PMDG / FSX on an iMac?

[victorlima01 2]

Greetings all,

 

It´s been a long time since I last flew on FSX. In preparation for the upcoming release, I have decided to get a new rig. Back when te NGX was released,  I asked Ryan for help in getting a new setup but I never actually went through with it since I was flying so little - it turns out a residency in plastic surgery and simming don´t walk hand in hand.

 

Here is what he put together for me around two years ago: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3BK4TCT0UD471/ref=topnav_lists_3

 

Well, I´ll finally have time to fly again from January onwards and I will definetely get a new rig. However, it seems I will have to migrate my desktop experience to an iMac. 

 

Is there anyone out there who can tell me whether I will be able to successfully fly the 777 and NGX with top-end add-on scenery in IVAO/VATSIM and ASX running on an iMac? By sucessfully I mean relatively smooth frames in most conditions, using trackIR in the VC.

 

I know I can´t expect the same level of performance as putting together a sim-oriented rig with the latest hardware around. But  the iMac I´m aiming towards might get the job done from my ignorant point of view. Here are the specifications accoding to Apple: 

 

3.1GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz

16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x8GB

1 TB Fusion drive

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR5 memory

 

 

I know I´m paying more money for less hardware on a shiny case, but it´s been hard convincing the Mrs. that sticking to Windows is the better option. What do you guys think?

 

There is a small chance I might end up getting a Windows-based rig. In that case, I´d appreciate the help in updating the hardware Ryan suggested so long ago.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Cheers,

Victor                                                                                                        

[Jacoba 55]

I run FSX via bootcamp on my old Core 2 Duo now, plan to run it on either a new i7 iMac or the new Mac pro when it comes out.

[ijorge511 44]

I run FSX via bootcamp on my 2010 Mac Pro and get decent (to me) FPS, about 20-30 at sceneries like Dulles, Dubai, Miami, etc. I am using REX with FTX Global and Opus for Wx. In the VC on the ground I get mid to low 20s and at cruise get mid 30s and above. Definitely not stellar performance, but if you optimize your setup, you should be able to get some decent frames on the iMac. Before the Mac Pro, I had a 27" iMac (late 2009 I believe), with a 2.8Ghz Quad Core i7, 16GB of RAM and a ATI Radeon 4850 with 512MB. I had that when the NGX came out and I got ~25-30 fps on that with the scenery at the time (FSDT, etc). At least you get an Nvidia GPU, I'm stuck with the ATI and the Nvidia is a $550 upgrade It definitely should give you some reasonable performance.

[Fabo 213]

 

 

I know I´m paying more money for less hardware on a shiny case, but it´s been hard convincing the Mrs. that sticking to Windows is the better option. What do you guys think?

 

How about Hackintosh?

 

Missus will get the purdy MacOS and you will get a proper computer for a proper price.

[Vincent_Vega 6]

How about Hackintosh?

 

Missus will get the purdy MacOS and you will get a proper computer for a proper price.

Good luck running FSX on Mac OS.

 

Nate G

[Fabo 213]

Yeah, and your point being?

[victorlima01 2]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'll see what happens but if I play my cards well I still might get a shot at a Windows-based rig with an o/c'ed i5, Z77 mobo, 16 GB of RAM @ 2133 MHZ, a GTX760 GPU and an SSD. And all that plus coolers and PSU for around $1700. Much cheaper than the mac. 

 

But it's good to know that a new iMac will get the job done. About a year ago when I gave up flying the NGX online with ASX and add-on airports I was using a 5 year-old desktop computer. The poor thing didn't stand a chance and I still had some fun. 

 

Peter, I didn't understand the bit about the hackintosh. My girlfriend basically wants the iMac because she thinks it's prettier to look at, so getting Mac Os running on desktop PC won't accomplish much I'm afraid. Women my friend... 

 

Thank you to everyone for your replies

[Vincent_Vega 6]

Yeah, and your point being?

It would be absolutely pointless.

 

 

My girlfriend basically wants the iMac because she thinks it's prettier to look at, so getting Mac Os running on desktop PC won't accomplish much I'm afraid. Women my friend... 

 

Wow!

 

 

Nate G

[Fabo 213]

 

 

Peter, I didn't understand the bit about the hackintosh. My girlfriend basically wants the iMac because she thinks it's prettier to look at, so getting Mac Os running on desktop PC won't accomplish much I'm afraid. Women my friend... 

 

Wow. Way to handle a thousand dollar buy.

And they scold us for under a hundred dollar addons.

 

 

It would be absolutely pointless.

 

Why, exactly? How is running a dualboot MacOS/Win different on Mac and on a Hackintosh PC? You still need to run both to use FSX on a Mac.

 

Well granted I assumed that Mrs. Victor Lima actually wanted to shell out for the one actual major difference - the Mac OS, not because of the pretty box it comes in (which gives me an idea, what kind of a Mac are we talking about? Maybe you can find a box pretty enough for her to like?)

[Vincent_Vega 6]

If she's interested in a pretty box, perhaps she'd agree to one of these:

 

http://build-its.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-fit-your-pc-in-power-mac-g5-case.html

 

 

 

Nate G

[Mike777 163]

3.1GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz

 

16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x8GB

 

1 TB Fusion drive

 

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR5 memory

 

 

Strikes me that you have quite a small amount of graphics memory on your proposed system.  I noticed this on someone else's Mac when corresponding with him about its limited FS performance.  My system has much less overall RAM than yours (and than the other Mac person), 6 GB RAM, but I have 1.5 GB of "GDDR5 discrete graphics memory," (NVIDIA  GTX560M) on my Toshiba Qosmio laptop, so I'm wondering if this would be a problem with your proposed system.  I would say I get mid-level performance.

 

Mike

[Jacoba 55]

Good luck running FSX on Mac OS.

 

Nate G

 

It runs perfectly fine on many Macs...  perhaps you simple don't understand how one runs a PC game via Mac OS...

[Los Pilotos 39]

I'm running the PMDG 777 on a 2012 iMac (3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz,  8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB, 768GB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2GB GDDR5) and I'm getting 30 fps (locked) around OMDB (Fly Tampa) running Windows 7 64bit under BootCamp with lastest nvidia beta drivers.

[ijorge511 44]

I'm running the PMDG 777 on a 2012 iMac (3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz,  8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB, 768GB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2GB GDDR5) and I'm getting 30 fps (locked) around OMDB (Fly Tampa) running Windows 7 64bit under BootCamp with lastest nvidia beta drivers.

 

René, 

Would you mind sharing, or PMing me what settings you are using to achieve these frames? I'm using a Mac Pro and wish I could get 30 locked at OMDB, usually I peak at 30 and run in the 25's. 

Thanks!

[Vincent_Vega 6]

It runs perfectly fine on many Macs...  perhaps you simple don't understand how one runs a PC game via Mac OS...

You can run it via Bootcamp, which is simply repartitioning your drive and installing Microsoft Windows. You are not running FSX natively on Mac OS X. You are not running ANY Windows ".exe" program on Mac OS X.

 

Nate G