"All PC Games Run On Macs." What?

[Smerf]

linux is free. and probably has more games then mac

 

[Conza]

First of all: Please read the whole post before posting. Thanks!

Last night, a friend of mine and my dad's dropped by. Well, we got on the subject of computers and he starting saying that, for the things I do, an iMac would be perfect.

Well, my gaming computer is so old that the latest game I've played is The Sims 3, and it was pretty laggy at that. <:'-( So, for the past few years I've missed out on games. (I don't even have an Xbox360, a PS3 or, God-forbid, a Wii.) So, we mentioned that it would be difficult to spend $1,200 on a work computer and THEN spend at least $3,000 bucks on a new, up-to-date gaming rig. Well, this friend then said this, pretty much word for word: "All PC games can run on Mac. They were designed on Macs. You put it in and, BOOM, it's loaded. No installing, no waiting, it's in there instantly. On a computer, you have to put it in, wait for it to install, no, not on a Mac. It's installed the moment you put it in."

Well, to be honest, to me, that sounded, and still sounds, like bullshit. VALVe just recently made Steam available for Macs and Skyrim doesn't seem to have OSX support.

However, since my dad and I are not really computer savvy, I wanted to give our friend the benefit of the doubt by asking here: Can an iMac run all PC games? Even old ones that you would get at Good Old Games?

Also, he mentioned when talking about the difference between the $700 and $1,200 iMac, he said the $1,200 iMac has, "... Five more gigs of RAM." Um, that's funny; I always thought RAM cam in 256MB, 512MB, 2Gigs, 4Gigs, 8Gigs and so on. Is it possible to have an odd number of RAM like 5 Gigs?

Sorry, that does sounds hilarious, but you asked me to read it all, and there's a possibility that it might, so I shall continue.

$3000 bucks? Where do you live? Singapore? $3000 bucks would be way overkill, try $2000 and you'd be close to the top end, but $1200 for a decent gaming machine is not impossible.

You're problem like you stated is that your current PC is old, but anyway.

Ok, I'm going to tell you that 'literally' I doubt there is a PC that can play every PC game ever invented. In terms of modern PC games, with a Windows boot (maybe Linux, not too savy), the hardware is similar enough that it is possible to play modern PC Games, yes... good luck upgrading without paying an arm and a leg though, anyway.

Ok, wrong on the 'they were designed for mac' front, macs now use an abused format of PC hardware, so they were designed for PCs, which macs are now.

Good news! You're correct It is a complete load of bullshit, consoles now require you to install data, Macs not requiring install? Yeah right.

On the ram front, yes it is. I once had 3/4 of a Gig, my brother has 2.5 gigs in a machine I made from two machines. You're limited by A. the size/s of the ram sticks B. the archetecture of the ram (does it fit) and C. Bus speeds.

Ok, to answer your underlying question, and I must be honest. Yes it is possible to buy a mac and have it play games. It's not really a secret, they just don't take the market seriously, otherwise they'd have competitive prices, and allow users to upgrade their machines.

However, let me do a quick comparison for you, which you may find useful. I'm going to use a US one, because I'm starting to think you're not really from Singapore .

Apple gaming machine

These specs are criminal for the price. Criminal.

I was going to list the entire spec range, but you can see the sinisterness of these devices, the - Mac Pro - on the link below. Mini's and iMacs are just giant laptops when it comes to graphics (not the 'M' at the end of a graphics card, indicating mobile on the other).

Starting price, at $2,500. Disgusting.

ref1. http://store.apple.com/us_smb_78313/configure/MC561LL/A?select=select&product=MC561LL%2FA&mco=MTg2OTUwMTk

Custom gaming machine with the same balance, I'll configure a better PC... I realised half way through the shipping price is to me in Australia, but just go with it, do the recalc yourself, it'll likely be much cheaper again.

$2,500

i7 960 - $295
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-i7-960-3-2-GHz-Quad-Core-Processor-/320771234181?pt=CPUs&hash=item4aaf749985

$2,205

ATI 5970 - $350
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Sapphire-ATI-Radeon-HD6970-HD-6970-2GB-GDDR5-PCI-E-HDCP-DVI-HDMI-Video-Card-/170698109433?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item27be6671f9

$1855

MB - $441
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gigabyte-GA-G1-GUERRILLA-Intel-X58-LGA1366-motherboard-/230609307894?pt=Motherboards&hash=item35b162c8f6

$1414

RAM - $55
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CORSAIR-DDR3-DESKTOP-1600-MHZ-6GB-3-X-2GB-XMS3-RAM-/280745408277?pt=AU_Components&hash=item415dbaf715

