Is the 27” Apple iMac Pro a Good Gaming Computer?
If you are reading this in the hopes of finding out whether the 27” Apple iMac Pro is suitable for gaming, you should stop right here. This machine is not designed for gaming and is not a good choice for dedicated gamers.
Reasons Against Using the iMac Pro as a Gaming Computer
The primary reasons why the iMac Pro is not a good gaming machine are its screen resolution and the GPU capabilities. The iMac Pro comes with a 5K screen, which is fantastic for productivity and design work, but gaming at this resolution is a significant challenge.
The GPU Issue
The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) used in the iMac Pro, which is based on AMD's Radeon Vega 64, is slightly slower than the previous-generation NVIDIA GTX 1080 (the high-end version). When running games at 5K resolution, this GPU will struggle to produce decent frame rates. Most modern games will require significant downscaling to maintain a playable performance, and downscaling at 5K simply does not look good.
Thermal Management and Performance Drop
Another critical issue is that the iMac Pro is known to throttle its GPU performance if it runs at full capacity. Throttling significantly impacts performance during gaming, making the experience frustrating and suboptimal.
Cost Consideration
Moreover, the cost of the iMac Pro is astronomical. If your primary interest is gaming, it would be more cost-effective to build a gaming rig with a high-end Windows desktop and still have a significant amount of money left over. For example, you could build a high-performance gaming PC for less than $2000, and even with a mid-range Mac Mini starting at around $1100, you could still save a considerable amount to purchase additional accessories or games.
Use Cases for the iMac Pro
The iMac Pro is a powerhouse for content creation, design work, CAD, 3D animation, and other professional tasks that require a high-resolution display and a discrete GPU. If you need a desktop Mac with a nice screen and a powerful discrete GPU for design or professional work, then the iMac Pro might be the right choice for you.
The Role of Windows in Gaming on Mac
Although you can run Windows on a Mac using Bootcamp or a virtual machine, and gaming on a Mac becomes possible, this does not make the iMac Pro an ideal gaming machine. Running Windows and games on a Mac is more complex and less efficient compared to a dedicated gaming rig on Windows.
Legacy and Heavy Gaming
The Macintosh has a legacy of being a PC for content creation, not gaming. In fact, many gaming-specific systems and brands, such as MSI, have been designed specifically with gamers in mind. The iMac Pro, despite being a powerful machine, has limitations when it comes to running modern, graphically intensive games.
While the iMac Pro can handle some older titles and even Blizzard’s MacOS games acceptably, it is not designed to perform well with modern, demanding games.
Ultimately, if your goal is to game on this machine, you might be better off looking at other dedicated gaming rigs or other Mac models that are specifically designed for gaming, like the newer Mac Mini or Mac Pro models.