MAC vs Building PC

[JC0133]

I am doing research to build a new PC for gaming, and I have quite a few friends telling me not to build one and just to buy a MAC.

I don't know much about MACs so it is hard for me to debate the issue. I am just assuming if I build my own PC with my own quality parts it should be just as good if not better then a MAC for gaming.

Does anybody have any input, or can give me their opinion on which one is better for gaming? MACs or building a PC for gaming? Are there any sites out there that compares the two, pros and cons?

 

[TheStu]

Mac not MAC.

If you are only using it for Windows and gaming (and the usual, email, facebook, internet...), and have built your own computer before. Build your own computer.

If you have never built your own computer before, then buy a Dell. I like Macs, I love Macs, but let's be honest here, they are not top of the line gaming beasts, and even if they were, you would be booting into Windows to do the majority of the gaming anyway, so if that is the main purpose of the system, just skip the whole Mac step.

 

[erikistired]

i love macs for running os x. for gaming, build your own pc. you can get a LOT more for your money in the places you need it by building your own, or even buying a pre-built pc as thestu said.

edit: i just recently bought a new pc after building my own for years and then switching to macs for awhile. i picked up a dell xps off the dell outlet and upgraded a few things i wanted beefier. i probably spent a tad more, but if you don't want to fuss with building your own it's a decent alternative.

 

[HAL9000]

I'd agree build a PC your inti gaming, i love macs so I spent some time and money building a gaming Mac, it turned out well I think. I bought a cheap, dented Mac Pro on eBay, then set about replacing everything, heres what I ended up with. It runs games great and it's a Mac! Yay! But it was a lot of time and a fair ammonite of money but all told it cost me the same as buying a basic brand new quad core. And it's 8 core and shiney!

- 2 x Quad Xeon X5355's @2.66 overclocked to @3.2ghz - 1.313v FSB@1600mhz
- 12GB DDR2 FB-DIMM Kingston RAM @800Mhz
- Sapphire 5870 1GB + XFX 5970 2GB Crossfirex 850/1200
- SATA III 6GB/s + USB 3.0 Asus U3S6
- Bluetooth 2.1 + Airport 802.11n
- 2 x 64GB OCZ Vertex 2E SSD's RAID 0 - Mac OS X 10.6.4
- 60GB Crucial C300 6GB/s - Windows 7 Pro x64
- 1.5TB WD Green - Mac
- 1.0TB WD Green - NTFS
- Liteon Blu-Ray R/W x12
- Apple 1000w PSU
- 5.25" 450 PSU

All together I spent £2,300 so if you've got the money and time there's nothing to say it can't be done

 

[betasub]

"Ammonite"? Sorry, I had to check that one on wiktionary

 

[HAL9000]

"Ammonite"? Sorry, I had to check that one on wiktionary

Wha???

 

[JC0133]

-Here are a list of games, that have come out I plan to play over the time/would like to play on my PC

-World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
-Disciples III: Renaissance
-StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
-Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures
-Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood
-Aion
-DC Universe

Here are a list of future release games I plan to play.
-Age of Empires Online
-Star Wars: The Old Republic
-Crysis 2

So here are the list of games I plan on playing or types of games I usually play. Can a Mac play these games well or no??

 

[Sp12]

Most of the non-blizzard games are PC only.

I'm sure if you spent enough money, but you'd just be booting into windows to run most of the games, and a PC could be built to run those for a lot less than a comparable mac.

 

[HAL9000]

-Here are a list of games, that have come out I plan to play over the time/would like to play on my PC

-World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
-Disciples III: Renaissance
-StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
-Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures
-Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood
-Aion
-DC Universe

Here are a list of future release games I plan to play.
-Age of Empires Online
-Star Wars: The Old Republic
-Crysis 2

So here are the list of games I plan on playing or types of games I usually play. Can a Mac play these games well or no??

Depending on which Mac, and depending on which operating system you plan to use them in I see non reason why one couldn't run them well, Crysis 2 no idea.... Not a lot will definately be able to run it "well"

 

[Davidh373]

So, I'm a little biased... possibly... but I have had a problem with every single Apple product I've owned. I have a busted Superdrive and a clicking HDD in my MacBook Pro Santa Rosa (along with my friends reporting clicking HDDs and broken HDDs ranging from PowerBooks to the new unibodys), I spent $350 on a Time Capsule to have the HDD slow to a crawl, and my iPod constantly gets fragmented/ corrupts files. It was only around a week ago when my Superdrive went bad and I had to set up an appointment with an Apple "Genius" with a really overconfident name tag saying "Ask me about everything I can do". He told me The disk drive would cost $167 to get a new drive, and then beyond that I'd need to pay labor...

So I've decided I will never recommend a single Apple product again. The MacBook Pro on it's own cost more than anything else computer related I've purchased. $1600 and that was an open box year old one at Best Buy. If you are going to buy a laptop like a Mac, get a Boxx or Eurocom desktop replacement with an i7 930 instead. If you are going to get a desktop, build it, or at least get a Dell Studio XPS.

