24" iMac, who has one who plays WOW. (Called sell me on a iMac)

[imported_Shivetya]

The relevant questions are...

1. Which card? 7300GT, 7600GT, or a new HD2600 do you have?

2. System memory? 1, 2, or 4?

3. What is your performance at maximum resolution with everything on? Do you have FPS values? (specifically interested in raid performace)

4. Can you run two copies at once and are there programs to send keystrokes to both sessions simulataneously?

5. Are the patches you find on many sites platform independant?


From the specs I am worried that getting the 24" will simply overpower the HD2600, the same card and processor is in the 20" so I don't think it will be taxed too much. I currently use a 2x2 C2D 2gb 7600gt (256) toshiba laptop running 1680*1050 and no performance issues but 1920x1200 is a whole lotta extra pixels.

also, is there skype & vent for Mac? Never looked... figured it can't hurt to ask

Basically I am going to use this machine to

1. Play DVDs while I exercise (elipitcals get so boring)
2. Play WOW (usually use BT headset with skype/vent)
3. E-Mail
4. Surf

Also, anyone know if there are 5250 emulators for Mac? I got to check work to see if I can even get a Novell VPN gateway for it... otherwise I will have to install bootcamp so I can VPN to work as needed.

 

[sourceninja]

I'm interested in the new graphics card as well. I was hoping they would stay with nvidia because I'm a linux user. I'd like to see how that video card holds up in modern mac games however.

 

[bearxor]

Start here to see how a 7600GT compares to a 2600HD Pro (here's a preview: just as fast or slower):
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3023&p=6

I don't think there's a huge difference between 1680x1050 and 1920x1200. You can always knock down from the native resolution in games. For example, 1280x800 doesn't look distorted and such from a 1440x900 screen. On my Dell's 1680x1050 screen I played @ 1280x800. On a 1920x1200 screen you shouldn't notice a difference in a game between that and 1680xc1050. I think it's important in lowering the resolution on a LCD to keep the aspect ratio intact.

Bare Feats (barefeats.com) said they're going to be posting last-gen iMacs (with a 7600GT) vs the newer gen iMacs (with the HD2600) early this week. Look for it today or tomorrow. You may also have better luck at this forum:

http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=91

And there are a few threads on gaming performance already:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=340489
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=340996
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=340134

I'm certain Apple did not choose this video card based on gaming performance. Last year the rumor was that Apple wanted h.264 hardware decoding in their line up in 2007. They got it with the HD2400/2600 and 8600m-GT.

 

[imported_Shivetya]

Originally posted by: bearxorBare Feats (barefeats.com) said they're going to be posting last-gen iMacs (with a 7600GT) vs the newer gen iMacs (with the HD2600) early this week. Look for it today or tomorrow. You may also have better luck at this forum:

I'm certain Apple did not choose this video card based on gaming performance. Last year the rumor was that Apple wanted h.264 hardware decoding in their line up in 2007. They got it with the HD2400/2600 and 8600m-GT.

Well I think I am waiting on two things now.

1. for one of my local stores to actually GET ONE. (BB or Microcenter)

2. barefeats test



I think I might order from MacConnection, they seem to have a very good history, the "rebate" they offer plus no tax makes it a big savings

 

[TheStu]

I know that OS X can run VPNs out of the box, but not sure if Novell does things differently form Windows.

WoW is not exactly the world's most graphically demanding game. My MacBook with 1GB RAM, 1.83GHz Core Duo, and Intel GMA950 Graphics ran WoW no problems, at full res, the only thing I did not try was playing with a whole lot of people at once, I think the most characters that I ever had on my screen was 30 or so, and like I said, it all worked well, no graphics lag at all.

I am almost 99% positive that both Vent and Skype work on OS X.

I have no idea about any specifics pertaining to the 24" iMac, sorry.

For what you are wanting to do the 24" iMac is

 

[Kadarin]

I don't use Skype, but Vent does work fine on OS X.

