Parallels Desktop gaming performance?

How is gaming performance on a Macbook Pro with a 16-core M1 Pro running Windows through Parallels Desktop?
I want to upgrade my old Macbook where I was doing some games on Bootcamp, but it is no longer an option with M1.

fb3993 said:

How is gaming performance on a Macbook Pro with a 16-core M1 Pro running Windows through Parallels Desktop?

There's no DirectX 12 support, so that will limit what you can play on it. You're bumping up against a couple of issues, you're running Arm version of Windows, within a VM that has limited DX support. Any game you play within windows will be via emulation, so you're incurring a penalty right there. Given the performance of the M1 Pro, I think non-AAA games should be ok, but any demanding games will be a no go imo

maflynn said:

There's no DirectX 12 support, ...

I am not a gamer, but it's interesting that DxDiag reports DirectX 12 with the latest Parallels (see below). Maybe just emulating what is lacking in driver(s)? I can't find any mention of DX12 n the Parallels web site though; DX11 was supported all the way back in Parallels 15. I don't have a benchmark that runs DX12, but it's interesting...

donawalt said:

I can't find any mention of DX12 n the Parallels web site though; DX11 was supported

Their product page only mentions DX11 and from googling it, people are still waiting for DX12 to show up. I've tried some games on my MBP and so far it doesn't really do as well as I had hoped. That was a while ago, maybe I'll retry again and see what happens.

I've only tried Fortnite on Parallels and ran into an anti-cheat block.

I've tried Parallels a number of times in the past to run games and there have *always* been fairly nasty problems. Even with older non-demanding titles, where performance is fine, I've had flickering screens, woeful loading times, a host of rendering issues, and the like.
I gave up and will never be bothering to try it again.
IMHO, save the few good Mac compatible games for when you are traveling and have no internet. The rest of the time just build yourself a very modest PC Gaming Rig and then stream your games to your laptop, iPad, etc. using Steam. Works like a charm with excellent results. Streaming is the limit, so you'll only need to build a rig that can manage 60fps at 1080p, which you can do with some budget equipment on the PC side if you really want to.

Don't consider it, its just a frustrating bag of hurt

fb3993 said:

How is gaming performance on a Macbook Pro with a 16-core M1 Pro running Windows through Parallels Desktop?
I want to upgrade my old Macbook where I was doing some games on Bootcamp, but it is no longer an option with M1.

Keep your old MacBook also if possible and continue playing games on Bootcamp.

Make sure you are evaluating comments or opinions based on current versions of Parallels. Consider comments that offer specific guidance not generalities. You can find the full gamut of positive/negative comments about any piece of software/hardware available today, that kind of advice is largely worthless. And there is always someone that will offer their own opinion "Just do this" with no substance to help you evaluate if that makes sense to you. You are looking at a financial decision here, and you wouldn't buy a car based on similar whimsical advice.

A lot of people base their comments on old versions, maybe even 3 major releases ago, and not on Windows 11 possibly - that was only fully supported on Parallels 18. Make sure any specific opinions you consider are Windows 11 and Parallels 18.1.1, or at least Parallels 18.1, which had gaming improvements. Use a definitive source; for example, the AppleGamingWiki web site, tracks games by title and how well they run - as you can see if you go there, a lot of games run "perfectly". It's current (last update today!) and crowd-sourced to keep it accurate. Check the games you want to play there, you may have good luck but at least you will know the truth for you, and will make a buying decision that you will be happy with.

BTW, you can search that site for "Fortnite", and it says the same thing - can't play due to anti-cheat software. I read that anti-cheat is a show stopper right now. But do a search on that site for other games if they do not show up in the compatibility list.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Geforce Now.... I use it for Elite Dangerous, works a treat streamed to my Mac.

MrGimper said:

Geforce Now.... I use it for Elite Dangerous, works a treat streamed to my Mac.

Interesting! I was saaaad when elite dropped off the mac.

doobydoooby said:

Interesting! I was saaaad when elite dropped off the mac.

I was even sadder when they dropped any further developement on Console. Hence why I've gone the GFN route....

To be clear, I'm currently running Parallels 18.x.x across 3 machines for an array of needs. Still would not recommend using it for gaming unless you only want to run a handful of games that are explicitly known to be 100% working (without jumping through hoops.) I never found a title that ran the way I wanted. Not. A. Single. One. So be sure it's on the list mentioned above and that you won't be floundering with a bunch of titles that just don't work.

The streaming method from your own game rig (or a subscription service; personally I'm less fond of that, but that's more of a personal preference thing.) For example; you can pair an xbox controller to your iPad, then set your iPad to stream to your Airplay compatible device, and then your iPad will essentially work as a go-between for your game rig and your game rig, controller and TV or Projector; and as long as you have a reasonably decent connection it works *incredibly* well. Over the internet also works very well as long as your connection is stable (overall speed is less important than stability and latency). You can do things like play games using the positional hardware on your iPad also. I can play Outer Worlds on my game rig, put the touch controls on the iPad, hold it and move it around, and my viewport is moving as I do (think; 'poor version of VR' - but it's still a pretty cool thing.)