Forum Discussion

Hero (Retired)

Re: How much GPU TFLOPS to play at ultra settings on native Retina 5K 5120‑by‑2880 r

TFLOPS does not measure game performance, TFLOPS are just operations per second. We need the GPU brand and model number in order to see if they'll be able to run the game at 5K. 5K is a huge resolution and you'll need a Mac with a huge GPU, so more TFLOPS will be better BUT as I said, TFLOPS does nor meausre game performance

An i7 is always a better idea than a i7, about RAM I'd recommend 16GB but 8GB will be enough. And about SSD, all apps and games benefit from it.

3 Replies

DarayaVahu777
8 years ago
Thanks, the two GPU I write about are Radeon Pro 570 and Radeon Pro 580,
I thought that the processing power and memory numbers would be better than just names
becouse you can compare those but you can't compare just names.
I know you shouldn't buy Mac for gaming, but Sims 4 (and Sims 5 in the future) is the only single game I care about,
and I dont wanna play anymore on medium to low settings and low fps with my
2012 1080p Geforce GT 640m (around 0.5 TFLOPS) with 512MB memory,
the RP 570 have 7x the TFLOPS and 8x the memory and other specs many times better becouse it's been 5 years,
but the 5K resolution is 7x 1080p, and I wonder if the RP570 would be enought,
the RP 580 have 11x the TFLOPS and 16x the memory but mac with it is 500$ more expensive.
fons_garmo
Hero (Retired)
8 years ago
@DarayaVahu777,

There is a problem, and it is that Radeon Pro graphic cards are not specifically made for games. Do they work for games? Absolutely, but their main objectives are professional apps and rendering works, so Radeon Pro is not a very good indicator of a graphic card for gaming. The Sims 4 will work (we don't know about The Sims 5 yet so...) but, at 5K? Probably, but you might need to low some graphic options or even reduce resolution in case the game performance is not very good.

Forget about TFLOPS, Apple is giving that info because this Radeon Pro cards are meant to be used for professional works, where TFLOPS are important. Game do not really rely their performance on the TFLOPS, but rather on the chip architecture and the memory bandwith/speed. The Sims 4 will probably work, but you can't be sure because:

Maxis may not include compatibility with Radeon Pro graphic cards, as those cards are not really meant for gaming.

They game may not be able to run at 5K with ultra settings and those cards. 5K is a extremely HUGE resolution that even powerful graphic cards like the NVIDIA GTX Titan X have issues to handle, so in my opinion I won't count on playing The Sims 4 at 5K with a Radeon Pro GPU.
DarayaVahu777
8 years ago
Thank you, that's what I suspected, unfortunately.
Surprisingly Apple advertised the new iMac as good for gaming and even VR gaming at WWDC Keynote.