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

Google Chrome Forces the Nvidia GPU?

Muscle Master

Muscle Master

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 15, 2010
581
113
Philadelphia
I read something interesting over at Notebook Review..

Link

I didn't try Chrome long enough to realize if it's true or not, the UI is ass to me and Safari or Firefox are my browsers of choice.. Has anyone notice a decline in battery life because of this or it's very minimal?
 
Possible result of Chromes GPU acceleration.

Might be able to disable it by entering "about:flags" in the address bar and disabling the two options for it on that screen.
 
I noticed this yesterday. Is there a quicker way to check which GPU you're on other than going into system profiler and looking at which GPU shows displays are connected to it?
 
perfectshadows said:
thanks that works a treat lol
Click to expand...
You can also force it to stay on whichever GPU as well as assigning profiles for plugged/unplugged but the unplugged profile doesnt work for me.

Doesn't matter, kid did a good job and I just keep NVIDIA on since I have it plugged in most of the time.
 
Thanks for the link, I read a thread a few days ago with someone talking about an application that could show which GPU but I could never find a reference to it. Now I just need to get through the day of using my work windows XP desktop so I can get home to my MBP and install it! :)
 
Krafty said:
You can also force it to stay on whichever GPU as well as assigning profiles for plugged/unplugged but the unplugged profile doesnt work for me.

Doesn't matter, kid did a good job and I just keep NVIDIA on since I have it plugged in most of the time.
Click to expand...

Have you tried the newest one? I had the problem with the profiles about 4-5 months ago but the new one works great.
 
tjb1 said:
Have you tried the newest one? I had the problem with the profiles about 4-5 months ago but the new one works great.
Click to expand...
Yes, I have the latest version. As mentioned, its not a big deal as I leave mines plugged in most of the time. If anything, I just change it to Intel if I'm going to be doing little on battery for a while.
 
Hi i noticed you have a 13" mbpro late 2010 same as mine - this only comes with the one GFXcard...the 320M...


Your Sig:

Apple Macbook Pro 13 (late 2010)
OS X Snow Leopard / Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.4GHz / 4GB DDR3 1066MHz / WLED 1280x800 / OCZ Vertex 2 120GB / 256MB Nvidia GeForce 320M / Lojack / Applecare


Muscle Master said:
I read something interesting over at

Notebook Review..

Link

I didn't try Chrome long enough to realize if it's true or not, the UI is ass to me and Safari or Firefox are my browsers of choice.. Has anyone notice a decline in battery life because of this or it's very minimal?
Click to expand...
 
Its due to the way Apple implemented that GPU's framework. When ever a specific framework or API is called then the dedicated GPU turns on instantly. Even if it's not needed or wanted. You can use the intel GPU acceleration with out the nVidia GPU, but Apple won't let you.
 
Krafty said:
Yes, I have the latest version. As mentioned, its not a big deal as I leave mines plugged in most of the time. If anything, I just change it to Intel if I'm going to be doing little on battery for a while.
Click to expand...

Never mind, it seems to remember the profile but forgets to switch sometimes...like if I unplug it while closed/sleeping it doesnt switch cards.
 
tjb1 said:
Never mind, it seems to remember the profile but forgets to switch sometimes...like if I unplug it while closed/sleeping it doesnt switch cards.
Click to expand...
Thats what I was talking about, I guess I worded it wrong. I have dynamic for unplugged but when I do it sticks to NVIDIA (with no programs running), and if I turn it to Intel and plug it in it switches like so.
 
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