Is there a performance difference from the RBP and new MBP?

[Diversion]

Well due to the fact none of my Best Buys had any stock of the Retina model, I pulled the trigger on the regular cMBP. It's still really snappy for platter HDD.. And I don't mind the added thickness.. coming from an Early '11 model with 2.2ghz.

I opted for the 2.6ghz upgrade for the full 1gb of VRAM since I do spend unrespectable amounts of gaming.. How can you respect lots of time in gaming?

After hearing about the Retina model having a higher clocked 650M (equally to or beyond the power of a 660M) i've decided to give the cMBP model a chance as I spend all my gaming time in Windows anyways.. I will be testing the overclockability in Windows on the cMBP to see if I can match the Retina people's overclocks and benchmarks.. If I can achieve the same performance in Windows side, i'll be keeping this unit for sure.. I'm a silver member with Best Buy so I have a solid 60 days of testing and decision making. If not, i'll just place an order for a Retina model.

I'll report back as soon as I get some numbers and testing done!

 

[mykelala01]

You stated how bad the FPS is at higher resolutions. By turning down resolutions in-game you can boost the FPS to 60, and still make the game graphics look great.

This guy is confused? Frame rate makes your game responsive and smooth flowing. Turning down the resolution does not make your game graphics look better.

 

[mark28]

I play mostly in Windows anyways.. I just wonder if the fat MBP can overclock as much as the Retina.

In theory, the regular MBP can overclock much higher. If you remove the super drive then you can install some sort of custom cooling.

I haven't seen anyone do such a thing though.

 

[ilgreatluigi]

This guy is confused? Frame rate makes your game responsive and smooth flowing. Turning down the resolution does not make your game graphics look better.

I'm not confused Mr. kool-aid. A person does not need to play on maxed resolution in order to have a great graphical experience with the rMBP. Read the comments after me and you'll find that other people agree.

 

[ilgreatluigi]

Well due to the fact none of my Best Buys had any stock of the Retina model, I pulled the trigger on the regular cMBP. It's still really snappy for platter HDD.. And I don't mind the added thickness.. coming from an Early '11 model with 2.2ghz.

I opted for the 2.6ghz upgrade for the full 1gb of VRAM since I do spend unrespectable amounts of gaming.. How can you respect lots of time in gaming?

After hearing about the Retina model having a higher clocked 650M (equally to or beyond the power of a 660M) i've decided to give the cMBP model a chance as I spend all my gaming time in Windows anyways.. I will be testing the overclockability in Windows on the cMBP to see if I can match the Retina people's overclocks and benchmarks.. If I can achieve the same performance in Windows side, i'll be keeping this unit for sure.. I'm a silver member with Best Buy so I have a solid 60 days of testing and decision making. If not, i'll just place an order for a Retina model.

I'll report back as soon as I get some numbers and testing done!

Good luck.

 

[Slivortal]

Unless you replace the HDD in your MBP with a nice SSD, you're not going to see the HD bottleneck before the CPU and GPU ever would (assuming normal use).

 

[wethackrey]

Was there any evidence that the RBP was any slower (cpu downclocked under load or gpu downclocks) when under loads compared to the normal "fat" MBP with same cpu/gpu?

I'm asking because i'm concerned if the RBP has cooling issues and ends up downclocking it's GPU/CPU as a result whereas the regular MBP can maintain it's performance in any situation.

Actually the MBPr has very much improved thermal specs compared to the previous designs. Mine is very comfortable on my lap, even under very heavy usage and it's incredibly quiet. I've been doing serious work for four hours now with two VMs running and, for the first time since I've owned the machine, the fans are at full speed. This is the first I've ever noticed them without listening for them. Even now, they're very quiet and the entire bottom surface is quite comfortable.

As for graphics performance, the MBPr GPU isn't downclocked. It's actually overclocked to support the bazillion pixels in the display.