Any problems with the nVidia GPU's in '12 MBP's?

[DELTAsnake]

Since it looks like Apple is going back to nVidia with the exception of the Mac Pro I'm kind of concerned that the nVidia GPU's are going to be an issue.

I've owned 4 nVidia powered computers over the years, all of them had hardware problems like crashing, BSOD and graphics corruption with the nVidia video card. On the other hand I've had 5 ATI/AMD powered computers (including all my Mac's) and never had an issue. And I know Apple dumped nVidia because they were having problems with the nVidia cards.

So are these new nVidia based MBP's actually better or they the same old crap nVidia has been putting out for years? I'm just really worried I'll buy another nVidia lemon if I get either a Retina MBP or next gen iMac.

 

[lannisters4life]

You remind me of Jesus' parable about the man who took four wives from the same village. They all died young of syphilis, and after the fourth died, he vowed never to take another wife from the western town. He only realised many years later on his death bed that he was the one who gave them syphilis all along. Look it up.

 

[Fatt]

I have to agree with the above poster. My rMPB is going to be my first mac and I'm a LONG time hardcore PC enthusiast. The issues you've described are most commonly associated with ATi/AMD cards, not at ALL with nVida. This is not only my experience, but also that of the majority of real PC enthusiasts out there. Now that isn't to say there is an issue with AMD's hardware, as theirs and nvidia's hardware is rock solid (GTX 590 excluded ). The issue with ATi/AMD cards, as with your own issues, is 100% driver related and not at all to do with the actual hardware. AMD is notorious for producing horrible drivers, I've had my own nightmares with their drivers. Whereas nvidia drivers certainly have their issues, however stability is not one of them. I've ran multiple card configs for several years now on both ATi/AMD and nvidia, and hands down nvidia takes the cake in regards to driver superiority. What ever issues you had were totally driver/software related, and with the proper knowledge could have been easily remedied. (assuming your hardware was not dieing and in need of an RMA)

As for AMD or nvidia's stability in an apple product, that's something I can't tell you about as apple uses their own custom drivers. However I can assure you there is absolutely no difference between the two manufacturers' hardware in regards to their stability and reliability. Any instability issues is either due to software or hardware failure; and neither nvidia nor AMD's hardware is any more prone to hardware failure than the other. If you want to believe otherwise, your free to do so. However there is absolutely no empirical evidence to support such a claim.

I believe your good experience with ATi/AMD on PCs is mostly due to you running a single GPU, and likely NOT updating your drivers often. AMD is notorious for releasing new drivers, that only introduce new problems and fix nothing. You have to be very selective and do your research before updating your AMD drivers. While I may be overstating this a bit, but you really do have to be careful when updating your AMD drivers. Whereas with nvidia, rarely do new drivers actually add bugs instead of fixing them like AMD loves to do.

And obviously your good experience with AMD on apple machines, is well to do with apple writing superior drivers than what AMD is clearly capable of. I'm sure apple does a lot more testing than AMD before introducing updates as well. And being there are very few hardware differences between apple machines compared to the infinite possibilities on PCs, it makes writing stable drivers that much easier.


I guess my message in a nutshell, for those who are wall-o-text phobic is; GPU instability issues are always due to software(drivers) or simply a card that needs to be RMA'd (hardware failure). Neither nvidia nor AMD have shown to be more reliable than the other, however nvidia tends to build better reference coolers. Being that your concern is with AMD vs. nvidia on an apple machine, the difference in hardware is only going to be a difference in performance not in stability or reliability. It's up to apple to make sure the drivers are rock solid, and the cooling system adequate to maintain long term reliability. So if there is a difference in stability between them, it's quite safe to say it's apple's fault.

I know this isn't exactly the most technical forum, so I do apologize for getting over technical and long winded, however I don't know how to post any other way .

 

[leman]

Nvidia was the worldwide number 1. in GPU sales last time I checked. Do you really think they would reach this by producing defective products? And no, they are not cheaper than the competitors.

Nvidia, AMD, who cares? There were some problem with some Nvidia chips used in the Macs in the past, but everybody can get unlucky. Both companies have similar performance, price points and power consumption, with Nvidia's current generation being slightly ahead.

