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2013 rMBP GPU?

S

SlickShoes

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 24, 2011
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Since the rMBP will be due it's speed bump in a couple of months, what do you guys think that the GPU will be updated to?

I think the most obvious bump would be the very small bump up to a 660m however do you think there is any chance of them moving to the 675MX that is default in the 27" iMac? I am seeing this chip appear now in PC laptops that are around the £1100 price range so that's why I was thinking we could possibly see that upgrade early 2013.
 
think laptops are to small to fit the MX cards, probably need to wait couple of years until a new cooling method is developed to see good gpus in laptops (small ones)
 
I read about Haswell processors which will have Intel HD4600 (I think it's double the performance over the HD4000), which should give much better experience without switching to the dedicated GPU.

As for the dedicated GPU, I don't even know if they will update it. So fingers crossed and let's hope they do :D
 
I am hoping for a good update, if we get one I will be buying one for sure but if not I will ride out the last year of this machine and see what happens in 2014.
 
Jaekae said:
think laptops are to small to fit the MX cards, probably need to wait couple of years until a new cooling method is developed to see good gpus in laptops (small ones)
Click to expand...

New cooling method? I think were quite far off water cooled laptops...

What did you have in mind?
 
The 675MX is a 75W TDP GPU. Not in a million years. Doesn't matter how cheap it is, it is only found in big fat Gaming Notebooks.

For a significant speed bumb you'd need to wait for a process shrink with the next in 2014. The only thing a speed bump would get is a 760m or 8800M basically the whole mainstream notebook GPU rebrands. Other than slightly different clocks and newer drivers there won't be any difference.

From a speed perspective the next update will be pretty boring as far as I can tell.

An Intel HD 4600 is also not double the 4000. It refers probably to the 20 EU Version which will only be somewhat faster but the bigger one with eDRAM will be the game changer but it will only be offered in dual core chips (my guess). Quad Cores get dedicated GPUs they don't need to waste die space in the equivalence of 2 full cores + Cache for a iGPU.

Little mockup from what I would expect the Haswell DIEs to look like given all the Info from IDF (see Anandtech) and the rumors of 20/40 EU versions aka GT1/2 or sometimes 2/3.

This is the Ivy Bridge current DIE.
ivwi

This as I guess the Quad Core DIE looks like with the HD 4600 (20EUs).
So very little difference and that would be the one that would go into a 15" rMBP.
ivwk

This would be the Dual Core with the best iGPU. This would be the 13" rMBP chip and quite an improvement. If the 40EU GPU is true that is one massive change in respect to GPU vs Core space. Even more GPU than the AMD Fusion Chips. Now if Intel just would provide decent drivers.
ivwq


Given that the long Quad Core chip is quite long and still has to fit on the package I think even trying to make the big GPU fit on the Quad would be a problem. They would have to reorganize the entire layout which is probably not as easy as it seems as the ring bus would then have to go around the Cache if the GPU was below the cores.
 
A lot of the excitement I had for Haswell initially came from the possibility of having GT3 - with its 40 shaders - included in the M series chips. We know that GT3 will be included in the U and quad-core H series which will be marketed in Q3 2013.

http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2012/2012121601_Specifications_of_mobile_Haswell_CPUs.html

It's less clear which processors in the M series will receive the GT3 shaders. My feeling - and I could very well be wrong about this - is that only the ultra high-end 4930MX will receive GT3. However, the fact that both Haswell and Ivy Bridge chips will be released in 2013 offers some interesting possibilities. Apple might release certain models with Haswell technology and others will Ivy Bridge. To bring down costs, Apple could very well equip the low end 15" rMBP with Ivy Bridge and leave Haswell for the higher end models. Or continue the cMBP with Ivy Bridge and leave Haswell for the rMBP. I doubt they'll go that way, but you never know... After all, Apple is currently selling an iPad mini which lacks retina display and isn't running on the latest generation processor.

The table below lists the Haswell and Ivy Bridge processors that are expected for April 2013.
 

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dusk007 said:
The 675MX is a 75W TDP GPU. Not in a million years. Doesn't matter how cheap it is, it is only found in big fat Gaming Notebooks.

For a significant speed bumb you'd need to wait for a process shrink with the next in 2014. The only thing a speed bump would get is a 760m or 8800M basically the whole mainstream notebook GPU rebrands. Other than slightly different clocks and newer drivers there won't be any difference.

From a speed perspective the next update will be pretty boring as far as I can tell.

An Intel HD 4600 is also not double the 4000. It refers probably to the 20 EU Version which will only be somewhat faster but the bigger one with eDRAM will be the game changer but it will only be offered in dual core chips (my guess). Quad Cores get dedicated GPUs they don't need to waste die space in the equivalence of 2 full cores + Cache for a iGPU.

Little mockup from what I would expect the Haswell DIEs to look like given all the Info from IDF (see Anandtech) and the rumors of 20/40 EU versions aka GT1/2 or sometimes 2/3.

This is the Ivy Bridge current DIE.
Image
This as I guess the Quad Core DIE looks like with the HD 4600 (20EUs).
So very little difference and that would be the one that would go into a 15" rMBP.
Image
This would be the Dual Core with the best iGPU. This would be the 13" rMBP chip and quite an improvement. If the 40EU GPU is true that is one massive change in respect to GPU vs Core space. Even more GPU than the AMD Fusion Chips. Now if Intel just would provide decent drivers.
Image

Given that the long Quad Core chip is quite long and still has to fit on the package I think even trying to make the big GPU fit on the Quad would be a problem. They would have to reorganize the entire layout which is probably not as easy as it seems as the ring bus would then have to go around the Cache if the GPU was below the cores.
Click to expand...

Great post mate thanks for all the info! Laptop hardware is one area that I am very much a novice!

I did actually consider a gaming notebook, but most of them look horrible and the power brick you have to lug around with you is bigger than the Xbox360 one which was massive itself! That scared me back in to just looking at the next mbp update and wondering what will come.
 
AirThis said:
My feeling - and I could very well be wrong about this - is that only the ultra high-end 4930MX will receive GT3.
Click to expand...
It is a poor guess given that your own picture disputes as it states HD 4600 for all the Haswell Quad Cores.

For Ivy Bridge only 4 different DIEs existed. Intel doesn't make a DIE just for one low volume high end chip. They reuse the chips across the entire range and just deactivate features or change clock speeds. Releasing only one chip with the best GPU + 4 cores is a waste given how much space the GPU needs.
I doubt that the best GPU will be found in any non Dual Core chip. Will be interesting though for the 13" rMBP as this one could get a 35W Quad or a Dual Core with faster graphics. Maybe they stick to Dual Core and that is why they didn't add the current 35W Quad as an option. A dGPU is probably out of the question.
 
SlickShoes said:
Since the rMBP will be due it's speed bump in a couple of months, what do you guys think that the GPU will be updated to?
Click to expand...

No GPU change until haswell - mid-late next year.

You'll see apple bump a couple of clock speeds for the update (likely due to intel's pricing coming down enabling faster CPU for same price for apple), nothing more.
 
throAU said:
No GPU change until haswell - mid-late next year.

You'll see apple bump a couple of clock speeds for the update (likely due to intel's pricing coming down enabling faster CPU for same price for apple), nothing more.
Click to expand...

I don't think so. Haswell brings too much to the table to ignore it. It's faster and more energy efficient ( up to 20 times less power required than Ivy Bridge )
 
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