DirectX 9.0 games on Macbook Pro? Help please!

Hi all,

I'm thinking of picking up a 15.4" Macbook Pro with the 2.4Ghz, 256MB 8600 GT etc.

I want to be able to play Titan Quest, still. It requires DirectX 9 on a Windows OS. Will Parallels or some such multi-OS solution be able to handle this game? Will I encounter any problems? How is gaming in general on Windows? I'll be using OSX for the majority of the time, but some gaming would be great...

Thanks in advance!

 

Well, gaming in Parallels will run DirectX 9 fine, but you will get a better experience gaming in Windows natively through Boot Camp, as just running Parallels does consume quite a lot of system resources.

 

OK, I did some reading and Boot Camp does indeed sound better, though it will only work through the end of this month, according to Apple? What will Leopard add to this?

 

Boot Camp is currently in Beta, and the Beta is set to expire when Leopard is released, which is on track for the end of this month.

The final version of Boot Camp will be a feature of Leopard, so you will be able to get Boot Camp in Leopard.

 

I suppose I should wait to buy my Macbook Pro until Leopard ships?

 

Yes, it would be a good idea; it wouldn't hurt . Leopard's expected to be released on October 26th, although there is still no confirmation from Apple.

 

I can't wait. I decided I can't resist the MBPs any longer. Thanks for all the help!

 

No problem, always happy to help out.

As for myself, I've finally decided on the iPod Touch, and I can't wait as well . Just need to dig up the cash now .

 

I wouldn't even try Titan's Quest with Parallels. While not a horribly intensive game at low settings, if you want to see any graphics slightly better than those of Diablo 1, Parallels will probably just crap out. Definitely use Boot Camp.

I know they advertise themselves as DX9 gaming-capable and even lists a bunch of games and whatnot, but the truth is, no serious gamer would be willing to put up with all the sacrifices and loss of performance you'd get with ANY game in Parallels or Fusion when Boot Camp is a free and available alternative.

 

is there a performance decrease from using windows on bootcamp compared to windows on a pc with the same gfx card and how big of a difference is it/?

 

Almost none Macbook pro is even a bit faster than G1s - the difference in scores is actually caused by the fact that 8600m gt is clocked slightly lower in 15" mbp than in g1s...

 

nice

 

Although note that I have on-hands experience only with XP - I haven't tried Vista yet

 

is gaming better in vista than in xp? i hear its the other way round, would make sense though if it was better in vista.

 

Nah, better in XP
For Vista to be better you need a DX10 graphics card, and Vista needs some time to mature. The drivers aren't good enough yet and Vista is quite heavy and a bit buggy still. Your mileage may vary...

 

ah ok, the mbp should have a dx10 card.. i think the 8600gt is one.

 

Yes, the MBP's 8600M GT is a DX10 card, but its not a very good DX10 card.

 

iono about you guys but when i tried playing cs:s, i got some glitchy graphics in de_dust2

 

i herd the gpu is underclocked from the other thread, maybe you should overclock it a bit.