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Leopard dock running much slower on SR MB (X3100) than non-SR (GMA950) ??

N

Neverland

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 9, 2007
17
0
Hi there,

I've two MB's.
1) MB C2D 2,16 120 GB Superdrive GMA 950 - Leopard installed by an Drop-in MB-only Leopard Install CD, so an already running 10.4.10 with apps etc. was upgraded, now 10.5.1

2) MB C2D SR 2,2 120 GB Superdrive X3100 - Leopard pre-installed, now 10.5.1

The movement of both 3D-docks, looking side by side (with nearly same zoom config) is tremendous more fluent on the MB 1 - but looking at the Activity monitor at the same tame on both MB's - the MB 1 tooks one CPU core with full capacity and the second to a normal ground level usage.
The MB 2 tooks online 10%-15% of both cores - but the performance of the dock sucks. The same thing for core animations on Stacks :-(

Where is the problem? Re-install on the MB 2 ? Is it a known driver issue ? I've heard there are similiar problems with MBP's - is that right?

Thanks for any answers and sry for bad english
 
Maybe it´s a RAM issue? I have a MB C2D SR 2,2 120 GB Superdrive X3100 - Leopard pre-installed, but with 4 GB of RAM an no problems with the Dock....
 
GMA x3100

i wouldn't say it's ram problems i have a new SR MB Black 2.2ghz with 2Gb ram and i'm so disappointed with the graphics performance.

And i'm not talking about the games, just regular leapord use. Exposé, Docs, Word and PDF viewing, on-line videos etc..

Hope it's a driver problem because i've sent it back to apple once and they've changed my motherboard and i still have the same problem. Hope 10.5.2 fixes it, i don't want send it back because apart from the graphic problems i trully love it.
 
Strange. I have a 2.2GHz SR MacBook (black) and a 2.0GHz Core Duo (white) and I see no such graphics issues with the dock, window minimizing, etc.

Do you have any apps or such running in the background? Is Spotlight actively indexing?
 
xraydoc said:
Strange. I have a 2.2GHz SR MacBook (black) and a 2.0GHz Core Duo (white) and I see no such graphics issues with the dock, window minimizing, etc.

Do you have any apps or such running in the background? Is Spotlight actively indexing?
Click to expand...

No nothing. i've formated it more then once, actualy twice. I've chaged the motherboard once and still the same problem! Exactly this that bothers me, why some of us have this problem and others don't.

It's sad but i wish it was a common problem, i'm kind of scared i have a faulty MB on my hands.

Btw, have you tried xbench on your SR MB? people i have talked to that have the same problem as i do get terrible opengl ratings, lower 20's when older MB the ones with gma 950 get 280.. that's not a small gap lol

P.S. i know xbench isn't the best benchmark software but still you can't ignore the 260 point gap
 
nadirturkman said:
No nothing. i've formated it more then once, actualy twice. I've chaged the motherboard once and still the same problem! Exactly this that bothers me, why some of us have this problem and others don't.

It's sad but i wish it was a common problem, i'm kind of scared i have a faulty MB on my hands.

Btw, have you tried xbench on your SR MB? people i have talked to that have the same problem as i do get terrible opengl ratings, lower 20's when older MB the ones with gma 950 get 280.. that's not a small gap lol

P.S. i know xbench isn't the best benchmark software but still you can't ignore the 260 point gap
Click to expand...
If that's the case, then it sounds like a driver issue - something that Apple could fix (and rumors are that improved X3100 drivers are part of the 10.5.2 update).

Edit: FYI - my XBench numbers (not on a clean reboot, by the way - other stuff running idle)
Quartz graphics: 151.62
OpenGL: 22.40
User Interface: 191.99

**Don't forget - a score of 100 on this test is what a 2.0GHz dual-processor G5 with an nVidia 6800GT video card would get.

Barefeats.com shows some game tests with the X3100 taking a (small) lead over the GMA950.

Edit 2:
Link: http://www.barefeats.com/mbook2.html
They don't specify which OS (Leopard or Tiger).
 
xraydoc said:
If that's the case, then it sounds like a driver issue - something that Apple could fix (and rumors are that improved X3100 drivers are part of the 10.5.2 update).

