I’m loving the game but I’m getting a refresh rate of about 5 frames per second. It is very jerky. I’m not a technical IT person so I don’t really know if there is something I can do about it. I don’t think it is the internet connection as I’m getting download speeds in excess of 50Mbs.
My Mac details are:
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac9,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
The refresh rate on your computer is primarily related to your graphics card, and slightly dependant on your processor. It seems like you are running an older computer. While you could probably upgrade some components to squeeze a little more performance out of your current computer, I would highly recommend purchasing a new computer if you want to have a good Zwift experience.
If you want to see a comparison for different specs, check out: http://zwift.com/what-is-it#specs Notice that your computer doesn’t even meet the minimum requirements. In my experience, games are usually very painful to play at minimum requirements, so if purchasing a new computer, I would recommend at least getting the recommended specs.
Also, consider going above the recommended specs in the event that Zwift increases it’s requirements. You may also discover a new game/application that is more intensive than Zwift. I’ve never heard anyone complain that their computer is too fast, so just keep that in mind.
Nick, I am running the PC client but I’m a Mac and PC user–the first time I installed Zwift I was on my lower-end Media PC which had a 256MB video card that is very similar to the onboard graphics on your iMac. It was very jerky and even had massive errors whenever descending where I would be all over the place. Upgrading the video card to a 2GB EVGA card has the game running super-smooth and with no errors. Unfortunately I don’t think your iMac’s onboard graphics can be upgraded though, so you may be out of luck if this is your only machine. I wondered if this would be a problem for Macs since they don’t typically have high-end graphics. I wonder if it’s possible for the developers to use the CPU more than the GPU for the Mac client? I would like to be able to use my Mac laptop in the future.
Your Nvidia 9400 graphics chip is going on 7 years old. In computer years that’s quite a long time. Some people seem to be ok with 5 frames per second, others not so ok. Just about any current machine, even a new $450 macmini, will run Zwift several times faster as graphics chips are about 30x faster than they were when the 9400 came out.