selling my gaming rig for new custom 27inch imac O_O;

Dan

Dan

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Other then my iphone, the only Mac product I really owned was a 2010 15" MBP and I love'd the shit out of it... running windows lol. I ended up partitioning the disk to have like 30gb for OSX and the rest for windows. I felt it was insanely fast, Sturdy build quality and just down right sexy. I sold it within a few months because that's just what I do. I currently have a pretty nice Rig right now but I find myself gaming less and less as time goes on. Im about to have my SECOND child in april so what ever time I did have is now gone. So I have a few questions.

The build i plan on doing is
27 inches, i5, 8gb of ram, the 2gb 680 and 1tb fusion drive.

Question 1. Assuming the 680 is the mobile GPU, and should that be able to play BF3 on full resolution on med/high? i hope so.
2. Ive seen these hybrid drives in the past (primarly the Seagate something) Ive only seen reviews of read/write using OSX. will windows 7 still utilize the fusion capabilities?
3. Please tell me i can upgrade the ram on my own. I hate apple for doing this permanent RAM gig.
4. I plan on partitioning the Drive once again as i'm a dominant PC user.
 
Dude I would wait. The Apple forums are full of people whining about bootcamp compatibility with Fusion drives. I don't even know if bootcamp drivers are even available for the newer 2012 iMacs. If your intention is to use the new iMac as a Windows based PC now is not the time to buy. You'll basically be a beta tester for Apple.
 
from what i understood it was for the 3tb drives, thanks for pointing it out though, ill do more research
 
correct its the 3tb drives, and its not the mac thats the issue, its the Windows limitation of beyond 2tb drives thats the issue

I just did the same thing as you, I seldome game anymore, i dont have the room for a monster rig anymore, so the new imac is perfect, still decent power with a great display and enough power to run my games that i do still play, and they ones i play even run on OSX so no bootcamp i hope

torchlight 2 (coming soon) guild wars 2 and portal 2....d3 i havent touched in ages, same with wow, or sc2 but all work on OSX if i choose to reinstall

form reading the 680 is actually a full 680 gpu just clocked lower, its not like your going all the way down to a crippled mobile gpu, i think i read it performs somewhere around a 675 desktop gpu which aint bad

1tb fusion drive should run bootcamp fine, although you wont get SSD benefits but not a huge deal, you can find the workarounds online to install bootcamp on a thunderbolt SSD if you really need

yes corsair sells the 32gb memory kit for ~ 170$ (vs apples 600$ upgrade cost) my ram should be here tomorrow , iMac is still 3-4 weeks out

been doing alot of reading before i ordered, ive never owned a mac but ive used them at work for years, the only thing id suggest is get the apple care.... you wont be servicing it yourself if something happens aside from ram upgrade your SOL..which kind of makes me sad but the more time i do the IT thing at work, the less I want to do it at home... i just want to sit down and listen to music, surf, edit pics and maybe some torchlight II

its sad really my iphone, and ipad both have native apps replaced by google apps (maps, mail, chrome) and my iMac will be the same, Chrome, gmail, and picasa, iPhoto folder management pisses me off, i have like 4500 pics in 100+ folders and i cant just impost the folder format into iphoto... but picasa just lets you point to a folder and away you go
 
Yea. I feel the same, I rarely play bf3 anymore and find myself doing just WvW in gw2. And playing dragon ball online lol. I'm also thinking about just getting a nice 27 inch screen instead of NVSURROUND. Idk yet, 2400 is hard to swallow.
 
Can you guys tell me something? How much $$ did you guys pay in total for these top of the line imacs?
 
mine is the I5, 8gb of ram, 1tb fusion drive, 680mx with a trackpad (i own a R.A.T 9 gaming mouse).
mine is going to be ~2600
 
they are the same for everyone is you configure at apple.com or .ca (took apple long enough to realize our CAD is just as strong if not more so than USD right now lol)

I kept speccing a custom PC for myself with a 2560x1440 screen and it comes out to a very similar cost as the loaded imac, sure itll be a little faster with a full 680 vs the 680mx and a 480 ssd vs 1tb fusion

mac pro is kind of irreverent given the cost with the new imac, i imagine you'll see an overhaul and update on that soon (and matching price tag)
 
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That's a decent rig, what motherboard do you have? have you considered the hackintosh route? My brother in law has an iMac. I'm in the process of building him a storage array for him. I'm currently running on a 2600k on a Asrock Z68 board with Mountain Lion 10.8.2. Three SSD's two being M4's for each OS ( Mountain Lion and Win7 ) and the 3rd is for games.
 
