15" M370X Benchmarked!

[827538]

Hi guys,

Finally managed to get Windows 8.1 64bit installed on my Mac with a huge thanks to yjchua95 who helped me.
Just some early benchmarks that through up some interesting results.
Both systems are nearly identical aside from a few differences;
New one is a 2.5GHz vs my old 2.3GHz, M370X vs 750M, W8.1 vs W7. Aside from that it's all the same.
I've also not tried installing new AMD drivers as the Catalyst Control Centre said I was up to date, even with beta, but I'm downloading the latest Beta drivers regardless, hopefully AMD brings out an update soon.

First bench I done was Unigine Valley. DX11, High, No AA, 1920x1200;

M370X - 21.8FPS 77*C 14.7%
750M - 19FPS 78*C

BF4 64Bit Test Area run around with Fraps and doing a System Test, will try Mantle with the beta drivers. Medium, 1680x1050,DX11;

M370X - 48-80+ FPS (mostly high 60's) ST - 78FPS ~50% (hard to bench)
750M - 38-62 FPS (mostly low 50's/40's) ST - 52FPS

CoH2 Performance Test, Medium, low AA;
M370X - 33.6FPS 76.56%
750M - 19.03FPS

High, low AA;
M370X - 26.41FPS 69.67%
750M - 15.57FPS

I'll be running more tests and benchmarks, hopefully will repeat with newer drivers. So far in BF4 and CoH2 the M370X looks noticeably stronger.
Will be testing Skyrim and WoT next, will try to get Mantle running too.

EDIT:
Tried installing the latest Beta drivers, no luck, they don't detect the dGPU. Have to stick with the ones provided by Bootcamp.

 

[MacDevMike]

Hi guys,

Finally managed to get Windows 8.1 64bit installed on my Mac with a huge thanks to yjchua95 who helped me.
Just some early benchmarks that through up some interesting results.
Both systems are nearly identical aside from a few differences;
New one is a 2.5GHz vs my old 2.3GHz, M370X vs 750M, W8.1 vs W7. Aside from that it's all the same.
I've also not tried installing new AMD drivers as the Catalyst Control Centre said I was up to date, even with beta, but I'm downloading the latest Beta drivers regardless, hopefully AMD brings out an update soon.

First bench I done was Unigine Valley. DX11, High, No AA, 1920x1200;

M370X - 21.8FPS 77*C 14.7%
750M - 19FPS 78*C

BF4 64Bit Test Area run around with Fraps and doing a System Test, will try Mantle with the beta drivers. Medium, 1680x1050,DX11;

M370X - 48-80+ FPS (mostly high 60's) ST - 78FPS ~50% (hard to bench)
750M - 38-62 FPS (mostly low 50's/40's) ST - 52FPS

CoH2 Performance Test, Medium, low AA;
M370X - 19.03FPS 76.56%
750M - 33.6FPS

High, low AA;
M370X - 26.41FPS 69.67%
750M - 15.57FPS

I'll be running more tests and benchmarks, hopefully will repeat with newer drivers. So far in BF4 and CoH2 the M370X looks noticeably stronger.
Will be testing Skyrim and WoT next, will try to get Mantle running too.

Very nice job! I was just starting my first cup of coffee and getting ready to reply to your bootcamp driver issue. Was going to create an image from my thumb drive and upload it lol. Glad you got it handled!

By chance did you reverse the Coh2 scores? On that first one you show the 750m being faster.

 

[leman]

That are some substantial improvements in real applications! I was expecting less of a difference.

 

[827538]

Just benchmarked Skyrim, none of this is through a set loop, just me moving through the same areas to give an idea.

Skyrim, 1920x1200, AAx2, AFx16, High;
Running from the entrance of Whiterun to the keep;

M370X - 60FPS (would've been higher if it weren't for Vsync) atleast 25%
750M - 48FPS (some variation but this was where it was mostly at)

Tower near Whiterun, just a 360 look, mountains etc;

M370X - 45-60FPS (Mostly 50-55FPS) 22.22%
750M - 35-50FPS

I have to say it just felt a lot more solid the FPS on the M370X, I'm currently very pleased with the results and will keep testing, hopefully a new driver would improve things further.

----------

Very nice job! I was just starting my first cup of coffee and getting ready to reply to your bootcamp driver issue. Was going to create an image from my thumb drive and upload it lol. Glad you got it handled!

