Wow performance OS X vs Win7

[JordanNZ]

Honestly I don't think so.
The benchmarks I've seen of the 6970M places it around same performance as the GTX285, and with 2560x1440 compared to my 1680x1050 res it would have a lot more pixels to push around (twice as many pixels actually)

It will probably run at ultra settings, but it won't keep a steady high FPS.

The 6970m has no trouble with wow. If you turn the shadows and sunshafts down a notch or two, you can run at 60fps almost everywhere with vsync on at native resolution. This is in osx.

If you want EVERYTHING up on full, you can run at 30fps with vsync on.

 

[CylonGlitch]

I'm really confused here. No process is ever stopped in the background, when you're playing full screen in Windows you still have everything running just like in OS X. For example, you can have your music in Winamp or get messages through messenger. Besides if all processes except the game was halted the OS couldn't really function. The increase in gaming performance using full screen is identical in both Windows and OS X.

The windows functions such as redrawing the screen, and other background tasks do not need to be executed and thus are disabled. Have you ever seen a game switch out of full screen mode accidentally? You get back to the desktop but you can't do anything. Yes, MS was very clever when it came to optimization of the system for gaming when in full screen. Sure the apps are running, but there is no reason to update the graphical front end until leaving fullscreen mode. Updating the display, is actually quite CPU intensive, and thus this does add more power to the fullscreen app. There are other changes as well; but that's the most obvious.

 

[cluthz]

http://www.barefeats.com/imac11e.html

This test actually shows the iMac is faster in OSX than Win7!
73 vs 66 FPS at high settings. (not ultra...)
The mac drivers must either be very good or the windows drivers bad

(The Narache run test is also producing loads better FPS than 25 man raids in Firelands, so I suppose that with 6970m you'll dip below 30 FPS when sh't hits the fan. I'm still not convinced that it can run ultra at native res when it only gets 73 fps at that test, unless you're happy with 25-30fps)

 

[Dr. McKay]

http://www.barefeats.com/imac11e.html

This test actually shows the iMac is faster in OSX than Win7!
73 vs 66 FPS at high settings. (not ultra...)
The mac drivers must either be very good or the windows drivers bad

Found this all by yourself, did you ?

This is interesting :
http://www.barefeats.com/imac11e.html

What strikes me as odd is that the gap between Win7 and OS X on the iMac is a lot smaller. Wow Cata is even faster in OS X, and this really came as a surprise. Seeing that I mostly play Wow, I wonder if moving to bootcamp was even worth it for me.

Anyway, bit strange that the gap is so much smaller on an iMac and so much bigger on a Mac Pro.

 

[Huntn]

What strikes me as odd is that the gap between Win7 and OS X on the iMac is a lot smaller. Wow Cata is even faster in OS X, and this really came as a surprise. Seeing that I mostly play Wow, I wonder if moving to bootcamp was even worth it for me.

No, maybe for other games, but not for WoW.

 

[Dr. McKay]

No, maybe for other games, but not for WoW.

Bit strange then that clicking on recommended settings in Win7 gives me a "Good" rating overall, whereas in OS X I get between "Low" and "Fair"...

 

[Mr.C]

Bit strange then that clicking on recommended settings in Win7 gives me a "Good" rating overall, whereas in OS X I get between "Low" and "Fair"...

The recommended or default settings that games detect are not always accurate. I wouldn't go by that as a basis of comparison.

 

[superfula]

The windows functions such as redrawing the screen, and other background tasks do not need to be executed and thus are disabled. Have you ever seen a game switch out of full screen mode accidentally? You get back to the desktop but you can't do anything.

I switch in and out of full-screen games routinely and have never seen this mysterious bug you speak of. Sounds like you have some Windows issues there.

Switching out of a full-screen game gives you a fully usable desktop.

 

[CylonGlitch]

I switch in and out of full-screen games routinely and have never seen this mysterious bug you speak of. Sounds like you have some Windows issues there.

Switching out of a full-screen game gives you a fully usable desktop.

It only happens when a game crashes, not when you switch out. Why? Because when switching out it restores the settings. You need to find a game that is known buggy, has issues that causes it to crash suddenly, and then you can experience the joy of the locked desktop. Fortunately, this really doesn't happen all that often anymore, but it did so a lot more during the earlier days of Direct X.