RiddleKing

Join Date 04/2006

+32

Imac 27 Retina October 2014 and the Future of Apple Gaming

I-mac 27inc Retina is out

=Apple High-End Line Up= " The pricing makes these machines difficult for the average gamer"

1. Macbook Pro Retina>>2k Video Editing + Professional Photography + 720p/ light 1080p Gaming (not 2k)

GPU=Nvidia GT 650m (652.8 GFLOPS) or GT 750m (722.7 GFLOPS)

2. iMac Retina>>4k Video Editing + Professional Photography + 1080p Gaming (light 2k gaming, not 5k)

GPU= AMD Radeon M290x (2.304 Teraflops) or AMD Radeon M295x (3.5 Teraflops)

3. Mac Pro (Vader Edition) >>Professional 4k Video Editing + Professional Photography + Scientific Software + parallel processing + Average 2k gaming.

Duel GPUs= AMD Radeon Fire Pro D300(2.0 Teraflops Each) or Radeon Fire Pro D500 (2.2 Teraflops Each)

Gaming on Macs:

For gaming you have use bootcamp and install windows because theres only a handful of games worth playing in the app store, Origin and Steam. Apple's gaming leadership is on its mobile platform (IOS) with the A series Chips, not Intel based Macs.

On the plus side apple is laying down the foundation to Airplay Mobile Games to the apple TV (console alternative that turns your mobile device into a controller) and has developed its own API called Metal for its mobile devices that improves OpenGL performance on A Series chips. I suspect the next apple TV variant is going to serve as a bridge to amplify mobile gaming from your Ipod/iPhone/iPad to your Television Screen.

Apple have also created a new programming language called Swift to allow developers to create there apps/games easily to take full advantage of next generation hardware.

Swift:

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Heavenfall

Join Date 07/2008

+441

This is like Microsoft trying to compete in mobile gaming.

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Quoting Heavenfall,

reply 1

This is like Microsoft trying to compete in mobile gaming.

Indeed. The GPU in the new iMac is a MOBILE grade GPU. It's only going to be able to drive iPad level "toy" games at 5k. There's no need to switch it to Windows on boot camp, because it can't drive any modern game at any decent settings/frame rate at 5k and you can't install a new graphics card with a desktop grade GPU in it.

Note that the odds are VERY good that the term "millions of colors" that Apple uses for the new iMac's screen means that it's only an 8 bit color screen, suitable only for consumer/home applications, not a 10 bit screen as required by professionals. There's no confirmation of this, but Apple uses different wording when talking about pro-grade monitors with their higher end machines.

Simply put, iMacs are for home users, web browsing, etc. A real PC or high end Mac is required to do serious work.

As long as people know the difference, they won't be disappointed with their purchase.

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Timmaigh

Join Date 05/2009

+55

Not to mention not a single high-end desktop GPU today can run games at 5K. Not even 4K, for that you need at least pair of gtx980/gtx780/r290x...

Still, the display at such resolution is simply awesome thing and i cant wait for this to be a standard. the sooner the better.

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Metal + adequate Teraflops of performance is all you have on Yosemite and your also going to get Mantle/DirectX 12 when you bootcamp windows 8/10. I don't expect this to be a good enough gaming experience for that price because you can build a mamoth gaming machine for $2400.

This computer is for the premium home/office professionals through a satisfying user experience and immersive reach media content with the retina display.

I suspect there upgrading the Thunderbolt(2)x display for the MacPro but won't release it for some time because it will eat up the iMac's sales.

The thing about Macs in general is they always sell better than more powerful counter-parts at satisfying profits because of the amazing user experience. It looks good, sits well on the desk, OSX, iOS integration, ilife, iWork's, Final Cut, Aperture, Logic, gestures, magic mouse, magic trackpad and can run anything out there at average settings. iMac's are not borg cubes that are functional, ugly and extremely powerful.

I also forgot to say that they its energy efficient and doesn't require a big atx power supply

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benmanns

Join Date 12/2005

+93

Look it has an apple logo on it

What can it do?

1# GPU=Nvidia GT 650m (652.8 GFLOPS) or GT 750m (722.7 GFLOPS)
This one can do less than a PS4. AND THAT IS SOMETHING! But it has the apple Logo so its way more expansive and cooler than the PS4 -

Imac Retina comes with a 4-5K display -
It does find very little use these days since its simply not widely supported yet.
Yeah but it has:
GPU= AMD Radeon M290x (2.304 Teraflops) or AMD Radeon M295x (3.5 Teraflops)
Praising those Teraflops like no other company would dare -
3,5 Tflops are far from high end. Again remember to think about the Apple logo it will convince your friends that it is actually good especially on such a small space and on such a unique and repeating design.

But powering the full resolution with that GPU will be hard you say?
Well if you want to play below 30FPS and experience the "slow motion feature" on triple A titles go for it.

I LOVE APPLEs