Poor graphics (polygons displaying) when gaming with a new iMac 21.5"

Question

Level 1

10 points

Poor graphics (polygons displaying) when gaming with a new iMac 21.5"

I've just upgraded my old 2010 MacBook Pro to a new 21.5" iMac, with 16GB RAM & Fusion Drive. I don't play a lot of games, but when I went to launch Guild Wars 2 the graphics were horrible. Polygons showing everywhere, it was like everything had massive spikes growing off them. I then went to play The Witcher via Steam. Similar thing. Polygons showing all over the place. I've tried playing with a bunch of the settings, but I don't really know what I'm doing and nothing seemed to make much difference. Any ideas on what I can do to fix the issues?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 25, 2015 7:40 PM

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Answer 1

poikkeus1

Level 4

2,454 points

May 25, 2015 7:52 PM in response to JNWood

Perform an Entrecheck run:

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

If possible, make a screenshot of the polygon problem.

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Answer 2

JNWood Author

Level 1

10 points

May 25, 2015 8:08 PM in response to poikkeus1

Details from etrecheck:

EtreCheck version: 2.2 (132)

Report generated 5/26/15, 1:06 PM

Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.

Hardware Information: ℹ️

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013) (Technical Specifications)

iMac - model: iMac14,3

1 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Video Information: ℹ️

NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M - VRAM: 1024 MB

iMac 1920 x 1080

System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.10.3 (14D136) - Time since boot: 12:9:20

Disk Information: ℹ️

APPLE SSD SD0128F disk0 : (121.33 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Boot OS X (disk0s3) <not mounted> : 134 MB

Macintosh HD (disk2) / : 1.11 TB (615.18 GB free)

Core Storage: disk0s2 120.99 GB Online

Core Storage: disk1s2 999.35 GB Online

APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 disk1 : (1 TB)

EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk1s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

Macintosh HD (disk2) / : 1.11 TB (615.18 GB free)

Core Storage: disk0s2 120.99 GB Online

Core Storage: disk1s2 999.35 GB Online

USB Information: ℹ️

Seagate Expansion 1 TB

EFI (disk4s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Time Machine 3 (disk4s2) /Volumes/Time Machine 3 : 999.86 GB (384.22 GB free)

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Seagate Portable 1.5 TB

EFI (disk3s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Time Machine 2 (disk3s2) /Volumes/Time Machine 2 : 1.50 TB (104.11 GB free)

Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/Applications/Hands Off!.app

[not loaded] com.metakine.handsoff.driver (1.4.1 - SDK 10.6) [Click for support]

/Applications/MultiMedia/MacX Video Converter Pro.app

[not loaded] com.macxdvd.driver.goodSysAudioCapture (1 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.Belcarra.iokit.USBLAN_netpart (2.0.2) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.Belcarra.iokit.USBLAN_usbpart (2.0.2) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.RemoteControl.USBLAN.usbpart (2.0.6) [Click for support]

/System/Library/Extensions/Belcarra.USBLAN_netpart.kext/Contents/PlugIns

[not loaded] com.belcarra.iokit.netpart.panther (1.6.1) [Click for support]

/System/Library/Extensions/Belcarra.USBLAN_usbpart.kext/Contents/PlugIns

[not loaded] com.belcarra.iokit.usbpart.panther (1.6.1) [Click for support]

/System/Library/Extensions/RemoteControl.USBLAN_usbpart.kext/Contents/PlugIns

[not loaded] com.RemoteControl.USBLAN.panther (1.6.1) [Click for support]

Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] com.citrix.AuthManager_Mac.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.citrix.ReceiverHelper.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.citrix.ServiceRecords.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.divx.dms.agent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.divx.update.agent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Click for support]

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.stclairsoft.AppTamerAgent.plist [Click for support]

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Click for support]

[running] com.akamai.single-user-client.plist [Click for support]

[failed] com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[...]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist

[loaded] com.macupdate.desktop5.scanner.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist [Click for support]

[not loaded] ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist [Click for support]

User Login Items: ℹ️

CheatSheet Application (/Applications/CheatSheet.app)

iTunesHelper Application Hidden (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Air Video Server Application (/Applications/Air Video Server.app)

Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)

Flickr Uploadr Application (/Applications/Flickr Uploadr.app)

SophosUIServer UNKNOWN (missing value)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

DirectorShockwave: Version: 12.1.6r156 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.41.0.0 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

OVSHelper: Version: 1.1 [Click for support]

Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 3.2.0.16 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

Unity Web Player: Version: UnityPlayer version 3.4.1f5 - SDK 10.5 [Click for support]

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.11 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 17.0.0.169 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

DivX Web Player: Version: 3.2.4.1250 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Flash Player: Version: 17.0.0.169 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.8

