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joe-h2o

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2012
997
445
The Nvidia 980M (and even the 970M) runs too hot for the current design of the cooling system in the rMBP. I would have loved to see a rMBP with this GPU, but it ain't going to happen. I now have a laptop (XMG P505) with a 970M GPU and love it, I can play pretty much any game on it in Ultra settings, but it's much larger than the rMBP, due to the cooling system required (though considerably thinner and lighter than the fugly Alienware gaming laptops).

I was talking about the iMac for the 980M, not the rMBP. It still seems odd to me that they went for AMD in the rMBP update given the shocking performance and thermal issues they've had with them in the retina iMacs.
 

oxfordguy

macrumors 6502a
Feb 27, 2008
503
4
Oxford, England
I was talking about the iMac for the 980M, not the rMBP. It still seems odd to me that they went for AMD in the rMBP update given the shocking performance and thermal issues they've had with them in the retina iMacs.

If the iMacs have had thermal problems with that AMD GPU, they're going to do worse with the 980M!
 

joe-h2o

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2012
997
445
If the iMacs have had thermal problems with that AMD GPU, they're going to do worse with the 980M!

Why?

The 980M has a TDP of 122W, which is the same as the 680MX in the late 2012 iMac where the Nvidia GPU runs very cool.

The AMD GPUs in the retina iMacs are supposedly the same TDP, but they turn the iMac into a blast furnace.

Either AMD's figures are way off, or the Nvidia GPUs with similar posted TDP numbers are just plain better at handling heat. The cooling system used for both is the same.

My money is on the AMD GPU just being terrible, which surprises no one.

----------

So dramatic!

Well, hardly dramatic!

Dramatic would be claiming that this would never have happened under Steve Jobs, or that Apple are making some huge blunder that is invisible to them as a huge business that makes mass market products that is somehow obvious to the casual forum goer. ;)

It's just a shame - for a time the iMac was a fantastic all in one that met my needs perfectly. It's not that any more, but it doesn't mean it won't be that machine for other people going forward.
 

vault

macrumors regular
May 3, 2009
220
164
intel_skylake_rts_schedule.png


Source: http://www.kitguru.net/components/c...ule-revealed-chips-to-be-showcased-in-august/
 

intramind

macrumors newbie
May 19, 2015
5
0
Guys, I've been reading the whole thread and there is only one idea which is bothering me: are you crazy? What Skylake by Q4 2015 are you talking about?

To date, Intel has had delays with all processors starting from Sandy (or Ivy) Bridge. They had huge problems with Haswell. They couldn't meet the deadlines with Broadwell. In fact, they haven't even released Broadwell-H processors. Yet, you still believe that by Q4 2015 the Skylake chips may miraculously appear and be ready for you.
How many delays from Intel do you need to stop putting trust into Intel?

My guess is that by Q4 2015 they may release Broadwell-H chips. Perhaps somewhere in Q3-Q4 2016 they will produce a batch of either desktop or mobile Skylake processors. I don't believe it will happen earlier.

This ridiculous update has been done by Apple because they still need to sell computers before the Broadwell has been released. It means that Broadwell will be available in MBP or iMac in 9-10 months at the earliest.

Don't believe Intel and their timeframes. If they have delayed one architecture, they will delay the next architecture by the same time period.

Right. I haven't bought a personal laptop in 8 years so I decided to hop on this one they just released this week, the 15" rMPB with the AMD Radeon.

I was hoping they'd put Broadwell in, but nope, still Haswell. I don't think it makes much difference for me--I am getting the model with a discrete GPU. So I don't really need the improved integrated GPU Broadwell will bring. And as far as the CPU goes itself, I've read the performance is just about 6-8% better for regular computer tasks. So really I'm only missing out on a 8% or less CPU gain, and maybe the faster RAM (not sure if Broadwell would be 1866MHz DDR4 or not).

I am looking forward to my 15" rMBP with dGPU! And starting to see if there are any 5120x2160 external monitors available at a reasonable price. May have to wait a while for that...

No way I am waiting 5-10 months or more for Apple to update the rMBP 15" again! Looking forward to enjoying this machine for the rest of this year and beyond...
 

