Thinking about buying my first ever iMac - how well would these specs run FM2011

Thanks in advance and sorry if there has already been a post on this - I did look but couldnt see one.

The machine in question is:

iMac 27-inch 3.2GHz Intel Core i3 processor

ATI Radeon HD 5670 graphics with 512MB memory

4GB memory

My ageing AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 4600+ 2.4GHz with 2GB memory is really beginning to struggle with more than a few leagues playing and after a few seasons basically takes up all the system processes.

How much better would this iMac make things for my FM Experience?

Thanks

It would run FM well, would be playing any other games on it?

I would go i5 chip and get another 4 gig of ram from corsair!!!

Thanks both. The only game I play on a pc is FM. I have consoles for the rest of my limited gaming needs.

If I could get the i5 I would but resources are finite and that set-up is beyond what I can afford.

I wouldn't go with an imac if i were you. Well not for FM anyway.

An i3 is still only a dual core processor. As mentioned above go with an i5. iMacs always cost more than a similarly speced PC.

And that graphics card sucks.

Edit: Just saw the price of the thing. You could get an i7 PC for that price. Which would rip through FM.

save up for a i5. dont go i3.

The graphics card I have just now is a GeForce 9500 GT 512MB. Is the ATI worse than that? I know that they cost more but I prefer some of the Mac software for photo work.

Edit: I should be really clear. I am a light FM gamer these days and dont really need to play more than all the leagues in Scotland, England (down to league 2), Spain & Italy. Sometimes also Germany or France. The issue I have just now is that I cant get the machine to do anything else when I am playing FM. If I could get Aperture for the PC I would be happy with a PC but my primary hobby is photography and thats the programme I like best.

The amd card will be 2-3 times faster than your current nvidia. Both of them are more than enough for FM. The i3 processor while faster than the old amd x2 processor wont be a major upgrade. I would try and get a quad core if i were you. Just one more thing. Just because it says i5 doesnt mean its a quad core processor. Some of them are only dual core thanks to intels brain dead naming.

Don't go for a Mac. You get a nice design and lots of eye candy, but you loose out on the performance, which is what really matters when it comes to computers.

For the price of a Mac you could get a twice as powerful PC. You will be able to play the latest games, use all mainstream applications and view websites without having to worry about compatibility. Obviously it all depends on what you use a computer for - if it's work or school, then you might struggle with software compatibility.

If it's only for reading emails and browsing the internet ocasionally then I guess a Mac will suffice. You can however forget about playing FM12 on it - it might work, but will be really sluggish.

Buying a Mac is like willingly agreeing to becoming a handicapped person in the world of computing

Flame war on

Edit: Just quickly looked at the price of your mac. If I'm correct it should be somewhere in the region of £1300?

I built a PC in September last year - the total cost was around £1000. What I got:

Core i5 overclocked to 4 GHz (only went for i5 because of stability and overclocking potential)

8GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM

ATi Radeon HD 5970 (the most powerful GPU at the time and still probably one of the top 5)

64GB SSD for the operating system

1 x Samsung Spinpoint 1TB disk

1 x WD Black Caviar 1TB disk

Blu-ray reader

DVD reader / writer

5970 is still number 1

Anyway. Macs arent bad its just that you are paying more for less. They do have a very nice monitor. I would love to have that 27" monitor.

Maybe my reply was misleading.

It is far better than a 9500 GT. I was saying that for the price of the system you should be getting a way better card.

You say you're a photographer so I assume photo editing is important to you.As riffraff said for less money you could get a far, far better PC. I'm sure there's plenty of good windows software for photo work.

Lots of people love Macs but I feel that for that price you're getting awful value for money.

Thanks Riffraff. The only PC game I play is FM and the depth of the game is maybe 10-15 leagues max. You are correct I am spending about £1200. And it is fair comment that the eye candy element is quite high. But also - Aperture for photography. I just dont like Lightroom on the PC.

I switched from an old windows much like the OP's which struggled with about 7 leagues, now on a Mac and have one save with 93

Even though they have about the same RAM.

Also, are you sure about "4GB Memory"? New computers these days come with about 500 - 1000.

-Ailelya

Hello Ailelya. Thanks for your post. Can you tell me what spec your Mac is? And its 4GB Ram - the hard drive is 1TB.

Aha, just found "About this Mac"

It has a 2.8 GHz processor "Intel Core 2 Duo"

4GB Memory 667Mhz

And it is running Mac OS X 10.6.6

My old windows had about 2.3 GHz.

