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9400M outperforming 9600M GT

W

Wilby

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 13, 2009
4
0
Hey, just got a 15 inch macbook pro (2.66GHz, 4g ram), and using the framerate on Quake Live as a comparative test the 9400M is outperforming the 9600M GT.

On the 9400M the framerate sits at about mid 70s when nothing is happening and drops to about mid 50s at the lowest when action is intensive.
On the 9600M GT the framerate sits at mid 40s and drops into mid 30s when a lot is going on.
Settings were the same in both cases, set at the highest possible.

Intuitively it should be the other way around but I checked the system profiler and the right card was running, so... does anyone have any clue why the hell this is the case?
Cheers.
 
I think you have them swapped. You can verify this by the heat, as they are immensely different.
 
What test should I use?
And as for heat, will checking the gpu temps in istat do the trick?
Thanks.
 
Wilby said:
What test should I use?
And as for heat, will checking the gpu temps in istat do the trick?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

I can say for myself and a majority of others that just on idle temperatures, the 9600M GT will be 10 C higher sitting around 50 C while the 9400M will be sitting around 40 C.
 
iLog.Genius said:
I can say for myself and a majority of others that just on idle temperatures, the 9600M GT will be 10 C higher sitting around 50 C while the 9400M will be sitting around 40 C.
Click to expand...

I looked at istat a few times while idle and recorded everything it told me related to GPU.

Graphics set to better battery life:
GPU: 41 - 44˚c
GPU Heatsink: 38 - 40˚c

Graphics set to higher performance:
GPU: 43 - 46˚c
GPU Diode: 54 - 58˚c
GPU Heatsink: 39 - 41˚c

I don't really know what the different temperatures mean to be honest... but that's what it gave me.
 
Wilby said:
I looked at istat a few times while idle and recorded everything it told me related to GPU.

Graphics set to better battery life:
GPU: 41 - 44˚c
GPU Heatsink: 38 - 40˚c

Graphics set to higher performance:
GPU: 43 - 46˚c
GPU Diode: 54 - 58˚c
GPU Heatsink: 39 - 41˚c

I don't really know what the different temperatures mean to be honest... but that's what it gave me.
Click to expand...

Something is not right. Those GPU temps aren't high enough for higher performance. How long did you wait before checking idle temps?
 
vant said:
Something is not right. Those GPU temps aren't high enough for higher performance. How long did you wait before checking idle temps?
Click to expand...

The tests must have been different, the GPU Diode sensor does not appear (or at least doesn't give a sensible reading) unless the 9600 is powered up.
 
vant said:
Something is not right. Those GPU temps aren't high enough for higher performance. How long did you wait before checking idle temps?
Click to expand...

I waited a couple of minutes, but then I recorded the figures a few times every few minutes, hence there being a range. I probably left it doing nothing for around 10 minutes on each gpu when I was recording those figures.
 
I don't play games but I've not noticed any major speed difference between the 9400m and the 9600m.

To echo the other posts the 9600 really shows it's strength on 3D operations such as those found in games. If you don't play games you may not noticed too much of a difference
 
forget games, I find setting the 9600gt just watching youtube gets the laptop much hotter than watching the same video on 9400.
 
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