Does the dedicated graphics kick in too much?

[Tydog07]

I have noticed that the dedicated graphics gets kicked in more times than not with normal usage. Spotify, Skype, Chrome, Bit torrent and a few other normal consumer apps kick it into dedicated. I have GFXcardstatus, quite a saint if you ask me. I always keep it on integrated, even watching HD video from my hard drive and streaming on the internet 720P/1080P youtube/hulu/netflix. Only time I switch it over is for FCPX/Aperture/Gaming. Any thoughts, is it just poor programming?

 

[snaky69]

I have noticed that the dedicated graphics gets kicked in more times than not with normal usage. Spotify, Skype, Chrome, Bit torrent and a few other normal consumer apps kick it into dedicated. I have GFXcardstatus, quite a saint if you ask me. I always keep it on integrated, even watching HD video from my hard drive and streaming on the internet 720P/1080P youtube/hulu/netflix. Only time I switch it over is for FCPX/Aperture/Gaming. Any thoughts, is it just poor programming?

The Apps you are using pull out an API that triggers the dedicated graphics, there is no fix, as there is theoretically no problem. A simple forum search would have told you as much.

Keep using gfxcardstatus if it bothers you, there isn't much else to be done.

 

[grahamnp]

It's working as intended but Apple's implementation of the dynamic switching is oversimplified IMO. I can't think of any intelligent way of determining which apps truly need the dedicated GPU but while we've got nothing, I'd like the ability to maintain some kind of list of apps that require the GPU... something like Optimus.

 

[Tydog07]

It's working as intended but Apple's implementation of the dynamic switching is oversimplified IMO. I can't think of any intelligent way of determining which apps truly need the dedicated GPU but while we've got nothing, I'd like the ability to maintain some kind of list of apps that require the GPU... something like Optimus.

Agreed, and I'll take a look into optimus.