Any games that work with X3100 graphics on a Mac?

I don't know if this belongs here but here it goes.

What are some decent games for Macs that work with a mid range SR Macbook with Intel X3100 graphics? Are there any good free games as well? I know Macs aren't for gaming, but I would like to kill some type playing games other than the "flash" ones on the internet.

Oh, and I would like to know games other than Hearts, Freecell, Solitare... you know, the grandma stuff.

 

http://www.barefeats.com/mbook2.html

There are some games reviewed their with resolutions, settings and frame rate so you can decide for yourself whether that is acceptable, but I would think that most OS X games should work fine at 800x600 with medium settings if not better. I still haven't heard how well the Ciderized games from EA work though since they specifically didn't support the previous MacBook with the GMA 950.

 

I'm sure Sims 2 would play fine. Call of Duty 2 plays decent on GMA950 with all settings on low, so I suppose you could increase the settings a bit with 3100.

Basically check out games for mac that came out about a year or two ago or prior, and you should be ok to play them.

 

What about those EA games? They say they won't work in GMA 950, but will it work in X3100? Like Need For Speed: Carbon?

 

I doubt Carbon can run on a macbook, in playable speed and detail anyways.

 

Why don't you try WoW, it's awesome on my gma 950

 

Yeah, older games will run on the MacBook. And as 00fez suggested, WoW is generally a favourite .

 

or since i wanted any game on my mac u can dig through old pc games and see warcraft3 is compatible on both

 

I don't understand what all the fuss is for Wow? There's numerous posts on these forums mentioning world of warcraft but I never get what's so good about it? What's different about this game that makes it so addicting and so famous?

Also, is Wow in universal binary? I would think gaming performance would suck under rosetta.

 

WoW is universal binary yes. I didn't know what was so addicting about it either until I started playing. It's just something I can't describe, you have to try it for yourself. You can get a 10 day free trial from the WoW website.

 

What about Counter-Strike 1.6 perfomance on this mac using windows through bootcamp? I've searched a lot and i've only found benchamarks for the CS:Source...

Cheers!

P.S.: My MB has not 1GB RAM but 2

 

I don't think it should be a problem. The original CS using the GoldSrc engine didn't even require a DirectX 7 generation GPU since it doesn't even use HW T&L. In fact, the original Half Life requirements even said that a 3D accelerator (DX6 generation and below) was only recommended, although that might be pushing it.

 

Hum... what is that HW ant T&L you are all talking about? Will i be able to play it at 100fps constant? I have a athlon xp 2600, 1GB RAM and a GeForce 6600 and the game doenst always run at 100fps, so i think it will be pretty much the same thing with the SR MacBook at 2.2Ghz 2GB Ram ... dont you think? Should i get better results using directx 9.c or 8.0 drivers?

 

i thought most computer screens can only output 60fps? I might be wrong, but I can't see a difference between 100fps and 30-40fps.

 

Do you know what it means to have 100fps? fps stands for frames per second and having 30fps ensures smooth game play and is equivalent to watching a video. I don't think it's technically possible to have a 100?!?

 

your laptop monitor most likely displays a maximum of 60 fps.

the number of fps required to perceive smooth motion varies from one application to the next. A mostly still image might appear smooth at 1 fps. A sharp, fast moving image might need more like 40 or 50. When you watch a video, fast motion is blurred so that 30 fps is plenty. Except for some of the newest games (crysis, hl2 ep2, etc) motion blur does not exist and therefore 30 motion video fps != 30 rendered fps. Each rendered frame is sharp and high contrast. For more information you can research the subject with google and wikipedia.

 

I know it is only technically possible to reach 60fps at any monitor, but disabling vertical sync at nvidia drivers, allows me to reach 100fps at cs 1.6 which is very good. I can only play with that fps (me and most of the players). 60fps at cs1.6 sucks hard! I will research more about this ...
Thank you all!

