Considering upgrade from MacBook Pro to iMac 27" 5K for better X-Plane experience

[brucie1dog]

This is my current system Mid 2014

Hardware Overview:

 

  Model Name:    MacBook Pro

  Model Identifier:    MacBookPro11,3

  Processor Name:    Intel Core i7

  Processor Speed:    2.8 GHz Turbo to 3.80

  Number of Processors:    1

  Total Number of Cores:    4

  L2 Cache (per Core):    256 KB

  L3 Cache:    6 MB

  Memory:    16 GB

  Boot ROM Version:    MBP112.0138.B17

  SMC Version (system):    2.19f12

 

 

If I upgraded to a an iMac 27" with 5K display that was configured like this what differences would I see while using x-Plane?

Frank tells me   I don't haven enough video memory whenever I have an issue with SkyMaxx or RWC. When I am using SkyMaxx Pro I can only have a cloud coverage area of 2500 Sq KM, so it looks like the clouds are below the plane but not off in the distance. Would this upgrade to the iMac allow to me to increase these settings and configuration and give me a better experience?

Hardware

• 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
• 16GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - two 8GB
• 512GB Flash Storage
• AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory

 

Thanks for the help,

Andy

 

My current settings and configuration.

[mmerelles]

I do own 2 imacs, late 27" 2013 full optional upgrades and a 27" 5k retina full upgrades as well (mem, cpu, gpu, ssd)

I am tired of making way too much configuration compromises, i am actually selling on of my imacs to buy a strong pc dedicated to xplane.

Imacs have mobile hardware version, they are very restricted on wattage, they have to fit in the case and they have to keep heat in control. They do not compare to their pc counterparts at all.

Unless you do require the imac for another specific task, go and buy a strong pc it will double the imac performance easily for half the money.

[brucie1dog]

I have always used Mac at home and lately for work. For the years I used a PC the technical support was pitiful. I am not technically astute enough  to go it alone 

without tech support. I have also been considering the Mac Pro, but financially it's out of sight. I have also been looking at gaming laptops (prefer laptop) . The guys at Best Buy here in AZ say good luck getting it fixed because of parts delays. If you have any suggestions I am totally open.

Andy

[mmerelles]

the imac will perform just fine under medium settings if you can live with:

-very low in clouds

-no watter reflections

-not extended DSF

-3d cockpit shadows maximum

-no higher than default roads, objects, cars

 

If you crank those settings up it dies below 20 fps.

 

note: in your settings you have HDR disabled, this is boosting your FPS +10. But to fly any newer payware properly you must have HDR enabled, otherwise lighting is really poor among other issues. So the compromises above are considering you have HDR enabled on the imac.

 

The MAC PRO is a no go. They do lot of multitasking and great for a lot of business apps and media, but are very low cpu freq, the imac will outperform a mac pro on xplane. There are comparison tests already.

[brucie1dog]

If I turned HDR  on what differences would I see now?

[mmerelles]

HDR off at night there are no real lights, just plying with textures.

HDR ON you are rendering real lights and those lights will illuminate objects around.

test: sit your aircraft cold & dark below an appron light. HDR off you will see nothing. HDR on the light will illuminate your cockpit through the cockpit window.

hdr off the streets will look dark. hdr on the streets will be illuminated by street lights as on the real life.

The different is huge specially at night

 

Modern paywares like the ixeg 737 requires HDR on for the full lighting to work and illuminate the cockpit properly when you turn on switches and dimm lighting knobs.

 

Also:

On hdr on you have engine heat blur, otherwise you don't

How objects fade at a distance is different as well

 

As the time goes most and most scenery and aircraft developers demand having hdr on for they creation to work properly.

 

What HDR-ON does is that give to the lights...life! X-Plane's rendering engine computes how each light will affects it's surrounding objects and render those objects accordingly. 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2016 by mmerelles

[brucie1dog]

I appreciate the help. Just turned it on. Did a big difference with clouds. I am going to change from real time to night time as I am getting ready to land in

Las Vegas.

