Performance of Windows games on bootcamp?

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TheCommander

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I have no way to test it out but a friend had a macbook and was wondering how the performance is for Windows games?
 
TheCommander said:
Performance of Windows games on bootcamp? I have no way to test it out but a friend had a macbook and was wondering how the performance is for Windows games?
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Just like it would on a PC. Boot camp is not emulation
 
If it's through Boot Camp and a 3D Game only limiting factor is how powerful the video card in your MacBook is.
 
Playing Mass Effect 2 on my 15" MBP (3.06GHz, 8GB) and runs great. Fans kick in, but I just turn the volume up. :)
 
It plays games exactly how a PC with the same specs would play the game. Generally, a macbook is going to be limited by the graphics chip when it comes to gaming. If you have a 9400M, gaming will be poor/average. If you have a dedicated chip, it will be average/good. Of course resolution, settings, and the game will vary your mileage.

I could not get Dragon Age to play on my 9400M, even at lowest settings, to give you some reference point.
 
ryken said:
It plays games exactly how a PC with the same specs would play the game. Generally, a macbook is going to be limited by the graphics chip when it comes to gaming. If you have a 9400M, gaming will be poor/average. If you have a dedicated chip, it will be average/good. Of course resolution, settings, and the game will vary your mileage.

I could not get Dragon Age to play on my 9400M, even at lowest settings, to give you some reference point.
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Agreed. I think its funny how many laptops are coming out with i7/i5 processors and using integrated graphics. What a waste.
 
It's worth noting that Apple throttles down the GPU clock speeds in their notebooks because of heating concerns in such a thin notebook. You can download a utility to allow you to increase it but that has the potential to damage your notebook, I guess.
 
how is the performance an gaming on a Macbook, with a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, using Parallels or Fusion? Especially DirectX9.0c or 10???
 
Cowcaster88 said:
how is the performance an gaming on a Macbook, with a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, using Parallels or Fusion? Especially DirectX9.0c or 10???
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Even worse than the already less than stellar performance of bootcamp. You will also need a minimum of 4GB of RAM to game through VM's, as both the VM and OSX will simultaneously need their own RAM. The only games I would even consider this option for would be "casual" types that aren't OSX compatible. Stuff like peggle (although there is probably enough of those games supported on OSX to get you by).

I bought my 13" mbp for law school, but figured I would be able to play TF2 and similar games when on the road (specifically over the holidays at parent's and in-law's houses). But I found out that even TF2 isn't great (super low resolution and still only 30fps or so average) in bootcamp.

That being said, the ease of using bootcamp and getting into windows (7) is really great, and when I go that side, rebooting is easy enough that I wouldn't even consider running games in VMs.

If you want to game, you need something better than the 9400m. You should either look at the upgraded 9600gt macbooks, or a non-apple product. The machine is gorgeous, and probably one of my all time favorite pieces of hardware, but it just doesn't game well.
 
CS:S is excellent on my 13" Alum. Macbook with the 9400M in it (fresh install of Windows 7 through Boot Camp).

Keep in mind that it is about 12% faster than an 8500GT, for reference, which I played ME2, DA:O, and GTA4 with nary a problem at 1280x1024 on. Obviously, graphic quality was less than stellar, but the games were playable and enjoyable. It honestly isn't that bad.
 
I have 9600GT 256MB and I can play most games on medium graphics at native res, but I haven't tried too many.

WoW: All highest settings (no AA), 1440x900 smooth
Death to Spies: All highest settings, 1440x900 60+ fps
Demigod: Mix between low and medium, 1440x900 smooth
Tropico 3: Medium, 1440x900 ~25FPS
Penumbra Overture: Highest settings, 1440x900 smooth

Some games though don't play well. Mac port of Bioshock is complete turd at native res, probably ~15 FPS with medium graphics. Due to only 256MB I need to lower res to something like 1024x768 to be playable. I'll try to get the Windows demo one of these days and see how it compares. I have a feeling it's a bad port.

As old as the card is and how overpriced it is in Apple, it's still a decent card for todays games if you aren't a graphics whore.

But don't even think of gaming on 9400M
 
TheGodfather47 said:
Don't be ignorant. Have you even tried it?
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Not personally, but the 9400M is quite a stepdown from 9600GT. My 9600GT doesn't perform all that well, I can only imagine how the 9400M would for any serious games.

And there's a post right in this thread to confirm: TF2 is unplayable at all but the lowest graphics setting and lowest res
 
That's odd, I'm not sure why you're experiencing that. It running Source games at native res with everything on high (no AA/AF, granted) pretty smoothly.

As far as Dragon Age, I think I may have actually had to turn the resolution down on the 8500GT. Regardless, it was still acceptable. All I'm saying is that as long as you aren't picky, the 9400M can game just fine.
 
ryken said:
Even worse than the already less than stellar performance of bootcamp. You will also need a minimum of 4GB of RAM to game through VM's, as both the VM and OSX will simultaneously need their own RAM. The only games I would even consider this option for would be "casual" types that aren't OSX compatible. Stuff like peggle (although there is probably enough of those games supported on OSX to get you by).
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Bootcamp is NOT a VM... Bootcamp isn't anything but a set of drivers... Period.

Windows on a Macbook Pro run no different then it would on a Dell with the exact same specs.

You are very confused.
 
criccio said:
Bootcamp is NOT a VM... Bootcamp isn't anything but a set of drivers... Period.

Windows on a Macbook Pro run no different then it would on a Dell with the exact same specs.

You are very confused.
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The only confused person is yourself. Read the whole thread. You'll notice that the section you quoted is a reply to cowcaster's question about gaming in parallels or fusion. I don't see how you missed that, as I quoted it at the top of my post.... I responded that it would be even worse than if you were in bootcamp, not that bootcamp is a VM.

You'll see above that, I say that bootcamp will play games "exactly how a PC with the same specs would play the game." This shows my complete understanding that bootcamp is not a VM.

In fact, nowhere do I say or imply that bootcamp is a vm.

Read the thread before making baseless judgments. The difference between a VM and bootcamp is elementary. The difference in gaming performance between the two is the issue.
 
ryken said:
Read the thread before making baseless judgments. The difference between a VM and bootcamp is elementary. The difference in gaming performance between the two is the issue.
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What you said is right it just reads a little awkwardly, like none of us haven't written some confusing stuff before.

Yea, there's no point in gaming beyond the VERY basics with an IGP solution. A dedicated GPU is a must. Period. All MBPs execpt the 13 offer a dedicated GPU IIRC.
 
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