Boot camp runs the SATA bus in legacy IDE mode, disabling AHCI. Your Fusion drive will be slower as a result. IMO running Windows on a Mac 24/7 is so not worth it.
 
pliskin679 said:
Other then my iphone, the only Mac product I really owned was a 2010 15" MBP and I love'd the shit out of it... running windows lol. I ended up partitioning the disk to have like 30gb for OSX and the rest for windows. I felt it was insanely fast, Sturdy build quality and just down right sexy. I sold it within a few months because that's just what I do. I currently have a pretty nice Rig right now but I find myself gaming less and less as time goes on. Im about to have my SECOND child in april so what ever time I did have is now gone. So I have a few questions.

The build i plan on doing is
27 inches, i5, 8gb of ram, the 2gb 680 and 1tb fusion drive.

Question 1. Assuming the 680 is the mobile GPU, and should that be able to play BF3 on full resolution on med/high? i hope so.
2. Ive seen these hybrid drives in the past (primarly the Seagate something) Ive only seen reviews of read/write using OSX. will windows 7 still utilize the fusion capabilities?
3. Please tell me i can upgrade the ram on my own. I hate apple for doing this permanent RAM gig.
4. I plan on partitioning the Drive once again as i'm a dominant PC user.
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Perfect choice for a gamer. The 680 is a beast and I expect you'll be playing on high. The RAM is user upgradeable on the 27" models. I use crucial.com for my Mac ram upgrades, because I know it'll fit and be the right spec. Usually I order right when I order the Mac. If you have access to the education discount, Applecare is half off. That makes it a very good value IMHO, especially if you have an Apple store nearby where you can go for service.
 
Zinn said:
Boot camp runs the SATA bus in legacy IDE mode, disabling AHCI. Your Fusion drive will be slower as a result. IMO running Windows on a Mac 24/7 is so not worth it.
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fusion will be moot point since running windows in bootcamp will only be on the HDD. fusion is purely an OS X software designed for the machine to take advantage of the SSD. windows does not get to touch the SSD portion, period.

or do what I do. get an external SSD and put the bootcamp on there. you get the benefit of having a fast mac and the ssd speed for windows.
 
enc0re said:
Perfect choice for a gamer.
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IMO the "perfect choice for a gamer" is a gaming rig that costs half as much as the iMac and runs primarily Windows. Using a mobile GPU on a 27" monitor and shoehorning a dual-boot OS is not a perfect choice for a gamer. I love my Apple computers, but I'm not confused about what they're useful for.

It seems like the OP wants a "sexy" computer, not a computer that fits any particular practical need. This is the exact sort of reason Apple users get a bad rep.
 
I don't want a gaming computer. I don't have the time, nor satisfaction as I used to have for gaming. Now I want a nice all in one computer, that can handle the small amounts of games that will be thrown at it with a reasonable Detail level. for 2400 bucks, i could build a insanely awesome rig and 27 inch monitor. I'm going for sleekness, simplicity, and not for nothing. Id love for it to be in my living room. looks sharp and professional. At 23, pursuing more of careers then frags. I feel it i'snt a bad choice. I mean c'mon... who wants a HP Touchsmart in their living room. So im sorry if my OP came off saying im jumping ship for the sake of gaming. its more for quality of life :)
 
pliskin679 said:
I don't want a gaming computer. I don't have the time, nor satisfaction as I used to have for gaming. Now I want a nice all in one computer, that can handle the small amounts of games that will be thrown at it with a reasonable Detail level. for 2400 bucks, i could build a insanely awesome rig and 27 inch monitor. I'm going for sleekness, simplicity, and not for nothing. Id love for it to be in my living room. looks sharp and professional. At 23, pursuing more of careers then frags. I feel it i'snt a bad choice. I mean c'mon... who wants a HP Touchsmart in their living room. So im sorry if my OP came off saying im jumping ship for the sake of gaming. its more for quality of life :)
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I think a 680 would run fine on 2560x1440. My 6870 1GB runs -most- games on highest settings (without AA) fairly well. For example, Sleeping Dogs with all the bells and whistles on, minus AA, runs about 45 FPS avg at 1440p, which is pretty good to me.
 
Another option... I built a 3930k, ASUS Pro Mobo, 32gb Ram, Samsung Pro SSD system and it's fully compatible and I run OSX in VMWare Workstation 9.

My next plan is to actually dual-boot OSX.

I did this so I could run Win7 on one 30" and OSX on a second 30".
It worked AWESOME for that, I could move the mouse between each OS/Monitor as-if it were 1 OS.

