BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

[Blak_Phoenix]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

Macs are overpriced, get a laptop instead, get the Asus A8JM of the Dell 9400 series, both have great graphics cards, the dell is big and heavy, but has some very very nice hardware, wheil the Asus is cheaper, lighter, but not quite as good.

[LoD]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

Macs are overpriced, get a laptop instead, get the Asus A8JM of the Dell 9400 series, both have great graphics cards, the dell is big and heavy, but has some very very nice hardware, wheil the Asus is cheaper, lighter, but not quite as good.

They are not that overpriced. For a few hundrew dollars over Dell you can have a sleek industrial design, exclusive ability to use OSX, the ease of use and the power of iLife suite (this is some really powerful consumer software that honestly is like 1/2 the reason to buy a mac)

You also get for the time being virus immunity and complete lack of spyware. And on top of this it can triple boot OSX, Linux and Windows XP if one so desires.

A mac dual booting Windows and OSX is a pretty powerful package that can easily handle any game that will run on an equally powerful PC.


The only problem with low end Macs is the integrated Intel graphics. The higher end ones have decent stuff, and once the Intel powered Powermacs with conroe come out, with upgradable graphics etc... those will be some pretty attractive machines.

[Sir. MatDef]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

Hmm what do you think of this:

For Gaming: HP Computer (~$1300-$1400):
Intel Pent D Dual Core 3.0 ghz
x1600XT 256 mb
2 gigs RAM
160 gig hd

For Multimedia/Schoolwork: Mac Mini ($977):
Duo 1.66 ghz
1 gig RAM
80 gig HD

I'm thinking HP first then Mac for graduation. Thoughts please?

If you gotta get an hp, go for an amd model.

[Blak_Phoenix]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

I was not bagging macs, i was thinking of getting a Macbook Pro, but because of the x1600 i didnt go for it. I love the look, and really want iLife, so eventually i will get one. But it will probably be a mini, as i would just be using it for audio editing and graphical stuff. I just think that you get better value for money with other companies.

[knghtwhosaysni]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

If you want to get a computer for gaming and one for schoolwork/media... well, I would suggest definitely building your own for the gaming one. And, of course, that system will also be fine at schoolwork+media as well, so I don't see why you would need two computers...

[datakillx99]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

Will the iMacs have a better selection of video cards in the future? If i have to ill save up for a powermac but id rather not :cry:

[gatorade]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

why not just build a decent computer when you've saved enough and get a decent/ok laptop for school?

[accolades]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

I am the proud owner of a 20" iMac core duo with 2GB of memory and 256MB X1600 (You have to order them directly from the apple store to get the extra video memory)

I am currently typing this message from Windows XP on the iMac, and waiting for the BF2 1.3 patch to finish downloading.

I will definately let you guys know how the card fairs (with no apple fanboy nonsense, I'll give you settings/framerates and 3DMark scores)

I hope it does well... My previous BF2 PC was a 2.6GHz P4 with 1GB of RAM and a 256MB Radeon X700 AGP card. So for all intents and purposes, this machine blows that one away (and I was reasonably pleased with the performace on that machine) The killer is going to be the unbelievably high native resolution... Windows runs at 1680x1050 natively.

Also, people keep mentioning the PowerMac here - AFAIK the PowerMac has not been released with an Intel Chip yet. The current line of PowerMacs are still G5 PPC machines - read: They can't run windows except through emulation, and they are not capable of running BF2...

Although when the PowerMac's do finally make the transition to Intel, watchout - those will be some bad mofo's. (From what I understand, Apple won't be releasing Intel PowerMac's until they're Quad Core)

[SFR-MAINE]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

Whats the video card on that?

[N2K]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

HPs are Compaqs, with the HP logo slapped in the front

[lonegunm4n]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

HPs are Compaqs, with the HP logo slapped in the front

so true.............2 friends bought the same computer, one said HP, one said Compaq. All the parts were the exact same, etc.

[Sir. MatDef]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

I am the proud owner of a 20" iMac core duo with 2GB of memory and 256MB X1600 (You have to order them directly from the apple store to get the extra video memory)

I am currently typing this message from Windows XP on the iMac, and waiting for the BF2 1.3 patch to finish downloading.

I will definately let you guys know how the card fairs (with no apple fanboy nonsense, I'll give you settings/framerates and 3DMark scores)

I hope it does well... My previous BF2 PC was a 2.6GHz P4 with 1GB of RAM and a 256MB Radeon X700 AGP card. So for all intents and purposes, this machine blows that one away (and I was reasonably pleased with the performace on that machine) The killer is going to be the unbelievably high native resolution... Windows runs at 1680x1050 natively.

