Whilst this is not a complete fix for the issue neither a 100% viable one, it does indeed work and has a few tradeoffs which some people may consider acceptable.
First: let me declare neither me nor throttlemesiter take any responsibility for any damage caused to your machine as a result of this.
Second: credit to throttlemeister for supplying me with a kext and uncovering this fix, he deserves all of the credit I am merely a tester and writer off this guide.
What to expect:
- Smoother transition between spaces and in and out of mission control
- Smoother UI whilst using scaled resolutions such as 1920x1200 etc.
- Smoother animations in windows, resizing etc
- Smoother web page scrolling//browsing
- Higher temperatures
- Less Battery life.
The fix:
It is a simple task of locating a kext and disabling it, then forcing the discrete GPU.
The kext is located in;
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext
-To disable it, right click the kext and rename the .kext extension to .disable
(to reverse this later just rename back to .kext)
-It will ask for the password, just enter and continue.
-The kext will now be a directory folder.
-Next is to erase the kext cache to be rebuilt this is easy;
-Navigate to /System/Library/Caches and drag the com.apple.kext.caches folder to the trash and empty it from trash (don't worry it's rebuilt on reboot)
Restart your retina MBP.
Now go to Energy Saver settings in System Preferences and uncheck "automatic graphics switching"
Or alternatively use gfxcardstatus to force the discrete GPU.
Finally if all followed correctly you should notice a significantly smoother UI.
As stated above, the downsides to this are that the GPU will constantly be in full power mode at it's proper full clock speed, this generates more heat and in turn will consume more power.
Use at your own risk, but if the added heat and battery life decrease doesn't matter to you by all means do this.
First: let me declare neither me nor throttlemesiter take any responsibility for any damage caused to your machine as a result of this.
Second: credit to throttlemeister for supplying me with a kext and uncovering this fix, he deserves all of the credit I am merely a tester and writer off this guide.
What to expect:
- Smoother transition between spaces and in and out of mission control
- Smoother UI whilst using scaled resolutions such as 1920x1200 etc.
- Smoother animations in windows, resizing etc
- Smoother web page scrolling//browsing
- Higher temperatures
- Less Battery life.
The fix:
It is a simple task of locating a kext and disabling it, then forcing the discrete GPU.
The kext is located in;
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext
-To disable it, right click the kext and rename the .kext extension to .disable
(to reverse this later just rename back to .kext)
-It will ask for the password, just enter and continue.
-The kext will now be a directory folder.
-Next is to erase the kext cache to be rebuilt this is easy;
-Navigate to /System/Library/Caches and drag the com.apple.kext.caches folder to the trash and empty it from trash (don't worry it's rebuilt on reboot)
Restart your retina MBP.
Now go to Energy Saver settings in System Preferences and uncheck "automatic graphics switching"
Or alternatively use gfxcardstatus to force the discrete GPU.
Finally if all followed correctly you should notice a significantly smoother UI.
As stated above, the downsides to this are that the GPU will constantly be in full power mode at it's proper full clock speed, this generates more heat and in turn will consume more power.
Use at your own risk, but if the added heat and battery life decrease doesn't matter to you by all means do this.
