Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

FPS drops in Games until I reset SMC (RMBP)

S

stuaz

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 16, 2012
446
1
I have a base model RMBP with 16GB ram. I am playing World of Warcraft at around 40FPS, which is fine for me.

However, when I put the machine to sleep or machine reverts back to Intergrated GPU, I can open WoW backup and my FPS will be around 10.... unplayable.

I can fix this by resetting the SMC - a restart alone does not.

I am also using SMC Fan Control 2.4 and generally I will set the Fans around 3743 constantly while playing so as to maintain a coolish system.

If I don't use SMC Fan Control then my temp hits around 100C but I am still left with a low FPS until I reset the SMC.

I have only really noticed this since the Firmware update recently... I don't really play any other games on it to test whether it is a WoW problem or not.

I can't post of the Mac Support site for WoW as I am not an American Subscriber, so was hoping some brainy people here might be able to shed some light on this issue?

Thanks,
 
Use gfxCardStatus or a similar application to switch to your dedicated GPU before starting the game.
 
Oh really? Didn't think of that! lol.

I have Gfxcardstatus so i will give that a go.

Thank you.
 
Dark Void said:
Use gfxCardStatus or a similar application to switch to your dedicated GPU before starting the game.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't work. I already tried this.

Apparently, something in the new EFI update messed up the SMC and is causing all sorts of trouble with SpeedStep staying at low speed. I have had it happen frequently in the past few days.

Only solution thus far has been to constantly reset SMC to make sure SpeedStep kicks in and lets the CPU clock higher.

Originally, I thought it was a problem only in Bootcamp, but now I'm seeing it in Diablo 3 on Mac as well, and it's... well, irritating.
 
bill-p said:
It wouldn't work. I already tried this.

Apparently, something in the new EFI update messed up the SMC and is causing all sorts of trouble with SpeedStep staying at low speed. I have had it happen frequently in the past few days.

Only solution thus far has been to constantly reset SMC to make sure SpeedStep kicks in and lets the CPU clock higher.

Originally, I thought it was a problem only in Bootcamp, but now I'm seeing it in Diablo 3 on Mac as well, and it's... well, irritating.
Click to expand...

Ah, that's interesting.

Maybe clean install back to 10.8.1 if constantly resetting it is a hassle ... seems like it.
 
Dark Void said:
Ah, that's interesting.

Maybe clean install back to 10.8.1 if constantly resetting it is a hassle ... seems like it.
Click to expand...

its a problem with EFI, there is nothing regarding which version of the OS you are using
 
Interesting indeed, I thought it was just treated as any old update. That's kind of the worst that you're basically locked in at this point, yeah? I mean I know some users have reported improvements but it has to blow if you're not seeing such.
 
guys, my rmbp will arrive today, is it worth the risk to upgrade to 10.8.2 if it doesn't already come with it? Is it safer to install this on a clean install of ML
I believe the SMC fix thing is temporary that's why I'm reluctant to update
Is it better to wait for 10.8.3 and upgrade straight to that? any ideas when it'll be out?
 
How do you reset the SMC. I have followed the directions from Apple but my SMC refuses to reset.

Starting to piss me off. Since upgrading the EFI my Mac hangs on Shut downs also.
 
I don't know if this will help you any, but I also did the EFI update and reset my SMC. I have yet to reboot my rMBP since the update. I'm getting good frame rates with D3 (40-50fps). The game still runs the MacBook pretty hot, but doesn't shut anything down. I attached a screenshot of my settings for D3.

I'll try WoW later, I don't want to boot my sister off my account :D
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2012-09-27 at 3.51.49 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2012-09-27 at 3.51.49 PM.png
    770.7 KB · Views: 232
ryanchan said:
guys, my rmbp will arrive today, is it worth the risk to upgrade to 10.8.2 if it doesn't already come with it? Is it safer to install this on a clean install of ML
I believe the SMC fix thing is temporary that's why I'm reluctant to update
Is it better to wait for 10.8.3 and upgrade straight to that? any ideas when it'll be out?
Click to expand...

the EFI is kind of the bios, so no it doesnt matter what version of OSX you have.
 
ryanchan said:
right, so is it better to wait this out and update when .3 comes out
Click to expand...

If your EFI version is B01, and you can install 10.8.2 without updating the EFI, do so. Otherwise stay where you are until Apple releases a fixed EFI. If your computer happens to come with the latest EFI, then you may as well just update to 10.8.2 since it won't matter at that point.
 
When is that new EFI update coming. My system is completely unstable while gaming now. Reset SMC and it continues to act up. I had no throttling issues before, now it just throttles up and down. Gaming is completely out of the question now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back