Macintosh

Hello all,

I have a late-2011 MBP that is struggling even with the lowest graphics settings to have a smooth game (~20fps). Ergo, I'm looking to buy a new iMac and was wondering if anyone could elaborate on their experience with either the Windows and/or Mac clients.

This is the model (and upgrades) I'm looking at for now:
- 27in iMac (non-retina)
- 3.5GHz i7 quad-core upgrade
- 16Gb DDR upgrade (another $400 for 32Gb but don't think it's worth it, any comments?)
- 1TB fusion drive upgrade
- GeForce GTX780 upgrade


On a related note, I was also tossing up whether to throw in the 'Mac-towel' and switch to a PC which would be much better 'bang-for-buck', but I simply have too many files and systems tied into the Mac environment (i.e. photos/music/mail/Airport Time Capsule back-up etc.). Additionally I don't have too much time to login so the computer would be largely used for non-EVE stuff.

These are the only other rather old threads I could find so I'm not too sure how applicable they are to the latest (Scylla) client and Mac upgrades:
- https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=335141
- https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=122818
- This one is not as old (Oct-2014): https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=376485

Thanks in advance for any replies.
Beng Hin

I have the late 2013 iMac 27-inch model.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X 10.10.2 (14C1514)
Processor: 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4096 MB
Display: 27-inch (2560 x 1440)
Storage: 1.12 TB Fusion Drive

I run stability tests with both clients every (pre)release.

The cider encapsulated Mac client works but it is not as stable as the native version. BUT IT DOES WORK WELL!
The problem is mostly cider related as far as I can tell, with how calls and memory usage are made.

I've found a few unexplainable scenarios with the Mac client, but always submit the debugging data for the Dev team.
The Mac client in Yosemite is prone to frequent crashing, but I cannot isolate the cause at this time.

I'm probably the only one that tested EVE in Parallels for Mac virtualisation (v9), which apparently supports up to DirectX 10 which seems to work very well, apart from:

1. Mouse cursor issue where the cursor frequently flashes upon movement and,
2. Skybox (star field backdrop in space) alignment issue - the "skybox" is essentially a giant cube. You can plainly see the edges, when you're not supposed to - this is a driver support issue, who knows/knew about the Parallels driver at CCP?

However, as I understand it - Parallels does not make direct use of the graphics acceleration hardware on the Mac (nVidia) but uses the CPU and physical memory stack to power the graphics. Powered by their own driver. You cannot bypass this.

I have not attempted bootcamp, but there is nothing to suggest the native Windows client will not work just as it would on any WinPC. Furthermore, bootcamp would be making direct use of that GPU and VRAM within the system via the nVidia driver. The only down side is that you won't have the convenience for out-of-game operations, such as web browsing etc.

---

For now, my conclusion is that if you happen to own a Mac because you use it for other things such as work (like I do), then running EVE on it by the options available above is more or less fine. However, don't expect the Mac client to square up to the native Windows client because Mac client depend upon not only running within Cider (which is basically a Windows kernel) but also relies on the stability and support of the current OS X version.

For best results on a Mac, run the Windows client in a Bootcamp situation. For multi-tasking convenience, Parallels but expect a glitchy UX. And finally, just general convenience - the Mac client that CCP provide, which is prone to crashes (ever now and then).


N.B. ** I am currently designing and building a future proofed (maybe considered overkill) solution specifically for games, so that I do not have to make use of any nonsense for games on my iMac. I'll just use TDM (Target Display Mode) to use the iMac as a screen for the rig, like you would switching inputs on a TV. That way, I will still be able to switch easily between OS X running independently from the Windows 10 gaming rig.


Intel i7-5960X 3.0 GHz, X99 chipset MB
Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB 2666MHz DDR4
EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 SC 4 GB GDDR5
RAID 0 SSDs for maximum performance.
Liquid cooling for CPU.


I hope some of that helps.

-- Cyberea

P.S. you can watch that video I posed in 1440p.

Thanks for the advice guys, I went ahead and purchased the iMac 27in as originally planned. Runs very smooth at 50+fps in most environments. Great advice on the memory as well, saved myself 50% of cost by installing my own extra 16GB RAM in the 2x spare slots for a total of 24GB.