games on macs.. what spec?

missyvortexdv

i'm getting an ibook soon and wondered how well mac games will work on it.

not sure of the spec i'll get but somewhere between 600-800mhz, probably standard 128mb ram and either 8, 16 or 32mb graphics.



which of these three affects game performance most? i have a feeling it would probably be graphics then ram in importance but don't know.



how well do mac games run on ibooks?



if you do respond it would be helpful to tell me what games your talking aobut and what spec you have, as i want to work out what ibook i want to get.



tho obviously better spec is more money and i want to figure out whether its worth it to get the more expensive option of the 800mhz (if its even in budget that is).



also anyone tried running any pc games on mac with a pc emulator like virtual pc 6? if so how did they fare?, i already know vp6 doesn't do 3d games justice but what about others?



thanks

mattyj

I would no go down the VP6 root. Even with a Dual G4, it is horrendously slow, 3d games will not run, na-ah.



The iBook could far quite well, however I woulldn't expect to run any 3d games such as Jedi Knight II or UT2003 at any where near 1024x768 high settings.



You question about the Graphics Ram and Processor speed is irrelavent, I think... Because even though they do make a large difference, the both come a long with eachother, as in, an 800Mhz iBook is going to have more RAM than a 600Mhz iBook, and this cannot be changed, due to the graphics chip being soldered onto the motherboard.



So my advice would be to go for the highest Mhz iBook possible.

missyvortexdv

i know the graphics chip ram can't be changed, but i was talking about system ram. how much does that impact running games?



have you tried any mac made games on a mac?

how do they fare, can jediknight for mac run ok ? or is it as bad as trying to run it on vp6

mattyj

Perfomance on my mac is great (see my signature). Jedi Knight II will run far better on mac than it will through VP6, same goes for your machine.



System RAM. As it is SD RAM, but in a Laptop, it will be realatively cheap, and I would aim to have 384MB or 512MB of RAM.



Jedi Knight II for me runs at Max settings, 1024x768, no slowdown. For you it can run pretty well, but obviosuly not as well as the mac I have, because it is lower spec.



Anything else you want to know?

missyvortexdv

hi, thanks, very helpful



one other question i have, since i notice your in england.

do you know many uk online or highstreet stores that sell mac games?

i only came across amazon.co.uk and macgames.co.uk

any others you know of?

would be kind of cool to know, i porbably will buy a few games when i get my ibook but the titles on these sites are a little limited, can't find some that i know exist (atleast on US sites)

wondered if you'd know since you obviously have mac games.

thanks much.

steve

One thing you should know about games in general is that when they're created, the Intel/X86 processor design is taken into account. Generally, all the polygonal geometry is taken care of with the brute force of the chip itself, and any non-polygon special effect is relegated to the graphics chip. This could be anything from blur effects to water effects to lighting effects.



The reason they hand off all the structural polygons to the processor is because keeping track of polygons isn't that much of an intensive task (mostly math calculations instead of all this floating-point razzle dazzle that Apple is talking about). Frankly, the higher the MHz, the more performance you're going to see; it doesn't matter if, say, the G3 is more potent per clock cycle or MHz. It is for this reason that Mac games generally perform quite poorly when ported from Windows.



That said, you are going to want the 32MB graphics chip, not only because it enables Quartz Extreme to speed up OS X's own interface, but because it's probably the only saving grace for the processor deficiency. It should also be noted that the G3 is comparatively a better game processor on all fronts, MHz for MHz, with, say, the PowerBook G4 (and this is important, because, remembering again, games are initially designed with this prospect in mind).



I generally don't break 30 frames per second in WarCraft III on my 800MHz PowerBook, but I know quite a few people that have those Orcish polygons blaze by at 60 on their 800MHz iBooks. One thing to note is that my resolution is slightly higher (1280x867, compared to the iBook's 1024x768; it works this way because if you change your resolution below the optimal on an LCD screen, the display gets quite fuzzy), but it's especially surprising, considering the iBook is still using that 100MHz system bus.



In short, if you want to be able to run the magical Mac OS X, but still crave high game performance with a small budget, the iBook is the most ideal system that can be had for under $1500 (I'd wager it performs better in games than even the eMac, given the G4 performance seen in my own PowerBook).



Something to note about RAM: Unlike in Windows, games in OS X don't unload the GUI completely and go through this whole metamorphisis phase while they load the game. Because of OS X's multitasking tendencies, I suppose, the game runs while all your other apps have their usual priorities, and you can switch between a full-screen and window view surprisingly quickly (on-the-fly, in some cases). But to keep all this happening, you're going to need bucketloads of RAM. Some third-party vendors like MacMall offer a free stick of 512MB RAM when you buy your 900MHz iBook.

mattyj

Nice Post Steve, although now with games coming out like Nascar and UT 2003, their benefit will be with G4 processors, rather than G3s. (As far as they claim, anyway).



As for shopping for games, I live on the outskirts of London, so I either go to Tottenham Court Road or to a shopping centre near me. The best places to go in my opinion are Micoro Anvika, or John Lewis. If you live in London, go to Tottenham Court Road and go to the Apple Centre.

missyvortexdv

unfortunately i live in norfolk, so its online uk stores for me as aren't many mac dealers at all here let alone pleaces selling mac games and misc mac stuff.

but atleast i have john lewis near me. i will have to look in there and see what they stock.

mattyj

Bare in mind that the John Lewis store you go to has to be pretty large, as if it is small, it won't stock things for macs, as lets face it, they are a small market and that space can be used for selling more PC stuff, which is more likely to be sold.

missyvortexdv

i should hope they stock mac stuff as they definetly sell the computers there. at the time i didn't pay any attnetion to what software/games they might have but they sell ibooks and the lot there and peripherals, lmited but some.



so i guess you don't know any online stores that sell mac games.



does anyone know of any that post to or in the uk?

mattyj

Why not Apple Store UK? They are based in England...



There is also Macwarehouse.co.uk