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How to use MBP dual Graphics?

T

thormarketing

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 6, 2009
65
1
Sorry if this question has been answered before, I searched but was having trouble finding a solution. I just got my MBP today and I am excited to test its full capabilities.

To activate the dedicated graphics card, do I just switch "Graphics: Higher performance"under Energy Saver? As I understand it, that should do it.

The reason I'm just confused, is I downloaded the Doom 3 demo and tried playing it at high settings, and it had a poor FPS and lagged. Then I tested it under both "Higher performance" and "Better battery life" for graphics, and it seemed to run at the exact same rate, looking a bit choppy. What gives? Am I not activating the graphics card right? I thought the dedicated graphics were supposed to be much better.

Thank you in advance for any help! :)
 
getz76 said:
Did you change to "Better Performance" under both the Battery and AC Power tabs?
Click to expand...

+1

The battery will minimize performance when it's not plugged into power, unless you manually change the performance information in system preferences.
 
I have the MBP plugged in (This is 2.8ghz, with 512 video card) and changed both "Battery" and "Power Adapter" tabs to "Higher Performance," but the game still appears choppy during scenes that seem to include any sort of special effect (such as in the very begging, the thrust jets from the ship).

Would there be a program that could test the video card is actually functioning, or maybe this is performance I should just expect?

Thanks again.
 
Demosthenes X said:
You need to log out for the change to take effect.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I forgot to mention I did log out, and when that didn't seem to affect anything, I rebooted.

I'll go ahead and test a couple other games and see if this seems to be a quirk, or if I might actually have some sort of problem. Thanks!
 
Yep, go to Prefs, change Energy Saver to Higher Performance and it'll force you to log off and back on - then you're in GT mode. I run mine like this all the time, just because...
To see for certain, go to Apple, About this Mac and click More Info to get into System Profiler. Then choose Graphics and it'll display info on the right. The active GPU will show a Display and information for it (resolution, etc) and the inactive will show no display attached.
 
ian.maffett said:
..
To see for certain, go to Apple, About this Mac and click More Info to get into System Profiler. Then choose Graphics and it'll display info on the right. The active GPU will show a Display and information for it (resolution, etc) and the inactive will show no display attached.
Click to expand...

Thanks ian! Yeah, it definitely says the 9600M GT is active. So at least it seems to be working fine, i just wonder why an old game like Doom3 gave such laggy performance.
 
Although there are OS X ports that will run games, a Mac is just not a gaming OS or an OS that developers really concentrate and focus on. Even old games such as Warcraft III has many bugs and performance issues. If you can, try to get a Windows version.
 
Okay, I'm a dumbass. I just found out the Doom3 was a PowerPC app... D'oh

Sorry for wasting everyone's time.

I tested Black & White 2 on high settings and it worked fine without a hitch, I'll go through and test some more intense games.

Thanks for all the help!
 
Okay, just tested the "ToCA - Honda Civic" demo and it ran very fast without a glitch. I guess it's actually fairly impressive that this computer could handle the PPC demo of a game at any sort of reasonable speed - under total emulation I guess? Awesome, lol.
 
thormarketing said:
Okay, just tested the "ToCA - Honda Civic" demo and it ran very fast without a glitch. I guess it's actually fairly impressive that this computer could handle the PPC demo of a game at any sort of reasonable speed - under total emulation I guess? Awesome, lol.
Click to expand...

where are you getting your demos from, if you don't mind me asking? I wouldn't mind test driving a couple of games (Left 4 Dead) but I can never seem to track any down!!
 
fishkorp said:
You need to change to "higher performance" and then reboot I think. That's all.
Click to expand...

When I first got my uMBP 17", I did exactly that...it logged me out and the screen NEVER came back on!!! Applecare tried to revive it, but to no avail. They said that I probably got a defective video card?!

Anywayz, I brought it back to my nearest Apple retailer and got a new one. I haven't tried it again yet:confused: But I guess I should try it out again just in case it does it again.

Did anyone else have this happen to them?
 
dont run games in osx. I did the same thing with COD2 demo when I got mine and it ran horrid. In windows I can run quake 4 max settings and get 60 fps easily. So doom3 will be a breeze also. In fact I was thinking of giving it another go since I cheated the first time I played it through...
 
Sorry for the newb question, but If you are not playing games, are there any other noticeable benefits of switching to the "better" graphics card?
 
cni2i said:
When I first got my uMBP 17", I did exactly that...it logged me out and the screen NEVER came back on!!! Applecare tried to revive it, but to no avail. They said that I probably got a defective video card?!

Anywayz, I brought it back to my nearest Apple retailer and got a new one. I haven't tried it again yet:confused: But I guess I should try it out again just in case it does it again.

Did anyone else have this happen to them?
Click to expand...

Similar. My latest gen 15" MBP had a faulty graphics card. Returned and exchanged for 17". So far so good...but it seems the Nvidia cards have issues switching form 9400/9600 modes.
 
cni2i said:
Sorry for the newb question, but If you are not playing games, are there any other noticeable benefits of switching to the "better" graphics card?
Click to expand...

I have yet the need for the 9600m GT. I've pretty much stayed with the 9400 and haven't ran into any problems. Take into consideration that I am not playing games in OSX or doing high graphic work. Just surfing, DVDs, etc..
 
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