rMBP + Windows gaming

[SDAVE]

I only have a 2014 rMBP with a discreet 750m and I rarely game, but just got Fallout 4 and installed Windows 10.

It's kind of amazing how high of the settings I can turn up with this modern game that came out pretty much today.

My question is, will this damage the rMBP? The fans (obviously) kick up pretty high during gaming. I would say the max I would game would be an hour a day at most

 

[Ovedius]

You can run Fallout 4 on your 2014 Pro?
What the hell?!

My 2015 Pro starts out fine, decent framerates with medium-ish settings, then after about 2-4 minutes the sodding machine starts throttling the GPU-core clock down from 800 to 675 and then down to 3-400 and then never throttles back up.
Needless to say, the framerate goes straight to ****.
You don't suffer from this kind of throttling?

EDIT:
Forgot to say that it makes absolutely no difference if I turn the graphics down to minimum.
Still throttles.

EDIT2:
Your machine will be fine, don't worry.

 

[Toutou]

Turning the graphics down won't help you, the GPU always runs on full power (drawing more FPS with lower settings and vice versa). Turning the graphics down a bit AND limiting the framerate artificially is a way. Either turn on V-sync (which limits the FPS to 60/30/15), find an ingame option to limit the fps or use 3rd party SW.

edit: This might not be possible at all in Fallout 4 - as I see, the framerate is capped at 60 FPS and it's tied with the game's speed. But this is the easiest way to cool your machine in many other games.

 

[Ovedius]

Turning the graphics down won't help you, the GPU always runs on full power (drawing more FPS with lower settings and vice versa). Turning the graphics down a bit AND limiting the framerate artificially is a way. Either turn on V-sync (which limits the FPS to 60/30/15), find an ingame option to limit the fps or use 3rd party SW.

Yes, I am aware. I just find it easier to shorten it down to "turning down the graphics"
-might be a bit misleading, though.

You are correct about capped framerates in Fallout 4.
The game's physics engine is dependant on a somewhat stable 60 fps, or so I hear.

But if it is true that the 2014 MBP doesn't throttle like this, then Apple have made a proper arse of themselves by stuffing the M370X in the 2015 MBP.

 

[friedkimchi]

The tiny fan cooling the GPU is a component with moving parts.

The more you use it, the faster it will fail.

I would say, buy Applecare, use it till it expires and sell it to fund another Apple laptop purchase.

 

[CJM]

Yes, I am aware. I just find it easier to shorten it down to "turning down the graphics"
-might be a bit misleading, though.

You are correct about capped framerates in Fallout 4.
The game's physics engine is dependant on a somewhat stable 60 fps, or so I hear.

But if it is true that the 2014 MBP doesn't throttle like this, then Apple have made a proper arse of themselves by stuffing the M370X in the 2015 MBP.

AMD card apparently suffering when running with Fallout 4, compared to Nvidia.

Fallout 4 shouldn't be all that demanding anyway. It's essentially Skyrim with a few extra flashy bits.

 

[Ovedius]

AMD card apparently suffering when running with Fallout 4, compared to Nvidia..

Should say that throttling is widespread on a range of modern titles.
Alien: Isolation, Dying Light, Metal Gear Solid V, for instance.

 

[SDAVE]

You can run Fallout 4 on your 2014 Pro?
What the hell?!

My 2015 Pro starts out fine, decent framerates with medium-ish settings, then after about 2-4 minutes the sodding machine starts throttling the GPU-core clock down from 800 to 675 and then down to 3-400 and then never throttles back up.
Needless to say, the framerate goes straight to ****.
You don't suffer from this kind of throttling?

EDIT:
Forgot to say that it makes absolutely no difference if I turn the graphics down to minimum.
Still throttles.

EDIT2:
Your machine will be fine, don't worry.

Yeah looks fine here, actually. I get decent framerates. Im using Medium to high (I set texture to Ultra and it works), running at 1680x1050. Make sure you set your Retina res to 1680x1050. I am using latest nVidia drivers. I'm surprised it runs also. I connect it to a thunderbolt display and turn off the Retina display sometimes, but I like playing on the rMBP screen it looks much nicer.

