GPUs for Dummies: (6490 vs 6750)

[Rend It]

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Here's a question:

What kind of performance boost will I see (graphics-wise) by replacing my 2.0 GHz C2D MacBook (GMA 950) with the 2011 13" MBP (w 2.3 GHz i5)?

I don't play any games, but I do use 3D CAD programs a couple times a month.

 

[Rend It]

Removed double post.

 

[Littleodie914]

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Here's a question:

What kind of performance boost will I see (graphics-wise) by replacing my 2.0 GHz C2D MacBook (GMA 950) with the 2011 13" MBP (w 2.3 GHz i5)?

I don't play any games, but I do use 3D CAD programs a couple times a month.

You'll see a fairly enormous improvement.

According to notebookcheck.net, the HD 3000 scores 8695.8 on 3DMark05, while the GMA 950 only scored a 407.3. The other tests show similar improvements.

GMA 950

HD 3000

 

[nebulos]

I'd suggest adding a mini-benchmark section

great idea. i will work on this, including all your helpful info, very soon. thanks!

as part of the benchmark section, we can add scores for common mac GPUs, present to past. among other things, this will allow people to compare their current (older) GPU with one of the new ones, to gauge "upgrade value", as Rend_It and Littleodie914 were just discussing.

 

[nebulos]

zillionth edit. (also trying to work up to hourly thread title changes.) me = crazy.

also, this may be a first, but i've tried to hijack my own post!

... i wanna order my comp soon: please read my personal question in blue!

(i should be overthrown for such a shameless abuse of power.)

(... wait, i have no power. ... all is well!)

 

[rareflares]

Very useful thread, keep up the good work.

 

[Rend It]

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Here's a question:

What kind of performance boost will I see (graphics-wise) by replacing my 2.0 GHz C2D MacBook (GMA 950) with the 2011 13" MBP (w 2.3 GHz i5)?

I don't play any games, but I do use 3D CAD programs a couple times a month.

You'll see a fairly enormous improvement.

According to notebookcheck.net, the HD 3000 scores 8695.8 on 3DMark05, while the GMA 950 only scored a 407.3. The other tests show similar improvements.

GMA 950

HD 3000

Thanks for digging that up. I just got my base i5 13" MBP today. Lovely machine. Quiet, runs cool for the most part, and the SSD is great. Safari opens in less than one bounce. Boot times aren't shockingly fast, but wake seems instantaneous. I would highly recommend this combo for non-gamers wanting to maximize performance/price. The extra $300 for the i7 doesn't seem worth it unless your livelihood depends on the incremental speed boost.

Hope you can keep this thread alive!

 

[nebulos]

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Thanks for digging that up. I just got my base i5 13" MBP today. Lovely machine. Quiet, runs cool for the most part, and the SSD is great. Safari opens in less than one bounce. Boot times aren't shockingly fast, but wake seems instantaneous. I would highly recommend this combo for non-gamers wanting to maximize performance/price. The extra $300 for the i7 doesn't seem worth it unless your livelihood depends on the incremental speed boost.

Hope you can keep this thread alive!

congrats! if i weren't such a sucker for high-res + anti-glare, i would have already gone with the base 13". in my opinion, it's a great choice, (which i'm still considering).

enjoy it!

 

[SamIchi]

Does anyone have experience with these specific software?

SolidWorks
Rhino
3d
Alias
Showroom
Keyshot

Thanks!

 

[TSE]

Would the HD 3000 and Core i5 be able to run Hulu 480p fullscreen on a 1920x1200 monitor?

Will the HD 3000 be able to run Deus Ex Human Revolution on low settings?

 

[Littleodie914]

Would the HD 3000 and Core i5 be able to run Hulu 480p fullscreen on a 1920x1200 monitor?

Will the HD 3000 be able to run Deus Ex Human Revolution on low settings?

I would definitely think so. My Macbook with the X3100 and a Core 2 Duo can run Hulu 480p fullscreen at that resolution. CPU hits around 90%, but playback seems pretty smooth for the most part.

 

[nebulos]

thread losing blood, fast.

SO MANY QUESTIONS!

also, wasn't really getting much closer to answering MY questions.

a thought occurred: FOCUS ON ONE QUESTION AT A TIME!

