MacBook Pro Gaming

Is the MacBook Pro (maxed out, 17" 1900x1200 screen, 2.66Ghz Core 2 Duo Processor, 256mb nVidia 8600GT DDR3 SDRAM, 4GB 667 RAM, 7200rpm HD) able to handle high-end games like Crysis, and UT3? Obviously i'm running it with windows. Thanks for any advice.

 

yes, but don't expect to play on high settigns.

 

The MBP is quite a capable machine, I didn't know 2.66 was an option. Is it, or do you plan on upgrading?

 

They just added the option a few days ago.

 

depends on your definition of "handle." It is quite capable of playing the game at it's native resolution if that's what you are asking. Don't expect to jack it up to AAx4, AFx4.

 

yeah, but he is gonna be doing alot better on those games than alot of other people on notebooks. Is it the 17inch model? Its also damn pricey..but hey

 

Amen to that. If you got the money, spend it how you want.

I'm poor, so I have a desktop for gaming.

 

The MBP is a very powerful laptop. It should play UT3 at 1280x800 very well (you might need to restart after installing UT3 for best performance).

However, even the most powerful laptops have problems running Crysis. I would not expect to run it on high settings, or even medium settings. Running Crysis would require a high-end desktop if you're planning to run it at 30+ fps with decent settings.

 

Well for me, 20fps plus is very playable and i have all settings to medium and about 4 on high. Im playing just under 1280x800 and it looks AWESOME, so this guys Macbook Pro should be able to get heaps better quality.

 

I have the same Macbook Pro with the 2.4 GHz CPU, and the lower resolution. You will not be able to play recent games at your 1920x1200 resolution (well, maybe with all settings on low). So you should accept that up front. Crysis runs at a mixture of medium and high settings (not 'very high'), at 1280x800 (no AA), at around 23 fps if you overclock your videocard (if not, around 19 or 20 fps). UT3 runs great maxed out at 1440x900 (no AA).

 

I play crysis at 1280x800 no AA, everything on max + the dx10 tweak for winXP and get ~35fps all the time.

That's pretty playable to me..

 

Yeah right... I overclock my 8600 past 8700 GT speeds and still get 30 fps MAX (indoors), mostly between 19 and 24 fps, also with DX10 tweaks. That's on XP with driver 169.04. Nobody with a 8600 GT can play at your suggested settings with 35fps all the time.

 

Im looking into buying a macbook pro 15.4 with the 8600M gt.

I just have a couple of questions, is it easy to get bootcamp and all that running windows on a mac thing, since Il be using mac os for everything besides gaming which will be done in windows.

Also...Im going to go for the matte screen, how is the matte screen if anyone has it on their mbp...color wise and during movies and games, and how is it outdoors

 

Running Windows on a Mac couldn't be easier: install Boot Camp, run it, then it asks you to put in the Windows install disc and reboot. That's basically it. After the reboot you get to install Windows in the same way as on a PC. Boot Camp even gives you all the Windows drivers for your Mac hardware.

Matte screen is decent, but it has ghosting that you may notice with some games. I suppose it's just fine outdoors, but I haven't tried it.

 

thanks cinner...going to start looking for good deals on it...you know any place where they sell em with good deals in europe or UK

 

I got mine at a local dealer for a good price. But I don't think you'll get it much cheaper than in the official Apple Stores and such. Just keep in mind that Apple asks way too much for upgrades like RAM (buy the extra RAM yourself somewhere cheap and place it in the MBP yourself as well - this doesn't break your warranty).

 

is boot camp a virtualization of windows?

 

no, its just a way to get windows working on a mac (from what I have heard)....everything will run at native speed, just don't expect battery life to be the same

 

I game on my MBP (15.4 inch version). Orange Box type games run totally maxed out at native (1440x900) resolution. Games like Supreme Commander run at very high settings with no AA and low shadows at 1440x900 with respectable (18-25ish) FPS.

I play Crysis at native resolution with all settings on medium and it is fairly playable (I'd guess 22 FPS). I suppose running Vista might be smacking off 1-3 FPS. And having a hard drive with only 10% space left might not help either.

I've tried overclocking in Riva Tuner, but it doesn't seem like I get much performance increase. I must be doing something wrong.

 

~35fps meaning an average of 35fps. And, of course, your overclocking technique and drivers may not be the best ones

 

Can you post some screenshots including the framerate?

I do have the best drivers, namely the ones Nvidia released specifically for Crysis And it's not like my framerate is below average, it's that yours is far above it.

 

Didn't the MBP have heating problems and the GPU was underclocked? Is that true? Or was that some stupid rumor to get people to stop buying them?