Also, people keep mentioning the PowerMac here - AFAIK the PowerMac has not been released with an Intel Chip yet. The current line of PowerMacs are still G5 PPC machines - read: They can't run windows except through emulation, and they are not capable of running BF2...

Although when the PowerMac's do finally make the transition to Intel, watchout - those will be some bad mofo's. (From what I understand, Apple won't be releasing Intel PowerMac's until they're Quad Core)

Don't forget to oc the x1600 back to stock specs, as apple downclocks them. As for the intel powermacs, those are probably going to come out after conroe is launched.

[MonkMachine]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

If you want to run osx on a pc take a look here:

http://osxx86.orgfree.com/installguide.htm

It is possible, and most stuff works.

[accolades]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

Ok, here is the information I promised... I'll get the nitty-gritty facts out of the way first. Then I'll provide my personal observations.

The test system is an Apple iMac with Intel Dual Core processor.

20" Wide Screen LCD display with native resolution of 1680x1050.
Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz processor
2GB of DDR2 RAM
256MB ATi Radeon X1600 video card running the latest Radeon Omega drivers (Not the apple drivers included with bootcamp, and not overclocked)

I used 3DMark06 for the test. Using 100% default options:


Resolution 1280x1024
Antialiasing None
Antistropic Filtering Optimal
HLSL VS Target 3_0
HLSL PS Target 3_0
Repeat Tests Off

SM2.0 Tests 2 of 2
CPU Test 2 of 2
HDR/SM3.0 Graphics Tests 2 of 2
Feature Tests 0 of 7
Batch Size Tests 0 of 6


The results:


1727 3DMarks

SM2.0 Score 624
HDR/SM3.0 Score 628
CPU Score 1680


Battlefield 2 is playable on the iMac but it's certainly not a top-notch contender. At 1360x1024 @ 75Hz - using the "Medium" setting (only tweaked to increase the View Distance Scale to 100) the game runs smoothly at around 35-45 Frames per Second, leaning towards the lower half of the scale during the more intense moments such as driving a fast vehicle or participating in a fire fight.

My personal observations?

I'm a little disappointed to be perfectly honest. I'm a huge Apple fanboy, but I can't justify the relatively low scores here. My last PC (which I hocked on ebay around nine months ago) was a P4 2.6GHz Hyperthreaded machine with 1GB of dual channel 400MHz DDR RAM and a 256MB 8x AGP, ATi Radeon X700 and it outperformed this system readily. On paper, the new iMac blows the old rig out of the water. What is to account for this? Could it be Apple
s modified (handicapped) BIOS of the X1600, or Apple's emulated PC BIOS (Apple computers use EFI - if this is truly the problem, then it will be solved forever with the release of Windows Vista, which also supports EFI)

Once or twice during a match, I would find myself getting "rubber-banded" a bit. Usually nothing too terrible. I would be looking toward a building one minute, and suddenly I would be looking in another direction without having moved... One of my good friends assured me that it was caused by network lag, and not my video. but I'm not completely convinced.

The only REAL downfall of the machine, oddly enough is the HUGE widescreen monitor. Battlefield 2 doesn't support widescreen aspect ratios, so no matter which resolution you choose everything on the screen is "stretched" slightly, making your Marines look a little like Private Pile from "Full Metal Jacket". (It's actually very minor - and I wouldn't even have noticed it had I not been sitting next to my friend who was running BF2 on his uber SLI gaming machine with a standard 20" LCD)

I have two burning questions left, which I plan to address later this weekend.

1) How would the Apple Drivers perform under similar tests? They were designed specifically for this machine, and I wouldn't be suprised at all to discover they perform better than the Omega Drivers.

2) Will the card perform better under OS X? Could Apple have intentionally gimped the card to make OS X look better? I would not put it past them. The only way to really tell will be to get two copies of the same game, Like Unreal Tournament 2004, WoW, Star Wars Battlefront, or even Battlefield 1942 that is available for both Windows and Mac OS X. I would bet good money that you'll get better performance with the same settings when running under Mac OS X - and I'm sure that it wouldn't be an accident...

Feel free to comment, flame, or whatever else makes you happy. I'm not an Apple hater, I am actually a HUGE Apple fanboy - but I also believe that customers have a right to know what they're getting before they buy it.

Thanks
Tim

[Sir. MatDef]

Re: BF2 on an Intel Mac Mini

Use ati tool and look at those clockspeeds of that card. Apple has been known to downclock them, so that's why your scores are a little low.