Apple's GPU Switching better than Optimus?

[jpefjr]

Here's a quote from the Engadget MBP 2010 review:

Basically, Optimus turns on the GPU if its needed, and then runs both the Intel graphics and the discrete card simultaneously, pushing the GPU-produced imagery through the Intel chip before it hits your screen. Apple's solution actually switches fully between the cards seamlessly, with the Intel graphics on only in a power sipping mode but not in use at all for rendering when the NVIDIA GPU is in play. The other big difference is that Optimus detects its necessity based on a cloud-stored whitelist of apps that NVIDIA has, which could potentially become out of date or at least have difficulty in keeping up with app releases (though users get the flexibility of manually enabling apps). Meanwhile, Apple's solution is based on deeper OS-level stuff, with OS X figuring out what sort of technologies an app is going to call on (like OpenGL, for instance) and turning on the GPU accordingly.

So Optimus has a list of apps that it gets from an NVidia server to determine when to turn the discreet GPU on/off? And it leaves the integrated GPU on all the time whether it's being used or not? If that's true then it really does sound like the Apple solution is much better. Anyone here familiar with the details of how Optimus works and can confirm it?

 

[silversx]

Here's a quote from the Engadget MBP 2010 review:



So Optimus has a list of apps that it gets from an NVidia server to determine when to turn the discreet GPU on/off? And it leaves the integrated GPU on all the time whether it's being used or not? If that's true then it really does sound like the Apple solution is much better. Anyone here familiar with the details of how Optimus works and can confirm it?

here's something also from engadget's review to think about

if you open photoshop .. it triggers the 330m graphics to kick in.. if you minimize it and start browsing the web.. guess what.. the 330m stays on because photoshop is open..

those of you who got the 15/17 get ready for lots of closing and opening of your apps to save battery

 

[mikeo007]

Better is a very subjective term.

 

[6-0 Prolene]

So far I'm really glad I just bought one of the "old" MBPs when I needed a computer. This update is pretty ho-hum, really.

 

[lilo777]

This description is not correct. More info could be found here:

Here is a quote from NVIDIA's White Paper on OPTIMUS:

By recognizing designated classes, the Optimus Routing Layer can help determine when the GPU can be utilized to improve rendering performance. Specifically, it sends a signal to power-on the GPU when it finds the following three call types:
* DX Calls: Any 3D game engine or DirectX application will trigger these calls
* DXVA Calls: Video playback will trigger these calls (DXVA = DirectX Video Acceleration)
* CUDA Calls: CUDA applications will trigger these calls

The application list is optional and is used for fine tuning only.

Some posts on Arstechnica also claim that while Apple disables IGP it still has to do something that actually takes the power just the same. I am not qualified to verify this claim. I guess we'll have to wait to see what the real situation is.

 

[iLog.Genius]

here's something also from engadget's review to think about

if you open photoshop .. it triggers the 330m graphics to kick in.. if you minimize it and start browsing the web.. guess what.. the 330m stays on because photoshop is open..

those of you who got the 15/17 get ready for lots of closing and opening of your apps to save battery

I guess it makes sense since the resources/processes are still running. But that's really unfortunate. I guess the switching isn't as intuitive as initially thought. Is it not possible to have 3 options: Integrated, Discrete and Automatic switching? Or is it a limitation of some sort?

 

[jpefjr]

I guess the bottom line is battery life and graphics performance. Hopefully it will work as well as advertised but I don't expect to get 8 hours of battery life out of it with what I do. I figure basic tasks like surfing, email, VNC, etc. will give me a fair amount of battery life. I'll have to pay attention to how much life I get using Handbrake, Xcode, iMovie, QT, playing flash, etc.