Would the Mac Pro make a good gaming PC?

[crsgardner]

I admit it: I have a little Mac envy. I like the pretty icons. And yeah, the desktop experience is nicer than Windows.

However, I'm a gamer, and up until this point I stayed away from Apple with a 10-foot pole. The Intel announcement earlier in the year intrigued me, but I said I'd wait until they produced a reasonable desktop. Now they have. Reasonable, but from a graphics standpoint not top of the line.

So here's the thing. I have my rig I built about a year ago, and I specced out a new Mac. Is it worth it for me to upgrade? (Keep in mind the new Mac DOES run Windows, so I'll be spending most of my gaming time there).

My rig:

Athlon 64 3200 (1 processor)
7800 GTX 256MB
2 GB RAM
2x74 GB 10,000 RPM RAID 0
1x250 GB 7200 RPM (for storage)
Dell FPW 2005
Single-layer DVD burner
CD-RW
Audigy 2

Specced machine:

Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB
2GB RAM
250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s (I would probably slot in my existing 10,000 RPM drives -- same interface)
Apple Cinema HD Display (23" flat panel)
2 x SuperDrives (dual layer DVD burners)
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR module

Keep in mind, as specced, this machine is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. It's over $4000. However, that's mostly due to the Cinema Display, which costs $1000 (I can ditch it and use my existing Dell).

The question is whether or not I would see much, or any, performance gain. The processors definitely blow mine out of the water, but the video cards' performance is very similar.

 

[Childs]

Perhaps you can get the 7300GT, then use your 7800GTX in your MP using Macvidia drivers.

 

[Bobthelost]

The CPU is irrelevant, get yourself a 3800 or 4000 if you want to take CPU out of the equation. It's got a X1900XT so it's going to be quite good though.

No, under no circumstances is that a good upgrade for gaming.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
The CPU is irrelevant, get yourself a 3800 or 4000 if you want to take CPU out of the equation. It's got a X1900XT so it's going to be quite good though.

No, under no circumstances is that a good upgrade for gaming.

Aye... Mac sound still sucks totally... no 5.1

You could build a C2D or AM2 system for like $900 and get better fps than that Mac can push out. According to Apple's own rediculous timedemos in Doom3 and Quake 4 my X2 3800+ @2.6 with 2GB DDR500 memory and a 7800GT beats it.

 

[obeseotron]

Paying for a pair of Xeons and FB DIMMs because you like the icons is a bit much. If for whatever reason you want a Mac workstation that you can boot to windows and play a game here and there, go ahead. With a good graphics card you should be fine for games. Be aware you're spending $1000 or so extra for power that games are not going to take advantage of, but you can do it if $4000 is burning a hole in your pocket.

As for the price here are some tips:

1. Apple charges $300 to go to 2GB RAM from the standard 1GB. For $300 you could buy a pair of 1GB FB DIMMs instead and get 3GB of RAM for the same price. You could also buy a pair of 512MB DIMMs for $200, get 2GB and save $100.
2. Dropping to a 160GB drive saves you $75. That will buy you a 250GB Serial ATA drive in addition to the 160GB it comes with.
3. It's cheaper to get the standard 7300GT, throw it away, and buy an x1900 XT seperately. Not much cheaper, but it's a point worth making if you need an extra cheap graphics card.
4. Calling it a Superdrive doesn't make it different than a $35 DVDRW Drive. Buy a real mouse and keyboard with the money you save.
5. Dell 2407FPW is comparable, if not better than the Apple display and $200+ cheaper.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

On the Mac Pro, you can put in 4 7300 gt's, so does that mean the computer would use all 4 to render during a game. Would that mean this is a quad core, quad-sli machine? Is this the 4x4 that AMD has been saying they will release next year?

 

[lamere]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
The CPU is irrelevant, get yourself a 3800 or 4000 if you want to take CPU out of the equation. It's got a X1900XT so it's going to be quite good though.

No, under no circumstances is that a good upgrade for gaming.

Aye... Mac sound still sucks totally... no 5.1

You could build a C2D or AM2 system for like $900 and get better fps than that Mac can push out. According to Apple's own rediculous timedemos in Doom3 and Quake 4 my X2 3800+ @2.6 with 2GB DDR500 memory and a 7800GT beats it.

MAC sound sucks? Wow, I want what ever you're smoking....what do you think they use in professional music studios? Dell's with creative sound cards? LMAO!! What are MAC's DESIGNED for? MUSIC AND GRAPHICS.
Really man, pass the pipe over here

 

[remagavon]

Just a note: There is a pci express power connector inside the Mac Pro chassis (I saw one in a wwdc photo) so you should be able to 3rd party the video card and just mess with the device id in a text editor to get it to work. The Mac Pros are cheaper than comparable PC manufacturer's computers, but note that boot camp has annoying issues right now like being _unable_ to mute the internal speaker when you plug in headphones, but the issues are all small like that and will be fixed when leopard ships.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: lamere

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
The CPU is irrelevant, get yourself a 3800 or 4000 if you want to take CPU out of the equation. It's got a X1900XT so it's going to be quite good though.