Edit: FYI - my XBench numbers (not on a clean reboot, by the way - other stuff running idle)
Quartz graphics: 151.62
OpenGL: 22.40
User Interface: 191.99

**Don't forget - a score of 100 on this test is what a 2.0GHz dual-processor G5 with an nVidia 6800GT video card would get.

Barefeats.com shows some game tests with the X3100 taking a (small) lead over the GMA950.

Edit 2:
Link: http://www.barefeats.com/mbook2.html
They don't specify which OS (Leopard or Tiger).
Click to expand...

Those framerates are all still low enough to where software configurations on the older MacBook could have been holding it back.

In a real world situation, the X3100 is not any better than the GMA950, despite being much better on paper. It's mostly due to the immature drivers and the fact that the hardware is really poorly designed.

I have the MacBook with the GMA 950 in it and its going back and forth now for repairs. I actually don't want it replaced because I don't want the X3100. System stability is far more important to me than an extra frame or two in games.
 
I think this is definitely a drivers issue. No way the gma950's performance should be better, but it is.

There is supposed to be leopard graphics update coming after 10.5.2, so I hope it corrects the problem...
 
Download and run onyx, clear the system and application cache as well as running the maintenance scripts. I haven't noticed mine being slow, so I doubt it's a driver issue.
 
Fezzasus said:
Download and run onyx, clear the system and application cache as well as running the maintenance scripts. I haven't noticed mine being slow, so I doubt it's a driver issue.
Click to expand...

I've done that, and actually used Leopard Cache Cleaner also. Still it should work fine after a fresh Install o Leopard but even then it lags. Weird.

xraydoc said:
If that's the case, then it sounds like a driver issue - something that Apple could fix (and rumors are that improved X3100 drivers are part of the 10.5.2 update).

Edit: FYI - my XBench numbers (not on a clean reboot, by the way - other stuff running idle)
Quartz graphics: 151.62
OpenGL: 22.40
User Interface: 191.99

**Don't forget - a score of 100 on this test is what a 2.0GHz dual-processor G5 with an nVidia 6800GT video card would get.

Barefeats.com shows some game tests with the X3100 taking a (small) lead over the GMA950.

Edit 2:
Link: http://www.barefeats.com/mbook2.html
They don't specify which OS (Leopard or Tiger).
Click to expand...

yes exactly the same scores as mine. try comparing it with a macbook with the old gma 950, opengl scores have a huge gap. i tried it the other day a gma 950 scored 288 on the opengl ratings and got creamed every where else..
 
People It's freaking Drivers. Don't worry apple didn't rip you off by putting a crappier card then the GMA 950, it is better.
Just wait till they release better drivers for it, and calm the hell down.:rolleyes:
 
Anybody have any idea when we can expect this update? As my macbook arives soon, it will be of particular importance to me to get these drivers going well.

Does anybody know if the drivers are any better in windows? Or will the benchmarks be pretty much the same?
 
Crow47 said:
Anybody have any idea when we can expect this update? As my macbook arives soon, it will be of particular importance to me to get these drivers going well.

Does anybody know if the drivers are any better in windows? Or will the benchmarks be pretty much the same?
Click to expand...

No. It's still a "secret". But won't take too long.. i hope.
 
I've bought my MB just a few days ago and I am happy to tell that I am more than happy with it. Was a PC users before, but now I love Mac. Anyway, since the first day I noticed that the Minimize animations, some dock effects were slow/choppy.

I downloaded the Leopard Graphics Update and it fixed the minimization lag, but the dock is still slow, for example if I open applications at the dock the animation is like on an old 133MHz PC.

I have 2.2GHZ, Leopard 10.5.2 and upgraded to 4GB ram with 120GB HDD. Does anyone know of a solution, or we should wait for new drivers again?
 
dog24 said:
I've bought my MB just a few days ago and I am happy to tell that I am more than happy with it. Was a PC users before, but now I love Mac. Anyway, since the first day I noticed that the Minimize animations, some dock effects were slow/choppy.

I downloaded the Leopard Graphics Update and it fixed the minimization lag, but the dock is still slow, for example if I open applications at the dock the animation is like on an old 133MHz PC.

