DayZ SA performance and my systems bottleneck(s)

[mackenziedupuy 2]

This is a post looking for some computer help with my system to get the best experience out of the game. I've been playing for a week now and I love where it is going, but I really want to enhance my graphics-to get a playable fps (35-40fps on coast, 27-35 in large towns) I had to drop my graphics down considerably. I've been playing around with in game settings, and did the standard optimization in the game note files, but I realize my system is holding back the potential of the game.

I'm willing to put some money into upgrading my system to boost my graphics while maintaining a respectable fps, but not sure what is holding my system back (ram, graphics card, ext.). I'll list my specs and game settings and hopefully you can offer some advice to help me get a better gaming experience. To foreground this discussion, please understand my computer knowledge is limited.

Playing on a 2011 IMac via bootcamp (partitioned 1TB internal, allocated 200gb for PC side) Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit X86-based PC Processor Intel® Core i7 CPU 870 @ 2.93GHz, 2927 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5750 1024 MB (possible performance culprit) Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 (possible performance culprit) Total Physical Memory 2.99 GB Available Physical Memory 1.65 GB Total Virtual Memory 5.98 GB Available Virtual Memory 3.77 GB Page File Space 2.99 GB

I play using Razor game booster, and My game settings are: Rendering resolution 2560x1440 100% (I've tried dropping down to 1080 at 75% or 720 but it looks so bad and weirdly enough not a huge fps boost...) Video memory normal and set to auto or 2048mb (I have 4gb of ram but I understand not all is available for the game, I suspect this is a bottle neck, is there a way I can free up more ram if I am just running the game and game booster?) Quality-objects very low,terrain very low, clouds disabled, shadows disabled (horrible I know, trees look like blobs at a distance, I spend a lot of time in the forests, and I would love to have clouds and shadows on All post process rendering is disabled (HDR quality very low)

If I missed any crucial info, just lemme know and I will post!

This was long I know, THANKS FOR READING!, looking forward to any and all advice :)

Edited March 9, 2014 by A-Lone-Wanderer

[Dchil 829]

Dude, use some paragraphs. I think your problem is the fact that you have a Mac. JKs

 

Your ram is a bit lacking, around 8GB should do you well. But there is still a problem.

The Imac is an All in one, basically a Laptop without the ability to use it anywhere. This limits your possibilities dramatically. If you really want to up you FPS and graphics (Which exceed mine, alot) then i'd suggest selling the Imac and building a PC.

[mackenziedupuy 2]

Thanks for the response!  

 

I understand what you are saying about the Imac not being easily configureable, however adding/swapping ram is super easy-I have 2 of 4 free slots so I may very well go up to 8gb of memory.

 

What specifically makes a PC better then a Mac at gaming?  And I am technically running a PC on my mac anyway so I am a little lost here...

[Daemonkid 493]

Mac doesn't have very good support, and many games do not support running on mac's. Something do with the operating systems and such. But if you're running windows on it, it's basically an expensive PC with a brand name.

[Dchil 829]

Thanks for the response!  

 

I understand what you are saying about the Imac not being easily configureable, however adding/swapping ram is super easy-I have 2 of 4 free slots so I may very well go up to 8gb of memory.

 

What specifically makes a PC better then a Mac at gaming?  And I am technically running a PC on my mac anyway so I am a little lost here...

 

Thanks for the response!  

 

I understand what you are saying about the Imac not being easily configureable, however adding/swapping ram is super easy-I have 2 of 4 free slots so I may very well go up to 8gb of memory.

 

What specifically makes a PC better then a Mac at gaming?  And I am technically running a PC on my mac anyway so I am a little lost here...

I meant building a PC geared more towards gaming. The IMac you have is geared more towards Web browsing and office stuff but is still good enough to do some minimal gaming.

[Cobs 49]

Dude, use some paragraphs. I think your problem is the fact that you have a Mac. JKs

 

Your ram is a bit lacking, around 8GB should do you well. But there is still a problem.

The Imac is an All in one, basically a Laptop without the ability to use it anywhere. This limits your possibilities dramatically. If you really want to up you FPS and graphics (Which exceed mine, alot) then i'd suggest selling the Imac and building a PC.

Not a bad bit of advice, I recently convinced my roommate to sell his 2009 Macbook Pro for $500 (he was using bootcamp to play games such as dayz as well).  He then bought a desktop gaming PC for $600 with an intel i7 3770k, water cooling, nvidia 660, 8GB Ram, 128GB SSD (windows 8.1) and 1 TB 7200 rpm.  He got a good deal on craigslist and now has the power to play games and do some high end 3d rendering.  

So $100 out of pocket gave him a HUGE upgrade in computing power, if you're willing to part with the mobility and the apple brand image.  

[cav_guy 62]

The big difference between your iMac and a regular desktop PC is the ability to swap out most of the components in a desktop PC. I don't think you can swap out the video card in the iMac, which as you noted probably has something to do with your issues.

There's nothing inherently wrong with running DayZ on a Mac with bootcamp. I'm getting 25-35 FPS in most places on a 2012 retina MBP.

[wild_man 4442]

put down the resolution to 1920 x 1080 OR LOWER and put video memory to default always >:(

 

is no good to say you putting resolution to 1440 because 1080 looking shit because your system is not power enough for this :rolleyes:

 

is like ask 'I want to drive in formula one grand prix but my car is lada' :huh:

 

you must lower settings for this system if you want fPS boost :|

 

I know is not what you looking for this answer but is pure fact of reality you need to accept or buy new pc ;)

 

for cheap is possible build good new pc and having good FPS and resolution etc

Edited March 9, 2014 by KoS

[Irish. 4886]

Sell iMac on ebay = $700min-$1000max

 

Buy Prebuilt or build your own Gaming PC = Massive Profit (you can then partition->bootcamp your new PC to run OSX and then you have literally best of both worlds)

[mackenziedupuy 2]

Thanks for everyones imput

 

Just want to be clear I am not some Mac bandwagon groupie, I picked this computer up for $1K and it has served me very well editing with Final Cutr Pro studio which was a necessity 4 years ago-so mac only, i was upset that I had to dish out the extra cash for the brand name and what not but that was the reality of FCP, also I prefer the mac os to be honest and the hardware in this computer is not outrageous for the price i paid, I understood tha it is not as configurable as a mac tower or pc when I purchased it

 

Imac hardware is not set in stone though, I have some configurable options as well.  Adding ram is simplistic-but I am not sure about the graphics card...Is this the significant bottleneck on my system? 

[mackenziedupuy 2]

Sell iMac on ebay = $700min-$1000max

 

Buy Prebuilt or build your own Gaming PC = Massive Profit (you can then partition->bootcamp your new PC to run OSX and then you have literally best of both worlds)

Actually not a bad idea at all - I never thought of using bootcamp to launch OSX

 

I may very well pursue this! Thanks

[antonioajc 500]

Dat white.