By chance did you reverse the Coh2 scores? On that first one you show the 750m being faster.

Thanks, fortunately one of the other Macrumours guys was kind enough to help me out and yes I did, my mistake.

 

[Ovedius]

This is great Scolanator, thanks, keep 'em coming

If you have one or more of these, I'd love to hear how they're running on the M370X:

Witcher 2
Total War: Shogun 2
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Assassin's Creed 4

 

[827538]

Just spend a lot of time benchmarking World of Tanks - a game I play ALOT of, but I realise probably isn't played by that many people here. Anyway, I made around 17 different tests on different maps, in different scenarios.
Came out with a gain of around 28.9% overall with it varying from as low as 13% to as high as 55.5%. Realistically I was looking at a decent 30% boost, which I'm happy with, as that pushes the game from, playable but not really fluid, to smooth and very playable for me.

I have to run and sort some things but I'll be posting more benchmarks up!

----------

This is great Scolanator, thanks, keep 'em coming

If you have one or more of these, I'd love to hear how they're running on the M370X:

Witcher 2
Total War: Shogun 2
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Assassin's Creed 4

Your welcome, sadly I don't have any of those games. Might look at trying The Witcher 3 though.

 

[Ovedius]

Just spend a lot of time benchmarking World of Tanks...

Your welcome, sadly I don't have any of those games. Might look at trying The Witcher 3 though.

I love WoT! ...suck like a hoover at it, but still love it to bits.

Witcher 3 is even more interesting! I was afraid to ask, it does seem a little out of the M370X's league. Hope it runs, fingers crossed.

 

[jdetraz]

I love WoT! ...suck like a hoover at it, but still love it to bits.

Witcher 3 is even more interesting! I was afraid to ask, it does seem a little out of the M370X's league. Hope it runs, fingers crossed.

I did a bit of search about Witcher 3 and how it runs on different laptops with 2Go vram and DDR5. It will run fine for sure with the M370X. About the settings I am not sure: it will be between low and medium with some effects disable.

 

[capitanbuzo]

Thanks for these! I'll hopefully be getting my machine today. Looks like I'll be happy with the purchase.

 

[Ovedius]

I did a bit of search about Witcher 3 and how it runs on different laptops with 2Go vram and DDR5. It will run fine for sure with the M370X. About the settings I am not sure: it will be between low and medium with some effects disable.

I should stop now before I reveal how much I've been fantasizing about tweaking Witcher 3 to run on the M370X..
Slippery slope here I come!

So I was thinking, ambient occlusion, shadow detail, AA, motion blur, depth of field; down with such decadent nonsence!
Surely one could get decent framerates by focusing on more "wholesome" graphic-options? High level textures, decent anistrophic filtering...

 

[827538]

I love WoT! ...suck like a hoover at it, but still love it to bits.

Witcher 3 is even more interesting! I was afraid to ask, it does seem a little out of the M370X's league. Hope it runs, fingers crossed.

I imagine it is out of its league but might be an interesting choice.

I'm one of those pro pub stompers that lives up at top tiers . Currently participating in a very good clan in Clan Wars and pushing my stats up slowly but surely to Unicum. You should see what it's like having three very high skill players (top 0.1%) pub smashing at tier 9/10, thing of beauty. 1850WN8 overall, around 2500WN8 recent, 62% WR recent .

----------

Thanks for these! I'll hopefully be getting my machine today. Looks like I'll be happy with the purchase.

You're welcome, installing W8.1 was a pain but worth it. One very interesting thing I've noticed is my ping is much lower while gaming, to the point where it was noticable. Looks like 8.1 has some nice under the hood improvements!

----------

I should stop now before I reveal how much I've been fantasizing about tweaking Witcher 3 to run on the M370X..
Slippery slope here I come!

So I was thinking, ambient occlusion, shadow detail, AA, motion blur, depth of field; down with such decadent nonsence!
Surely one could get decent framerates by focusing on more "wholesome" graphic-options? High level textures, decent anistrophic filtering...

I agree, turn off - what are in my opinion, annoying distractions that look good in trailers but horrible while gaming - and you'll gain substantial FPS and have a better looking game. Texture quality should be able to go quite high, low AA, maybe x2 or FXAA and it should look and play pretty well.
If you do run it, let me know how it is!

