Will this PC Game run in Bootcamp??

[Brune]

I'm considering purchasing a new Imac, and have had this PC game I bought a while back saved for just this purpose (Bootcamp

Im unsure however if this PC game (TRAINZ) will be able to run in Bootcamp, or if the Imacs processor or graphic card will have the ability for it to run properly.
Ive been thinking on buying either the Imac 17" 2.0ghz superdrive w/ATI Radeon 1600 graphics card, or the 20" 2.16ghz w/ same graphics card.

Do you think this game will run properly? or will buying a new Imac hoping this will work ok turn out to be a dissapointment in context of running this game?
I talked to a Mac retailer today, he knows of this game and says it should run ok (maybe hes right or maybe just tryin to make a sale or both?). I'd like to hear a few others opinions or certainties first before buying.

Any info would be helpful. Thanks

Specs:

PC Game: TRAINZ 2006

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Pentium 4 1.5GHz equivalent or higher processor
64 mb 3D video card (NVIDIA GeForce 2 equivalent)
512mb RAM (Minimum)
Direct X 9 or higher

Recommended:

Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz equivalent or higher processor
128MB 3D video card (NVIDIA GeForce equivalent)
1 GB RAM
Direct X 9 or higher
Approx. 4GB available HD space needed

[fryke]

Sounds like it'll run beautifully. Btw.: It's not Bootcamp that'd run the game, it's Windows. Bootcamp merely makes it easily possible to install Windows natively on an intel Mac.

[mdnky]

Either of those iMacs are many times more powerful than the recommended system requirements of the game, so you shouldn't have any issues. A 2gHz Core2Duo processor (even the mobile edition) runs circles around a 3gHz Pentium D (desktop processor), which speed-walks circles around a Pentium 4 (desktop processor). The video cards, which matter the most for games, have a larger advantage than the processors. There's very few games out right now that wouldn't run well on the iMacs.

[Brune]

I appreciate both your replies. thanks fryke, mdnky.

You think the Intel iMac ATI radeon 1600 graphic card in your opinion is suitable and enough to run a game like Trainz? Or would you need to be running that game on the 24" iMac w/ the NVIDIA GeForce graphics card?

Reason I'm asking that is bvecause Trainz is very high output on CPU speed,graphics and memory. My friend actually modified his PC laptop with all the best high end Windoze graphic cards,etc, just to insure that game ran seamlessly (he built very detailed layouts in that game, so that was part of the reason too).

[mdnky]

I would think an X1600 is more than enough. However a lot depends on the game itself and wether or not it was optimized to run better on an ATI or nVidia card, or both.

My MBP has the x1600 mobility version of that card with 256MB of RAM. Haven't found anything I can't run yet.

Unfortunately the video cards used in the Macs aren't easy to compare to their PC brethren. They use specs which are different, so the benchmarks out there are somewhat useless. However, on the PC side an x1600 and nVidia 7300 GT are pretty close usually.


To give you an idea on the speed difference for the CPUs, here' a link to Tom's Hardware and a CPU benchmark chart. You can pick and choose the two processors you want highlighted in blue, as well as the test. I picked the 2.1gHz Core2Duo vs. the slowest P4 (2.8gHz) they had (which was much faster than Trainz' recommended requirements). Theres no contest really. You need to pick an AMD FX series processor or quad-core Intel to keep up with or surpass the Core2Duo on the tests.

StudioMax Render
Call of Duty 2
Quake 4
Unreal Tournament 2004

[Brune]

Again, I appreciate your help and the link to that site. I'm certain that as you've said the X1600 will do the job. I had no idea how powerful that graphic card was; to be able to keep up with those high powered pentiums.
I'm quite confident Trainz will work well now, maybe not lightning fast, but thats ok just as long as its a normal state of play is fine by me.
Thanks again for all your help.