I have 2.2GHZ, Leopard 10.5.2 and upgraded to 4GB ram with 120GB HDD. Does anyone know of a solution, or we should wait for new drivers again?
Click to expand...

That's a known issue for Leopard Graphics update just have to wait.
 
I too have just purchased a Macbook "SantaRosa" 2.2Ghz Black and was a little surprised to c the benchmark score for OpenGL so low. This test was performed using Xbench which I don't think its properly testing the X3100 shared graphics, given that the previous Intel GMA950 chipset is scoring higher on the OpenGL in Xbench - that can't be right as graphic and game performance is well documented to be up in performance with the new X1300 Chipset.

As for dock animation I can't say its been a problem other than a bit jerky on opening apps with show/hide applied to the dock, window animation is fine. I turn off all of the eye-candy anyway with Cocktail.

Unlikely:
If this were an OpenGL issue with the X3100 board in comparison to the GMA950 (going by Xbench results) then apple would be aware of it and probably would not consider this to be an issue for the MacBook Market. I want to find it hard to believe they would go backwards with this product.

Although a graphics update for 10.5.2 has been applied by Apple - don't know if this is an indication that their is an OpenGL issue with X3100 but it hasn't made a difference to the Xbench OpenGL test.

CineBench10 results are more accurate and here they are:

MacBook GMA950: 1260 (OpenGL Benchmark)
MacBook X3100: 2030 (OpenGL Benchmark)

A general note is that this macbook does perform very well with everything I have thrown at it so far. Its is also worth noting that GPU intensive apps are always going to an issue on shared graphics. I have not tested myself but from a gaming point of view I don't think its all bad :) other users appear to have decent results with quality games - its worth looking at YouTube for video of both earlier and recent versions of the MacBook playing games like CounterStrikeSource and HalfLife 2 via BootCamp and CrossOver - see for yourself.
 
Ok this one I am not understanding Photoshop is CPU intensive not GPU. I downloaded and ran the test from http://www.retouchartists.com/pages/speedtest.html and cannot believe the results in comparison to lesser MacBooks even a 2Ghz CoreDuo machine takes half the time. (my Mac in Red)


Macbook 2Ghz Intel C2D 2GB RAM 120GB 5400rpm CS3b : 1m1s

Macbook 2Ghz Intel C2D 1GB RAM 80GB 5400rpm CS2 : 1m40s

Macbook 2.2Ghz Intel C2D 1GB RAM 160GB 5400rpm CS2 : 6m40s

Macbook 2Ghz Intel CD 2GB RAM 60GB 100GB 5400rpm CS2 : 3m10s

wtf
 
There's definatly a difference in graphical performance between these new SR macbooks with the x3100 compared with the old ones with the gma 950. the reason for that difference it's still a mistery but i really start believing it's the drivers. And i say this because if u run Slackware on the these SR Macbooks they run really well graphical applications.. and why ? because slackware uses there own x3100 drivers. And regarding the person that said to watch on youtube games on the macbooks via bootcamp, this being, runing on windows platform well.. they run better *I THINK* because they use the microsoft developed drivers for the x3100 wich has been on windows based laptops for a while! Again *I THINK* it's the only logical explanation.. that or they cocked up with this x3100 choice.
It's a matter of time untill apple solves this problem.. i guess.. well i really hope since i have a SR macbook my self.

Cheers
 
I have found a solution for the Minimize choppy graphics, however, some effect are still slow for example if I open a stack in Grid mode. Also, dashboard isn't fix, just the Genie, Scale effect fix.

I downloaded TinkerTool utility, and there is a panel for Dock options, I changed effect from Genie to Suck in, and then back a few times, and after that, all minimize effect work like a charm.

Hope it helps.

Please reply if it will work for you too.
 
desistyle said:
I think this is definitely a drivers issue. No way the gma950's performance should be better, but it is.

There is supposed to be leopard graphics update coming after 10.5.2, so I hope it corrects the problem...
Click to expand...

That's already been released... but yeah the X3100 drivers on mac os side of things really are immature. Apple & Intel need to work to getting this sorted. No way should the GMA950 outperform it.
 
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