$1359

Case - $342
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTEC-0761345-08009-5-Nine-Hundred-Gaming-Tower-Case-/180599072443?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopComponents_RL&hash=item2a0c8b26bb

$1017

Power Supply - $345
http://www.ebay.com/itm/THERMALTAKE-W0132RU-1000W-Toughpower-PSU-/220835771527?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item336ad67487

$672

OS, Win7 Ultimate - $105
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Windows-Vista-Ultimate-Upgrade-Windows-66R-00003-Retail-/280751931242?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415e1e7f6a

$567

HDD - $52
http://www.ebay.com/itm/White-Label-1TB-32MB-Cache-7200RPM-SATA-II-Hard-Drive-/150447421352?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23075d77a8

Money left - $515

Total: $2500 - $515 = $1985

You could spend that on a good screen, keyboard and mouse, or some games, but my point is, this machine I've just plucked out of the air, would kill the Mac Pro, even the best one for $5000, effortlessly, when it came to pure gaming process power. Only downside is you need to buy the bits individually and assemble them, but that'd be easy for me personally, or, take it to a local shop, won't cost much.

And someone will come in and mention that I don't have to put in the best 'single' graphics card on the market, or that the motherboard is extremely expensive and probably unnecessary, or that I could add more ram, ect, ect, ect, but its choice, I was just putting together a quick list, to prove a point.


EDIT: I accidently referenced a 5970 when I meant to reference a 6970. I found a 6970 for only $350 USD, which actually saves heaps of money on the original formula. I've corrected it

 

[DasDestroyer]

Most games you simply cannot run on a MacOS, but if you were to take that Mac and boot it in Windows you'd have yourself the equivalent of a way overpriced PC, and it would play all PC games.

 

[UrieHusky]

I don't own a mac but I know for a fact there are a lot of games that wont run on them.
As for the whole "just put the disc in and you're away" also bullshit.
End of the day, you can get a mid range gaming rig for 1k to 1.5k and it will last you for quite a while, so don't bother with a mac, it's over priced brand name products that has a massive amount of issues with gaming and a lot of programs.

 

[Redworld13]

Im pretty damn sure that friend is trololololing you.......

 

[Klepa]

On a computer, you have to put it in, wait for it to install, no, not on a Mac. It's installed the moment you put it in.

This above sentence has more to do with witchcraft than computer science.

 

[MercurySteam]

So, we mentioned that it would be difficult to spend $1,200 on a work computer and THEN spend at least $3,000 bucks on a new, up-to-date gaming rig.

Don't know what you're talking about bro, my hardcore gaming rig cost $1700 (and that's in Australian dollars!) And why no use your gaming PC for work too instead of building two computers?

Also, he mentioned when talking about the difference between the $700 and $1,200 iMac, he said the $1,200 iMac has, "... Five more gigs of RAM." Um, that's funny; I always thought RAM cam in 256MB, 512MB, 2Gigs, 4Gigs, 8Gigs and so on. Is it possible to have an odd number of RAM like 5 Gigs?

Nowadays RAM comes in 2GB and 4GB DIMMs. Video cards nowadays generally have 1024MB, 1280MB (Nvidia GTX570 only) 1536MB or 2048MB of vRAM. So yeah, you're friend knows nothing about computers.

If anything, games are the last things Macs can run properly. There's a long list of things that Macs can do properly, but no Mac user will tell you that gaming is one of them.

 

[MercurySteam]

Here are the reasons why you shouldn't buy a MAC in a great list form.
http://arthurseverythingblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/whynottobuyamac.png show this to your friend.

I literally clapped in front of my screen after reading this. I build gaming PCs and this is disgusting. Stick to iPods and iPhones, Apple. Leave the custom build PCs to the professionals.

Points for blindly ripping off those who don't know any better, though.

 

[Agayek]

No.... just no.
Macs can play some not all.
Also RAM tends to go in even numbers so I think this guy may have been lying

You can mix and match RAM sticks to get to any number you want, assuming you have the slots available. He could have been referring to a 1 GB and 4 GB stick, or a 1 GB, 2 GB and 2 GB, or things like that. It's definitely possible to get an odd value for it.

As for the OP: If you're looking for gaming, don't get a Mac. Macs are good for two people: Artsy types and mouthbreathers. If you're not one of those, don't bother. It's simply not worth it.

Also, your friend is an idiot. You can get a more than passable work computer for $400, and an excellent (ie, run anything made in the last 5 years bar maybe Crysis at max settings) for $1,000-$1,500, assuming you are capable of building it or know someone who can walk you through it/build it for you. It's fairly easy if you haven't done it before. It seems really daunting, but really it's the same thing as playing with Legos. Follow the directions and make sure Tab A goes into Slot A and you're fine.