 

[imported_Shivetya]

New iMac way slower than 7600GT version from before

Oh well... doesn't appear to be a good sign

 

[randomlinh]

hrm.... I wonder how Aperture is effected, if at all. That's a bit depressing on those numbers

 

[erikistired]

vent works fine, but you can only use speex servers right now. most of the big guilds on my server have moved to speex, but a few still run gsm (including my old guild). if they are, you are SOL until the new version is released. the news on ventrilo's site was finally updated around quakecon, apparently the new version is coming soon.

skype works, i don't use it but i did try it out.

 

[imported_Shivetya]

it looks like I might get into the market for one of the older 7600gt models depending on how the remaining tests pan out...

 

[bearxor]

Wow. Bested by a 7300GT in most cases. Maybe you should look in to a MacBook Pro with a 8600GT.

I think my initial feelings on this are right. The only reason the 2400/2600 are in this generation of iMacs are because of the hardware h.264 decoding. The least they could have done was ship it with a 8500 and 8600.

We also have to think that at some point ATi's Windows drivers will get better. The 2x00 series are still new. I don't expect it will double the performance however.

One thing: Bare Feats benchies are all done in OS X at this point. ATI's drivers have never been great for OS X. Maybe someone can dig up some Windows benchmarks.

 

[imported_Shivetya]

Originally posted by: bearxor
Wow. Bested by a 7300GT in most cases. Maybe you should look in to a MacBook Pro with a 8600GT.

I do not need another laptop... I am looking for a home system. I have a Toshiba laptop (17" 2.0 C2D 2gb 200g HDD, 7600GT 256mb) that I use for my downstairs office. I wanted a system for the upstairs office (and exercise area - its got to be big and play movies). Of course it should be able to play WOW too

 

[randomlinh]

your laptop has dual cpus ?

 

[sourceninja]

Well that was what I needed to see. Apple products are still not yet catered to me. I'll stick with PC's for my next computer. It's annoying I waited this long to be let down. I was hoping to see an 8600 or an 8800 in the imac.

I would be content to try a mac with that because I could go back to linux if I didn't like it. I can't go back to linux in this case because ati drivers in linux suck, and the video card is so lame I will not be able to play any games with cedega. I hope apple does something in the future to make their offerings attractive to me. I really like their OS and I'd like to use it, but I'm not paying over 2 thousand dallors for a computer that can't even do what I I can do with a 800 dallor dell and linux.

 

[preslove]

Originally posted by: sourceninja
Well that was what I needed to see. Apple products are still not yet catered to me. I'll stick with PC's for my next computer. It's annoying I waited this long to be let down. I was hoping to see an 8600 or an 8800 in the imac.

I would be content to try a mac with that because I could go back to linux if I didn't like it. I can't go back to linux in this case because ati drivers in linux suck, and the video card is so lame I will not be able to play any games with cedega. I hope apple does something in the future to make their offerings attractive to me. I really like their OS and I'd like to use it, but I'm not paying over 2 thousand dallors for a computer that can't even do what I I can do with a 800 dallor dell and linux.

You could run linux in parallels or virtual box.

 

[bearxor]

Originally posted by: Shivetya

Originally posted by: bearxor
Wow. Bested by a 7300GT in most cases. Maybe you should look in to a MacBook Pro with a 8600GT.

I do not need another laptop... I am looking for a home system. I have a Toshiba laptop (17" 2.0 C2D 2gb 200g HDD, 7600GT 256mb) that I use for my downstairs office. I wanted a system for the upstairs office (and exercise area - its got to be big and play movies). Of course it should be able to play WOW too

In case you haven't checked up, barefeats put some WoW benchmarks up at 1900x1200. The HD2600 barely edges out a 7600GT.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: Shivetya
New iMac way slower than 7600GT version from before

Oh well... doesn't appear to be a good sign

Figured they'd make some sacrifices to put the same or more technology in a smaller package.