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Chrome causing GPU to switch to discrete card? Why?
- Thread starter Evev12
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It's generally flash plugins that cause the card to switch. This can be somewhat mitigated by selectively enabling plugins.
dusk007
macrumors 68040
Apple's so called automatic switching is just a broken pretty poor implementation. It doesn't switch according to need and it cannot switch back once the application is running. It effectively switches as soon as one app might potentially require the faster GPU for best performance.
Say you run Chrome and since Chrome initializes certain frameworks that it can use to run some HTML5 3D games it switches on the dGPU. Even if all you do is browse news sites and read text. The same with Flash.
The only work around its using gfxCardStatus and force the intel GPU. I do this always when on battery. Pretty much always when I am in OSX and not using an external screen.
iPhoto triggers the dGPU even if all you do is slide through a few photos or import some. Stuff the iGPU is more than capable of handling.
Say you run Chrome and since Chrome initializes certain frameworks that it can use to run some HTML5 3D games it switches on the dGPU. Even if all you do is browse news sites and read text. The same with Flash.
The only work around its using gfxCardStatus and force the intel GPU. I do this always when on battery. Pretty much always when I am in OSX and not using an external screen.
iPhoto triggers the dGPU even if all you do is slide through a few photos or import some. Stuff the iGPU is more than capable of handling.
Try installing the Flashblock extension in Chrome. That'll take care of the pesky flash ads that are probably doing it. You can still see flash content by clicking on the flashblock overlay.
I've never looked at it that way but I gotta disagree. Chrome is nowhere near that much faster than Safari or any other browser for that matter to warrant that change in gpu's. Most increases in speed are just about imperceivable to the average person and the internet is pretty instantaneous as it is for your average website, it's not as if Chrome is light years ahead. Flash seems to make more sense.
