A new Mac Pro for World of Warcraft?!

But if your richy rich then why not I suppose.

 

[sirio76]

This is where I see Apple failing. They will not be able to price this machine appropriately to provide a solid ROI for the customer on a three year lifecycle.

GL

What is in your opinion a solid ROI over a 3 years period?

 

[Wardenski]

GPUs via Thunderbolt. Thanks again!

Good luck.

 

[Macsonic]

Maybe an iMac would be a better option for now and later you can decide on the Mac Pro.

 

[mslide]

You'd pay all that money just to play WoW? WoW doesn't require a lot of horsepower at all. Even with the latest expansions, it's still an old game that doesn't require a top of the line graphics card to get very good framerates. You could build a windows PC for $700 that would run WoW just as well as a new Mac Pro. Heck, you could build a gaming PC and buy a 13" MBP, or mini, and still be well under the cost of a new MP.

It's your money but you're wasting it.

 

[goMac]

Ha. If there is anything to worry about with the new Mac Pro, it is not the GPU performance. The Mac Pro should have very good GPU performance.

But in since we don't know prices or the full range of GPU options it's a bit early to decide if it's going to be a good deal or not. As other's have mentioned, the iMac is very capable at playing WoW too.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

Gaming on Apple computers

Gaming on Apple computers died when the Apple II line was disconnected.

The Apple II was geared toward Education and Gaming. The Macintosh was the Professional computer geared primarily for Desktop Publishing and basically a failed attempt at competing with IBMs and Clones (PCs) in the office place.

----------

An iMac will have better gaming performance than the new Mac Pro. The iMac has gaming class GPUs. The workstation class GPUs of the New Mac Pro are not designed for nor ever intended to be used for gaming. Sure you can play games on it but what a waste of hardware and money.