Also it seems like it may be your AMD GPU. From reading certain spec sheets it seems that the 750m outshines the newest AMD in the 2015 rMBP. The AMD looks better on paper, but the nVidia has better overall performance. This is one of the reasons I went with the 2014 instead of the 2015 (Plus 2014 was $1800). I honestly experience no issues and am surprised. GTA V works ok too, at lower settings. I will try to shoot my screen next time with my iPhone while I play so you can see.

I mean we can't expect settings to be at their highest, it's a mid-range mobile GPU. I feel like Bethesda optimizes their games well...but I don't think Fallout 4 is supposed to be the greatest looking game ever. There are more performance heavy games out there.

FYI the AMD M series GPU on the Retina iMac 5k performance is terrible. And I don't mean gaming wise. I mean official OS X use with Pro apps like Photoshop. etc. Apple went to save money with AMD.

 

[SDAVE]

Some pics (not screen grabs)

 

[dingobiatch]

My 2015 Pro starts out fine, decent framerates with medium-ish settings, then after about 2-4 minutes the sodding machine starts throttling the GPU-core clock down from 800 to 675 and then down to 3-400 and then never throttles back up.

So glad someone else experiences this too! I thought I was the only one.

This happens with non-AAA graphics games too... Oddworld New and Tasty, Rocket League (on all low settings)....

 

[SDAVE]

So glad someone else experiences this too! I thought I was the only one.

This happens with non-AAA graphics games too... Oddworld New and Tasty, Rocket League (on all low settings)....

It's definitely an AMD issue. I had a bad experience with a 2014 iMac 5k with the fastest AMD chip (M395X?). It slowed down like crazy.

There was another older iMac with an nVidia GPU in it and it worked fine.

 

[SDAVE]

The 2014 rMBP keeps surprising me. I can run Phantom Pain (Win10) all maxed out at 1920x1080. Wow.

 

[Ovedius]

The 2014 rMBP keeps surprising me. I can run Phantom Pain (Win10) all maxed out at 1920x1080. Wow.

Truly all maxed out?

I could rund MGS V with decent settings at 1650x1080.
Most settings on High (stayed away from Very High), Shadows on Medium, I think.
Ambient Occlusion, Motion Blurring, Depth of Field, Anti-Aliasing and Volumetric Clouds all turned off.
Framerate capped at 30.

And your settings were higher than that?
No throttling?


Why in the name of Baby Jesus did Apple put this sodding M370X in the latest rMBP?

 

[SDAVE]

Truly all maxed out?

I could rund MGS V with decent settings at 1650x1080.
Most settings on High (stayed away from Very High), Shadows on Medium, I think.
Ambient Occlusion, Motion Blurring, Depth of Field, Anti-Aliasing and Volumetric Clouds all turned off.
Framerate capped at 30.

And your settings were higher than that?
No throttling?


Why in the name of Baby Jesus did Apple put this sodding M370X in the latest rMBP?

Apologies for the misinformation. I can run maxed out during the opening scenes (with gameplay) but when I get to the desert I have to pull it down to High and it's very playable. At 1920x1080, but I prefer 1680x1050. It doesn't seem to be a super heavy game and is very scalable.

The laptops fans kick really high and I have to use headphones to play, though.

I rarely game, but have been on a Falout 4 binge last month as I have some free time and love that series. I was going to buy a PS4, but this takes care of the "bug" for gaming. I also have an Xbox 360 controller somewhere laying around and may plug it in and connect the rMBP to my projector for an "additional" good time.

I think Apple put in AMD because:

1) Better OpenCL performance. Especially for their "Pro" apps like FCPX (which is horrid, so many people jumped ship to Premiere and back to Avid after they dumped FCP7).

2) Possibly better performance with Metal?

3) Probably got a better deal than nVidia.

4) It's just easier for them to put AMD in all their machines. And cheaper.

nVidia definitely has better gaming performance. I had a terrible experience with the iMac 5k w/ M390. Horrible performance with the CC suite.