Matt Leaf

macrumors 6502
Feb 5, 2012
452
450
Laughable in the face of this.

For $1499 you get

15.6-inch 10-point touchscreen IPS 4K UHD display
Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GTX 960M
ZENBOOK aluminum uni-body design
512GB PCIe x4 SSD and Thunderbolt connectivity
Premium sound design with Bang & Olufsen

And Windows 8.1 with free upgrade to Windows 10. Works out just great for anyone buying MBP to run Windows.

This looks fantastic. It makes the current offering from Apple just look average.

But, what it also probably does is point to the 4k future of the rMBP.

So, not first this time, but hopefully the next update is a much more compelling offer more in line with the specs of the Zenbook.

They are obviously waiting for solid quantities of new chips to do it, and an even thinner redesign.

This will actually be interesting - I'm still on an early 2011 MBP 15", and last year upgraded to an SSD, this year to 16gb of RAM. It absolutely smokes.

Unless it just plain dies there's just no need for a new laptop.

It's one of the things that bums me about the retina line, all the soldering and glue. Sometimes tempting to drop back over to Windows for that flexibility and the cost savings.

But hey, if the redesign is out next year, if upgrading to a new 4k rMBP, will ultimately mean I missed the entire Retina product line :cool:
 

FuNGi

macrumors 65816
Feb 26, 2010
1,122
33
California
-snip-

Personally, I find Apple's decision to go for AMD GPU very strange. As a person who owns a late-2011 MBP which turned into a brick more than a year ago as the result of Radeongate, I'm very happy that I bought an MBP with an nVidia chip, even though the chip has become kinda outdated by now.
If I had to face a choice between the one with AMD dGPU or the one without dGPU whatsoever, I'd choose the one with internal graphics.

Never in my life will I buy anything AMD again.

NVIDIA chips have been recalled too bud. I've personally seen both types catastrophically fail – the AMD 6750M and NVIDIA 8600. Bricked. Logic boards replaced. Did you even hear of the NVIDIA 8600 fiasco? link People were having 2-3 failures straight (including mine) before getting a new machine.
Or the repair extension for the NVIDIA 650M ? link Might make you think twice about getting too comfortable.
 

scottish

macrumors 6502a
Aug 10, 2011
898
586
Guess
I'm having a problem with the Macbook Pro 15 inch base model that I bought and received during the first week of this month. The computer has a ticking sound that is made whenever it moves. I am going to bring it to the Apple Store, but is there any policy on whether if given a replacement it would be the 2015 model? Or if I could just upgrade to the 2015 since I've had it less than 30 days? It would be nice to have the Force Touch trackpad and battery life improvements.

Depends where you live but here in the UK I would take it in, tell them I am rejecting it and request refund. This is only possible in a reasonable period eg. 3-4 weeks. Beyond that a repair would have to be accepted.

----------

I desperately need to upgrade from my cracked bezel 2008 17"MBP.

My question is should I go with the new rMBP or this refurb : http://store.apple.com/us/product/F...-25GHz-Quad-core-Intel-i7-with-Retina-Display

Identical surface specs, $500 price difference.

As you can tell I keep my stuff until it literally breaks, so future proofing is important.

The new laptop says it has a 2.5x speed increase on the SSD. I don't know what that means in the real world though.

Anything else besides that and the force touch justifying the $500 difference or should I get the 2014 refurb?

(I use my computer for making music in Logic.)

If you keep the computer for 7 years again the difference is less than $6 a month if that's a good way of thinking of it.
 

diamond.g

macrumors G4
Mar 20, 2007
11,114
2,444
OBX
NVIDIA chips have been recalled too bud. I've personally seen both types catastrophically fail – the AMD 6750M and NVIDIA 8600. Bricked. Logic boards replaced. Did you even hear of the NVIDIA 8600 fiasco? link People were having 2-3 failures straight (including mine) before getting a new machine.
Or the repair extension for the NVIDIA 650M ? link Might make you think twice about getting too comfortable.