No, under no circumstances is that a good upgrade for gaming.

Aye... Mac sound still sucks totally... no 5.1

You could build a C2D or AM2 system for like $900 and get better fps than that Mac can push out. According to Apple's own rediculous timedemos in Doom3 and Quake 4 my X2 3800+ @2.6 with 2GB DDR500 memory and a 7800GT beats it.

MAC sound sucks? Wow, I want what ever you're smoking....what do you think they use in professional music studios? Dell's with creative sound cards? LMAO!! What are MAC's DESIGNED for? MUSIC AND GRAPHICS.
Really man, pass the pipe over here

Actually no they use special breakout boxes plugged into Firewire and $300 or so in software for music recording/sound editing. Or they have an Internal PCI card that handles the sound. The Macs ONLY come with a sterio mini pin plug (like a headphone plug on a portal player) and that's it.

I also own a couple Macs and work with them for Graphic Design, but when it comes to gaming. No Thanks to mac.


edit: perhaps you should go see the boards they use on a Mac for a recording studio environment. Like this for instance MOTU HD192 Core Audio System and that's just a start...you can add over $10 or $20grand into monitor speaker systems, mixing boards, software, mastering software, not to mention the computer itself.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: remagavon
Just a note: There is a pci express power connector inside the Mac Pro chassis (I saw one in a wwdc photo) so you should be able to 3rd party the video card and just mess with the device id in a text editor to get it to work. The Mac Pros are cheaper than comparable PC manufacturer's computers, but note that boot camp has annoying issues right now like being _unable_ to mute the internal speaker when you plug in headphones, but the issues are all small like that and will be fixed when leopard ships.

This is all theory right now until someone tries an off-the-shelf card. EFI could throw a wrench in to using normal video cards.

 

[OSX]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
The CPU is irrelevant, get yourself a 3800 or 4000 if you want to take CPU out of the equation. It's got a X1900XT so it's going to be quite good though.

No, under no circumstances is that a good upgrade for gaming.

Aye... Mac sound still sucks totally... no 5.1

You could build a C2D or AM2 system for like $900 and get better fps than that Mac can push out. According to Apple's own rediculous timedemos in Doom3 and Quake 4 my X2 3800+ @2.6 with 2GB DDR500 memory and a 7800GT beats it.

Speaking of which, when I get the rest of my parts, we'll see how well a 900$ system with an E6400 and an X1800GTO fairs against that mac.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: lamere

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
The CPU is irrelevant, get yourself a 3800 or 4000 if you want to take CPU out of the equation. It's got a X1900XT so it's going to be quite good though.

No, under no circumstances is that a good upgrade for gaming.

Aye... Mac sound still sucks totally... no 5.1

You could build a C2D or AM2 system for like $900 and get better fps than that Mac can push out. According to Apple's own rediculous timedemos in Doom3 and Quake 4 my X2 3800+ @2.6 with 2GB DDR500 memory and a 7800GT beats it.

MAC sound sucks? Wow, I want what ever you're smoking....what do you think they use in professional music studios? Dell's with creative sound cards? LMAO!! What are MAC's DESIGNED for? MUSIC AND GRAPHICS.
Really man, pass the pipe over here

Actually no they use special breakout boxes plugged into Firewire and $300 or so in software for music recording/sound editing. Or they have an Internal PCI card that handles the sound. The Macs ONLY come with a sterio mini pin plug (like a headphone plug on a portal player) and that's it.

I also own a couple Macs and work with them for Graphic Design, but when it comes to gaming. No Thanks to mac.


edit: perhaps you should go see the boards they use on a Mac for a recording studio environment. Like this for instance MOTU HD192 Core Audio System and that's just a start...you can add over $10 or $20grand into monitor speaker systems, mixing boards, software, mastering software, not to mention the computer itself.

Actually, I believe that most of those "headphone ports", are spdif compatible.

 

[imported_Mags]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
The Macs ONLY come with a sterio mini pin plug (like a headphone plug on a portal player) and that's it.

That's not correct. The Mac Pro has build-in optical digital audio (Toslink) in- and outputs.
Check the specs and see here.

 

[mosco]

Originally posted by: Mags

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
The Macs ONLY come with a sterio mini pin plug (like a headphone plug on a portal player) and that's it.

That's not correct. The Mac Pro has build-in optical digital audio (Toslink) in- and outputs.
Check the specs and see here.

yup, even the macbooks have optical out/in I think. Apple has been including atleast output out on many of its recent machines. I think the previous PowerMac G5s even had it.