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Why can't Macs run games like PCs?

S

spawn135

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 12, 2007
24
0
Hi everybody,
I am new to Mac and this forum, so excuse me for basic questions.

Now that Intel Macs can run Windows natively using Bootcamp, why can't they run all the Windows games smoothly?

Someone with a new SR MBP wrote that he couldn't play Tomb Raider Anniversary because the framerate was way too low...how can that be?

A lot of people can't even seem to get the games working or installed...Why?

Thanks in advance...
 
If they are running Windows under bootcamp then effectively you have a PC, and it should behave exactly like any other PC.

If they are trying to run Windows games in parallels or vmware then they might have problems.
 
Might be outta date, (I don't know games), but my friend used to talk about Open GL not being able to keep up with the Direct X PCs use. This was about a year ago.
 
seany916 said:
Might be outta date, (I don't know games), but my friend used to talk about Open GL not being able to keep up with the Direct X PCs use. This was about a year ago.
Click to expand...

That's only an issue for games that are ported for use in Mac OS X.

I think the original poster refers to Macs that are booted into Windows via BootCamp.
 
Well, when you're booted into Windows games can use DirectX so I don't think that's an issue.

The new SR MBP's have a new graphics card and I daresay it'll take a little while for the drivers to get sorted out, that's all :) In Windows you can expect similar performance to any similarly spec'd PC laptop.

Also, maybe this person playing TR had the graphics settings way too high or something? The M8600GT is good, but it's no match for a modern tower/workstation class GPU.
 
Yes. I mean running Windows via Bootcamp...not Parallels.

So the problem is due to the lack of the GeForce 8600M drivers? How can I upgrade the drivers? Are they even available yet? Doe this mean PC users suffer from the same problem (like miniConvert said)?

Why would game makers release games that are not supported by even the best of the GPUs?

Thanks to all of you for the insight!
 
spawn135 said:
Yes. I mean running Windows via Bootcamp...not Parallels.

So the problem is due to the lack of the GeForce 8600M drivers? How can I upgrade the drivers? Are they even available yet? Doe this mean PC users suffer from the same problem (like miniConvert said)?

Why would game makers release games that are not supported by even the best of the GPUs?

Thanks to all of you for the insight!
Click to expand...

Mobile GPUs are NOT as good as their desktop brothers.

I get double the performance easily out of an X1900 XT in a desktop than I do out of an X1600 Mobile. /Double/

Plus, when game developers release games, they are usually targetting GPUs a generation newer than what is on the market. This is so that the games keep a shelf life of a year or so, and when those new GPUs hit market, they can run the game on high settings.

FEAR barely got 30 fps on my old x1600-based MBP.
 
I run Tomb Raider Anniversary on my intel core 2 duo iMac in windows via bootcamp perfectly. It actually runs better on my mac then it does on my friends new pc!
 
Krevnik said:
Mobile GPUs are NOT as good as their desktop brothers.

I get double the performance easily out of an X1900 XT in a desktop than I do out of an X1600 Mobile. /Double/

Plus, when game developers release games, they are usually targetting GPUs a generation newer than what is on the market. This is so that the games keep a shelf life of a year or so, and when those new GPUs hit market, they can run the game on high settings.

FEAR barely got 30 fps on my old x1600-based MBP.
Click to expand...

Chances are you would get double the framerate compared to the desktop version of the x1600 as well.
 
JackSwing said:
wat's the differences between bootcamp n parallel? How 2 do a bootcamp?
Click to expand...

Parallels runs side by side with Mac OS X. So the computer shares everything between windows and OS X, but also makes the system slower because either system only has 1/2 of what the computer has. Bootcamp lets you run Windows natively and it has full access to everything, essentially your mac becomes a windows machine. It's great for gaming! And it's fast.
 
That Macs can't run games as well as PC's is a myth, nowadays with the Intel processors. Some time ago, devs just didn't optimize their code for the Mac so well, or had problems doing so because of the game being originally developed for Windows. During porting, OS X missed a lot.

However, games now run as fast on Macs as their PC counterparts. Take a look at every Cider port out there, or any Intel-only game.
 
Soulstorm said:
That Macs can't run games as well as PC's is a myth, nowadays with the Intel processors. Some time ago, devs just didn't optimize their code for the Mac so well, or had problems doing so because of the game being originally developed for Windows. During porting, OS X missed a lot.

However, games now run as fast on Macs as their PC counterparts. Take a look at every Cider port out there, or any Intel-only game.
Click to expand...
I think the rub is the lack of high end comparable Macs to the C2Q TSLI Windows systems out there. But in the end we all got Macs, so I am not sure what we were expecting. Macs have never been able to keep up with Windows PC's in the gaming arena. I doubt they ever will. :(

The aftermath of that is some persons here really discount games, there are the normal claims that games are niche (which is more or less true for PC gaming). Or that running without AA or AF doesn't make some games look like poo (which isn't true). Or that running at 16x12 is a high resolution (it isn't). Or that the X1900 is as fast as the newer GPU's out (it isn't). That is why I don't expect Apple to change. Their userbase has already came up with the rationale as to why they don't have to. And to top it all off, the very same people who detest Windows is willing to give Gates money to be able to even play games (on the Mac in bootcamp). Grr the whole gaming debacle irritates me :mad:.
 
Soulstorm said:
That Macs can't run games as well as PC's is a myth, nowadays with the Intel processors. Some time ago, devs just didn't optimize their code for the Mac so well, or had problems doing so because of the game being originally developed for Windows. During porting, OS X missed a lot.

However, games now run as fast on Macs as their PC counterparts. Take a look at every Cider port out there, or any Intel-only game.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that. The Mac graphics card market (or lack thereof) holds it back from running games as well as PCs.
 
diamond.g said:
I think the rub is the lack of high end comparable Macs to the C2Q TSLI Windows systems out there. But in the end we all got Macs, so I am not sure what we were expecting. Macs have never been able to keep up with Windows PC's in the gaming arena. I doubt they ever will. :(
Click to expand...

It wouldn't really be that hard to do though. What's needed is a market for video cards on the Mac. Of course that's not going to change until there are Macs aside from the Mac Pros that use standard upgradable video cards.

And I guess Apple continues to feel that a midrange non-integrated Mac would either not sell or would eat into Mac Pro sales. Which I don't think is true. Its certainly the reason why I can't switch to the Mac on the desktop.
 
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