I am not sure I would blame AMD/Nvidia for those failures, seems like something Apple was doing would be to blame, otherwise you would hear about other ODMs/OEMs having the same issues with the same models.

Besides was it ever determined that the actual chips had problems, or was it a soldering issue?
 

ArmCortexA8

macrumors 65816
Feb 18, 2010
1,074
205
Terra Australis
Glad I have my Nvidia 750M GT MBPR. I hate AMD and have avoided the like the plague as nVidia always seems better. What they forgot to tell people is that nVidia GPU's use CUDA Cores, and these are also used in Adobe applications to make these applications perform better. With AMD, CUDA Cores cannot be used as its proprietary. So anyone with Adobe applications watch out.
 

soupcan

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2014
725
2,926
Netherlands
Glad I have my Nvidia 750M GT MBPR. I hate AMD and have avoided the like the plague as nVidia always seems better. What they forgot to tell people is that nVidia GPU's use CUDA Cores, and these are also used in Adobe applications to make these applications perform better. With AMD, CUDA Cores cannot be used as its proprietary. So anyone with Adobe applications watch out.

Intel has a CUDA licence for Iris Pro GPUs. It's not as fast as a dGPU but it's still there. Don't know if the Adobe suite recognizes it though.

AMD has to offer a compelling alternative before I'll even consider getting an AMD GPU in any computer. Sure, OpenGL performance is waaay better which is a good thing of OS X since it's its sole API but other than that AMD has nothing valuable to offer.
 

Mr. Wonderful

macrumors 6502a
Feb 19, 2009
571
34
I wonder what improvements we'll see with the screens in the new redesigns. It could be as simple as "greater color gamut" to 4K, or 10-bit, or 120Hz, or HDR.

As a professional screen, a 10-bit panel and a color gamut to match it would make sense. Arguments could be made for a resolution increase still, as well.
 

Flabasha

macrumors 6502
Dec 21, 2011
348
432
Glad I have my Nvidia 750M GT MBPR. I hate AMD and have avoided the like the plague as nVidia always seems better. What they forgot to tell people is that nVidia GPU's use CUDA Cores, and these are also used in Adobe applications to make these applications perform better. With AMD, CUDA Cores cannot be used as its proprietary. So anyone with Adobe applications watch out.

Actually, I'm guessing you don't actually have CUDA installed or your Adobe apps would probably be freaking out.

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/961633

For a long time I thought CUDA came installed, but it doesn't, it's a separate installer. So it turns out I wasn't using my CUDA cores in Premiere anyway. But I guess it turns out that was a good thing.

There's a great chance that the Adobe suite runs way better on these AMD cards with their better OpenCL performance. As a huge Adobe user, I'm thinking this could be a really good thing. Hopefully, at least.
 
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jnpy!$4g3cwk

macrumors 65816
Feb 11, 2010
1,119
1,302
This is my belief also. I think the driver for this refresh was the age of the 750m and probably a lack of supply of it too, given its age. They probably left it as long as they dared, waiting for intel, but it would then come down to either dropping the dGPU option or stick with Haswell.

I find the mobile GPUs a little harder to pin down, performance-wise, but, from sites like notebookcheck, the Nividia 750M and the AMD R9 M265X seem similar in both performance, and, power consumption around 35-40W. Some have mentioned GPUs like the 980M, but, that is listed at 122W, way beyond what Apples notebooks typically have supported.

Personally, I find Apple's decision to go for AMD GPU very strange. As a person who owns a late-2011 MBP which turned into a brick more than a year ago as the result of Radeongate, I'm very happy that I bought an MBP with an nVidia chip, even though the chip has become kinda outdated by now.
If I had to face a choice between the one with AMD dGPU or the one without dGPU whatsoever, I'd choose the one with internal graphics.

Never in my life will I buy anything AMD again.

I had two experiences with the Nvidia problem late 2007-mid 2008, so, I could say the same about Nvidia, but, Apple repaired both systems under AppleCare. It has happened to both companies.

I thought they would put the 980M in the retina one too - it's clearly the superior card, but they've stuck with AMD for some reason, presumably because of some engineering quirk required to deal with the 5k display that makes it non-trivial to swap GPUs right now (especially since that means redoing the whole logic board for the iMac).

