Intel HD Graphics 630 is worthless?

[Suffa]

Hi,

I have the 15" 2017 MacBook Pro with Intel HD Graphics 630 as the low-power chip and the Radeon Pro 555 as the high-performing one.

I don't understand why it doesn't switch to the Radeon Pro 555 if you do anything heavier than write a word document. Browsing the web, scrolling, watching Netflix/youtube.. whatever. Everything is choppy with the Intel HD chip. As soon as I turn the graphics switcher off in settings, everything runs so much smoother with the Radeon chip; scrolling apple's website, which is sort of a heavy graphic site, is a million times smoother..

Another problem I'm experiencing is something peculiar happening when watching Netflix. On the Intel chip, green stripes irregularly pop up over the screen, less than a second before disappearing.

I just feel bad for people not knowing that you can turn the Intel chip off because buying a $3000 machine with a worthless online experience, as a result, is just offensive.

 

[88Keys]

Battery power conservation, so not worthless. Although I admit, it'd be nice if you could set thresholds. It should always run off of the dGPU if plugged in IMO.

 

[Suffa]

Yeah, I guess not worthless. But is substituting great battery life worth the opportunity cost of good user experience? Maybe to some extent, but I think the power distribution needs to be re-configured. Make a slightly thicker case, bigger battery and more distribution to the high-performance GPU.. but what can I do.

I agree with you that it should always run off of the dGPU when plugged in. Why the hell isn't it?
[doublepost=1541730924][/doublepost]You'd expect the browsing experience to be on par with the iPad. The Radeon makes it quite smooth, but still, nowhere near as smooth as that delicious 120Hz iPad. But then again, the GPU and CPU is more powerful than the MacBook Pro anyway :facepalm:

 

[_Kiki_]

HD 630 is smooth in Windows 10, so probably problem is on the side MacOS (energy optimised scheme)

 

[Falhófnir]

It does seem underpowered on the 15” for some reason - it’s strange because the 12” MacBook and new MacBook Air run better on really anaemic HD 615/617 graphics. The 15” is drawing and interpolating a higher resolution (both virtual and physical) so maybe that’s the difference?

Battery power conservation, so not worthless. Although I admit, it'd be nice if you could set thresholds. It should always run off of the dGPU if plugged in IMO.

You can turn switching off (run dGPU constantly) in settings, just have to do it manually rather than it doing it automatically.

 

[RobbieTT]

HD 630 is smooth in Windows 10, so probably problem is on the side MacOS (energy optimised scheme)

Normally buttery smooth on MacOS too with the OP's workload. Something is amiss as the integrated graphics should manage such tasks with ease.

 

[cynics]

Preferences > Energy Saver > uncheck automatic graphics switching.

If you want to know in real time which GPU is being used and more active control over which is being used you can use this control.

https://gfx.io

Honestly I would investigate into other things or patiently wait for any update. HD graphic 650 is more than powerful enough for the basic task you are describing. I'm using much less powerful hardware doing more than what you are asking of it which leads me to believe there is an optimization issue or your system is doing something else at that moment.

I have an issue with Safari currently where I get a beachball and CPU shoots up and it just sits there until I get the Safari error that something went wrong (on my end like an iPad). Regardless you can try the above to see if it makes a difference.