... we'll see if that helps.

post if you wanna see more!

 

[laserbeam273]

Great thread! Sounds like the 2011 6490 isn't much of a jump from getting the 2010 330M 512 MB. I know the 2011 processor would whip the 2010, but... sounds like the graphics card on the 2010 is actually better.

I can't quite justify getting the top end 2011 15", so given I use my mac for a little bit of gaming (colin mcrae dirt!!! ), and probably some 1080 HD film editing, what are peoples thoughts on what I should get? High-end 2010 with 512 MB vram, or low end 2011?

Haha sorry for the thread hijack, thought it was relevant though. At least you got a bump!

 

[nebulos]

Great thread! Sounds like the 2011 6490 isn't much of a jump from getting the 2010 330M 512 MB. I know the 2011 processor would whip the 2010, but... sounds like the graphics card on the 2010 is actually better.

I can't quite justify getting the top end 2011 15", so given I use my mac for a little bit of gaming (colin mcrae dirt!!! ), and probably some 1080 HD film editing, what are peoples thoughts on what I should get? High-end 2010 with 512 MB vram, or low end 2011?

Haha sorry for the thread hijack, thought it was relevant though. At least you got a bump!

Hijack for a bump? Deal!

The 330M, it seems, is indeed better than the 6490M, which people place (halfway?) between the 9600 and 330. (benchmarks in the .png on the front page)

For gaming, I don't know. For video editing, 2011 probably kills. Why not just save up the extra $300 (student price)? ... Unless you pick up a good refurb deal; The old 2.4 i5 330M base model goes for $1269 when you can catch it! (Personally, I want high res, which is even harder to snag as refurb, but i also want quad, so 2011 for me.)

Good luck!

 

[falcor87]

Is the Intel 3000 good enough to smoothly run a 2560x1440 cinema display?

(answers needed)

No experience with the 3000 or the 2569x1440 cinema display but... I am on a very old macbook. It's GPU is an Intel GMA 950, only 64mb of shared memory. This a very old predecessor of the intel HD 3000 and while I don't know about a 2560x1440 display mine will run a 1080p tv no problem, completely smooth as if I'm using my own laptop screen.

Also, the HD 3000 is receiving way to much criticism. Everyone saying the 13 inch will be useless for anything but surfing the web must be on crack. It's not going to show up in the professional gaming world but if my GMA 950 can give me 20-25 fps in wow (okay outside of major cities) and starcraft, and hd video out the the HD 3000 with a whopping 21 times higher 3D benchmark won't be something to complain about in a 13 inch laptop.

That said.... it's not like I wouldn't love a discrete option

 

[laserbeam273]

Hijack for a bump? Deal!

The 330M, it seems, is indeed better than the 6490M, which people place (halfway?) between the 9600 and 330. (benchmarks in the .png on the front page)

For gaming, I don't know. For video editing, 2011 probably kills. Why not just save up the extra $300 (student price)? ... Unless you pick up a good refurb deal; The old 2.4 i5 330M base model goes for $1269 when you can catch it! (Personally, I want high res, which is even harder to snag as refurb, but i also want quad, so 2011 for me.)

Good luck!

I've currently got the 8600M GT, so either one should be an amazing upgrade for me! I guess I really need to figure out how under-performing my computer is to know how much of an upgrade I need. One of the key reasons is battery life, mine struggles to last 3 hours on 1 above minimum brightness. I haven't actually started doing HD video editing, so I suppose I should get going on that before I consider a purchase!

Definitely going with a refurb deal, looking for the current generation to start being offered. I'm in Aus and it seems like prices are a significant bit higher over here, even though the AUD is beating USD at the moment.

Hmm. Decisions.

 

[Mac-key]

can anyone tell me how the graphics card in the base 15 handles the Final Cut Suite - particularly Motion and Color??

Obviously, the high 15 would be better, but $300-$400 worth it better??

 

[nebulos]

... 1 above minimum brightness.

i think they make the inmates at Guantanamo do this. i'm sorry.

Definitely going with a refurb deal

that's the way to go. i've been without a 'real' computer for over a YEAR! so, i don't think i can wait anymore; otherwise, it'd be refurb for sure.

good luck!

