Is my mac powerful enough to run some demanding games ?

[Uly_]

Hello everybody, I registered on this forum to ask you a question, as I can't manage to find an answer on the internet. For Christmas, I'm getting a Macbook Pro. I know that Apple computers aren't made for gaming and are overpriced, but as I develop apps on iOS, I have no real choice. I would like to know if this Macbook Pro is powerful enough to get good framerates on Mario Galaxy 1/2, and Zelda Skyward Sword, as well as Gamecube games.

Macbook Pro with Retina Screen
Intel Core i7 2,8 Ghz, Turbo Boost 3,3 Ghz
Intel Iris Graphics
16 GB SDRAM
256GB SSD

Thanks you for your answers, and also thanks to the Dolphin development team to have released a so amazing emulator. Even if the Android version doesn't work properly for the moment, I hope we'll soon be able to get playable framerates on next-generation smartphones and Android-based consoles like the Nvidia Shield 2 and its Tegra 2 processor...

Also, please excuse me for my English, I know it may not be very good. I'm French.

[Anti-Ultimate]

(12-11-2013, 04:41 AM)Uly_ Wrote: Mario Galaxy 1/2 as well as Gamecube games.

Most likely not at fullspeed all the time but it should be fine if you're okay with the music stopping after 3 minutes of playing.

Quote: Zelda Skyward Sword

Not very heavy though. Should most likely run.

Quote: as well as Gamecube games.

List them, they can be as demanding as Wii games.

[Uly_]

Thanks you for the fast reply.
I would like to precise I don't especially want good graphics, but good framerates. So I'm surely going to set the resolution to native. Is that affecting the performance ?

As for the Gamecube games, I would say Mario Sunshine and Wind Waker, but as I'm able to play Mario Sunshine on my mother's macbook (from 2009) without any lag at a perfect fps, it should work.

[GranteedEV]

Just FYI The Wii U remake of Wind Waker has made dolphin a 2nd option. It doesn't just upres, it unlocks hero mode, improves gameplay, and has an upgraded soundtrack.

[Uly_]

I just finished Wind Waker HD a few weeks ago, but thanks for the answer though.

[Uly_]

What macbook pro would you recommend for Mario Galaxy then ? That's like the most important game I would like to play... Also, is 16 GB of SDRAM really needed or can I just configure it to 8 GB ? And will there be a visible difference between the i5 processors and the i7 one ? I really need to know what configuration of macbook I need to play my favourites games and code my apps, but I'm not decided yet...
Thanks you !

[admin89]

Any model that has :
_Haswell i7 quad core with high clock speed (as high as possible)
_Intel Iris Pro 5200 (not Iris 5100)

Quote:Also, is 16 GB of SDRAM really needed or can I just configure it to 8 GB

4GB (2x2GB DDR3 ) is good enough . 8GB (2x4GB) is more than enough , 16GB (2x8GB) is overkill

[pauldacheez]

If you're fine with compiling Dolphin yourself, adding -flto as a compiler flag (preferably in CMakeLists.txt) speeds up Dolphin appreciably.

[Uly_]

Thanks you guys. I think the real problem in this macbook is the graphics card. In the most expensive mac, there's a dedicated nvidia card. But well, it's really too expensive for me. I read on the internet that you can actually use an external graphics card (like a nvidia one) with the thunderbolt port.

Would this work well with dolphin ? For example each time I wanna play my games I just have to plug in my graphics card ?

[admin89]

The Intel Iris Pro 5200 is on par with Nvidia GT 650M which is fast enough for most games as long as you use 2.5x Internal resolution (1600x1320) , no anti aliasing , 16x Aninsotropic filtering . Why would you need a dedicated GPU ?
Btw , macbook pro isn't a gaming laptop . It doesn't have good cooling to handle both dedicated GPU (built in onboard type) and CPU
A dedicated GPU like GTX 650M has 35W power consumption , pretty close to an i7's power consumption . High power consumption will draw more heat . And when you combile both of them together at full load , bam...
I have no idea about external GPU though