Performance loss OSX <-> Windows

[littlelen]

Hi!

I Really love my Hackintosh... But how about Performance between it and Windows?

Running a i5 2500K
RAM 2 x 4gb @1866mhz
HD6850 1gb
SSD drive.

It feels like when gaming, that games like Starcraft 2 is running much smoother in Windows 7 then in 10.6.8..

Will upgrading to 10.7.3 improve it or is it just the truth that windows will perform much better?

Greets!

 

[Dschijn]

OSX is just not as good for gaming as Windows. That's because the GPU driver are still bad.
Maybe Lion (10.7.x) will give u a little push.
Especially for online gaming I recommend Windows, because battles with a lot of units is a mess on OSX.

 

[littlelen]

OSX is just not as good for gaming as Windows. That's because the GPU driver are still bad.
Maybe Lion (10.7.x) will give u a little push.
Especially for online gaming I recommend Windows, because battles with a lot of units is a mess on OSX.

Okay, thank you very much... Didn't know that actually..

Just a another question. Is there any differences between a Hackintosh and a real iMac in gaming Performance? Or is it the same deal?


Haven't done any gaming in 6 years.. Now I decided to start once again when I finished my Studies at the University

 

[Irony]

It is not so much the GPU driver as it is the OpenGL support. Windows supports DirectX. OpenGL version 4.X is already available, but OSX 10.6.8 does not use more than version 2.1. OSX 10.7.2 bumped this up to openGL version 3.2. This yields a significant improvement in Graphics performance*.

Plus, OpenGL is aimed more at heavy pre-rendering (video effects processing), while DirectX is aimed more at efficient instant rendering (games)**.

Under Windows the same graphics can be rendered much more efficiently because DirectX is a much more efficient API.

The iMac contains a mobile version of most GX cards. Mobile versions use the same or a similar chip, but are often clocked differently to reduce the heat output somewhat. This means that a hackintosh with the same (or a slightly older) card is likely capable of more impressive graphics. Plus, a hackintosh can be OC'ed and likely even upgraded down the road - the iMac could at best get more ram or a faster SSD.

*Case in point: a ±9fps increase (23-32) on my brother's 15" 2010 MacBook pro. Mine ( feb '08 or late '07 pre-unibody) didn't see as much of an increase.

**As I understand it, and I may be completely off my rocker here.

 

[Dschijn]

And e.g. the 27" iMac needs to display a resolution of 2560 x 1440 if the game has to look good. Thats a lot more work for the GPU.

My way: daily live, work, surfing, watching TV all on OSX
gaming: reboot into native Win7 64bit

 

[archelon]

I have to agree with those that dual boot into Windows for their gaming sessions.

For example, the Left 4 Dead and Half-Life 2 series are playable on OS X, but they aren't quite as good as the Windows versions. And don't get me started on 7.1 surround sound...