The only downfall for me was the heat put-off by the dual 30s in my face, and on all the time was too much. So I stepped down my WIndows monitor for 1600x1200 for now, and will probably go up to a 24" in the future.

Much cheaper, and FASTER than the OVER PRICED Mac Pros.

Keep an eye on the forums, you can find the 30" screens and 27"s much cheaper than retail/new. I may sell one of my 30s (I have 3) since my plan of dual 30s in front, and one off to the side isn't going to pan-out.
 
Zinn said:
IMO the "perfect choice for a gamer" is a gaming rig that costs half as much as the iMac and runs primarily Windows. Using a mobile GPU on a 27" monitor and shoehorning a dual-boot OS is not a perfect choice for a gamer. I love my Apple computers, but I'm not confused about what they're useful for.

It seems like the OP wants a "sexy" computer, not a computer that fits any particular practical need. This is the exact sort of reason Apple users get a bad rep.
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I would never discount the utility of a self-built Windows rig. I use one as a gaming machine myself. However, there are valid reasons to want a Mac instead. In that case picking the right machine can get tricky. The top of line iMac is ironically the gaming value sweet spot, because it's the only Mac where you can get the 680MX.
 
i already got rid of my gaming rig, picked up a nice m11x in the mean time (clearly you can see how important gaming is lol!) thing runs bf3 on bare minimum lol. Im going to sleep on it for a few more months, maybe get it as a happy new daddy present.
 
wonderfield said:
Apple users get a bad rep because they want good-looking computers?
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It's just like the guy who's wants a smoking hot girlfriend, and who's willing to practically pay her to hang out with him. She cost's 3X as much as a regular girlfriend, won't let you do all the fun freaky things a normal girlfriend would let you, and to top it all off she has NOTHING going on upstairs.

Form over function is stupid because in the end you are going to wind up complaining "well why isn't this running this game I really want to play smooth, I paid 2700 dollars for this thing!"

IMO they get a bad rep because they don't care if it's fast, or how much it costs, they just want it to look good, and be seen with it. If I was in a position to hire someone doing basic office tasks -- and they thought showing up with a 3000 dollar laptop would get them brownie points... they'd have another thing coming. Just like when I see all the hipsters in starbucks clacking away on their mac books -- I chuckle and walk out with my 2 dollar hot chocolate :p
 
collegeboy69us said:
It's just like the guy who's wants a smoking hot girlfriend, and who's willing to practically pay her to hang out with him. She cost's 3X as much as a regular girlfriend, won't let you do all the fun freaky things a normal girlfriend would let you, and to top it all off she has NOTHING going on upstairs.

Form over function is stupid because in the end you are going to wind up complaining "well why isn't this running this game I really want to play smooth, I paid 2700 dollars for this thing!"

IMO they get a bad rep because they don't care if it's fast, or how much it costs, they just want it to look good, and be seen with it. If I was in a position to hire someone doing basic office tasks -- and they thought showing up with a 3000 dollar laptop would get them brownie points... they'd have another thing coming. Just like when I see all the hipsters in starbucks clacking away on their mac books -- I chuckle and walk out with my 2 dollar hot chocolate :p
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Not quite sure what you're talking about. Apple has the highest end laptop on the market right now with the highest resolution display out right now. Is the price jacked up? Yes I'd have to agree with you. But you honestly do get what you paid for, and honestly if you're looking for a laptop to game on I think you'd be better in spending money on a desktop, gaming on a laptop never had any appeal to me and I'm not sure why anyone would want to honestly.
 
collegeboy69us said:
It's just like the guy who's wants a smoking hot girlfriend, and who's willing to practically pay her to hang out with him. She cost's 3X as much as a regular girlfriend, won't let you do all the fun freaky things a normal girlfriend would let you, and to top it all off she has NOTHING going on upstairs.

Form over function is stupid because in the end you are going to wind up complaining "well why isn't this running this game I really want to play smooth, I paid 2700 dollars for this thing!"

IMO they get a bad rep because they don't care if it's fast, or how much it costs, they just want it to look good, and be seen with it. If I was in a position to hire someone doing basic office tasks -- and they thought showing up with a 3000 dollar laptop would get them brownie points... they'd have another thing coming. Just like when I see all the hipsters in starbucks clacking away on their mac books -- I chuckle and walk out with my 2 dollar hot chocolate :p
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Okay, first off, what I don't get is why you're in the Apple subforum in the first place. Yes, free country and all that, but if you have no interest in the products, nor do you understand them why are you here?

