MUST I get a PC?

[DaKid]

That's a lot of opinions and suggestions. Thank you everyone. I guess I'm going to need to make some serious compromise either on my ability to game (although I do have a PS4) or on whether a Mac is my primary machine (I also do lots of Photoshop/Lightroom/InDesign stuff as well). Based on that compromise, I think I'll either end up saying goodbye to proper gaming or I'll have to just use a Mac when I have to, and to develop in Windows (ugh).

Thank you again for your thoughts; please do keep them coming ... I am reading every one with interest

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

That's a lot of opinions and suggestions. Thank you everyone. I guess I'm going to need to make some serious compromise either on my ability to game (although I do have a PS4) or on whether a Mac is my primary machine (I also do lots of Photoshop/Lightroom/InDesign stuff as well). Based on that compromise, I think I'll either end up saying goodbye to proper gaming or I'll have to just use a Mac when I have to, and to develop in Windows (ugh).

Thank you again for your thoughts; please do keep them coming ... I am reading every one with interest

Or just have two PCs connected via a KVM switch?

As suggested earlier you can build yourself a small mini-ITX gaming rig and unless you are wanting to play something like Deus Ex at 4K,you don't need a very expensive graphics card to run most games,and 4K should theoretically mean perfect scaling at 1080P.

You also have the advantage of a back-up PC in case something happens to one of the computers.

Edit!!

You don't even need to spend that much - you could start with a Pentium G4260 and a RX470 4GB initially and see how you go,and upgrade the PC if you need to run more intensive games,

In fact what games are you looking to run??

Second Edit!!

I looked at your current system - a Core i7 920 should be fine specially if you overclock it a bit and you can get cheap secondhand six cores Xeons for socket 1366 too.

I would probably get a RX480 or GTX1060 and use your current system.

[cptwhite_uk]

I need to withdraw my suggestion. It seems the monitor I mentioned isn't fully compatible with Windows PC's due to the different colour spaces used within Apple / Microsoft OS environments. It would also require a HDMI 2.0 or Display Port to USB-C conversion cable as the Asus Vivo X has Display Port or HDMI outputs, but the monitor has USB-C input only (for use with new MacBook Pro's)

This may be possible with a different monitor but you'd need to check it's compatible with both Windows and Mac colour spaces and has the right input outputs to support both a Macbook Pro and Asus Vivo X

[DaKid]

I need to withdraw my suggestion. It seems the monitor I mentioned isn't fully compatible with Windows PC's due to the different colour spaces used within Apple / Microsoft OS environments. It would also require a HDMI 2.0 or Display Port to USB-C conversion cable as the Asus Vivo X has Display Port or HDMI outputs, but the monitor has USB-C input only (for use with new MacBook Pro's)

This may be possible with a different monitor but you'd need to check it's compatible with both Windows and Mac colour spaces and has the right input outputs to support both a Macbook Pro and Asus Vivo X

Thank you. I'm just considering generalities at the moment, rather than specifics, but I appreciate the sentiment ... I'll certainly be keen to use any fancy monitors with all of my computers!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I don't see why you can upgrade your old PC - overclock that Core i7 920 a bit and plonk in a new card.

Plus,there are a lot of Xeon X5650 CPUs now available for cheap:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/CPUs-Proce...=15&_nkw=x5650

You can get a Xeon X5675 for £70:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Xeon...4AAOSwnHZYY-aj

These are basically the 6C/12T version of your Core i7 920.

One of those and a RX480 or GTX1060 and you will have a reasonably up to date gaming PC.

Loads of people are still using CPUs like the Core i5 2500K and Core i7 2600K even now and the main advantage over the older socket 1366 CPUs was clockspeed.

Socket 1366 is even viable as a gaming platform even now.

If you want new,a Pentium G4260(basically a Core i3) and a RX470 will run most games fine at 1080P,but you already have a perfectly fine CPU.

1080P will perfectly scale on a 4K monitor(4 to 1 scaling) so you don't even need to run at native resolution.

Even the PS4 PRO uses a downclocked RX480 which means its more like a RX470. The PS4 uses a GPU which is more akin to something between an HD7850 and a HD7870.

I think you are overthinking what you actually NEED for a modern gaming PC.

Edit!!

Plus even if you want to run games at 4K,you are most like to hit a graphics bottleneck at 4K in most games anyway IMHO OFC.

[DaKid]

... useful stuff ...

Thank you. That's really interesting. I thought I was too far gone to be able to upgrade, to be honest, but that's definitely food for thought.

[jim]

I didn't realise you had an i7 920. Mooseman is on the money.

Admittedly, they are a bit long in the tooth now, but I'm still running a 2500K. And if I was going to upgrade anything right now, it would still be the graphics.

Honestly, I think this PC will autoignite before I get round to buying a new mobo.

[kalniel]

Or indeed for gaming stick with the 920 and just overclock. The extra cores of the xeon won't make any noticeable difference for gaming for the most part. I'm still on a 950, clocked to speeds a 920 could reach fine, and it's not limiting gaming in the slightest.