 

I find that hard to believe. The human eye is almost incapable of detecting the difference between 60fps and 100fps.

 

the point is that the monitor can only displays 60fps noatter what,even if your computer is capable of running cs @100fps it is physically impossible to tell the difference.anyways,I don't know maybe pro players can....

 

Unless they have cybernetic eye implants, they can't. The best that you could see would be comparable to going from 30 to 31FPS. Anything over 60fps (unless you're playing on a CRT, which can reach 85hz, which means a theoretical top of 85FPS can be displayed, however, the human eye would be almost incapable of telling a major difference between that a 60FPS), because of the limits of the refresh rates plus the human eye, is just stroking elitist egos.

 

Honestly, i didnt knew about that "human-eye capability", but i am telling you 60fps is far way different from 100fps at CS! If you have Counter-Strike 1.6 on your pc, you can make the test: set the fps max to 100 before you disabled vertical synchronization on your grpahics card drivers, and you will see the differente! I am telling you it is huge! I dont know how you people can play CS at 60fps... Just type this into your console:
fps_max 100
net_graph 3
By doing this you will have a fps monitor on your screen while you're playing. Once you reach 100 (make sure you have disabled vertical sync) play it for a while and then set it to 60 again (default).
Now i understand why people are so excited when they reach 30fps at CS:Source using a SR MacBook

Cheers!

 

We can play CS at 60fps because...wait for it...that's all an LCD monitor will display. Anything higher is filler and wasted, and even if LCDs had higher refresh rates, the only thing it would do for us is ease eye strain.

I'm beginning to believe that this is a psychological perception; to you, since there is a larger number there, your mind wills itself to perceive there to be a difference. If it works for you, ok, but technologically speaking it's impossible for there to be a difference.

 

For me it's impossible to play cs or any other FPP game with vertical sync ON.. when i set fps_max to 60fps the screen is so lagged that my eyes can't stand it, i know that some people can play games with 30fps and they say it's ok but for me 100fps in CS 1.6 is a must and any other below is unacceptable for my eyes.. and by the way sorry for my English, i'm not English

 

I just found how to turn off vsync on x3100 and i got over 100fps in q2 at 60hz and it's a huge difference between 100fps@60hz and 60fps@60hz...

Edit

Sorry that I posted new message instead of editing previous :F

 

This topic gets argued to death on alot of the tech/gaming forums (like Anandtech). The consensus is that people have different perception thresholds, believe it or not. For instance, I can perceive a flickering CRT monitor running at 75hz. Many people cannot see it, even if it's running at 60hz! (Which is very flickery). Something that "feels" faster, (such as what some people here are saying about 100 fps CS vs 60 fps CS) is probably because of the connection between our eyes, brain, and motor controls. If you were to view a movie at 60fps and 100 fps, you'd probably agree and say there is no difference. Then attempt to *interract* with the movie at 60fps, you will notice that 100 fps allows greater feedback. Even though your eyes can't see the difference per se, your brain and body *feels* the difference in a feedback oriented game like Counter Strike.

 

Well as for me i think i can SEE the difference between 100 and 60 fps, when i move my mouse fast at 60fps i can SEE that the view isn't as sharp as at 100fps and my eyes get tired when i watch it at 60 fps...

 

Yes, because your brain is expecting the feedback and response.

Imagine if your watching the whole thing playing back as a movie, in 60FPS and 100FPS. In that case, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

 

Turn off v-sync to get over 60 fps on macbook.

 

Yeah, I know. I'm one of those arguers.

I chalk it up to psychological differences. You see a bigger number, and therefore your expectation is that it will be better, and so your mind can tell a difference even though your eyes can't tell. Like I said, technically speaking, it should be impossible. That's why I believe it's psychological.

 

If it is psychological, then why my eyes get tired when i play at 60fps and they don't at 100fps? When you have a good eye and you are sensitive at any move you can see that the view isn't as sharp on 60fps as on 100 when you move your mouse dynamically..