 

[Ovedius]

...

If you do run it, let me know how it is!

I'll make sure to let you know ...in a couple of weeks
-estimated delivery between june 11. and 15.

 

[magbarn]

Just benchmarked Skyrim, none of this is through a set loop, just me moving through the same areas to give an idea.

Skyrim, 1920x1200, AAx2, AFx16, High;
Running from the entrance of Whiterun to the keep;

M370X - 60FPS (would've been higher if it weren't for Vsync) atleast 25%
750M - 48FPS (some variation but this was where it was mostly at)

Tower near Whiterun, just a 360 look, mountains etc;

M370X - 45-60FPS (Mostly 50-55FPS) 22.22%
750M - 35-50FPS

I have to say it just felt a lot more solid the FPS on the M370X, I'm currently very pleased with the results and will keep testing, hopefully a new driver would improve things further.

----------



Thanks, fortunately one of the other Macrumours guys was kind enough to help me out and yes I did, my mistake.

Thanks for doing what you did...

Wow, it's a decent upgrade so far. Now WTH did Apple give us the 750M for so long then?! LOL
I'm still worried about the driver situation as when I had my AMD equipped 2011 MBP 15, I routinely had to do driver hacks so I could install AMD's latest drivers on it. OTOH, my 2012 rMBP 15 always installed the latest Nvidia driver without any tweaking. The requirement to hack AMD's drivers makes it even worse for the fact that they hardly ever have any 'Day 1' drivers available for the latest games on release...
Nvidia has Day 1 drivers for the Witcher 3 on the day of release for example, meanwhile my other machine's 290x is still waiting for a driver update from AMD. One more thing, if you do find a way to install the latest AMD drivers, do yourself a favor and don't install RAPTR. It's automatically installed by default by AMD's drivers and it will crap on your system.

 

[KOTULCN]

I imagine it is out of its league but might be an interesting choice.

I'm one of those pro pub stompers that lives up at top tiers . Currently participating in a very good clan in Clan Wars and pushing my stats up slowly but surely to Unicum. You should see what it's like having three very high skill players (top 0.1%) pub smashing at tier 9/10, thing of beauty. 1850WN8 overall, around 2500WN8 recent, 62% WR recent .

----------



You're welcome, installing W8.1 was a pain but worth it. One very interesting thing I've noticed is my ping is much lower while gaming, to the point where it was noticable. Looks like 8.1 has some nice under the hood improvements!

----------





I agree, turn off - what are in my opinion, annoying distractions that look good in trailers but horrible while gaming - and you'll gain substantial FPS and have a better looking game. Texture quality should be able to go quite high, low AA, maybe x2 or FXAA and it should look and play pretty well.

If you do run it, let me know how it is!

What was a pita when installing Windows 8.1?

 

[ninja2000]

Thanks for taking the time to benchmark. I am struggling to justify upgrading, but would love a graphics boost as the 750m does struggle with COH2 which I play a fair bit.

Have you noticed how they compare with regards to heat and noise?

 

[MacDevMike]

I had the same issue on the drivers, only the bootcamp drivers worked as Ati couldn't recognize the dGPU. The Bootcamp drivers were about two months old.

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Can someone give me info on how to install windows on the new rigs? I installed it on an older model years ago, but it had a superdrive and I just popped in the dvd. Not sure how to do it now. Thanks Oh and thank you for all the benchmarks/impressions. Keep them coming!

 

[leman]

Can someone give me info on how to install windows on the new rigs?

When you start up Bootcamp Assistant, it will offer you to make an installable USB stick from a windows image. Of course, you can also use an external DVD.

 

[jdetraz]

Can someone give me info on how to install windows on the new rigs? I installed it on an older model years ago, but it had a superdrive and I just popped in the dvd. Not sure how to do it now. Thanks Oh and thank you for all the benchmarks/impressions. Keep them coming!

You must to create an image of the DVD (ISO). You have 2 options:
1) Find your DVD and create an ISO of it.
2) Use another computer with windows installed. Go to the microsoft website, use your key license and download the ISO.

All info here:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201468

 

[KOTULCN]

When you start up Bootcamp Assistant, it will offer you to make an installable USB stick from a windows image. Of course, you can also use an external DVD.

