vbuggy
Golden Member
It's great for gaming if you only expect your machine to last 2-3 years max. The GPU that they put in flagship iMacs are totally gameable both on paper and to most extents IRL, but machine's inadequately engineered for any kind of even occasionally intensive use that hits both CPU and GPU, and as a result the thing cooks, while you don't really get a clue of that since the externals stays pretty cool. And if you use iStat to compensate with manual fan control to move any kind of meaningful heat, it does a passable imitation of a fan-festooned Prescott rig from the 'Oughts - or a jet engine, whichever analogy you get.
e.g. since I happen to have both beside each other I'm qualified to give really good relatives - the 2012 all-SSD 27" iMac with the 3770 idles the CPU at ~20C above my as-silent-in-idle gaming rig (OC'd 4770K, all air) and the 680MX idles at 10C above the higher of the two (again OC, slightly) 780Ti's in the gaming rig. Wind both rigs up, and the differences become even starker. Don't let the fact that you can have the GPU fool you - it's basically a WQHD Facebook / cat video rendering machine at the core.
A lot of people who can't build PC's don't make the jump to a decent prebuilt PC, but instead to a prebuilt Mac - and then use that as the basis of 'Mac is better' when in fact any half decent prebuilt would have been better than the junk they threw together.
I would say get a Crudbook for the GF, and buy/build a gaming rig that is actually a gaming rig - assuming you are a competent builder.
e.g. since I happen to have both beside each other I'm qualified to give really good relatives - the 2012 all-SSD 27" iMac with the 3770 idles the CPU at ~20C above my as-silent-in-idle gaming rig (OC'd 4770K, all air) and the 680MX idles at 10C above the higher of the two (again OC, slightly) 780Ti's in the gaming rig. Wind both rigs up, and the differences become even starker. Don't let the fact that you can have the GPU fool you - it's basically a WQHD Facebook / cat video rendering machine at the core.
A lot of people who can't build PC's don't make the jump to a decent prebuilt PC, but instead to a prebuilt Mac - and then use that as the basis of 'Mac is better' when in fact any half decent prebuilt would have been better than the junk they threw together.
I would say get a Crudbook for the GF, and buy/build a gaming rig that is actually a gaming rig - assuming you are a competent builder.
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