Mac vs Windows games in Bootcamp

lkearllkearl
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I'm running Bootcamp on a Mac Pro 2.0 with 1GB RAM and a 7300GT video card. I'm wondering whether Mac versions of games or the Windows versions will perform better. My understanding is the Windows games use DirectX while Mac games use OpenGL, and I recall reading that DirectX usually performs faster than the Apple implementation of OpenGL. Does anyone know if this is true?



I've tried demos of these games, but I don't know if the Mac demo of Quake 4 is dual-processor enabled, and the Doom 3 demo isn't a universal binary while the full version is. So I don't know that the performance of the demos is the basis for deciding which version to buy.



Specifically, I'm looking at getting Quake 4, Doom 3 and Call of Duty 2.



Thanks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    A port of a Windows game to Mac is going to perform worse than the original.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    dcqdcq Posts: 349member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BRussell


    A port of a Windows game to Mac is going to perform worse than the original.



    Only true of some games. I've never heard anyone claim better performance of a Blizzard game on Windows vs a Mac when on the same hardware. I'm sure some games are designed from the bottom up for Windows. With complex subroutines based soley on Windows APIs and DX. But a better-designed game would be more platform neutral and allow easier, more equal porting. Plus, a good Mac game porter should be able to achieve parity in most games anyway. And remember there is at least one FPS that was designed with Macs in mind and made cross-platform (First to Fight). The reverse (better performance on Mac vs. Windows) is just as possible in this scenario.



    In short, you've got to look at individual games and studios rather than games in general.



    And even if true of a certain game, remember that the performance hit is generally only a percentage point or two (say a few frames per second).
  • Reply 3 of 3
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,326moderator
    It's true at the moment that most games are faster on the PC side. I can see that changing with multi-threaded OpenGL but I don't think we will see the advantage for a couple of monnths or so because the developers need to change the code to take advantage of it.



    For the time being, I'd get used to using Windows for gaming and Mac for everything else. As mentioned, some games will perform better on OS X because Windows doesn't automatically defrag your hard drive and OS X has better memory management but mostly the Windows titles would be the better choice. Not least because you can usually get the game cheaper too.



    Can you try out using Crossover? I'm curious to see how many games are compatible with it. If you don't know what it is, it's basically a way to run Windows apps without Windows directly inside OS X. Some people have successfully installed and played Half-Life 2 with it.
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