27" iMac - what can I expect for gaming?

P

PistolPete

n00b
Joined
Oct 27, 2005
Messages
41
Hi guys -

I did a search on both the Apple and this forum and didn't find much information (that probably already answers my question).

I'm moving toward purchasing an iMac 27" for reasons/applications other than gaming. However, II'll always be a PC gamer in my heart...

Im wondering if anyone here is successfully using an iMac as a gaming machine (running windows 7 using Parallels or Bootcamp). If you are, what I can expect performance wise? It'll have an i5 processor with 4GB Ram and an ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB.

Any impressions/thoughts would be helpful!
 
You'll be capped by your 4850. You'll be able to play everything ok; but don't expect to be running any current games on your iMac's native resolution at a playable frame rate.

Also, things will be jaundiced. (I kid, I kid. Though, have them set up your 27" iMac in the store. We just set up a class room with the 27" iMacs a while back and a seven out of 23 of them have jaundiced screens.)
 
Absolutely nothing apparently even with crossover games my wife can't play TF2 on her Imac 27" with makes MAC GARBAGIE VHVCHCHCCCICIY. *breath* sorry just have relationship gaming withdrawal...
 
off but on topic question...

gaming on a mac w/ Intel hardware and ATI card...

does that mean the games would be played via Windows / Boot Camp?

Or are you referring to Mac-specific games - which I would assume is little to none in terms of availability
 
PistolPete said:
Yea, I already expected that. :) I'm also getting the impression that no one on this particular forum wants to "out" themselves as gaming on a iMac...
Click to expand...

btw your name... did you ever play SWG? i remember that name from there. if you do remember MVA or TGA?
 
PistolPete said:
Yea, I already expected that. :) I'm also getting the impression that no one on this particular forum wants to "out" themselves as gaming on a iMac...
Click to expand...


do a google search for bootcamp game benchmark and you should get an idea.

eg

http://www.macworld.com/article/50267/2006/04/pcworldtest.html
no idea since i don't have a mac but you are probalby ok for some light gaming, i'd expect to put up with quite a few glitches though since who knows how good the direct3d emulation is in bootcamp
 
My dad has a mac and wanted to play Oblivion really bad so I just created an XP partition on his drive and he runs all the PC games he's ever wanted to play on it flawlessly. Good luck.
 
You won't be gaming through Parallels unless you count minesweeper or solitaire. Parallels doesn't support DirectX (very well, I hear the new version is slightly better but still not up to gaming performance). Bootcamp isn't emulation, it's native execution. If you install Boot camp on your mac, you dual boot into Windows and you get identical performance as you would with a Gateway or Dell or whatever with similar specs.

I game on my MacBook Pro all the time and it works fine. Boot camp installed, with Windows XP. But keep in mind that running Windows on your mac (via boot camp or parallels requires a valid XP license and installation, and all the issues associated therein, ie: you need virus protection, you need to keep it patched and updated, etc).

That being said, my primary gaming machine is a custom built computer running Win7 Pro.
 
Consider that you could build a gaming PC around an ATI 5970 and use the 27" iMac in target mode on that (the 5700 and 5800 line are known not to be able to do that).
 
I had a Macbook Pro last year, and tried a lot of stuff to create a tolerable gaming experience. Dual booting XP and Crossover Games. Both worked okay, but really I was limited by the GPU (8600 GT bleh). The 4850 will be better, (if you run at 1440x900 like I did) but paired with a 2560x1440 monitor, you can't really expect to either be maxing things out or running native resolution. All things considered it will be a pretty hampered gaming experience, at best.

I'm not a hater--Macs have their place, and I use one at work, but they simply aren't gaming machines. As Kyle Bennett says they are "froo froo" hardware.

The suggestion to build a Hackintosh was a good one.
 
A 4850 is an OK card, but from last generation. This means no new DX11 effects in any games and by todays standards it's not a terribly fast card either, I'm guessing a 27" monitor is 1920x1200/1080p you're not going to power that resolution with that video card for modern games without dropping a load of the settings down.

If gaming is secondary and you have no real expectation for pretty looking games then it's probably not that bad.
 
i came here to say this: nothing fun without windows, and even then...nothing maxed
 
4850 for a 27" display is laughable on a native PC, let alone, played on an OS through some emulation software or whatever you want to call Bootcamp.
 
bigdogchris said:
4850 for a 27" display is laughable on a native PC, let alone, played on an OS through some emulation software or whatever you want to call Bootcamp.
Click to expand...

bootcamp isn't emulation. You boot windows(by itself) like any normal pc, using bootcamp the imac will have the same limitations(other than upgradeability) as a pc with those hardware specs.
 
I agree that at your native rez you won't run games that great, but the 4850 is totally enough to handle any modern games at 1920x1200 rez. My brother has a 4850 and a 24" LCD, runs all games fine including DDO and ME2.
 
Thanks for all the input everyone. I'll probably pick up a mac mini instead. With the savings, I've realized that I can pick up a decent gaming machine for around $900. Since I already have a 28" monitor, it makes the decision much easier.

Thanks again!

Sikkyu - I think you have the wrong PistolPete. Never played SWG.
 
I still say go all in on a hackintosh box. That really is the best of both worlds if you really require OS X. You can make a killer gaming machine for the cost of the 27" iMac, and installing OS X on a PC with all the bells and whistles of an Apple-built computer is very easy to do these days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top