Macs are designed for use by creative professionals. They have exceptional video editing and graphic designing tools built in, and they have the hardware capabilities to match. However, they aren’t necessarily optimized for gaming, and many game manufacturers tend to optimize their games to run on high-spec Windows PCs instead.
Most Mac owners can enjoy access to great games and high-end performance, but it can take a little tweaking to get the best gaming experience from Apple’s devices.
Choose Your Games
A lot of games are optimized for use on Windows PCs, but some are made for play on a wider range of systems. Check the system requirements of any games you are considering, and especially look for those that are known to run well on Macs. As well as digital downloads, you can make the most of Black Friday gaming deals to get some of the latest titles at discounted prices.
According to technology writer Ilijia Miljkovac, not only can you enjoy discounts on games themselves, but you can also get gaming equipment and accessories that can help improve your gaming experience.
Upgrade, If Possible
Whatever your system, upgrading can greatly improve gaming performance and doesn’t necessarily have to cost a fortune. Yes, adding the latest nVidia graphics card can cost thousands of dollars, but adding a new stick of RAM is inexpensive.
Upgrading to a slightly newer graphics card can also cost considerably less than buying the latest model from the biggest name. Check the hardware components you’re currently running and see if there are any areas where you can make simple but effective upgrades.
Consider An eGPU
If you have an older Mac running an Intel processor, one relatively inexpensive way to upgrade is to install an external GPU. eGPUs are especially useful if you have onboard or built-in graphics.
Most computers with built-in graphics do not have the slots available to upgrade or install a new graphics card, which means you’re stuck with what you have until you decide it’s time to upgrade to a new machine. Check how the eGPU connects before buying, and ensure you have the port or you can create a bridge using suitable adapters and cables.
Check Your Cooling
Macs, like any gaming systems, need cooling to prevent the processor overheating. Gaming is especially processor-intensive, which puts additional pressure on the system. Even if the processor isn’t overheating to the point of failure, it can still cause processing issues and lag.
If you’re experiencing drops in performance, check how well the cooling fan is working. You can install apps that make it easy to monitor heat levels, as well as those that allow manual control of the heating fans. Using an app like iStat Menus you can even set up custom rules to determine fan settings.
Alternatively, if you know your system tends to overheat while gaming, open iStats and turn the exhaust slider up so that your fan is operating whenever you’re playing. It might get loud, but it should provide smoother gameplay. And, if this isn’t enough to improve performance, it may mean you need new cooling, a new processor, or that your system simply can’t cope with the games you’re trying to run.
Update Your System
The latest system updates can provide fixes for bugs, patch security holes, and provide optimized gaming experiences. Games themselves, as well as hardware like headsets and controllers, evolve constantly. And with every evolution and improvement comes the potential to leave your system software outdated.
New software updates attempt to stay ahead of these changes. Let your Mac check for and install updates automatically. You can always set the updates to complete overnight or when you know you won’t be using your Mac. And, if you find that games are suddenly running slower or experiencing particular problems, manually check for system updates.
Cleanup
Now is a good time to clean up your system, too. Look for apps and software that you no longer use and uninstall them. Check other storage options, look for files and programs you don’t use, and remove them. Use the storage optimization option on your system. This looks for large iTunes files, among other things, and removes them.
Other Mac tools that can be very useful are the Reduce Clutter tool and the option to automatically remove trash. Third party apps are also available that can potentially dig deeper and help remove unwanted items and clean up what’s left.
Disable Background Processes
Macs, like most devices, tend to have apps and processes that run in the background whenever the system is on. These can be useful under normal circumstances, but they also use RAM while running. When you’re gaming, you will want as much of your RAM available as possible.
Disabling background apps is, therefore, a good way of freeing up RAM and improving game performance. Processes like the Notification Center can certainly be disabled. You won’t want notifications popping up mid-game, anyway, so use the Terminal to kill this and other unnecessary processes.
Close Other Apps
Similarly, you don’t want other apps running, if you can help it. Don’t leave your work programs running in the background and, if possible, close communication and other apps.
If any of these are essential, you may have to find other ways to improve system performance, but messengers and other apps that connect to the Internet and are always on can really take a toll on your RAM and processor performance levels. Use in-game chat features if they are available or, better still, consider taking your chat to another device.
Use A Second Device Or Second Monitor
Chat and messaging apps really can take their toll on your system performance, especially because they run in the background even when you’re not chatting. If you have a laptop or even a tablet, install and use these apps on that device. Alternatively, set up a second monitor dedicated to these apps.
This won’t prevent them from using your processor or RAM, but it will prevent pop-ups and screen refreshes from causing lag on your gaming monitor.
Update Software
Just like operating systems need regular updates, so too does the software you’re running. Ensure any applications you use while gaming are updated to the latest versions. This can help reduce processor usage. If other users have experienced problems with lag or slowdown caused by having the software open, there is a good chance a fix will have been released.
This fix will only be applied if you install the latest updates. The games you play should also be updated regularly because these often optimize performance so you get the best gaming results.
Check Game Settings
While we all want to run games on the highest possible settings, unless you have the latest high-end, top-spec gaming PC, this isn’t going to be possible with all games. Game makers have to accommodate all potential users, and they do this by offering a sliding scale of performance levels.
Reduce refresh rates, motion blurring, and other graphics, video, and audio settings until you get the right blend of gaming performance and system operation. It might be quicker to run the game on the lowest possible settings and then add in or enhance features until you notice a drop-off in performance.
