M6 Mac mini gaming test: Resident Evil Requiem runs at up to 75 FPS through CrossOver
YouTuber Andrew Tsai’s latest M6 Mac mini gaming test looks at a question that still matters for fans of Apple Silicon, how well can the machine play Windows games that do not yet have native Mac versions?
The creator tested ten titles through CrossOver on a 16 GB M6 Mac mini, with different Game Porting Toolkit and CrossOver configurations depending on compatibility. Four of the newer games give a useful picture of where gaming on Mac currently stands.
Resident Evil Requiem delivered the strongest numbers of the group. At a 1440p output resolution using normal-to-low settings and upscaling from 720p, the more demanding Leon sequence ran at around 50 to 55 FPS. The slower Grace section reached roughly 65 to 75 FPS.
Tsai also re-enabled the higher-quality hair strand setting after initially switching it off for performance. The Leon section still stayed above roughly 50 FPS. The larger limitation was low memory, as the game filled the Mac mini’s 16 GB unified memory pool and began relying on SSD swap.
007 First Light on M6 Mac mini runs at 30 FPS with medium settings through CrossOver
007 First Light initially ran at 1440p using the low preset and upscaling from 720p. Tsai then moved to the medium preset, increased the internal resolution and capped the game at 30 FPS.
That trade-off allowed the game to retain higher visual quality rather than lowering settings further in pursuit of 60 FPS. He notes that a higher frame rate should be possible with more aggressive settings reductions, although memory use again exceeded the Mac mini’s 16 GB pool.
Control Resonant and Path of Exile 2 on M6 Mac mini run through CrossOver with some compatibility issues
Control Resonant required CrossOver 26.3 because Tsai encountered problems with the newer Game Porting Toolkit 4.0 configuration. Using the handheld graphics preset and upscaling from 720p, the game managed around 50 FPS or more.
Compatibility for these two games is not perfect. The YouTuber encountered incorrect colours appearing in some windows, while memory usage increased deeper into the game. Even so, he was able to progress as far as the first boss.
Path of Exile 2 also runs through CrossOver, with Tsai using the low graphics preset and upscaling from 960p. Frame rates generally ranged between 80 and 110 FPS, with occasional drops to around 65 FPS that appeared to coincide with shader compilation. These stutters occur the first time certain spells, abilities or enemy effects are rendered, but become less frequent once the shaders are cached.
These four games cover only part of the test. The full video embedded below also includes Counter-Strike 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, Marvel Rivals, Black Myth: Wukong and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
What stands out most is how far Windows gaming on Apple Silicon has come, because several demanding titles are now genuinely playable on an entry-level M6 Mac mini rather than merely launching. The experience is still uneven, with limited memory, shader compilation and occasional rendering issues showing that translation through CrossOver is not yet a substitute for native support. Even so, the results make the M6 Mac mini look far more viable as a casual gaming machine than Macs have traditionally been given credit for.
Source(s)
Add as a preferred source on Google
