Intel HD4000 VRAM? Gaming?

Question

Intel HD4000 VRAM? Gaming?

Recently got a late 2012 iMac.

Baseline model. i5 2.5 ghz and 4 gigs of ram.

I've been looking into getting a Vidock for better gaming graphics.

Here is a list of games I have been running pretty well so far:

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Borderlands 2

Dirt 3

Fallout New Vegas

Half Life 2: Episode Two

Left 4 Dead 2

Mass Effect

Portal 2

Red Faction: Armageddon

Skyrim

and more.....

But some of these are GPU hogs.

I've been looking into forums, and seeing how others have been upgrading the ram in the unit.

It supposably will give more VRAM to the GPU?

10.8 says I have 512MB and when I upgraded to 10.9 it was listed as 1024MB.

On the GPU.

People are saying they see big changes, and some say they dont..

I haven't seen anyone talk about it on this forum, I thought I would ask?

Worth it? Or just go with something like the Vidock?

I called Apple and spoke with a Tech. He told me "You might see a better resolution, but that's about it."

He sent me a link in my email, and said how it would explain that ram wouldn't help the GPU.

When I got it. It was for a 2008-2009 Mac Mini... So I don't know why he sent it...

Just wanted to see if I could get someone to chime in on this.

Best,

Joshua

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), Running Windows 7 in Bootcamp

Posted on Feb 5, 2014 7:05 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

GNN Photography

Level 1

138 points

Feb 5, 2014 9:59 PM in response to DanielFaraday

Hey Joshua,

The intel HD 3000, and 4000 will read as 1024mb in OSX 10.8 and 10.9. Usually more VRAM means higher screen resolutions, and sometimes better performance in games. It would be worth it to upgrade from 4 to 8 or even 16 gigs of ram. If you want a good gaming experience on the Mac, I would recommend a Mac Pro. You may find thisforum interesting....

Good Luck!

Reply

Answer 2

Feb 5, 2014 10:03 PM in response to GNN Photography

Thanks.

I will be doing a upgrade of 16 gigs ASAP.

The current HD4000 is reading 512MB in 10.8 and when I upgraded to 10.9, it showed 1024MB.

I know the cap in Windows is 1.8, I believe.

If it smooths it out, great. If not most likely will purachse a Vidock.

Cheers.

Reply

Answer 3

Feb 5, 2014 10:15 PM in response to GNN Photography

The reason I say look into the Mac Pro is that if you were to get an early 2009 model for about $900-$1300, you would have access to up to 2x 2.66 GHZ Xeon processors, up to 64 gigs of ram, and an option for up to 2x graphics cards (usually nvidia 512mb per). Most of those games would fly on a Mac Pro just because there is more options to upgrade, and more resources for the games....Here is a good example: http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/pow-t43584

However you could keep the Mac Mini, and invest in a Gaming PC for those intensive games. Just a thought!

Reply