 

They did get hot in the past (1st generation, like 2 years ago). That was also when the Ati x1600 was underclocked (you could overclock it though). Now, all is well as far as those two issues is concerned

 

The GPU is still underclocked from what I've read over the past few months but I believe Apple fixed the overheating problem on earlier models.

 

The 17" model has a 520 MHz core clock and 650 MHz memory clock. Is that underclocked? (I don't know how fast a 8600m GT is normally clocked)

 

According to Meaker's thread here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=70254

The max clock setting for GDDR3 should be 700MHz so unless the thread information is wrong that means the memory is underclocked and the shader clock is fine.

 

Then the question would be: do other manufactureres underclock their 8600 as well, or is it just Apple? In any case you can overclock the memory to 700 MHz easily, so it wouldn't be much of a problem I guess.

 

This is where the memory difference comes into play. I'm using the DDR2 version compared to the MacBook's GDDR3 so there's a limit to how far I can overclock my video card (not that I want to).

Most manufacturers probably underclock their card for cooling purposes IMO.

 

Wow - could you explain how did you achieve that? As well what is the DX10 tweak for XP, where do you get it and how does it affect the frame rate? Do you mean by MAX. - Very high settings? Sounds impossible. As well recent rumors indicate that the Crysis demo can be hacked to show DX10 graphic with DX9.

So could you post a detail guide how did you overclock yours? What drivers should i use?

I've 2.4GHz 15" macbook pro 4GB running Win XP

 

And What about the 15" 2.2GHz 2Gb 128mb 8600gt? will it run crysis on med with around 20fps on Vista?

 

No. Boot Camp is an Apple program included in OS X Leopard that Partitions your hard drive into 2 sections, and lets you choose how many GB you want in each section. It keeps all your OS X stuff in 1 section, then allows you to reformat, and install Windows XP or Vista in the other. It's not virtualization, it's actually having 2 OS's on 1 hard drive . You can choose which to boot into on start-up.

 

*stares at thread*

AHHHHH!!! IT'S ALIVE!!!!

*runs away screaming*


I'm dubious to say Crysis will run on all medium with the 128vRAM version of the 8600m.

I run it with the 256vRAM version and get about 22 FPS at 1440x900.

So with half the vRAM...it isn't going to do quite as well.

 

the macbook pro and the xps 1530 have the same gpu rite.

 

yeah, 256mb GDDR3

 

Does MBP has turbocache?

 

Technically, when running in Windows, the MBP (with Nvidia card) has TurboCache.

Pretty much every modern GPU has a similar feature, so that when the card runs out of onboard memory, the game doesn't come to a crashing halt swapping from the hard drive.

TurboCache just lets your videocard steal some of your system ram. It slows things down a bit, but nowhere near what would happen if the hard disk was the one being substituted.

 

Don't all GeForce GPUs use TurboCache now?

 

Its just that in Russia (where I live) the 2.4, 256mb vram MBP costs 1000$ more then the 2.2 128mb one, so I don't know whether it is worth it.

 

Wouldn't a PC be a better option for gaming?

That way you don't have to buy Windows and run boot camp to get Windows games running.

A Dell XPS M1530 would probably end up with similar performance if you set it up properly.

http://www.dell.com/content/product...b_m1530?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~tab=bundlestab

So you are getting 2.4 MBP level performance for 2000 US dollars.

Don't get me wrong, I own a 2.4 and love it (and love gaming on it), but it really IS quite expensive.

If modern gaming isn't your primary focus, go for the 2.2 version.
If it is, strongly consider getting a PC.

 

I go to Colledge in the UK an live in Russia, so I have to bring my computer back on holydays. Therefore PC isn't an option(( But thanks anyway I'll have a look at some alternatives for now.

 

I don't understand. Laptop PCs exist. PC just means it runs windows. IMO you should only get a Mac if you need OS X. Otherwise getting a PC, like an XPS laptop is more affordable and you can get nearly the same amount of power for less money.

 

Lol, there are features that a macbook pro has than a Dell XPS has.

There's nothing wrong with an Apple user getting a windows copy for their macbook pro any other mac. I don't see what your problem is. You even have a macbook pro for yourself.

 

I'm going to get a 15" Macbook Pro next summer when I replace my current HP notebook. I decided on it because I wanted an iMac, but then it dawned on me that since I was going to replace my lappy anyways, might as well just get a Macbook Pro since I could get my OS X machine, still run Windows, and not to mention have a decent mobile gaming computer, plus I could sell it every year to get the newer model at very good resale value (my friend does this).

I just hope that the Pros have 8800s by the time I get one. I'm pretty sure they will or they'll have something as powerful by that time.