 

[taedouni]

I think that 2012 Macbook Pros with the dedicated Nvidia Graphics (650M) will be just fine. Honestly I almost never run into heat issues while using Mac OSX. The issue with heat comes when I run Windows (however my Macbook Pro has never shut down on me). As long as you update your GPU drivers on bootcamp when they are released I think that you will be fine. Also be sure to never block the bottom rear of the Macbook (exhaust), like do not place it on a bed when doing heavy usage.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Nvidia was the worldwide number 1. in GPU sales last time I checked.

Sales != Quality

Do you really think they would reach this by producing defective products?

Yes!

1. They invest more money in the marketing, compared to AMD.
2. http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer...s-apple-macbook-pros-nvidia-bad-bump-material
3. https://www.macrumors.com/2010/09/29/nvidia-class-action-settlement-for-macbook-pro-owners/
4. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377
5. http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/03/24/dealpolitik-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-class-actions/
6. I have a defective GPU (NVIDIA 9600M GT) in my Mid-2009 17" MBP. Same NVIDIA-problem. No display works. Not the internal, not an external display. Nothing. ≈ 2900,- US$ burned.
7. ...

NVIDIA-quality? *ROTFLMAO*

Nvidia, AMD, who cares?

People need reliable machines, and computers which cost ≈ 2500-3000,- US$ should be reliable. At least NVIDIA-machines are not reliable.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

6. I have a defective GPU (NVIDIA 9600M GT) in my Mid-2009 17" MBP. Same NVIDIA-problem. No display works. Not the internal, not an external display. Nothing. ≈ 2900,- US$ burned.

OK, I understand the rest of the links. Those have to do with the known-faulty 8600M GT cards.

But your single failure outside of the 8600 series automatically means that NVIDIA GPUs are of poor quality? Right.

 

[Fatt]

6. I have a defective GPU (NVIDIA 9600M GT) in my Mid-2009 17" MBP. Same NVIDIA-problem. No display works. Not the internal, not an external display. Nothing. ≈ 2900,- US$ burned.
7. ...

NVIDIA-quality? *ROTFLMAO*


People need reliable machines, and computers which cost ≈ 2500-3000,- US$ should be reliable. At least NVIDIA-machines are not reliable.

You should refer to my previous post. Nvidia silicon and AMD are near identical in terms of stability and reliability. Why is that you ask? Well they are both produced by the same foundry (semi-conductor manufacturer) TSMC, and on the same process. So no, there is no difference between the silicon other than the designs, which only yields differences in performance. The reason your nvidia, or other apple nvidia GPUs have failed is entiry apple's fault, for not providing adequate cooling to the GPU. Lets not kid ourselves, apple is notorious for subpar laptop cooling, and it's not because of a lack of design but because of apple's priority of form factor over thermals, and there is nothing wrong with that. So let's assume within the realm of apple machines, nvidia is less reliable in their notebooks. This is not due to any fault of nvidia, other than producing high power chips that produce more heat than AMD (I can't stress this enough, on the current 28nm generation nvidia solidly beats AMD in both performance and thermals. Kepler is one hell of an architecture, and it's no wonder apple picked them up.). So if your nvidia GPU died because of overheating, you can't blame nvidia for that but instead either apple's priorities or your neglect. In the realm of PCs what your arguing, is completely non-existent.

I'm sorry but it is exactly people like you that give apple users a bad name, you really don't know the first thing about hardware, yet you make statements like that. Please you obviously are quite capable of research, why don't you head over to XtremeSystems.org or Overlcock.net if you really want to learn about hardware.

 

[Icy1007]

I would always choose NVidia over AMD for GPUs. Much better driver support in my opinion.

 

[leenak]

All my laptops, as far as I can remember, have had nVidia and I've never had a problem with any of them.

 

[theSeb]

You remind me of Jesus' parable about the man who took four wives from the same village. They all died young of syphilis, and after the fourth died, he vowed never to take another wife from the western town. He only realised many years later on his death bed that he was the one who gave them syphilis all along. Look it up.

Hahahahahhahaha. If you were a woman, I would try to marry you.

I am loving the anecdotal evidence presented in this thread.

 

[Dwhite78]

You remind me of Jesus' parable about the man who took four wives from the same village. They all died young of syphilis, and after the fourth died, he vowed never to take another wife from the western town. He only realised many years later on his death bed that he was the one who gave them syphilis all along. Look it up.

Don't look for trouble in your neighbors back yard when your house is on fire.