EDIT: To report on my issues being resolved, my friend got his 160GB HD replaced by Apple at $80. I told him it could easily be replaced from newegg for $50-$60. I replaced my 200GB HD with a 7200RPM 500GB drive for $100. The Time Capsule sits around by my custom built server that's 20x faster over the same cat5 cable. That server cost 50% less than a retail Time Capsule with less capacity. I am in the process of ordering a replacement for my Superdrive for $80 on Amazon. That's $87 less then the apple offering.

 

[mfenn]

-Here are a list of games, that have come out I plan to play over the time/would like to play on my PC

-World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
-Disciples III: Renaissance
-StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
-Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures
-Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood
-Aion
-DC Universe

Here are a list of future release games I plan to play.
-Age of Empires Online
-Star Wars: The Old Republic
-Crysis 2

So here are the list of games I plan on playing or types of games I usually play. Can a Mac play these games well or no??

A Mac Pro can play those games decently, but you're going to be looking at around $3k and you'll have to dual-boot into Windows anyway. $1k gaming PC will play them just as well.

 

[HAL9000]

A Mac Pro can play those games decently, but you're going to be looking at around $3k and you'll have to dual-boot into Windows anyway. $1k gaming PC will play them just as well.

True enough, it entirely depends on how much your using OSX

 

[betasub]

a fair ammonite of money

Wha???

Yeah, that's what I thought when I read your post.

 

[HAL9000]

Yeah, that's what I thought when I read your post.

Ohh I see, yeah I meant ammount, I was using my ipad and it autocorrected...

 

[Zap]

For gaming, definitely build a Windows PC.

Ohh I see, yeah I meant ammount, I was using my ipad and it autocorrected...

 

[s44]

Macs are shit for gaming.

 

[HAL9000]

Macs are shit for gaming.

Not true, Mac OS X is shit for gaming, now that Macs can run Windows, Macs and PC's are the same for gaming.

 

[s44]

Not true, Mac OS X is shit for gaming, now that Macs can run Windows, Macs and PC's are the same for gaming.

Utterly wrong. Either you buy an overpriced Mac with an underpowered GPU you can never upgrade, or you buy an overpriced Mac Pro with thousands of dollars in features that do you no good in gaming (dual CPU, ECC, etc.) and a limited selection of GPUs released months after the PC versions.

 

[TheStu]

Macs are shit for gaming.

As are cheap Dells with Intel integrated graphics. At least the lowest GPU in a Mac is a 320m integrated. I mean, the best you can get is a 5870 1GB (in the $2500 base Mac Pro) or a 5750 in the 27" iMac, and sure the 5870 is pretty great, but a 5750 on a 2560*1400 display??

You are not wrong, they are not great gaming systems, and the fact that you cannot easily upgrade them, or cannot upgrade them at all, which really makes them a poor choice for someone that wants a high-powered gaming rig so, as we have told the OP... build your own.

 

[HAL9000]

Utterly wrong. Either you buy an overpriced Mac with an underpowered GPU you can never upgrade, or you buy an overpriced Mac Pro with thousands of dollars in features that do you no good in gaming (dual CPU, ECC, etc.) and a limited selection of GPUs released months after the PC versions.

So what you mean to say cheap macs are bad game machines, which is true about most cheap computers. And your not prepared to pay for an expensive one, say g that macs are bad at games is wrong, some macs are and the others are expensive... Just because you wouldn't want to pay the extra for a Mac docent mean they are bad at games..

 

[HAL9000]

As are cheap Dells with Intel integrated graphics. At least the lowest GPU in a Mac is a 320m integrated. I mean, the best you can get is a 5870 1GB (in the $2500 base Mac Pro) or a 5750 in the 27" iMac, and sure the 5870 is pretty great, but a 5750 on a 2560*1400 display??

You are not wrong, they are not great gaming systems, and the fact that you cannot easily upgrade them, or cannot upgrade them at all, which really makes them a poor choice for someone that wants a high-powered gaming rig so, as we have told the OP... build your own.

Mac pros are as upgradable as any PC but yeah something like a Mac Mini or iMac are a pain to upgrade, like AIO PCs..

 

[s44]

So what you mean to say cheap macs are bad game machines, which is true about most cheap computers. And your not prepared to pay for an expensive one, say g that macs are bad at games is wrong, some macs are and the others are expensive... Just because you wouldn't want to pay the extra for a Mac docent mean they are bad at games..

Translation: you have never used anything but a Mac and have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[HAL9000]

I have a degree in computer networking and I'm doing a masters degree in network management, I used windows between 3.1 and vista then I thought I'd try a Mac, then bought a Mac mini at 10.4 now I've got a Mac Pro, and A MacBook pro but my personally I prefer Linux, which I use a lot at my job.

Translation: I think I know what I'm talking about. Don't assume things about people and be so rude

 

[s44]

Then it's even funnier that you're so misinformed.

Cheap PCs can game quite well. And no Mac can touch a medium-high priced PC for gaming.

 

[HAL9000]

Then it's even funnier that you're so misinformed.

Cheap PCs can game quite well. And no Mac can touch a medium-high priced PC for gaming.

My Mac can touch high end pcs for gaming.