Secondly, being at the high end in terms of price makes sense to you or it doesn't. If you get a business degree and/or marketing degree (which most people don't even actually know what marketing is...) then you might understand Apple's pricing structure better.

Third, how is Apple's top tier pricing structure any different from Alienware's, HP Envy's, Sony Vaio's, or any other manufacturer that is selling something top tier in terms of price? Why is no other manufacture able to match Apple's price on ultrabooks? Why is no other manufacture able to create complete packages that Apple does at the same cost?

Fourth, why do you make assumptions about the capabilities of the system? I assume your remark about "a girlfriend that won't let you do anything freaky with it" is regarding this. OSX has development from indies as well as big developers. As an operating system, it is more or less as open as Unix, upon which it is based. And even if you don't like it, you can quite easily dual boot into Windows or Linux or any other x86 compatible operating system. Should I complain about PC's that they're so locked down they can't run OSX?

Fifth, Apple's systems run the same components as PC counterparts, albeit in highly customized packages. They're running high end quad-core i7, DDR3, just the same as everyone else. When it comes to gaming then the only thing that holds a Mac back is the video card. Not every 2700 dollar machine is designed to game. Some people find other components more important. If you want to game, then buy a Windows box, I'm sure NO ONE will debate you on this point. If you game, buy a Windows machine, end of story. However, just because you can't see the value in a computer other than for gaming, or you don't understand why a computer that costs 2700 dollars can't game we can't help you there.... but I'll try....
To give you a small hint, some people like OSX and Mac's for productivity. Every time someone brings up "Mac's" and "suck", with the reason being gaming I figuratively slam my head into a desk. If I brought up famous Mac users, would you still claim that it's just for a bunch of n00bs that want to look good? If I told you that the Cohen brothers cut their films on Mac Pros, would you say their retarded because they like it as a productivity tool? If I brought up photographers like Pulitzer Prize winner Vincent Laforet using OSX to do all his stills and video work on, would you say that he's some scrub that just wants to look good even though his lively hood depends on how optimal his workflow is?
How about servers? Do you also know how much a high end server costs? Do you complain about how expensive those are and in the same breath mention that they can't game (because once again they don't contain SLi/Crossfire)?

Look, I'm not trying to convince you to ever use an Apple product. If you don't want one, that's fine, that's why there is choice in the market. But it's insulting to hear the same argument over and over: that Apple product users are a bunch of sheep that like to spend too much money and are in it for fashion. The truth in this sub-forum in terms of Apple product owners is probably closer to those interested in Mac's for productivity, and the rest is probably those that have an iOS device of one sort or another.
 
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You can't really go wrong with a Mac for productivity. Their laptops are simply unrivaled if you have the money to spend. I think it's just silly to replace a gaming desktop with a mobile GPU at 2560x1600 and then posting a thread about whether it will run Windows and game properly. Of course it will run Windows, and of course you can play games on it.

It's like replacing a hand-built Ferarri with a Toyota Prius and then asking if you can drive it on a track. Well no shit you can drive it on a track, and you'll probably have great fuel economy and warranty service.

I don't know why it bothers me so much. If the OP wants to spend $2700, he's going to get a great computer for it. I guess it just seems like a "hey look at me I have an itch to scratch" thread than anything.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
Third, how is Apple's top tier pricing structure any different from Alienware's, HP Envy's, Sony Vaio's, or any other manufacturer that is selling something top tier in terms of price? Why is no other manufacture able to match Apple's price on ultrabooks? Why is no other manufacture able to create complete packages that Apple does at the same cost?
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Great post and here is an example of a Windows PC manufacturer selling an iMac style product at a premium price point. Dell XPS One 27"
 
For laptops (light gaming/productivity) - Macbook Pro
For desktops (light gaming/productivity) - iMac
For desktops (pure gaming/productivity) - Desktop PC

I play games on my rmbp in bootcamp and I must say I'm sick and tired of having to restart my laptop to go play windows games. It is just a simple restart to switch however it gets annoying in the long run.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
Okay, first off, what I don't get is why you're in the Apple subforum in the first place. Yes, free country and all that, but if you have no interest in the products, nor do you understand them why are you here?

Secondly, being at the high end in terms of price makes sense to you or it doesn't. If you get a business degree and/or marketing degree (which most people don't even actually know what marketing is...) then you might understand Apple's pricing structure better.

Third, how is Apple's top tier pricing structure any different from Alienware's, HP Envy's, Sony Vaio's, or any other manufacturer that is selling something top tier in terms of price? Why is no other manufacture able to match Apple's price on ultrabooks? Why is no other manufacture able to create complete packages that Apple does at the same cost?