If you can't build it yourself, you're looking at $1,500-$2,000 for a good, but not great rig. Go to a site like origin PC (especially if you're a pub-club member, free shipping is yay) and throw something together for around that price range and you should be all set.

 

[Danceofmasks]

"SHORYUKEN"

/thread

Macs are, for lack of a better word, rubbish.
For the same price, a PC can do anything a Mac can do, and better.
Sure, it might not look as snappy, but dude ... if you're going to judge a guy by the powersuit he wears, you deserve to be fleeced.

Some apple products kick ass. iPhones are amazing.

But, even in those "art" and "creativity" stakes, everything from CAD/CAM software through to video editing, from internet streaming through to photoshop, is superior on PC at the same price point.

 

[lacktheknack]

Well, this friend then said this, pretty much word for word: "All PC games can run on Mac. They were designed on Macs. You put it in and, BOOM, it's loaded. No installing, no waiting, it's in there instantly. On a computer, you have to put it in, wait for it to install, no, not on a Mac. It's installed the moment you put it in."

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

In case I wasn't clear enough, there's NO POSSIBLE WAY FOR ME TO EXPLAIN HOW RETARDED THIS SHIT IS.

Let's run through it anyways:

"All PC Games can run on Macs"

No. No they cannot. If you use Bootcamp, they can, but that takes a lot of CPU and RAM.

"They were designed on Macs"

???!?!?!!?!!!?!?!?!???!?!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!

"You put it in, and BOOM, it's loaded. No installing, no waiting..."

The way this works is that, if we're talking CDs/DVDs, the disk has to be read by spinning the disk and a laser reads the data off of it based on a set of grooves. Then, the data has to be written into empty spots on your hard disk. This isn't instantaneous, and that's where your installation time comes into play. Generally, a CD/DVD drive goes at 7200 rotations per minute. NOT THE THEORETICAL FIVE BILLION THAT HIS STORY WOULD NEED. Also, the hard disk has a write speed, plus slot-finding. His theoretical "instant" hard drive would need a write-speed of... several trillion/quadrillion bytes per second. Hint: That's not physically possible now, and won't be for at least forty years.

If we're talking downloaded content, it's still limited by your internet plan. HINT: It's not measured in terabytes per second, like his apparently his. You're literally a million times slower, probably.

"On a computer, you put it in... not on a Mac"

Macs are computers. His argument is invalid.

Also, he mentioned when talking about the difference between the $700 and $1,200 iMac, he said the $1,200 iMac has, "... Five more gigs of RAM." Um, that's funny; I always thought RAM cam in 256MB, 512MB, 2Gigs, 4Gigs, 8Gigs and so on. Is it possible to have an odd number of RAM like 5 Gigs?

Yeah, it's possible to increment in non-nerdy increments, my computer had three GB at one point. However, you could find SIX GB of RAM for under a hundred dollars if you know where to look, so Apple would be gouging the hell out of you. Actually, they do. That $1200 iMac wouldn't be fit to run early generation games, let alone modern ones. The CPU would be shite, and the GPU would be a chipset (read: even worse). If money's tight, the LAST thing you'd ever want to do is buy a Mac.

Please slap your friend for me. His tirade was the biggest WTF I've read all week.

 

[Kaymish]

yeah sorry to say but your "friend" (quotes because hes nor really your friend real friend wouldnt lie out his arse to you for a megacorp) is an applecore
and he is talking out of his arse while you CAN get ram in uneven numbers but it wont work very well since you will need to mix and match ram sticks till you get the number
and besides a PC will always be cheaper than a mac for better functionality because with a mac you are paying for branding and stupid mac users
ever seen "steam for mac sucks" on youtube? thats a mac user they know nothing

 

[EXos]

Wahahahaaha. Go check the store on steam and take note on how "many" games are also sold for Mac...

The internetz call bullshit!

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

The actual Mac OSX game library has been expanding lately, but it still doesn't even compare to the selection on a PC. Though I can tell you from experience that PC games generally run fine on an iMac that can run Windows, I'm doing it right now, actually. Mind you, we did pay for a RAM upgrade when we bought this. (From 1GB to 2GB)

But even so, this has been suiting my gaming habits waaaaaaaay better then my old (crappy) PC. Most games seem to work fine on Medium graphics settings. I've played Assassins Creed, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Arkham Asylum, Portal, Prey, and Spider-Man 3 on this just fine. And it goes without saying that older games run on their max settings without a hitch.

