iMac - Questions for gamers...

lirandlirand
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Hey, I'm considering to purchase a Mac (I'm leaning towards the 20" iMac).



Although I'm not exactly a gamer, I am interested in having the ability to run current games appropriately... therefore, I've gathered a set of questions for gamers that I I'm looking to be answered:



a. Is the graphics card of the 20" iMac (ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB GDDR3 )good enough for today's modern games?

b. How do modern games handle widescreen LCDs? Isn't the non-standard resolution problematic with gaming?

c. Could anyone tell me what is the response time of the 20"s monitor? I can't find this info anywhere...



Thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    shadow slayer 26shadow slayer 26 Posts: 383member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lirand


    Hey, I'm considering to purchase a Mac (I'm leaning towards the 20" iMac).



    Although I'm not exactly a gamer, I am interested in having the ability to run current games appropriately... therefore, I've gathered a set of questions for gamers that I I'm looking to be answered:



    a. Is the graphics card of the 20" iMac (ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB GDDR3 )good enough for today's modern games?

    b. How do modern games handle widescreen LCDs? Isn't the non-standard resolution problematic with gaming?

    c. Could anyone tell me what is the response time of the 20"s monitor? I can't find this info anywhere...



    Thanks



    When I first bought my iMac (20" intel rev. a) I had asked these same questions.



    a. While I do not play many demanding games at the highest fps possible (look at the Mac Pro for that lol) I have found it to play all the games fine for me. To be safe and to give my computer more longevity I upgraded the memory on it to 256 mb.



    b. The widescreen LCD has caused no problems for me, but then again I am not too picky so you may want to ask someone else about that.



    c. I forgot exactly what it was, but I believe it was past the point where humans can't tell if it is any faster.



    Yah I prolly wasn't too much help but I hoped that helped a bit at least.





    Shadow
  • Reply 2 of 5
    allbrainallbrain Posts: 61member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lirand


    Hey, I'm considering to purchase a Mac (I'm leaning towards the 20" iMac).



    Although I'm not exactly a gamer, I am interested in having the ability to run current games appropriately... therefore, I've gathered a set of questions for gamers that I I'm looking to be answered:



    a. Is the graphics card of the 20" iMac (ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB GDDR3 )good enough for today's modern games?

    b. How do modern games handle widescreen LCDs? Isn't the non-standard resolution problematic with gaming?

    c. Could anyone tell me what is the response time of the 20"s monitor? I can't find this info anywhere...



    Thanks



    a) I got the 256Mb version on my 20" iMac back in January and have found it was excellent with World of Warcraft (once it was a Universal Binary of course!), which at the time was a pretty heavy game. Things can only have moved forward a bit since then so I'd recommend getting the 256Mb card.

    b) From what I've seen they're getting much better at detecting and handling widescreen, but sadly I don't have a lot of time for playing games (stupid university finishing and getting a career!). Games are awesome in widescreen and they can only get better if they aren't great already!

    c) Like Shadow Slayer 26 I can't say for certain; it's not on the tech specs at apple.com AFAIK, but when using the screen I've never noticed anything to say that it's struggling refresh-rate-wise.



    The iMac is a fine machine but depending on how convenient you want your gaming to be (ie, you either get the games as Universal Binary for Mac or have to reboot into Windows using Boot Camp) you may be disappointed by the selection or having to reboot!



    Hope that helps!
  • Reply 3 of 5
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Most worthwhile games support widescreen. This includes all games based on the Unreal engine; all based on the Source / Half-Life 2 engine, Far Cry, and more.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    lirandlirand Posts: 174member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Placebo


    Most worthwhile games support widescreen. This includes all games based on the Unreal engine; all based on the Source / Half-Life 2 engine, Far Cry, and more.



    Alright.



    Thanks for the answers guys
  • Reply 5 of 5
    s.metcalfs.metcalf Posts: 972member
    Does anyone know what kind of performance boost you can expect between the 128Mb and 256Mb X1600? Under what circumstances is more memory likely to make a difference?
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