 

[nebulos]

... the HD 3000 is receiving way to much criticism.

i'm sure the criticisms seem/are exaggerated. the voices in most GPU discussions are predominantly gamers (the whole point behind this thread); 'intel graphics' is a bad word in their language (whether or not it should continue to be), granted, the 3000HD is a step down from the previous 320M.

for the rest of us, all that talk causes anxiety; Will the 3000 handle my high res monitor? Photoshop? Video? ... Can I do these things on a 2560x1440 display with no problem? (Well, those are my questions anyways. And that was the (unclear) context for the question.)

I wouldn't doubt the 3000 could handle these, but that's after having learned a little more in the last week; Essentially, people say any 2D problem like those above, the 3000HD (or any modern GPU, integrated or not) can handle readily. (correct me if i'm wrong.)

anyways, i guess i should fix the question again.

THANKS!

 

[nebulos]

(ahem)

 

[icbreeze]

Does anyone have experience with these specific software?

SolidWorks
Rhino
3d
Alias
Showroom
Keyshot

Thanks!

Will get back to you on that question. My MBP is not due in until sometime next week. Ordered it earlier this week.

Definitely will be installing, Rhino5 (beta or whatever it is now), Keyshot2, Adobe CS5 suite and etc...

 

[murc585]

can anyone tell me how the graphics card in the base 15 handles the Final Cut Suite - particularly Motion and Color??

Obviously, the high 15 would be better, but $300-$400 worth it better??

I'm wondering the same thing cause I'm getting one for the Final Cut Suite as well. I don't think it's worth the $300-400. In the desktop world a $350 (GTX570) gpu will compete with the fastest consumer gpu on the planet. Here we are going from mediocre to mainstream.

GPU acceleration may help in motion but motion hogs up ram most of all, I think the base gpu will do fine and that for that specific application the upgraded gpu won't do the $400 upgrade any justice. For gpu-heavy stuff like gaming there's a big difference, but for an FCP plugin, i highly doubt it.

EDIT: Plus, these machines are already running 13 degrees hotter than the previous generation at max temp. It wouldn't help that process by upping the frequency on the cpu and doubling the gpu power.

 

[laserbeam273]

i think they make the inmates at Guantanamo do this. i'm sorry.

At times I wished I could get it dimmer actually. Particularly when I want to do something like banking in public. It forces me to not be able to.

Part of the reason why I want antiglare - don't want to have to jack up my brightness massively to see past the glare, and then have everyone behind me watching me update my personal finances record or using paypal and stuff.

Wish I could add to this thread, it's so useful! Unfortunately I know little to nothing about graphics cards. There definitely seems to be a lack of information regarding MBP cards (or chips for the fussy people).

 

[nebulos]

Wish I could add to this thread, it's so useful! Unfortunately I know little to nothing about graphics cards. There definitely seems to be a lack of information regarding MBP cards (or chips for the fussy people).

Glad you like the thread.

I think it could be very useful, but, sadly, I'm not sure it's been working super well; Personally, I still have n idea which model to buy!

Again, I think the main problem here is that GPUs and what they do is not very well understood by many (gaming aside). Something like the CPU we all know is important for many things. But: Do I need a good GPU? ... A lot of us don't have a clue.

Unfortunately, if you want to know about something like 3D animation, you're slicing the MR population into first, the 3D animators, then those that really know GPUs and their function in 3D, then those that see this thread, those that don't vomit when they read it, those that care to comment, and finally those that are not murdered by ninjas before they click 'submit reply'. this is a very tiny group of individuals.


... of course, if you're out there, as for our Question of the Week-ish:

it seems for most 2D design, either 15" (maybe any dedicated GPU) is fine.

for video editing, especially with the new Final Cut, the GPU boost may come in handy, (but maybe either will still be fine)

(correct me if i'm wrong.)

How about 3D animation/design? ... I know this often comes down to drivers and not necessarily card specs, but, can anybody with some 3D wisdom tell us whether the jump to the 6750 is worth the thousands and thousands of pennies? Is the GPU really utilized in 3D work?

 

[nebulos]

anybbdy?