 

[leman]

My 2015 model with the AMD GPU runs Fallout 4, but the performance is nothing to brag about. I get around 30fps on medium settings on 1680x1050, but its fairly playable.

@SDAVE: no, running games will not damage your laptop. Yes, there is a inverse relationship between heat and lifespan of a microchip, but your computer will either become morally obsolete or break of unrelated causes long time before it dies because of some gaming.

P.S. I would say that Apple used AMD because of a combination of 3) and 4). It is fairly certain that AMD was giving their chips at a lower price and that they were ready to accommodate extra wishes Apple had such as the custom 5K video output for the iMac.

 

[SDAVE]

My 2015 model with the AMD GPU runs Fallout 4, but the performance is nothing to brag about. I get around 30fps on medium settings on 1680x1050, but its fairly playable.

@SDAVE: no, running games will not damage your laptop. Yes, there is a inverse relationship between heat and lifespan of a microchip, but your computer will either become morally obsolete or break of unrelated causes long time before it dies because of some gaming.

P.S. I would say that Apple used AMD because of a combination of 3) and 4). It is fairly certain that AMD was giving their chips at a lower price and that they were ready to accommodate extra wishes Apple had such as the custom 5K video output for the iMac.

It's no secret amd gets better performance in fcpx with something like a 280x than a gtx980.

Check the tonyx86 forums.

 

[Freyqq]

Not sure what you did to get such good FPS. I'm playing on low/medium settings with high textures at 720p, and i get average maybe 35fps, which is adequate for me.

 

[SDAVE]

Not sure what you did to get such good FPS. I'm playing on low/medium settings with high textures at 720p, and i get average maybe 35fps, which is adequate for me.

Using Windows 10 Pro + latest nVidia drivers. Nothing out of the ordinary. The games max is 60fps, I run at locked 30. I'm not too worried about the FPS, more worried about the quality of the game ie textures etc.

It's not the best experience, but it's more than enough for decent gaming. Obviously it's not going to be as good as a GTX780/980/980TI.

 

[Freyqq]

Using Windows 10 Pro + latest nVidia drivers. Nothing out of the ordinary. The games max is 60fps, I run at locked 30. I'm not too worried about the FPS, more worried about the quality of the game ie textures etc.

It's not the best experience, but it's more than enough for decent gaming. Obviously it's not going to be as good as a GTX780/980/980TI.

what resolution are you running at?

 

[Theros]

After one month with my 15", im starting to consider selling this model with the crappy M370X. Everytime that i try to use something with the discrete gpu (or even playing Dota 2 in OS X) i have throttling issues.

For the amount that i paid, this isn't worth.

 

[Mike in Kansas]

What are you using the measure the throttling? Are you looking at your game framerate, or do you have some monitoring app?

 

[Theros]

What are you using the measure the throttling? Are you looking at your game framerate, or do you have some monitoring app?

I look at my framerates, after a few minutes i have a decrease in the performance (even without the framerates isn't difficult to perceive).

Compared to my cMBP 15" 2012, i never had this type of issues.

 

[Ovedius]

...
For the amount that i paid, this isn't worth.

I can definitely sympathize with that.
Considering the substantial cost of a top-specced Macbook Pro it is not unreasonable to demand that the machine actually works optimally.
A GPU that throttles if you look at it funny is not optimal.

(Considering selling mine as well.
Maybe save the money for a refresh that works like it should.)

 

[SDAVE]

Guys the throttling may have to do with Intel Speedstep...unless AMD has speed throttling on it's AMD GPU? I don't know I've had nothing but success and I even connected an Xbox controller to my rMBP and play via projector (HDMI)...It's kind of fun hehe.

 

[SDAVE]

My plan is to put Windows 10 and games on an external 512GB (or 256) USB 3.0 SSD so I can just plug it in when I need it and not use up my rMBP SSD space. And maybe one day when Thunderbolt 3 comes out we can have nice eGPU's and not worry about desktops anymore