It has spelled the end of the line for me on future upgrades. My current late 2012 will last a good while yet, but at the moment there's no clear upgrade path if it needs replacement before then.

I don't follow you. Apple has used both Nvidia and ATI/AMD cards, and, Intel integrated GPUs, time and again. Clearly, batter/power/heat has always been the constraint, and, Apple has never been willing to put in 100W+ GPUs and cool them, along with drastically lowering battery life.

Actually, I'm guessing you don't actually have CUDA installed or your Adobe apps would probably be freaking out.

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/961633

For a long time I thought CUDA came installed, but it doesn't, it's a separate installer. So it turns out I wasn't using my CUDA cores in Premiere anyway. But I guess it turns out that was a good thing.

There's a great chance that the Adobe suite runs way better on these AMD cards with their better OpenCL performance. As a huge Adobe user, I'm thinking this could be a really good thing. Hopefully, at least.

Interesting point. Do you know of comparisons of Adobe performance using CUDA vs OpenCL on Nvidia GPUs, and, of similar vintage Radeon HD vs Nvidia cards. This would have to be in, say, a 2009-ish Mac Pro with either AMD Radeon or Nvidia, since those boxes support both. I have no reference as to whether CUDA is more efficient than OpenCL, at least on Nvidia cards.
 
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dusk007

macrumors 68040
Dec 5, 2009
3,411
104
Interesting point. Do you know of comparisons of Adobe performance using CUDA vs OpenCL on Nvidia GPUs, and, of similar vintage Radeon HD vs Nvidia cards. This would have to be in, say, a 2009-ish Mac Pro with either AMD Radeon or Nvidia, since those boxes support both. I have no reference as to whether CUDA is more efficient than OpenCL, at least on Nvidia cards.
It is not a matter of performance comparison. It is a matter of what is implemented in OpenCL or only CUDA. The ultimate performance depends on the GPU architecture, the GPU driver, the compiler more than on OpenCL or CUDA. It would be some insignificant difference of 10%.
The question is which algorithms are implementd in which framework. Generally GPPU accelerated are only certain things in Adobe and many of which just need a GPU. That is things like filters or rotating an image. A CPU maybe slow and choppy but with even an integrated Intel GPU it is fluid and there is no performance gain past that point possible.
Lots of things in Adobe software aren't GPU accelerated at all and only depend on the CPU because implementing things in GPGPU frameworks just isn't worht the trouble, so there is no benefit of either possible.
There some more demanding routines in Premier Pro and the whole movie suites where a performance benchmark makes sense at all. But here OpenCL is ultimately the standard that will get support, if Cuda has an advantage it is a small one or one that lasts until the developers get around to implementing the OpenCL code path. Cuda had a head start but OpenCL is largely embraced at just superior because it runs on more hardware and is open. Cuda will eventually see less and less support especially on Mac software. OpenCL will be all that matters.

Neither OpenCL or Cuda is inherently better. OpenCL just had a slower or later start and cuda had good developer support. In the long run optimizations for OpenCL will definitely be more likely and cuda will see little if any support. Once there is software support any performance difference is basically insignificant. If the driver is broken on some part they will perform equally good, because they do essentially the same, it is just an API afterall.
But Nvidia is good at OpenCL as well. Kepler wasn't great in computer but Maxwell is and it can translate all of its efficiency into good performance on mobile.
 

Heisenberg888

macrumors member
Dec 31, 2014
50
28
https://youtu.be/_Y4FMebp76k

Detroit Borg has unboxed the 15 inch retina macbook pro just released. Pretty much says the only difference with the previous update last July is the much, much faster PCIE flash storage and the force touch trackpad. He tested the new graphics card and there was about 3 frames greater difference over the Nvdia 750m card.
 

Alexrat1996

macrumors 601
Mar 29, 2015
4,298
755
Lehigh valley PA
macbook pro 13 inch retina with force touch

i order mine last Friday at an apple store in king of Prussia pa i had to custom order mine with the intel core i7 ships 1 -3 buisness day i keep checking my order status everyday
 
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