 

[Joccaren]

1. No, all games do not run on Macs.
2. Yes, it is possible to get five gigs of RAM. 2 2GB (Or one 4Gb) dim and 1 1GB dim. However, it is far more common to find even RAM numberage, and the '5 more gigs' or RAM thing is utter bullshit.
3. If you are paying $3000 for a good gaming Rig, you are being MAJORLY ripped off. That is near the price of one of the more expensive Alienwear rigs, which will likely use about 1/2 or 1/4 of its full potential on current programs (Possibly except Battlefield 3), and that I could build myself for about $1000.
A tip: By the PC parts yourself, and have us help you install them. It isn't hard, there are just a few basic rules you need to know, and you also need to know how to play around with Lego or read instructions.
A motherboard will have the Locations of EVERYTHING in a manual that comes with it, and most basic stuff is easy to find anyway. Its just the cabling you MIGHT get mixed up on, but even that is labelled and goes in the correspondingly labelled plug on a motherboard. Also, make sure your parts are compatible, that is another thing we can help with.
Best yet, being friendly people at the Escapist, our services are free. Though, we don't actually go to your house and build it for you, and we will need pictures either that you took, or that are already online to know what's going on, but it will be a learning experience for you, and you get a good rig for a cheap price.
I recently almost-fully upgraded mine. It cost $400. All I need now is a $200 Graphics card, making the overall price around $600. It is not top of the line, but its good nonetheless, and will run pretty much everything max settings (Except BF3, I need that better graphics card for that).

Legos

Lego*
There is no s at the end, it is like sheep. The plural is the same as the singular. I believe Lego has (It definitely used to) the site 'Legos.com' which will tell you off for typing Legos and then redirect you to Lego.com
Sorry, but stuff like that kinda annoys me.

 

[brainslurper]

I wouldn't usually say this, but at least 75% of the people here have no fucking idea what they are talking about. Yes, you can certainly run windows games on a Mac. It takes about about 5 clicks to get windows installed on your mac, from there it can run windows just as well (And in some proven cases, better) then a windows native computer. And you still have all the advantages of OS X if you want to do professional work. The thing is, if you aren't going to take advantage of an OS X native system, then you are better of buying a cheaper (Less reliable) windows native computer.

Exactly what are these "proven cases" where running Windows on an iMac is better? It sounds like you're the one who doesn't know what you're talking about. They both use the same hardware architecture, except the stuff in iMacs is pathetically weak but comes in a shiny box and a huge price tag.

It was a big study by popular mechanics, it started as a simple windows native computer vs os x native computer of equal hardware. Also, about the price tag, I challenge you to find ANYTHING that can even remotely compete with an iMac.

 

[Akukaishi]

Macs -cannot- run 'all' PC titles. Your friends are misinformed.

 

[Conza]

I wouldn't usually say this, but at least 75% of the people here have no fucking idea what they are talking about. Yes, you can certainly run windows games on a Mac. It takes about about 5 clicks to get windows installed on your mac, from there it can run windows just as well (And in some proven cases, better) then a windows native computer. And you still have all the advantages of OS X if you want to do professional work. The thing is, if you aren't going to take advantage of an OS X native system, then you are better of buying a cheaper (Less reliable) windows native computer.

Exactly what are these "proven cases" where running Windows on an iMac is better? It sounds like you're the one who doesn't know what you're talking about. They both use the same hardware architecture, except the stuff in iMacs is pathetically weak but comes in a shiny box and a huge price tag.

Here here! I second this above question. Please; bring on the proven cases, and I want to see how much more performance and extra $3000 gets you, with lesser components, please, I'm just dying to know how it's possible to pay more money, get less capable hardware, and yet still come out in front - is it magic man?

I wouldn't usually say this, but at least 75% of the people here have no fucking idea what they are talking about. Yes, you can certainly run windows games on a Mac. It takes about about 5 clicks to get windows installed on your mac, from there it can run windows just as well (And in some proven cases, better) then a windows native computer. And you still have all the advantages of OS X if you want to do professional work. The thing is, if you aren't going to take advantage of an OS X native system, then you are better of buying a cheaper (Less reliable) windows native computer.

Exactly what are these "proven cases" where running Windows on an iMac is better? It sounds like you're the one who doesn't know what you're talking about. They both use the same hardware architecture, except the stuff in iMacs is pathetically weak but comes in a shiny box and a huge price tag.

It was a big study by popular mechanics, it started as a simple windows native computer vs os x native computer of equal hardware. Also, about the price tag, I challenge you to find ANYTHING that can even remotely compete with an iMac.

Challenge accepted! Please read my above post for more details.

Then I challenge you, to tell me why, a laptop shoved into a monitor, could possibly ever compete with a real bonafied PC.