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slider · Jul 14, 2003, 01:16 PM

I know that if you are a gamer and you want to play the latest games you should get a gaming PC, built for it, ie. gpu and cpu. But, if you're a Mac user and you don't have any interest in having two Computers, is the G5 the only way to go? I mean should anyone who likes to play PC games even consider, say, an iMac or eMac or even a PowerMac G4? I would say G5 period, but what do I know. This question is not so much for me, but two members in my family are considering upgrading and one is a novice gamer, I'd like to beable to point her in the right direction. She will never buy a windows machine, b/c, in her words, "windows makes me sad

", she just doesn't understand why the gui looks like crap.

idyll · Jul 14, 2003, 01:39 PM

Interesting poll. I voted "PC is the only way to go" but to answer your question a G5 is obviously better for games than a G4.

Eriamjh · Jul 14, 2003, 01:53 PM

The G5 is great if you want to play last year's games. Buy a G5 for DVD and movie editing.

OreoCookie · Jul 14, 2003, 01:55 PM

If you want to play games on it, the least thing to do is upgrade to the 9600 Pro for 50 bucks. The nVidia 5200 is a joke for games -- my brother's overclocked GeForce Ti4200 beats it any time.

-Q- · Jul 14, 2003, 02:00 PM

i voted for the G5 but if you're a hard core gamer, and have to have the latest games as soon as they come out, then a PC (or dedicated gaming console like PS2 or XBOX) is the way to go.

If you just enjoy gaming every now and then but want to make sure you have the best gaming experience on the Mac, go with the G5. It'll burninate.

kkant · Jul 14, 2003, 03:38 PM

Originally posted by slider:
I mean should anyone who likes to play PC games even consider, say, an iMac or eMac or even a PowerMac G4?

Absolutely not. I agree with your conclusion here.

The "consumer" Macs are totally worthless for high-powered games. The G5 is probably about on par with DIY gaming PCs costing about half the price (and even that only if you go with the top-of-the-line 9800 pro video card), but it is the only Mac that can hope to keep up reasonably well on a modern game.

The only other issue is software availability. Of course there are far more PC games and they come out sooner; however, there is a decent enough selection of modern Mac games for anyone who spends less than 6 hours a day every day playing games.

So if you want a Mac and also want to play modern games at decent framerates, the G5 is it.

Commodus · Jul 14, 2003, 07:26 PM

The G5 isn't necessarily twice as expensive. Remember, it has Serial ATA, an aluminum case, and all kinds of extra goodies. Most gamers don't need those, and that's when the G5 seems too expensive - but the price isn't THAT exorbitant for what you're actually getting.

kkant · Jul 14, 2003, 07:40 PM

Originally posted by Commodus:
The G5 isn't necessarily twice as expensive. Remember, it has Serial ATA, an aluminum case, and all kinds of extra goodies. Most gamers don't need those, and that's when the G5 seems too expensive - but the price isn't THAT exorbitant for what you're actually getting.

True, except the part about SATA. SATA has been available for quite some time on PC DIY motherboards.

But from a gaming perspective, as you say, the other stuff doesn't matter.

Furthermore, I would estimate about $1000-$1500 of price difference between gaming-comparable PCs and Macs. What is extra on the Mac: FW ports, gigabit ethernet (as opposed to 100bt), optical audio i/o, and...that's about it. Really not too much.

Of course it also runs OSX, which adds a lot of value.

So you and I would agree that the price isn't that exorbitant.