CitrixICAClientPlugIn: Version: 11.8.2 - SDK 10.7 [Click for support]

googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.41.0.0 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.11 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.5.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 31 Check version

Safari Extensions: ℹ️

1Password

Video Converter

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

Akamai NetSession Preferences [Click for support]

Flash Player [Click for support]

Flip4Mac WMV [Click for support]

Java [Click for support]

MacFUSE [Click for support]

Perian [Click for support]

Time Machine: ℹ️

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: ON

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 1.11 TB Disk used: 496.65 GB

Destinations:

Time Machine 3 [Local]

Total size: 999.86 GB

Total number of backups: 33

Oldest backup: 2015-03-06 15:57:12 +0000

Last backup: 2015-05-26 01:08:01 +0000

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 999.86 GB < (Disk used 496.65 GB X 3)

Time Machine 2 [Local]

Total size: 1.50 TB

Total number of backups: 91

Oldest backup: 2013-12-31 23:18:46 +0000

Last backup: 2015-05-26 02:24:05 +0000

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 1.50 TB > (Disk used 496.65 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

10% steam_osx(2)

4% WindowServer

2% com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(9)

2% com.apple.WebKit.Networking

2% fontd

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

1.68 GB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(9)

1.08 GB kernel_task

475 MB softwareupdated

426 MB Safari

229 MB iconservicesagent(2)

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

6.09 GB Free RAM

10.00 GB Used RAM

0 B Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

May 26, 2015, 03:17:35 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/backupd_2015-05-26-031735_[redacted].cpu_resour ce.diag [Click for details]

May 26, 2015, 12:55:47 AM Self test - passed

May 26, 2015, 12:45:41 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/FlickrDesktop_2015-05-26-004541_[redacted].cpu_ resource.diag [Click for details]

May 26, 2015, 12:25:20 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.internetaccounts_2015-05-26-002520_[r edacted].crash

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Answer 3

JNWood Author

Level 1

10 points

May 25, 2015 8:30 PM in response to JNWood

Here is a screen shot from Guild Wars 2

The upload was giving me issues, so here is a link from Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/txHWq5

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Answer 4

poikkeus1

Level 4

2,454 points

May 25, 2015 8:44 PM in response to JNWood

Two potential issues.

Citrix has been associated with reduced performance again and again.

Time Machine shouldn't be a problem - unless you're backing up while you're gaming. If that's the case for you, turn off Mobile Backup while playing. That will free up more RAM.

I don't think it's a graphics card program, which is good news.

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Answer 5

MichelPM

Level 10

80,958 points

May 25, 2015 9:52 PM in response to JNWood

I am going with poikkeus1 on this one.

You have a decent amount of graphics power.

However, I strongly believe that OS X Yosemite uses a good chunk of RAM ( over 4 GBs of RAM and possibly up to 8 GBs) just for the OS, alone.

This can leave your Mac with 12 GBs or less (possibly half) of the total available RAM for intense RAM processing tasks.

Make sure you have no other processes or applications running in the background while you are playing games.

Also, you should check the game websites to check for minimum and nominal system hardware requirements.

You need lots of processor, GPU and RAM for games and it can be possible that your Mac may not meet some of the necessary minimum or nominal hardware requirements.

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Answer 6

JNWood Author

Level 1

10 points

May 25, 2015 9:50 PM in response to MichelPM

These were all running fine on my 2010 MacBook Pro. I would have thought that a 2015 iMac shouldn't have had a problem, especially with a game like The Witcher. That's the first Witcher as well, not #2. About the only other thing I had running was Safari.

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Answer 7

MichelPM

Level 10

80,958 points

May 25, 2015 9:56 PM in response to JNWood

OS X 10.8, 10.9 and, especially, OS X 10.10 Yosemite are resource and serious RAM hogs.

It could be the OS, itself, that is slowing your Mac down.

According to your Etrecheck report, you have a 2013 iMac, NOT a 2015 iMac model.

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Answer 8

MichelPM

Level 10

80,958 points

May 25, 2015 10:00 PM in response to JNWood

Are these games web based?

Because it looks like Apple WebKit and Kernel task are using almost 3 GBs of RAM from the total 16 GBs just these two processes, alone.

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Answer 9

MichelPM

Level 10

80,958 points

May 25, 2015 10:06 PM in response to JNWood

You, also, might want to make sure all of your applications, any third party connected device drivers and web browser plugins and extensions are all up to date and compatible with OS X 10.10 Yosemite.

Users upgrade their OS and forget to check for compatible upgrades for all their other installed devices and installed software and web browser extensions and plugins.

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Answer 10

MichelPM

Level 10

80,958 points

May 25, 2015 10:36 PM in response to JNWood

Looking at the GPU specs for Guild Wars 2 ( which appears to still be in Beta release on the Mac) it looks as if the 1 GB VRAM chip in your iMac makes the. minimum VRAM spec for that game and NOT the nominal or preferred or best GPU spec.