Buying a Mac is like willingly agreeing to becoming a handicapped person in the world of computing

I have to totally disagree with this statement.

I switch on my Mac and it just works. I have software that's all packaged up in a nice little bundles that just work. When new drivers come out for the hardware Apple meticulously chose and configured they promptly release a software update, that downloads, installs, and just works. Hell, Windows even runs better using Bootcamp on a Mac than it ever did on a PC.

No drivers, no DLL's, no blue screen of death, no part install here, part install there, no you require this plugin, no you need this upgrade, little exposure to viruses. Hell, if anyone's handicapped in the world of computing it's PC users. You clearly don't know what you're missing.

And now with the likes of the Mac App Store and Steam are bringing popular titles to the Mac, there's no better time to make the switch.

Thanks Aileya. It looks like the spec of my proposed Mac is greater than your machone and you say that FM2011 runs quite well on yours, is that correct?

Fulham_Mic - what spec of Mac are you running?

Thanks for the help everyone.

The model you are thinking of, I have and it runs FM very well, you won't be disappointed.

I also run CS5 and Aperture, and for processing images 27 " is brilliant. As for extra ram 4 gig is ample even if you are shooting raw, processing tiffs so no problems there

Diem2009 - Yes, your spec is much better than mine. But mine's 3 or 4 years old.

I'm actually running FM10 but I don't think there is a massive difference.

I use a quite old macbook (laptop). Its a 2.2 dual core with 2 gig ram and it runs several leagues at once no problem whatsoever (I don't bother with 3D as the graphics card in my macbook isn't up to much). On average I run a medium database with England Conf+, Scotland 3rd div+ and top league from Italy, France, Spain, Germany- this normally quotes 3 stars on the estimated performance and runs fast enough to not be an issue whatsoever.

I would imagine that the spec of imac you have posted will do very nicely. I understand other posters comments about macs being a rip off, but, I like mac.

Thanks to telV7, Ailelya and Rob-Bob for your answers. I think that I can go ahead with the iMac purchase confident that my FM needs will be met. I think a few years I ago I would have spent the money on a very fast PC as my FM needs were so much greater (40+ year career game with targets like managing on every continent) but now its just a fun game when I have time.

Thanks everyone (although if others want to respond I will still follow this thread).

To be fair I reckon Fulham_ Mic summed it up perfectly and I couldn't agree more. Extremely good software integration with Mac.....

cheers, and enjoy diem

The only PC game I play is FM and the depth of the game is maybe 10-15 leagues max

Keep in mind though, that you will probably want to use that Mac for at least the next couple of years. With new software and games being released you might find your Mac to be too slow to run these.

But also - Aperture for photography. I just dont like Lightroom on the PC.

I'm pretty sure you could emulate Apple software on a PC without much problem. I've never tried it but my guess would be it's possible.

I switch on my Mac and it just works. I have software that's all packaged up in a nice little bundles that just work.

I can see advantages in simplicity - I use an iPhone because I want something that works straight out of the box. With a PC however, I like to have more freedom in customising the system and using any software I can imagine.

No drivers, no DLL's, no blue screen of death, no part install here, part install there, no you require this plugin, no you need this upgrade, little exposure to viruses.

These issues are purely down to the user. You make it sound like it's a fundamental flaw with the system.

And now with the likes of the Mac App Store and Steam are bringing popular titles to the Mac, there's no better time to make the switch.

Come on, even a Linux user (who knows what he is doing) has more choice in terms of gaming than a Mac owner. One example of the popular titles you speak of is GTA III Vice City - released on Macs about 6 months ago and released on PC some 10 uears ago. When it comes to modern games, only a fraction is available on both Macs and PCs

I would love to have that 27" monitor.

Not a prob - you have several makes and models to chose from with a PC.

I use both, on a professional basis as a designer, I can say that both are perfectly fine and there are pro's and con's for both.

A problem with Macbooks is that they get really hot. Get yourself a laptop cooler from Amazon -

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Notebook-Cooling-Green-Accent/dp/B001U3ZH7W/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1298468824&sr=1-6

Mac or PC... doesn't really matter.

That Mac is perfectly fine.

There's a lot more games for PC than Mac.

if you want more games go to Amazon and search computer games for the Mac.... there's loads.

PCs are cheaper. But absolutely nothing wrong with a Mac either, a tad bit more expensive.