Time for a new system: Mac or PC?

[Oruboris]

Hello, All:

Years since I posted here, glad to be back.

Old system died a couple of years ago, so I've been dependent on a crappy laptop, haven't been able to play a real game in a long time.

I want a new desktop with a good flat screen and good enough graphics to play all the current stuff. I don't do any online gaming right now, if that matters.

I've been thinking Mac, but from what I can see a lot of great games aren't available for that platform: true?

What processor and graphics cards would you reccomend-- I don't need the absolute best, but I do want very good.

Thanks,
Oru

[Sever]

Welcome back [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]

If you want to be able to game (and have a little freedom to choose which games to play) then stay away from a Mac. Go for the tried and true gaming OS - Windows. As for hardware: Intel or AMD, nVidia or ATI. There's little difference between companies and any edge in technology is only temporary. At the moment, Intel's Core 2 duo processors are in front as far as performance goes. About 9 months back when i bought my system, it was AMD on top with their X2s. I'm not up to date with who's in front in the graphics card race at the moment.

[Lucern]

Oruboris,

Sever gives good advice. People like Macs for a number of reasons. These people are rarely gamers. If they are, they've got another computer to do it, or they're like a Sim Ant fanatic . When you note that many games aren't made for Mac, you should be thinking more that games are only made for Mac if they sell millions of copies, and then it's generally well after everyone else has had their hands on it (up to a few years). The last figures I checked were that Apple held about 2% of the personal computer market, even after the smashing success of the I-everything-not-computer-related. You don't wanna be in the minority voluntarily if you want new games and you want to run them well.

And I know you may be thinking, well Macs can boot in windows. The new ones can, but all indications point towards around a 30% drop in performance, if they even successfully run the program. Since you're posting in the Elder Scrolls forum, if you want to play Oblivion and any game with impressive visuals hereafter, I would never advise anyone to do that.

Also, the cost isn't really comparable. If you can have one built for you by a friend or if you can do it, you can get a great computer for relatively cheap. Pre-built PC's aren't particularly cheap, and Macs tend to be even more expensive (they generally come with more software, but you're paying for it, to be sure).

Edit: forgot to mention, I'd probably go with a dual core processor and a motherboard that supports SLI (Nvidia) or CrossFire (ATI's), which allows you add the effect of two graphics cards towards a single application (with significant degradation of performance, but the bonus is substantial). For the processor, you probably don't want one whose future support is declining(single core) from here on out. For the graphics, even if you only have one graphics card, which is entirely reasonable, it gives you more upgrade options. Besides, SLI support is probably a mark of a respectable gaming motherboard that supports newer kinds of RAM.

[ 01-19-2007, 12:00 AM: Message edited by: Lucern ]

[Oruboris]

Thanks for the advice: I'm a HUGE fan of the Elder Scroll series, and Oblivion is about half the reason I want a new system...

I'd heard that anything for windows would run on a Mac, that's why I was asking. Didn't realize there was that kind of performance penalty, though.

I did check a few sites that specialize in games for Macs, and was really surprised at how few titles were offered: none of the Elder Scroll or Thief games.

I'll definetly go with a good duo core processor, but there are so many graphics cards out there, its tough to know where to do for honest comparisons.

[Lucern]

You're in luck Oruboris:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/...for_the_money/

Brand new, January 07 video cards compared, with attention to cost.

[Oruboris]

Excellent timing!

Off to research...