Why did OP say it was difficult?

 

[827538]

Thanks for doing what you did...

Wow, it's a decent upgrade so far. Now WTH did Apple give us the 750M for so long then?! LOL
I'm still worried about the driver situation as when I had my AMD equipped 2011 MBP 15, I routinely had to do driver hacks so I could install AMD's latest drivers on it. OTOH, my 2012 rMBP 15 always installed the latest Nvidia driver without any tweaking. The requirement to hack AMD's drivers makes it even worse for the fact that they hardly ever have any 'Day 1' drivers available for the latest games on release...
Nvidia has Day 1 drivers for the Witcher 3 on the day of release for example, meanwhile my other machine's 290x is still waiting for a driver update from AMD. One more thing, if you do find a way to install the latest AMD drivers, do yourself a favor and don't install RAPTR. It's automatically installed by default by AMD's drivers and it will crap on your system.

Yes AMD drivers leave a lot to be desired. I remember the first Nvidia driver I tried to install wouldn't work on my 750M, but after that it was fine, I'm hoping AMD will be the same, yeh I don't want that rubbish on my system.

What was a pita when installing Windows 8.1?

It wouldn't work

Thanks for taking the time to benchmark. I am struggling to justify upgrading, but would love a graphics boost as the 750m does struggle with COH2 which I play a fair bit.

Have you noticed how they compare with regards to heat and noise?

I also play a bit of CoH2, the 750M always got by but it did struggle while this feels a lot smoother! I'll be testing it out in a nice long skirmish tonight. I understand your pain, feels like one of the hardest decisions I've made wether or not to upgrade now or wait. Kept saying 'I'll just return it' but now I'm quite happy after seeing how capable it is. Hopefully Skylake + new AMD or Pascal architecture with HBM will be a sweet next upgrade but I'm guessing that probably almost a year a way, 2016 atleast.

Heat and noise seem just the same, especially when looking at GPU-z there's very little in it, although it's resting temp is slightly higher but doesn't feel any less or more warm than the 750M.

I really like the trackpad, just feels right. The keys feel a bit more bouncy, I don't know if that's a small change or just because they're new. I have to say I haven't noticed the SSD performance boost, basically because they are already so blinding fast, have Filevault enabled and it feels no different.

Why did OP say it was difficult?

It wouldn't work, tried every which way, eventually a kind forum member helped me through it.

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Can you install windows via an external DVD or do you have to create an ISO?

 

[ninja2000]

Yes AMD drivers leave a lot to be desired. I remember the first Nvidia driver I tried to install wouldn't work on my 750M, but after that it was fine, I'm hoping AMD will be the same, yeh I don't want that rubbish on my system.



It wouldn't work



I also play a bit of CoH2, the 750M always got by but it did struggle while this feels a lot smoother! I'll be testing it out in a nice long skirmish tonight. I understand your pain, feels like one of the hardest decisions I've made wether or not to upgrade now or wait. Kept saying 'I'll just return it' but now I'm quite happy after seeing how capable it is. Hopefully Skylake + new AMD or Pascal architecture with HBM will be a sweet next upgrade but I'm guessing that probably almost a year a way, 2016 atleast.

Heat and noise seem just the same, especially when looking at GPU-z there's very little in it, although it's resting temp is slightly higher but doesn't feel any less or more warm than the 750M.

I really like the trackpad, just feels right. The keys feel a bit more bouncy, I don't know if that's a small change or just because they're new. I have to say I haven't noticed the SSD performance boost, basically because they are already so blinding fast, have Filevault enabled and it feels no different.

Thanks for that, please let me know how you get on with a large skirmish
That is exactly my problem, I haven't had the 2014 that long (I kept holding out hoping they would upgrade the 650m/750m and eventually caved as I was so sick of using my 13" as my daily driver) Now part of me keeps telling myself that I can get by with the 750m until skylake and hope there will be a cpu and gpu update. But also I would love that boost now! BF4 plays ok and Titanfall is alright on really low settings.....grrr its a tough choice

 

[KOTULCN]

OP can you expand on what you had to do to install Windows 8.1 successfully?

 

[jdetraz]

OP can you expand on what you had to do to install Windows 8.1 successfully?

Everything is here (posted the same link a few post above):
Yes you need an ISO
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201468