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theokandroid · May 1, 2006, 01:09 AM

Hey, I was just wondering what settings should work, without any hiccups for HL2, on an iMac Core Duo 20", with 256mb vram, and 512mb of ram ( i know that's kind of low), but i heard of people being able to bump theirs too the highest settings but I get serious lag when I try and do that. Any info would be helpful, thanks.

Tomchu · May 1, 2006, 01:24 AM

All settings on Medium, at the native resolution, with 2x AA/4x AF ought to work very well. You can try for all settings Maximum at the native resolution with the same AA/AF levels, but higher AA/AF probably won't fare too well.

theokandroid · May 1, 2006, 02:14 AM

im hoping to get more memory, and then check it out, but i just wanted to make sure my machine wasnt buggy or anything.

mduell · May 1, 2006, 02:28 AM

Expect about 15fps with 4xFSAA, 8xAnisio, and HDR enabled at the screen's native resolution.

edit: Thats with the normal clockrate settings. According to this thread at MacRumors, Apple is also underclocking the iMacs GPU, just like the MacBook Pro. So expect more like 8-10fps.

Tomchu · May 1, 2006, 03:07 AM

HDR won't make a difference in Half-Life 2 on any map but Lost Coast.

But 15 FPS at 4x AA/8x AF at native? *Ouch*

The X1600's in our lab weren't nearly that terrible.

Tuoder · 06:39 PM

I remember an app I used to use. It is called ATIcellerator. I doubt it would work on x86 macs. It can overclock the GPU and VRAM. Of course, It is only for OSX. There are plenty of tweaks and programs for windows for overclocking GPUs and VRAM. I used to use Rivatuner. I am not sure it it would work on the iMacs either, though. EFI could throw a wrench into things, but that I do not know.

mduell · May 1, 2006, 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by Tomchu

HDR won't make a difference in Half-Life 2 on any map but Lost Coast.

But 15 FPS at 4x AA/8x AF at native? *Ouch*

The X1600's in our lab weren't nearly that terrible.

That's in Lost Coast at 1600x1200, which is close enough to 1680x1050.

Tomchu · May 1, 2006, 06:25 PM

Oh, ok.

Yeah, I suppose you don't want to be playing LC on the iMac. Regular HL2 ought to run very well though.

torifile · May 1, 2006, 07:24 PM

You can download ATITool to overclock the iMacs vid card in XP.

theokandroid · May 2, 2006, 01:16 AM

I actually tried out LC on the imac, and it worked out pretty well.

torifile · May 2, 2006, 10:24 AM

I bought battlefield 2 yesterday (someone please stop my insane game buying!!! 4 since bootcamp was released) and it played fine. Without a hitch. No noticeable slowdowns and my ancient USB headset even worked.

Big Mac · May 2, 2006, 01:11 PM

I'm glad everyone's having fun on their PCs.

rm199 · May 2, 2006, 04:08 PM

Regular HL2 runs great with everything turned up (just finished it on the weekend). LC is pretty slow unfortunately. Don't even bother with F.E.A.R

goMac · May 2, 2006, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by rm199

Regular HL2 runs great with everything turned up (just finished it on the weekend). LC is pretty slow unfortunately. Don't even bother with F.E.A.R

How much RAM is on your iMac? LC played poorly on my PC with an X700, but when I upgraded to 1.5 gigs of RAM it ran perfectly.

rm199 · May 2, 2006, 07:20 PM

2gb RAM, x1600 is overclocked to 475/450

Tuoder · May 3, 2006, 06:38 AM

I wonder how safe overclocking the GPU/VRAM is. I mean, it is not like you can just pop in a new card if it is blown. I have a tendency to think that Apple underclocked them for a reason, even if they were a bit heavy on the underclock. If it was me, I would case mod, but I dunno.

Tomchu · May 3, 2006, 12:12 PM

Overclocking something will *never* damage a GPU/CPU/VRAM. For one, a GPU that is running overclocked and overheating will long crash before the heat reaches dangerous levels. A typical GPU is designed to survive up to 115-120C or so (as far as I remember), but you'll get video-related crashes probably at the 105C mark. Second, clock speed doesn't kill chips -- voltage does. If you were overvolting the GPU/VRAM, then you'd have something to worry about.

Overclock away. :-P

Tuoder · May 3, 2006, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by Tomchu

Overclocking something will *never* damage a GPU/CPU/VRAM. For one, a GPU that is running overclocked and overheating will long crash before the heat reaches dangerous levels. A typical GPU is designed to survive up to 115-120C or so (as far as I remember), but you'll get video-related crashes probably at the 105C mark. Second, clock speed doesn't kill chips -- voltage does. If you were overvolting the GPU/VRAM, then you'd have something to worry about.

Overclock away. :-P

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...=1006040705896

Heat kills too. It is not just a matter of what it can handle, it is a matter of bearing the extra stress continuously. Anyway, if that were true, then why wouldn't manufacturers just clock their chip higher from the factory?

It is true that voltage increases kill faster, but clock speed increases kill, too.

Tomchu · May 3, 2006, 03:10 PM

Heat kills over a long period of time, yes -- but what's the issue if you reduce the life of your 14-year-life-span GPU to 9 years? None that I can see. Increased clock speed will not decrease the life span of a chip as long as the cooling system's capabilities are increased to maintain the same temperatures. So again, clock speed alone is not responsible for any kind of chip death.

You will never instantly kill a chip simply because you've overclocked it.

The reasons that manufacturers don't clock their chips higher from the factory are many:

- Power consumption
- Heat output
- It's easier to guarantee that 99% of your produced chips will run at clock speed C than clock speed C*1.15.
- Artificial product/price separation. You don't want your middle-range, overclocked product trouncing on the higher-end product's territory.

Tuoder · May 3, 2006, 10:46 PM

Mking a blanket statement the overclocking will never damage hardware is still absolutely false. How fast the hardware dies from overclocking has a direct correlation to how hard you push it. Saying that overclocking has no affect on component life is a very dangerous thing. People may then push their hardware to the brink of artifacts, eventually frying the hardware. I have done it before, it is not a matter of 9 years. It can be a case of one year. When you can't just pop out the part, and your very expensive iMac is screwed, you would become very angry.

Tomchu · May 3, 2006, 11:22 PM

I never made a blanket statement -- I simply said the "damage" a piece of hardware will undergo when overclocked will amount to a shorter lifespan, but that in the long run the reduced lifespan won't matter because the hardware will be put out of commission long before that.

Unless you're pushing it to the brink of destruction, there is absolutely NOTHING to be worried about as long as the piece of hardware is stable, and as long as you're not overvolting it as well. No one is going to be pushing their iMac's components to those kind of levels, not only because it's impossible without overvolting, but also because people value their Macs more than that.

In all my time playing with overclocked hardware, and being up close and in person to some extreme overclocks, I have *never* seen a piece of hardware die simply because of overclocking. Overvolting, definitely. We have pieces of hardware in the lab that have been 40% overclocked for over a year that have never caused trouble, and still are pushing along just fine.

What you said is completely irrelevant when it comes to a <20% GPU overclock. You're needlessly scaring anyone out there who wants to just bump up their video card performance a bit.