Apple Releases Snow Leopard Graphics Update

[scienide09]

Didn't see this big thread, so I ended up posting in another. I also didn't read through this entire thread, so I don't know if these have been posted yet. Before and after results on my a 27" i7 iMac (2009).

Before update:

After update

 

[cvaldes]

Apple seems to eliminate any system older than 2 years from further support

Not true.

My MacBook Core 2 Duo (Late 2006) received this update. It's almost four years old.

 

[FlyinggPenguin]

Not true.

My MacBook Core 2 Duo (Late 2006) received this update. It's almost four years old.

My MacBook is the first generation and it got the update..

 

[blunderboy]

I downloaded the SL Graphics Update. Not much change, unfortunately; there are still minor artefacts when I reduce or maximise certain windows.

*cough although Safari seems snappier cough*

 

[LEOMODE]

have 2009 early macbook pro 15" (2.66ghz 9600GT 512MB)

updated and played starcraft 2

graphic seems to be OK, a little less jittery and laggy

but it froze. i played it for about an hour and then

the graphic became all distorted and then just stopped

i guess it still isnt optimized for mac osx....



i've heard a lot that when u use bootcamp and then run starcraft 2 on windows, even with HIGH settings the game runs very smooth. is it true? (for 2008 late - 2009 early macbook pros of course)

because right now even with an update, i still need to run it under medium or low to make the game smooth.

 

[tmkk]

On my 8600M GT it is better than 10.6.4 driver, but still 10.6.3 driver is a best choice.

 

[KevinRightWing]

Anymore success stories?

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Using the increasingly outdated "Xbench" as a test, I got a big boost on my MBP with OpenGL and an even bigger one on my Dell Hackintosh Netbook for OpenGL frame rates (maybe 50% more on the MBP and almost 90% more on the Netbook). I also got a HUGE increase (nearly double) on the "thread" test on the MBP (Grand Central finally does something?). *ALL* other tests (notably the 2D and user interface tests which are related to all other graphics except OpenGL) were LOWER on BOTH machines ranging from slight to maybe 8%. That was using 10.6.4 as a comparison on both machines with and without. I don't think I saved a 10.6.3 test to compare. Xbench is notorious for not producing the same exact results each time you run it, so I would imagine most of the smaller differences were negligible. The OpenGL and Thread results were high enough, though that the overall score for the MBP increased over 30 points.

 

[Keniff]

Using a 'ATI Radeon HD 4870' card, and I've not noticed any difference, to be honest

 

[NickK1066]

Seems more fluid playing Civ4 on my 9400M mac mini 2.66 C2D 4GB.

 

[NickK1066]

but it froze. i played it for about an hour and then the graphic became all distorted and then just stopped. I guess it still isnt optimized for mac osx....

Those are classic symptoms of overheating. First the system attempts to scale back the processing power to reduce the thermal output - this causes stuttering and loss of frame rate.

If it's texture corruption then that's usually caused by the GPU memory whereas geometry corruption is usually caused by the GPU itself.

Freezing could be for a variety of reasons - both software and hardware.

What were your temps of your MBP?

 

[Marucins]

SOLUTION


10.6.4 will severely decrease NVIDIA GPU performance by causing it's three clocks to always run at level 0 low power mode.

Edit the AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext/Contents/Info.plist's MacPro4,1 section and change Vendor10deDevice05e2 to Vendor10deDevice05e3.
The 05e3 part is for a GTX 285, see nvclock0.8b5_7-darwin/src/backend/info.c (link below) for others.
This is to allow the GPU to have power management; level 2 high power when stressed, and down clocking to level 0 when not stressed (~10C lower).
The GPU clock will be at level 0 after sleep and wake, but the shader and memory clocks will temporarily be stuck at level 2.
However, if load is applied and then reduced, shader and memory will return to level 0.

Delete AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext.
or
Use the AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext from 10.6.0/10.6.2/10.6.3.

Temperatures and clock speeds can be seen with nvclock, and for lower temperatures it's recommended to set fanspeed mode to auto with `nvclock -F auto -f', which needs to be set again after sleep and wake

http://www.projectosx.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1246


Correct settings :

use OpenGL Extensions: Viewer 3.32
use Multisample: full (x4)
use Anisotropy : full (16x)

back to the game

FULL SPEED - SCII 1920x1200 Ultra non lag !!


ITS WORKING!!!!!

 

[levifig]

On my 8600M GT it is better than 10.6.4 driver, but still 10.6.3 driver is a best choice.

How can I downgrade the drivers to the 10.6.3 but keeping 10.6.5? I've had insane slowdowns in 3D and I'm wondering if it's hardware or software. WoW has been sub-10fps on "recommended settings" and that without the CPU/RAM/HDD even fully used… :\

GAH

 

[joefreelee]

Thanks for the snow leopard update.

I was wondering when graphics would be fixed.

 

[aliensporebomb]

Update

Noticed framerate increases in performance from 10.64 to 10.66 on my iMac Corei7 2.8 ghz model of 100-150 frames per test.

Interestingly, GLView's "benchmark mode" has been removed from the latest version.