Apple Releases Snow Leopard Graphics Update

[rbarris]

The blog from Valve seems to show that the GPU sometimes didn't do anything - which is what slowed down things.

That may not be the right interpretation of what we wrote. There were moments where either the CPU could be busy *or* the GPU could be busy, instead of having them concurrently active.

I'm hard pressed to think of situations where all parts of the system go idle (perhaps when waiting for files to load and the disk takes time to respond).

The issues touched on in the article have more to do with concurrency and keeping multiple workers (one GPU and two CPU threads) doing useful work consistently - i.e. 2 or 3 active instead of 1.

 

[diamond.g]

That may not be the right interpretation of what we wrote. There were moments where either the CPU could be busy *or* the GPU could be busy, instead of having them concurrently active.

I'm hard pressed to think of situations where all parts of the system go idle (perhaps when waiting for files to load and the disk takes time to respond).

The issues touched on in the article have more to do with concurrency and keeping multiple workers (one GPU and two CPU threads) doing useful work consistently - i.e. 2 or 3 active instead of 1.

They seemed to blame Apple implementation of OGL. Is it different for ATI/Nvidia on Windows?

 

[macintoshtoffy]

They seemed to blame Apple implementation of OGL. Is it different for ATI/Nvidia on Windows?

Oh sweet Jesus, not this again.

In the Windows world each vendor provides their own OpenGL library where as the OpenGL Library on Mac is very much like DirectX, it is done by one company, there are a series of interfaces, and thus you have a consistent across the board experience.

The problem in the Mac world was a combination of poorly optimised OpenGL framework and poorly optimised drivers; the three parties (Apple, nVidia/ATI and developers) worked together to solve the problem. Personally so far both my laptop and desktop performance have doubled based on the OpenGL Viewer 'benchmark'.

What will be interesting is when 10.6.5 is released whether improvements with the kernel and other subsystems also lead to a slight performance improvement as well.

 

[diamond.g]

Oh sweet Jesus, not this again.

In the Windows world each vendor provides their own OpenGL library where as the OpenGL Library on Mac is very much like DirectX, it is done by one company, there are a series of interfaces, and thus you have a consistent across the board experience.

The problem in the Mac world was a combination of poorly optimised OpenGL framework and poorly optimised drivers; the three parties (Apple, nVidia/ATI and developers) worked together to solve the problem. Personally so far both my laptop and desktop performance have doubled based on the OpenGL Viewer 'benchmark'.

What will be interesting is when 10.6.5 is released whether improvements with the kernel and other subsystems also lead to a slight performance improvement as well.

Ah, I see. What I guess I don't understand is how the OGL framework can be poorly optimized when it is supposed to be standard across all platforms/vendors. That would be why I asked if Apples implementation is different than ATI/Nvidia on Windows. It would seem that all the basics would be the same. Driver differences I understand, which is why I advocate having the vendors update their own drivers and pass the code directly to the user. But I understand that Apple is in the same boat MS used to be in with bad video drivers screwing a system. So now we wait.

Installed the update, have to try out Portal to see where I stand.

 

[painejake]

Just wow.

Prior to this I was getting 15-25ish fps in SC2 mostly low at 1920x1080 on my 320M Mac Mini now with settings on low/medium I'm getting 30-50fps at 1920x1080.

 

[Chwisch87]

8800 GT?

I thought it was the 8600M GT or the 9600M GT.

Sorry thats right. 8600.

 

[jumarkow]

well...

Oh sweet Jesus, not this again.

In the Windows world each vendor provides their own OpenGL library where as the OpenGL Library on Mac is very much like DirectX, it is done by one company, there are a series of interfaces, and thus you have a consistent across the board experience.

The problem in the Mac world was a combination of poorly optimised OpenGL framework and poorly optimised drivers; the three parties (Apple, nVidia/ATI and developers) worked together to solve the problem. Personally so far both my laptop and desktop performance have doubled based on the OpenGL Viewer 'benchmark'.

What will be interesting is when 10.6.5 is released whether improvements with the kernel and other subsystems also lead to a slight performance improvement as well.

Well, sure it's doubled. Because "up" is the only way to go from the horrid performance all Macs share in games when compared to PCs.
And because double miserable is very easy to achieve.

It's not great to see this much "gain", it's a complete fail when you ask yourself why you hadn't got this "gain" from day one.

 

[apolloa]

Can anyone tell me how to remove the FPS cap lines from the file that the other thread advised to do to help increase performance and reduce the GFX heating up in the menu?
I'm sorry but I can't remember the changes I made or the name of the file and where it was? Should I even do this?

 

[wesrk]

I've done a bit of searching in the thread and can't seem to find an answer, so I'm asking it here: Anyone with an early 2008 (non-unibody) MBP with 8600m GT see any performance gains with this update? I haven't been able to sit down long enough to install the update and check it out on my own. I doubt it does, but curiosity is getting the better of me.

