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Temporary Fixes for 2012 i7 Under Windows

I

isrefel

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 8, 2012
38
0
Hey everyone,

I've spent the past few days getting Windows 7 up and running my new 2012 air (13/i7/8/256). For the most part, the process was painless, as the new SSDs cut down installation time to just a few minutes.

However I was disappointed to find that the reports of turbo boost being disabled under windows were true, in addition to the VRAM allocation being stuck at 64mb.

Temporarily, I found that using ThrottleStop 5.0 (Beta - adds support for ivy bridge processors), allows me to force the CPU to turbo boost.

Any ideas on a temporary fix for the VRAM allocation issue? Considering you can't access the BIOS (at least safely), is there maybe a registry key you could edit to bump it to 512mb (proper allocation)?

One other option I have considered was installing the generic HD 4000 drivers from Intels website, but I am unsure if that would fix the issues or create more problems by replacing the specialized bootcamp drivers apple supplies.

Any feedback appreciated. :)
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,082
7,963
I have had difficulty installing the generic HD 4000 drivers, and I don't think they work right, either. There's also a registry setting that will change the clock speed, but since you have ThrottleStop 5.00 that's good enough for now.
 
O

oxfordguy

macrumors 6502a
Feb 27, 2008
503
4
Oxford, England
isrefel said:
Hey everyone,

I've spent the past few days getting Windows 7 up and running my new 2012 air (13/i7/8/256). For the most part, the process was painless, as the new SSDs cut down installation time to just a few minutes.
Click to expand...

My Bootcamp Windows 7 install on my 2012 air (13/i7/8/256) was far from painless, unfortunately, though got there in the end (though do you get a black screen for about 30 secs whilst it boots into Windows?)

isrefel said:
However I was disappointed to find that the reports of turbo boost being disabled under windows were true, in addition to the VRAM allocation being stuck at 64mb.

Temporarily, I found that using ThrottleStop 5.0 (Beta - adds support for ivy bridge processors), allows me to force the CPU to turbo boost.
Click to expand...

Yes, this does seem to really help the i7 CPU under Windows

isrefel said:
Any ideas on a temporary fix for the VRAM allocation issue? Considering you can't access the BIOS (at least safely), is there maybe a registry key you could edit to bump it to 512mb (proper allocation)?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that it really is limiting the VRAM allocation to 64Mb (BTW does anyone know if CPUz reports the same for the i5?), as I've run some demanding games on it perfectly well under Windows that I don't think would work with just 64Mb VRAM, but I could be wrong....

isrefel said:
One other option I have considered was installing the generic HD 4000 drivers from Intels website, but I am unsure if that would fix the issues or create more problems by replacing the specialized bootcamp drivers apple supplies.

Any feedback appreciated. :)
Click to expand...

I don't think the Intel drivers will help to be honest, and the Apple ones seem pretty up to date
 
I

isrefel

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 8, 2012
38
0
I do get the black screen while booting, however it only takes 10 seconds or so to continue. I did a little more research, and apples Intel HD 4000 driver is actually a newer version than what is available from Intel.

Yeah, I'm doing a little gaming as well (Left 4 Dead 2, Half Life 2, Portal 2 on OSX side / Skyrim and Fallout:New Vegas on Win7 side.)

I did find that the Intel Control Panel (sits in the notification bar) can give you a read on live VRAM alloc. Running fallout on med settings with AA/MS disabled (at a solid fps) has the VRAM float around 128mb. CPUz does not mirror this, and I should have 512mb available.

I did run CPUz on a comparable pc laptop with the HD 4000 as well, and it showed the correct amount of vram.

Hopefully Apple releases a firmware update soon :)
 
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