Steam for Mac: Windows vs. Hackintosh Showdown

[tonymacx86]

-from Toms Hardware

Steam for Mac: First Impressions, Windows Is Faster
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/valve- ... 10432.html

So cool that they actually compare using a Hackintosh! Anyone personally compared performance on both sides for their Hackintosh?

 

[tbob13]

Yeah, I get similar results, Portal seems to run about 20-50% slower on OS X than Win7 on my desktop.

Under Win7 I can turn all of the settings to the max and under OS X I have to turn down AA and AF, all of this is a step in the right direction though.

 

[snugglez64]

-from Toms Hardware

Steam for Mac: First Impressions, Windows Is Faster
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/valve- ... 10432.html

So cool that they actually compare using a Hackintosh! Anyone personally compared performance on both sides for their Hackintosh?

I wonder if they used iBoot + Multibeast install method?

 

[haze295]

One thing I'd like to discuss though that maybe you guys noticed as well...

Mac's are very intensive on CPU for gaming, which can be a positive or negative thing depending on how you look at it.

Mac's & Hack's in steam do drop frames to crate a nice and polished look for gaming on macs (although you lose performance), however with that and cpu combined you notice something windows can't do.... Playing 1080p full settings on TF2 with a classic 8600.

I was shocked to see this on my Hack and when booting into win7 with the same setup, TF2 literally laughed at my graphics card .

With gaming having such a GPU requirement on the PC side, I would take some dropped frames and polished look if I can use a 3yr + old video card.


I have been playing steam extensively on my Hack (q6600, 8600 512mb, 4gb ram), and I have to say I am more than amazed with Apple's progress on gaming. On top of playing on steam, I've been wrapping my own classic games to work on Mac to see the differences.

Now in comparison, I also have a gaming laptop (8800gt 512, 2.4core2 duo, 4gb) and the difference between the two is significant. The 8800 even though slams my 8600 on PC, the 8600 + Quad core destroys my 8800 and Core duo.

 

[snugglez64]

One thing I'd like to discuss though that maybe you guys noticed as well...

Mac's are very intensive on CPU for gaming, which can be a positive or negative thing depending on how you look at it.

Mac's & Hack's in steam do drop frames to crate a nice and polished look for gaming on macs (although you lose performance), however with that and cpu combined you notice something windows can't do.... Playing 1080p full settings on TF2 with a classic 8600.

I was shocked to see this on my Hack and when booting into win7 with the same setup, TF2 literally laughed at my graphics card .

With gaming having such a GPU requirement on the PC side, I would take some dropped frames and polished look if I can use a 3yr + old video card.


I have been playing steam extensively on my Hack (q6600, 8600 512mb, 4gb ram), and I have to say I am more than amazed with Apple's progress on gaming. On top of playing on steam, I've been wrapping my own classic games to work on Mac to see the differences.

Now in comparison, I also have a gaming laptop (8800gt 512, 2.4core2 duo, 4gb) and the difference between the two is significant. The 8800 even though slams my 8600 on PC, the 8600 + Quad core destroys my 8800 and Core duo.

Interestin... I havn't actually played any games on my hack and actually dual booting for gaming only on my Windows system, plus it supports my wireless XBox controller -

I think i will give this steam a try when I have some time..

Anyone experiencing the same 'improvements'?

 

[donw35]

I'll have to give it another try, I have a ATI 5870 on the way and that should help out. Lat time the games were jerky and unplayable.

My system also dual boots between OS X and Windows 7 and that is how I play games.

 

[flamingbody]

With my 5770 1GB and 1080P, HL2 EP2 is playable but there are some fps drops.

 

[SoundFu]

Even if there was frame rate loss, not having to restart my computer each time I want to game is a huge plus....even though it kept me from wasting me time as much...oh well...(*clicks on steam*)...

thats exactly why I'm not installing steam on my Hackintosh...I need to get some music done!

 

[cowfodder]

Portal 2 on my hack is pushing 60+ fps. Even if windows does run faster at those frame rates you couldn't tell the difference.

 

[workersss]

It's nice that Steam lets you download and install the same game on either platforms depending on compatibility.

Iv'e played HL2 with my 275 and it ran near butter and I couldn't tell the difference.

Installing Steam again right now to see how my 580 does now that I got it going.

Plays great with all high settings and looks just as good as the Win7 version.

Wish I had Bioshock to test.