Macbook Retina Gaming Q&A

Supercow · 24 Jul 2012 at 17:55

My score is still lower - does it need to be plugged in?

Metalface Mark · 24 Jul 2012 at 18:07

Yes probably - i only got 30fps in MW3 and 60 when plugged in.

Seems its a windows 7 driver issue so will need to wait for usb 3.0 drivers for bootcamp.

Logsi · 24 Jul 2012 at 18:17

Metalface Mark said:
Through Mac OS - Writes - 160mb average - Reads 130mb average.

Through bootcamp win 7 - writes 20mb/read 20mb with assd. Which kinda scuppers my plans to put steam onto it if its as slow as 20/20 - im guessing it doesnt have usb 3 drivers in windows, only usb 2?

Hmmm, what's the speed of the drive if it's plugged straight into Sata? I have no prior knowledge of SSDs before getting this CTO/BTO MacBook.

Tempted to grab a 3.5" enclosure as i have a load of them lying around king nothing.

Supercow · 24 Jul 2012 at 18:25

Same really, plugged in...

Metalface Mark · 24 Jul 2012 at 18:36

So steam works fine off the SSD in USB - just went into mac and transferred the steam folder across - i tried max payne 3, it worked just as it would so we are good to go, a bit frustrating about the transfer speed in windows, but it works well in mac os enough, and does the job.

Supercow · 24 Jul 2012 at 18:42

Metalface Mark said:
So steam works fine off the SSD in USB - just went into mac and transferred the steam folder across - i tried max payne 3, it worked just as it would so we are good to go, a bit frustrating about the transfer speed in windows, but it works well in mac os enough, and does the job.

SO does that mean I can have a game installed on a USB3 flash drive?

Metalface Mark · 24 Jul 2012 at 18:54

Supercow said:
SO does that mean I can have a game installed on a USB3 flash drive?

Yeah, works fine

ninja2000 · 24 Jul 2012 at 18:56

Can you not update the usb3 drivers directly from intels website?

Metalface Mark · 24 Jul 2012 at 19:10

I havent tried that yet, Im not sure which ones it is.

Metalface Mark · 24 Jul 2012 at 19:15

Yay, that worked, now getting 125mb reads, 72mb writes with updated intel driver.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/con..._Controller_Driver.zip&lang=eng&Dwnldid=21129

Metalface Mark · 24 Jul 2012 at 19:16

For what its worth with the default drive in windows you get 470mb reads 312mb writes.

Logsi · 24 Jul 2012 at 23:57

You'll have to make symbolic links for them to work just as if they're in the steam folder!

http://guides.macrumors.com/Symbolic_Link_(Fixing_Steam_Content)

I've done this with a few games that i don't want on my SSD, like The Witcher...which runs terribly on OS X.

Logsi · 25 Jul 2012 at 00:01

Supercow said:
Same really, plugged in...

Thanks for that!

Out of interest, do you think we're getting the same scores (even though the Retina 650m is higher clocked) due to the res of the GUI under OS X?

Metalface Mark · 25 Jul 2012 at 00:21

Max Payne at 1280x800 full detail running on the SSD - biggest surprise was a reduction of heat on the keyboard when using the external ssd.

Metalface Mark · 25 Jul 2012 at 10:26

Civ will be done today - just finished installing it, so ill do a video tonight at some point along with Diablo 3 on pc (binned the mac one!)

Logsi · 25 Jul 2012 at 10:29

Tell us how Diablo 3 runs on the windows side of things. There was a patch not so long ago that sorted a lot of the framerate problems the Mac version was having but I'm also told that there is better graphics in the PC version too.

Problem is though, i just can't be arsed to boot into windows all the time.

What percentage do you use each OS? Only reason i have windows installed at the moment is only down to playing Global Offensive. Which runs fantastic by the way.

Metalface Mark · 25 Jul 2012 at 11:15

Logsi said:
Tell us how Diablo 3 runs on the windows side of things. There was a patch not so long ago that sorted a lot of the framerate problems the Mac version was having but I'm also told that there is better graphics in the PC version too.

Problem is though, i just can't be arsed to boot into windows all the time.

What percentage do you use each OS? Only reason i have windows installed at the moment is only down to playing Global Offensive. Which runs fantastic by the way.

I use mac for browsing, work, photo and video, i only boot into windows if im gaming so most time is spent in mac mode, but since configuring my dpi in windows to 200% so im not constantly changing resolution all the time - it looks great Ill probably leave it more on that unless Im doing photo and video stuff.

AbsenceJam · 25 Jul 2012 at 11:55

Mark,
Did you install Windows using an optical drive or USB; If the latter, is it now straightforward and supported or do you need to muck about at all?

Metalface Mark · 25 Jul 2012 at 12:29

AbsenceJam said:
Mark,
Did you install Windows using an optical drive or USB; If the latter, is it now straightforward and supported or do you need to muck about at all?

Just did it with a usb hard drive, was pretty straight forward.

Metalface Mark · 25 Jul 2012 at 12:30

As for diablo - I should have stuck with mac - the mouse doesnt work when DPI is higher than 125%, for 2880x1800 you need it at 150 plus to look comfortable. Does run better than in windows though.

Im installing LA Noire and Left for Dead 2 at the moment.