Fourth, why do you make assumptions about the capabilities of the system? I assume your remark about "a girlfriend that won't let you do anything freaky with it" is regarding this. OSX has development from indies as well as big developers. As an operating system, it is more or less as open as Unix, upon which it is based. And even if you don't like it, you can quite easily dual boot into Windows or Linux or any other x86 compatible operating system. Should I complain about PC's that they're so locked down they can't run OSX?

Fifth, Apple's systems run the same components as PC counterparts, albeit in highly customized packages. They're running high end quad-core i7, DDR3, just the same as everyone else. When it comes to gaming then the only thing that holds a Mac back is the video card. Not every 2700 dollar machine is designed to game. Some people find other components more important. If you want to game, then buy a Windows box, I'm sure NO ONE will debate you on this point. If you game, buy a Windows machine, end of story. However, just because you can't see the value in a computer other than for gaming, or you don't understand why a computer that costs 2700 dollars can't game we can't help you there.... but I'll try....
To give you a small hint, some people like OSX and Mac's for productivity. Every time someone brings up "Mac's" and "suck", with the reason being gaming I figuratively slam my head into a desk. If I brought up famous Mac users, would you still claim that it's just for a bunch of n00bs that want to look good? If I told you that the Cohen brothers cut their films on Mac Pros, would you say their retarded because they like it as a productivity tool? If I brought up photographers like Pulitzer Prize winner Vincent Laforet using OSX to do all his stills and video work on, would you say that he's some scrub that just wants to look good even though his lively hood depends on how optimal his workflow is?
How about servers? Do you also know how much a high end server costs? Do you complain about how expensive those are and in the same breath mention that they can't game (because once again they don't contain SLi/Crossfire)?

Look, I'm not trying to convince you to ever use an Apple product. If you don't want one, that's fine, that's why there is choice in the market. But it's insulting to hear the same argument over and over: that Apple product users are a bunch of sheep that like to spend too much money and are in it for fashion. The truth in this sub-forum in terms of Apple product owners is probably closer to those interested in Mac's for productivity, and the rest is probably those that have an iOS device of one sort or another.
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The day I walked into work with a brand new MBA 2012 model, I had all my coworkers bash me for going Apple and basically being labeled a retard. After I said what you said they backed off.

It just seems that most people like to feel they are better than everyone else from the choices they make. There are pros and cons to everything you get and in the end you have to cater to your style (assuming you know what you are doing).

With that said, I just converted my Windows box to run OS X 10.8.2 and I game OK on it via Parallels as I did not want to dual boot. The trade off is productivity, fluidity (albiet after tweaks and addons) and general ease of use.
 
I'm been on a similar thought process of the OP (and some other posters in this thread) lately. I've always appreciated OSX and had a few Macbooks (Pro/Air) for awhile but always ended up selling them. I don't really crave to use OSX as Windows is fine for me, so I usually just justify to myself that "I can get a higher-end Windows laptop that will do the same things as a Macbook Pro". However, I constantly envy the Macbooks and want to get another one.

I have a gaming desktop PC and a portable laptop, but I've been PC gaming less and less lately, and I don't even use the portable laptop (I'm not sure why I need 2 computers really) so I've been thinking of selling the 2 PCs and just getting a Macbook Pro Retina 15". I figure the 15" rMBP has a decent dGPU (nVidia 650m 1GB) so for those rare times I want to fire up TF2 or GW2 it will suffice. It will also let me run both OSX and Windows 7/8 (Bootcamp and/or VMware Fusion).

It's always felt kind of "wasteful" to me to buy a computer that is >$2000 but eh, if I can afford one maybe I'll treat myself since I do stare at the thing for most of the day, might as well stare at a "retina" IPS 2880x1800 screen.
 
I find owning an iMac or MBP keeps me more on track with doing work on the computer instead of gaming like I would with a high-end PC. Also when it comes to PC's I'm a compulsive upgrader and never satisfied for long with the hardware I've got so Apple at least helps keeps that at bay somewhat since they really only upgrade their lines about once a year.
 
burningrave101 said:
Also when it comes to PC's I'm a compulsive upgrader and never satisfied for long with the hardware I've got so Apple at least helps keeps that at bay somewhat since they really only upgrade their lines about once a year.
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Haha, I can second this. I held onto my macbook pro (2008 15") the longest out of any computer I've ever had (3+ years). I can't even be pleased with a desktop build for 6 months before I'm eyeing a new motherboard/videocard/ssd etc... ugh :mad:
 
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