No idea, I'm also waiting to update.

 

[overcast]

Why should apple change its software for the 0.05% of users who use these games? Sounds to me like the games should change theirs.

That is literally the dumbest comment I've read to date on these forums.

 

[ChuckBlack]

After installing the iMac update, the pre-release of the SLGU and now the 1.0 version of SLGU I had no difference in GLview, but Portal and Halflife 2 won't boot anymore after the SLGU 1.0 update. They did for the pre-release. And this is a rock solid bulletproof system I have running here, everything boots! WTF!?

EDIT:

After rolling back my drivers to the pre-release of the Snow Leopard graphics update Portal and Halflife 2 are booting again! It's definitely the new drivers that borked my games.

 

[gumbyx84]

Can anyone tell me how to remove the FPS cap lines from the file that the other thread advised to do to help increase performance and reduce the GFX heating up in the menu?
I'm sorry but I can't remember the changes I made or the name of the file and where it was? Should I even do this?

Mind sharing link to this "other thread"? I haven't hard of this before.

 

[Blondie :)]

Best update I've seen from Apple in a while I went from playing SC2 with the textures on medium, and the graphics on low, to being able to play with everything on medium, and with no lag I take back my previous thoughts of macs and gaming haha. They just have to have the right updates first

 

[PatrickCocoa]

What graphics card is in your iMac? The one in my wife's machine is a Nvidia GeForce 9400.

It's the ATI Radeon 4670. I believe it was the better of the two graphic card options when I bought the iMac in October 2009.

 

[wesrk]

update complete, up and running on an early 08 mbp.

 

[Marucins]

2,66 GHz + nVidia GTX 285 1 GB

After update nothing better

OpenGL Extensions Viewer 3.3.1

 

[wallaby]

No idea, I'm also waiting to update.

According to Valve, there is no benefit to MBPs older than the late 2008 revision, and there are no plans to roll out more fixes to these machines as there are "other complicating factors" that already will reduce performance.

Gaming on OS X: only if you buy a new Mac!

 

[gumbyx84]

update complete, up and running on an early 08 mbp.

Please post if the update improves anything. I'm really interested to see if it does, but won't be able to update and test it out myself until this weekend.

2,66 GHz + nVidia GTX 285 1 GB

After update nothing better

Which pic is the scores pre-update? You didn't differentiate the two. And to be honest, there is a difference in the FPS. Much higher in the first pic then the second. More then double.

 

[Bimmi]

March 2009 iMac w/ GeForce GT 130 here. I tested this out on an external boot drive and was quite pleased with the results. StarCraft II seems to be running quite well at native resolution with most graphics settings at High (Medium for Shadows, Effects and Post-processing). This compared to a mix of High, Medium and Low settings under 10.6.3 for essentially the same performance.

I'm still a bit reluctant to install 10.6.4 barring further testing, but this update looks to be a solid step up thus far.

 

[Marucins]

Anyone know why my GTX285 has such crappy results with the new update ?
View attachment 246918

Specifically latter test 2.1 ?

WOW!!
HOW??
What update do u have? :]

Which pic is the scores pre-update. You didn't differentiat the two. And to be honest, there is a difference in the FPS. Much higher in the first pic then the second. More then double.

Two is after update, but second bench new wersion OpenGL Extensions Viewer - more stress to your GPU

 

[iHateMacs]

It doesn't stop the periodic hiccup when I have two monitors connected but one turned off.

Why don't they fix THAT problem.

Two different Mac Pros, two different types of graphics cards, three different makes of monitors but still ONE PROBLEM!

I can't be the only one that this really pisses off.

I have a second monitor that I can never use because it's never plugged in because of this problem and it too much trouble to plug in on the rare occasion I need it, so it just never gets used.

Thanks Apple.

 

[gumbyx84]

Two is after update, but second bench new wersion OpenGL Extensions Viewer - more stress to your GPU

If if the first pic is pre-update, then your scores actually went down after the update?

 

[aliensporebomb]

Yeah!

I didn't expect to see improvements like this. Very pleased.

[ATI Radeon HD 4870]

Now that's some performance! Nice.

 

[aliensporebomb]

Sigh.

Anyone know why my GTX285 has such crappy results with the new update ?
View attachment 246918

Specifically latter test 2.1 ?

Those are fantastic results. 2.1 always stinks on any mac card I've ever seen. I'd be curious to see how it does on the PC side (yes, I have glview on the pc side as well, running tests a bit later).

 

[buckawheat]

No Change on 8800 GS

No Change on a April/08 - 3.06 Imac using the 8800GS card that I see using a flash test tool.

I got 48fps in the tool under light load before and after and 33-35 fps under heavier load before and after.