How good is the gaming on a mac via windows?

Sherm · 19 Oct 2008 at 23:06

Like the title says really. I would love to fully move to a mac, but do like the odd killfest on my pc, so was wondering if gaming via bootcamp or parallels or something is any good?

PardonTheWait · 19 Oct 2008 at 23:10

Well it depends what Mac. They run windows properly, so work it out from the specs

iSam · 19 Oct 2008 at 23:48

My MBP runs Quake 4 almost top spec.

wij · 20 Oct 2008 at 00:24

As Mohinder said, if you're using bootcamp it will run it exactly the same as any native windows machine would with the same specs. Latest MBP's have prety decent mobile graphics in them, iMac's are a bit behind the times now so you probably wouldn't want to run things full detail etc. A MacPro with the 8800Gt in it isn't a bad option, you can always just put a second card in only for windows use (won't show up under OS X because of the card bios not being right or something).

Wouldn't really recommend using something like Paralells or VMWare et al for it though, limited support for latest direct x and all that, bit of a waste imo of time doing it that way.

nichorob · 20 Oct 2008 at 14:27

Am I right in thinking that you can only use 32bit versions of XP / Vista with Bootcamp? Therefore 4Gb would be worthless?

iSam · 20 Oct 2008 at 14:37

No you can use 64bit versions.

TheVoice · 20 Oct 2008 at 14:46

The 8800GS available on thw 24" iMacs is fairly capable, compared to the quite poor 2600 Pro.

Sherm · 20 Oct 2008 at 22:21

Sounds promising, it's just something that i was thinking, as i might shift over completly to mac (have a mbp, but still use pc for games etc). I am sure that Apple will update the graphics side of the iMac's which would make things a little more even....

The main question was answered though and that was the windows side of things, never run bootcamp only paralels.

Strife212 · 20 Oct 2008 at 22:44

Not too bad, the graphics hardware available isn't the best though.

tsinc80697 · 20 Oct 2008 at 23:14

Best choices are on a mac pro, 4870 or 8800GT

TheVoice · 21 Oct 2008 at 02:05

Sherm said:
I am sure that Apple will update the graphics side of the iMac's which would make things a little more even....

Not really; by the time Apple have updated the graphics chipsets, the PC graphics card market will already be miles ahead in performance. The only things that they tend to stay quite current on are CPU speeds.

r44b · 21 Oct 2008 at 02:42

I was in exactly the same boat as you before i got my Mac. I fully expected it not to run them as well as my PC etc. That was until i actually got my Mac and found that it ran every game just as well if not better than my PC used to.
Obviously it isnt built for gaming, but it is more than adequate for the vast majority of games and gamers.
I play crap loads of BF2, UT3, CS:S, EVE, Lineage 2, TF2 and have had no bother what so ever with running them on mainly high settings with my 8800GT Mac Pro

Speedy · 21 Oct 2008 at 12:26

r44b said:
I was in exactly the same boat as you before i got my Mac. I fully expected it not to run them as well as my PC etc. That was until i actually got my Mac and found that it ran every game just as well if not better than my PC used to.
Obviously it isnt built for gaming, but it is more than adequate for the vast majority of games and gamers.
I play crap loads of BF2, UT3, CS:S, EVE, Lineage 2, TF2 and have had no bother what so ever with running them on mainly high settings with my 8800GT Mac Pro

My Mac Pro (8800GT) runs Crysis Warhead on 3/4 of the highest quality without AA. Half-Life 2, Test Drive Unlimited, Devil May Cry 4 and GTA: SA all on the highest with AA. Gaming on the Mac Pro works fine, especially for CPU intensive games

manic_man · 21 Oct 2008 at 13:24

Just a thought (not a Mac expert), is it not possible to simply upgrade the card that comes with the Mac to a latest GTX 280 or something similar? I assume given they are including last gen cards like the 8800GT and its basically a core2duo system, it must be using a PCI-E card?

There may be other issues i guess, power supply, BIOS locks etc.

Just a thought though.

Sherm · 21 Oct 2008 at 18:47

The problem here si that if i do get the chance to go down the all mac route then i don't stand a chance of getting a mac pro, would love one, have them at work and they are awsome, just out my budget for home. he problem is that i would never get enough for my current pc rig to get the cash up

So at best i would be looking at a 24" iMac, which by no means would i be unhappy with