New Computer Help

[whitesoxfan]

I'm getting a new computer, and I want to be able to play Empire on it. We're leaning towards an Imac with Vista through Boot camp. Would there be any problem with this? Here's the page with the specs for various Imacs: http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html
I'm looking at the one second from the left.

[Grimstoned]

Don't buy a mac for gaming. What are you going to do when you want to upgrade the graphic card? You could just burn some of your money... then buy a gaming pc that has better specs with the rest.

[Rickster11]

A mac for gaming? If you insist, make sure you look at the specs. You will notice some of that video card memory is shared. Which is bad.

[mrhenrik]

The video card in the iMac you're looking at is a horrible choice for gaming, it will run the game very poorly. If you want to game on a mac, prepare to pay much more than you would with a PC.

[DMC-Ice]

Why mac?

[jouno53]

The ATI 4850 is the only video card option I'd even consider for gaming at 1920 x 1200 on that monitor.

Unless you want a mac for other reasons, build or buy a gaming PC, do yourself a favor.

[Evil_Dane]

Mac is a working computer not a gaming computer, please try again later...

[CV P71]

When I always ask people who want to or have bought a Mac why they always say the same thing... It just looks sooo coooooool. Nothing against Mac's but I'd rather just custom build a gaming rig that can tear through everything and pass on the cool look. Actually I have no problem with the look of Vista or even XP, but thats my opinion.

Im running one EVGA 9800GTX+ right now slightly overclocked at 1920x1200 res and it tears through most brand new games. Along with a AMD 5000+ X2 and 3GB of ram I get a FPS of 40 on the campaign map and a steady 30-40 in large scale battles (thats with all high-ultra settings). It's just my CPU thats keeping me (slightly) behind amazing framerates. So basically think about what would be best for you when it comes to gaming and GPU's. Also if your into general gaming don't just focus on a comp for Empire. Think of other games you might be interested in and also think of next gen games, if that applies to you. If you have the dough, make it worth your while.

[whitesoxfan]

I have used PCs for years, never had a Mac, and always thought Macs were confusing. After talking to a guy at the Apple store, and looking at specs, and these comments, I'm now leaning towards the iMac with the 2.93GHz processor. It has dedicated video memory, not shared, which is good. I can upgrade to an ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512MB of GDDR3 Memory, instead of the default NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 256MB of GDDR3 memory. Would it be that important for this game? Any opinions on this computer?

[Mechstra]

I have used PCs for years, never had a Mac, and always thought Macs were confusing. After talking to a guy at the Apple store, and looking at specs, and these comments, I'm now leaning towards the iMac with the 2.93GHz processor. It has dedicated video memory, not shared, which is good. I can upgrade to an ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512MB of GDDR3 Memory, instead of the default NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 256MB of GDDR3 memory. Would it be that important for this game? Any opinions on this computer?

If you are going for the Mac, at least get the 4850 HD. It's an excellent card and an order of magnitude better than the GT 120.

[Godless Pickle]

And even if you get a mac, dont install vista on it, get XP. But Id recomend making a hackintosh....a hacked PC that has apple installed, so you get the great PC hardware and the great apple software. Problem solved. Or just spend $600 and get a great PC that could run Empires on Ultra and forgot hacking anything.

Oh, and if you're going to buy a mac, spend the extra $1000 and get the Imac Pro which you can fully upgrade unlike the imac.

[whitesoxfan]

They don't sell XP anymore. So I have to install it on Vista.

[Grimstoned]

They don't sell XP anymore. So I have to install it on Vista.

Who is they?

[Groove74]

Not sure if it out there in all states. But when I was at Best buy the other day I saw copies of XP on the shelves. however they cost more then Vista?

[upsettingshorts]

If you care about computer gaming at all, there is no compelling reason to get a Mac over a PC. If you don't care about computer gaming, then by all means, go Mac.

But if you want to play games... just get a PC - it doesn't really do anything worse than a Mac in my opinion and it can play games just fine without any cleverness. You'll be better off for it.

[Multiball]

Don't get a mac if you want to play a PC game, especially one that uses alot of system resources anyway, It's destined to not work well, buy a much better PC for the same price of the Mac... The "guy" at the apple store will lose his commission however if you decide this..

[wicked21juggalo]

If you want to play empire on high/ultra you'll need atleast this. 2 CPU's running at 2.6ghz, 3gb ram, Nvdia 8800gtx (stay away from the 8800gt)

[whitesoxfan]

Here's what I'm asking:
On a Mac, using Vista (unless I can get XP somehow), what would I need to run games, especially Empire: Total War, at a high quality? I don't need stuff that won't help gaming, but I've had bad gaming computers in the past. Other aspects of the computer are important. Gaming isn't the most important part, but it's the most demanding.

Unless the answer to this question is "You can't", I'm not getting a PC.

[Groove74]

just my 2 cents:

Well you say you wan't the mac for other tasks other then gaming, but you also want to run Empire. I also assume you also run other demanding games. I like you like MAc better but I gave up on mac due to the fact that when it comes to gaming and just general upgrading MAc is in no way cost effective. you can do alot mor in a custom PC for half the price. but if you are dead set on a MAc I would suggest looking for a MAc based Fourm as I see mac mainly being a rich boys toy and mostly used in the movie and photo industry. But then again to be honest my last mac I owned was like 4 years ago so heck things may have changed.

I wish you luck in getting a PC/Mac that fits your needs

[Constantin_the_Great]

If i may paraphrase...

Don't get a Mac.

they are white though.... and that's swanky....


But now for my 10c worth, if you buy a pc, find a friend or family member that knows their stuff or someone who can point you to a good pc hardware store. and buy parts and build it yourself.

I payed AUD$1170 for my pc and it runs empire sweet as a virgin and that price includes the 22" panel.

I calculated the same pc on the dell website's shop and got a total of nearly $3000.