Worth the upgrade (core 2 duo to i7)

I was still searching on building a custom rig to play GW2 better. But im not a PC gamer and im a Mac guys so its kind of overkill to spend 1k just for GW2.

But I started thinking. My current imac is showing its age. Mayve Its time to buy a new one. But first I want to check with you guys about GW2.

I have a 2008/2009 imac 21 inch with a Intel Core 2 duo at 3.2ghz (I think) and in not sure of the graphics card. On it I can run GW2 (mac client) on just a notch over low settings at about 25 to 30fpc. Have not tried fighting a boss like the Fire Elemental. On this same mac I have installed Windows 8 using Bootcamp. On that side the game runs at 35fps with fairly medium settings but becomes unplayable when in a boss fight. (Like 15 fps or less)

So I jumped over to apples website and right now the top of the line imac can be ordered with a quad core i7 at 3.4ghz and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX with 2GB of GDDR5 memorry.

So im wondering if the jump from Core 2 Duo to Quad core I7 is sooooooo drastic that the i7 mac will play GW2 at COMPKETELY MAX settings. Please help. Thank you guys.

Well the new machine will play at max just fine. I am on a PC, but I have i7 3870 (I think lol, 3.6 ghz I know) and a gtx 670 in my machine and I play on max settings (which is the recomended through in-game options). Normal PvE I am sitting nicely at 90-100 fps all the time. When I get into a big WvW zerg fest I tend to drop to 50-80 fps (just depends on the zerg and the location, Stonemist is always bad lol)

I will say no matter what machine you use, playing the game through bootcamp is going to get you better FPS than the MAC beta client. Everyone I know that plays and has a MAC says it and many claim its a 10-20 fps difference (which seems to same for you now) even on good machines.

if you are a gamer it is infinitely easier to keep a windows PC. If you do photo video editing or music production or something that Macs are supposed to do well than perhaps a new one is a good solution. To answer your question properly, yes it is a huge difference from C2D to i7 current gen.

However, a windows PC with the same specs can be had for under $1000. So the only reason thats worth mentioning is that Macs don't have many games that run on them.

i bought a mac mini C2Duo years ago to learn the OS. I always keep a Windows Gaming PC as it is infinitely easier to just install games and go. No driver issues (you know except the ones from AMD :D), tons of gaming peripherals, and no bootcamping. Two desktops may be a terrible idea for you, but just a suggestion.

If you build a gaming rig then 8GB + i5 + GTX 670 for a computer that pushes almost any game to max settings

Thank you both for your help.

Im NOT a pc gamer. GW2 is my only pc game. I dont really want to have 2 computers. All I need is to play GW2 max settings and basic Pc stuff. And sense my current Mac is getting a bit old (like I mentioned im a imac kind of guy) I might as well update to a new one AND play GW2 at same time..

I can pass my old Mac down to my lil brother.

then yes, GW2 is big on processor so an upgrade would improve it by leaps and bounds.