[mmerelles]

Just now, brucie1dog said:

I appreciate the help. Just turned it on. Did a big difference with clouds. I am going to change from real time to night time as I am getting ready to land in

Las Vegas.

yes HDR will make your whole sim a lot better and realistic. But it is very expensive on the GPU

[brucie1dog]

It's giving the plane zigzag outlines

Edited July 14, 2016 by brucie1dog
adding information

[mmerelles]

once you turned HDR to ON:

-enable atmospheric scattering

-set HDR antialiasing to FXAA or 2x SSAA+FXAA

-set antisotropic filter to 4X

[brucie1dog]

The other thing I am noticing it's making Lake Mead look bright white at night. Any suggestions??

[mmerelles]

11 minutes ago, brucie1dog said:

The other thing I am noticing it's making Lake Mead look bright white at night. Any suggestions??

this is the moon doing its job lighting the earth having hdr enabled  change the date for no moon and you will see the difference. Remember HDR makes the simm world dynamic

also try parking your aircraft below an apron light and shut it off to enjoy your cockpit illuminated from the outside

Edited July 14, 2016 by mmerelles

[brucie1dog]

So far it's really nice. Thank You! What is the difference on the HDR anti-aliasing settings? When you compare  FXAA to 2x SSAA + FXAA ?

[mmerelles]

xplane devs will surely explain it better than my poor english.

 

Anti-Aliasing 

The anti-alias level parameter is used to smooth the edges of the objects drawn in the simulator. When a computer tries to draw diagonal lines across the finite number of rectangular pixels in a monitor, “jaggies” result—pixelated-looking, stair-stepped lines. These jaggies may be (somewhat) eliminated by turning on anti-aliasing. This will cause X-Plane to actually draw the simulated world several times per frame and blend those frames together, resulting in a better looking image. Thus, it is similar to using a higher screen resolution; running at a resolution of 2048 x 2048 without anti-aliasing is similar to running at 1024 x 1024 and 4x anti-aliasing. Both situations tax the video card with virtually no increase in CPU use. This will completely kill the simulator’s frame rate if the system doesn’t have a strong video card, but if the video card can take it, crank this option up.

 

Special Effects 

In X-Plane, fog is used to control the visibility. Thus, enabling the draw volumetric fog option creates a number of small, localized fog effects, causing the density to vary whenever X-Plane draws fog. The result is that objects and scenery fade into the distance in a much more gradual (and pleasant) way than they otherwise would. On some computers, this can have a significant effect on frame rate, but for newer machines, the benefits significantly outweigh the costs.

The checkbox labeled draw per-pixel lighting toggles pixel shaders. Using pixel shaders allows X-Plane to add 3-D lighting on a per-pixel basis, to incredible effect. Rather than having the simulator tell the graphics card how to light an area, the graphics card determines it in real time, creating a very realistic image. If you have an older graphics card, this can have a large effect on frame rate.

HDR rendering is the new method X-Plane 10 uses for drawing the world. It allows an unlimited number of light sources, resulting in very convincing shadows across the whole world. If you have a newer graphics card (one that supports DirectX 10 or later), you will probably love using this effect; as this option is GPU-intensive, however, if you have an older graphics card, you may want to avoid it.

With HDR rendering on, two new rendering options become available: atmospheric scattering and HDR anti-aliasing. Enabling the atmospheric scattering option causes objects that are far away to appear more washed-out, just as they do in the real world. Once again, this shouldn’t have a great impact on frame rate on newer computers. The HDR anti-aliasing setting allows for more effective means of smoothing otherwise jagged lines than the older anti-alias level control. The “FXAA” version of HDR anti-aliasing is both high quality and computationally inexpensive, so it is recommended for almost all users. The “4xFSAA” version, on the other hand, simply has the graphics card draw the image at four-times the normal size, then scale it down. This will have a much greater impact on frame rate than FXAA.

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2016 by mmerelles

[brucie1dog]

I can't express how much I appreciate your help!

[Tchou]

On 14 juillet 2016 at 2:05 AM, mmerelles said:

I am tired of making way too much configuration compromises, i am actually selling on of my imacs to buy a strong pc dedicated to xplane.

Did that last year and it was the best move ever, even on moderne high end pc you can't have everything cranked up, it's a huge step up compared to a (even fast) iMac. 

The same 5K iMac ran X-plane about 5-10 fps faster under windows10 than under MacOs X... 

but I got all the way to a high end Pc build, with an i7 6700k and a GTX980ti, now I can use X-plane with high settings, HD mesh and have 30+ fps almost all the time, a very dense area, the Fps will go to 22-25 Fps (London, NewYork) but is still usable...