With all the talk at WWDC regarding Metal 2, we thought it would be educational to see how Rise of Tomb Raider built using Metal 2 compares to running the same game under Windows 10 using DirectX 11 and DirectX 12.

Rise of Tomb Raider built-in benchmark run at 1920x1080 using High preset. (HIGHER Frames Per Second = FASTER)

We usually only publish average framerate but as one gamer reminded us, it's the minimum framerate that can cause jerky game play. The built-in Rise of Tomb Raider benchmark has 3 phases (Mountain Peak, Syria, and Geothermal Valley). For the "Minimum" graphs we averaged the minimum framerate for the three phases.

Rise of Tomb Raider built-in benchmark run at 2560x1440 using High preset (HIGHER Frames Per Second = FASTER)

Rise of Tomb Raider built-in benchmark run at 3840x2160 using High Preset. (HIGHER Frames Per Second = FASTER)

WHAT DID WE LEARN?

The iMac Pro ran the Rise of Tomb Raider's built-in 3 part benchmark is faster under Windows 10 (Boot Camp) using DirectX 11 and 12 than under macOS 10.13.5 running Metal 2, Apple's latest graphics technology.

The iMac 5K and iMac Pro tend to be the best gaming Macs, pricey though they may be. However, the 2010 Mac Pro with a TITAN Xp was able to edge out the iMac Pro running Rise of Tomb Raider at 2560x1440 and 3840x2160. Then again, the iMac Pro runs DIRT Rally and TW: Warhammer twice as fast as the Mac Pro tower with the best GPUs.

Tim Cook said, "I love the Mac and we are very committed to it." The rest of us love the Mac, too, but are still waiting to taste the fruits of Apple's commitment. It's sad that gamers are compelled to install Windows in their Mac to get the maximum gaming performance. Some just give up and trade their Mac for a Windows PC.