Not sure now if this could be a GPU issue.

For Witcher, I could not find specs for the GPU under OS X. According to something I read on the Witcher forums is that both Witcher's minimum system requirements are pretty high and the GPU VRAM is fairly high, but more importantly, Witcher is very unstable on OS X.

SInce we can't be sure if these are issues with your Mac or with the games themselves, maybe you should search the individual game websites for info and check their respective support forums and post questions there or see if there is already information there that applies to your situation.

It could just be that these games just do not run well with the iMac specs you have or there might be some workaround or optimization that no one here is knowledgeable about.

Good Luck!

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Answer 11

JNWood Author

Level 1

10 points

May 25, 2015 11:18 PM in response to MichelPM

I should have been clearer when I said 2015 iMac .. the iMac is brand spanking new. Purchased from Apple and out of the box yesterday. My old MacBook Pro is 2.2GHz Core i7, 8GB RAM & Radeon HD 6750M 1GB VRAM. This has 2.9GHz Core i5, 16GB RAM & NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1GB VRAM. I would have thought the iMac purchased yesterday (top spec 21") would have been as good as the laptop purchased 4yrs ago.

Could it be that the NVIDIA card is just not as good as the Radeon? I'll have to do some more searching.

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Answer 12

MichelPM

Level 10

80,958 points

May 26, 2015 12:55 AM in response to JNWood

It maybe new but the Etrecheck reports it as a late 2013 iMac (model ID 14,3)

So, Apple sold you an earlier iMac model.

There is a mid 2014, 21.5 inch iMac model (model ID 14,4).

Apple did not sell you their latest 21.5 inch model iMac.

Not sure if you knew this.

If you were expecting a 2014 model year iMac and, obviously, you didn't get one, if you just bought this new, you have 14 days to return for a full refund and either ask for a newer 2014, 21.5 inch screen iMac model, if they have these in stock, OR you have the option of returning this iMac for a much better spec'd iMac that will play all of the games you wish to play on a desktop iMac.

You probably need a 21 inch iMac with an i7 CPU with the option for the 1.5 or 2 GB NVidia GPU.

Good Luck!

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Answer 13

MichelPM

Level 10

80,958 points

May 26, 2015 1:17 AM in response to JNWood

It maybe brand new in box, but the Etrecheck reports it as a late 2013 iMac (model ID 14,3)

So, Apple sold you an earlier iMac model.

There is a mid 2014, 21.5 inch iMac model (model ID 14,4).

Apple did not sell you their latest 21.5 inch model iMac.

Not sure if you knew this.

If you were expecting a 2014 model year iMac and, obviously, you didn't get one, if you just bought this new, you have 14 days to return for a full refund and either ask for a newer 2014, 21.5 inch screen iMac model, if they have these in stock, OR you have the option of returning this iMac for a much better spec'd iMac that will play all of the games you wish to play on a desktop iMac.

You probably need a newer 2014, 21 inch iMac with an i7 CPU with the option for the 1.5 or 2 GB VRAM NVidia GPU.

Plus, the issues with all of the new 21.5 inch iMac models is that all the GPUs are integrated and NOT discreet (individual( GPUs that have their own VRAM built into them).

The GPUs in all of the slimline 21 inch screen iMacs are integrated GPUs that get their VRAM from the actual physical total RAM in your iMac.

Meaning the GPU is also stealing physical RAM memorym from your iMac's main RAM, for its use.

Also, another slowdown is the fact that if you are not using an SSD for storage and data retrieval, but either a standard hard drive or fusion drive ( Flash drive/standard hard drive combo), the drives in all the newer 21 inch screen iMacs are only laptop style 5400 RPM drives instead of the normal, desktop standard 7200 RPM drives.

My guess here is if you plan on doing regular gaming on a 21.5 inch screen iMac, you need to go for the top of the line 21 inch screen iMac with more powerful i7 mutil thrended quad core CPUs and more powerful integrated GPU and maybe consider either a Fusion Drive or full out SSD for best performance.

The 21 inch screen models can be outfitted with options to make them more viable for heavy gaming platforms/applications.

Good Luck!

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Answer 14

JNWood Author

Level 1

10 points

May 26, 2015 2:23 AM in response to MichelPM

I'm not really a heavy gamer, but I do have The Witcher (a game from 2008) & occasionally Guild Wars 2. I also play the Shadow Run games. Those don't seem to have a problem, but they also aren't 3D type games. I spoke to Apple and they suggested resetting the SMC and PRAM. Those didn't do the job. I might take it into the Apple Store on the weekend. If they can't help, then I probably will look at returning this.

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Answer 15

zhanklaa

Level 1

45 points

May 26, 2015 2:53 AM in response to JNWood

.

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