MacBook Pro 13" 2011 BootCamp gaming

[Psno1994]

I'm just wondering if anyone else has installed windows 7 on a new 13" MacBook Pro (core i7 and integrated "Intel HD 3000" graphics) for gaming, and what their results have been.
So far, I've gotten these games to run well with the following settings*:
-Half-life 2 at 1280x800, everything on high, runs perfectly- it's an old game, so I wouldn't have expected less.
-HL2 episodes 1 and 2, same thing. Pretty much every game by Valve runs at max. resolution and high settings in Windows.
-Resident Evil 5, medium "overall" quality, medium textures, low shaders, 1024x768- a little slow down occasionally, but not much. I've been running it in lower res to keep it fast, but it's not exactly the fastest-paced game (Chris Redfield is a tank and moves like such), so some slowdown really isn't a big deal.
-Dead Space**, high everything, 720p- runs beautifully. Slowdown isn't noticeable, it always stays above 30 fps, so it's totally playable. I'll try Dead Space 2 as soon as I finish the first one and have the $ to buy it. Scary sh*t
-Unreal Tournament 3, runs well on medium settings- haven't played it much b/c I only got it to play occasionally with a friend, so I can't say whether there's a lot of slowdown or not.
-BioShock, runs well on "medium" overall settings, some options like real-time reflections off, at 1024x768... only played the demo, though, so i don't know if more "active" scenes slow down or not. It's definitely playable, though.
-Super Meat Boy, obviously, runs perfectly. It's not that demanding (duh). I just had to mention it, though, because it's so f***ing awesome. ALL OF YOU. BUY SUPER MEAT BOY NOW. IT'S SO AWESOME. and the more or less two guys who developed it deserve uber respect.

*I kept AA off and AF low on all of them. vsync off on everything but Valve's games and RE5- some nasty visual tearing in RE5 without vsync.
** VSYNC OFF IS A MUST. otherwise, for some reason, there's some HORRIBLE mouse lag.
***It requires a DLL hack to play on integrated graphics, but that won't stop me

I'll probably test more games soon (my to-play list includes Oblivion, Fallout 3***, and Dead Space 2), but this is my list for now. That "HD 3000" IGP is pretty damn good for integrated. Faster than a lot of lower-end discrete cards... I would guess it performs about as well as the 360's GPU, which IMO is nothing to sneeze at.

Has anyone else installed Windows 7 on a new 13" MBP for gaming, and if you have, what have your results been?

 

[keyqui05]

may i ask how you overcome the overheating issue?? alot of ppl out there is complaining the loud fan while gaming on the 13" i7

 

[Psno1994]

I prop it up on a couple little metal "feet" I made for it on my desk... lets air flow under it to cool down faster. Or I place it on my lap in such a way that air flows underneath.

 

[FZero]

I prop it up on a couple little metal "feet" I made for it on my desk... lets air flow under it to cool down faster. Or I place it on my lap in such a way that air flows underneath.

Sounds dangerous. I used prop it between my knees myself except that the battery is still near the bottom left (I think) edge so you're still burning your leg a little.

 

[Psno1994]

Sounds dangerous. I used prop it between my knees myself except that the battery is still near the bottom left (I think) edge so you're still burning your leg a little.

not really. I usually prop it up on my desk, and the battery isn't the part generating too much heat (esp. since I usually game plugged in anyway).

I also got Oblivion and Arkham Asylum recently. Oblivion runs well med-high 720p, and Arkham Asylum med-low 720p (though I haven't really had time to test higher settings...)

just as a side note, Oblivion is FANTASTIC. get it. now.

 

[nocturnal7x]

cool, a friend of mine just got one of those, he was wondering how it would do with games. Good to know. Keep up the good work!

 

[Psno1994]

cool, a friend of mine just got one of those, he was wondering how it would do with games. Good to know. Keep up the good work!

if you want to game, win7 is ESSENTIAL. your friend might want to get an OEM copy though, they're only $90 (get 64 bit), as opposed to $200 for the full retail version.

But yeah, seriously, it's really not as terrible as people make it out to be on macrumors, etc. It can't run Crysis 2 or Battlefield 3, for sure, but it can run just about everything else. On low, at least. Most games on medium to high.

If I didn't care about the possibility of wasting $50, I'd get Fallout 3 GOTY... Stupid Bethesda put in code to auto-detect and purposely NOT RUN on integrated cards, never mind the fact that those integrated cards could be 2x as fast as GOOD older dedicated gpus... It requires a DLL hack to trick the game into thinking it's running on a "supported" GPU. If anyone's tried it or willing to try it and it worked, please let me know.

 

[MochaSuprimo]

Seems like you having a lot more luck than me. I have tried playing splinter cell conviction with no luck. Low everything, even some things turned off. Is this a graphic intensive game? i didn't think it was that bad. I have run TF2 and COD2 and that worked fine, i know those are not very heavy games. But i don't get why it runs so poorly . Not even playable. Any help would be great. I don't hunk i am going to check this so if you can email me that would e great. Mr.rager37@gmail.com thanks a ton for the help ahead.

 

[GameablMac]

I got a MBP 13" with Windows 7 Ultimate x64, and NFS Undercover works for me, just great on medium graphics. but you have to play with 1280x720, or whatever (it's the last option) to get the best graphics.
GTA IV DOES NOT WORK AND WILL HARM YOUR MBP IF YOU PLAY ON IT BECAUSE IT DOES NOT HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD. So please don't play on it.
Minecraft works and it has 35/40 fps.
Also, I'm trying to see if Mafia 2 and DiRT 2 works. I'm also trying out DiRT 3.
DiRT 2 works fine and Mafia 2 is laggy but its ok to see the game and play it until the end.