i have a umbp 2.8 ghz and i pretty disappointed with the gaming performance to b honest... cod 4 mp is only playable (60 fps) on 1200x800 and all setting on low, devil may cry 4 medium-high setting and what i really thought was a bit strange, wow only medium-high with shadow and weather effects off... i expected to b able to play wow on highest settings... could i get a performance boost if i update the 9600M GT driver?
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New MBP Gaming Issues
- Thread starter aaeyers
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It's a thermal issue. I had the exact same problem while gaming under Vista with my laptop closed and on an external LCD. The computer would basically shut off after an indeterminate amount of time while gaming. I ran many thermal tests and came to the conclusion that there is significant thermal dissipation compromise while having the lid closed meaning that the cooling system can't keep up with the heat production with the lid closed. I opened the lid and there was a pretty dramatic decrease in temps. If you are gaming with the lid open, it may also be a thermal issue. The best way to check is to download a monitoring utility such as rivatuner and make a log of the temps. That way if the game shuts down you still have a written log on the hd that you can access when you reboot. I looked into altering the vbios to lower the voltage settings but can't seem to pull it off with the mbp quite yet for various reasons. Your best option is to use a fan utility to max out the rpm's and keep the laptop open while gaming. If I remember correctly, the laptop shuts down when you reach 90C or 95C with the gpu.
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That doesn't sound right. Are you playing through bootcamp? Which version of windows? I use vista 64 bit and uninstalled the defaut video drivers for laptopvideo2go.com 180.48 drivers which work well. I'm not sure about the games you are talking about specifically but I can play the orange box with 1440x900 res all settings high, 2x aa and 2x af with smooth play. Crysis everything a mix of medium and high on 1280x? Whatever it is. If I could copy and paste on my iPhone I would link you lol. Check out my other posts for the settings.
I also set the fans at 4,000 through smc fan control before restarting into vista as I've said in previous posts. Try that stuff out.
Oh and if you're playing in osx make sure higher performance is selected under energy savings in system preferences.
I realize you might already know some of this or maybe all of this, but I'm trying to cover as much as I can in one post so you can get it working sooner.
niklot said:
That doesn't sound right. Are you playing through bootcamp? Which version of windows? I use vista 64 bit and uninstalled the defaut video drivers for laptopvideo2go.com 180.48 drivers which work well. I'm not sure about the games you are talking about specifically but I can play the orange box with 1440x900 res all settings high, 2x aa and 2x af with smooth play. Crysis everything a mix of medium and high on 1280x? Whatever it is. If I could copy and paste on my iPhone I would link you lol. Check out my other posts for the settings.
I also set the fans at 4,000 through smc fan control before restarting into vista as I've said in previous posts. Try that stuff out.
Oh and if you're playing in osx make sure higher performance is selected under energy savings in system preferences.
I realize you might already know some of this or maybe all of this, but I'm trying to cover as much as I can in one post so you can get it working sooner.
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I think you're right, it seems like the fans don't kick into higher rpms fast enough in vista. I don't have any problems in osx and now that I'm using fan control haven't had problems in vista (knock on wood).
duncan75 said:
I think you're right, it seems like the fans don't kick into higher rpms fast enough in vista. I don't have any problems in osx and now that I'm using fan control haven't had problems in vista (knock on wood).
Use NTFS, not FAT to have less problems with windows.
You also need time-consuming defrags at regular interval to keep windows working.
You also need time-consuming defrags at regular interval to keep windows working.
Make that 6,000 RPM and get the latest drivers available. With the fans set to 6,000 RPM before I restart, the machine doesn't get hot at all, only slightly warm while far cry 2.
What kinds of temps are you getting after using SMC fan control? I find that without using it I am (in vista 64 bit)having the GPU idling at 69C and under full load playing crysis it gets to around 85C. Everything works fine and I've never had any of the issues stated in this thread, but if I can get the machine to run cooler by a significant amount it is worth the hassle to set fans in OS X before playing.
I've been having problems with my new 2.53 MBP too. I loved the computer at first, but when I started playing games on it, everything went to hell. While I don't have the black screen issues that others are having, I'm getting very subpar game performance on both Bootcamp Windows XP and OSX.
After playing WOW for 20-30 minutes, my frame rate would drop dramatically. Upon starting the game, I would get anywhere from 70-190 fps. About 30 seconds to a minute of running through the game, my fans would kick into full gear (6200+). Then, after a few minutes, my frame rate would dip to almost 20 and below. The game would run perfectly fine for 5 seconds, dip, run fine, dip. It almost looked as if everything were stuttering.
Now, I'm playing the game with all settings on high (except shadow detail), and I just assumed that a $2300+ machine would be able to run a 4-year-old game (granted, they've been sprucing up the graphics gradually) reasonable well. The same issue is true for the Windows XP side of things.
I've been monitoring my temps with iStat, and the CPU hasn't reached more than 176F, and the GPU hasn't reached more than 170F.
I got fed up with the problem (my early 2007 MBP ran the game much cooler and smoother with only slightly decreased settings) and decided to take it into the Apple store. The Genius told me that the computer shouldn't be running that hot (though another Genius was having the same problem with his... Go figure) and sent it in for repair. He said that they would probably replace the heat sink or logic board. Honestly, I'm skeptical that will solve the problem, but we'll wait and see. If it isn't fixed when I get it back, I'll just return it until I get a working machine.
At this point, I'm wondering why I even splurged for the upgraded video card if I'm unable to use it as it was intended. I'm very, very frustrated.
After playing WOW for 20-30 minutes, my frame rate would drop dramatically. Upon starting the game, I would get anywhere from 70-190 fps. About 30 seconds to a minute of running through the game, my fans would kick into full gear (6200+). Then, after a few minutes, my frame rate would dip to almost 20 and below. The game would run perfectly fine for 5 seconds, dip, run fine, dip. It almost looked as if everything were stuttering.
Now, I'm playing the game with all settings on high (except shadow detail), and I just assumed that a $2300+ machine would be able to run a 4-year-old game (granted, they've been sprucing up the graphics gradually) reasonable well. The same issue is true for the Windows XP side of things.
I've been monitoring my temps with iStat, and the CPU hasn't reached more than 176F, and the GPU hasn't reached more than 170F.
I got fed up with the problem (my early 2007 MBP ran the game much cooler and smoother with only slightly decreased settings) and decided to take it into the Apple store. The Genius told me that the computer shouldn't be running that hot (though another Genius was having the same problem with his... Go figure) and sent it in for repair. He said that they would probably replace the heat sink or logic board. Honestly, I'm skeptical that will solve the problem, but we'll wait and see. If it isn't fixed when I get it back, I'll just return it until I get a working machine.
At this point, I'm wondering why I even splurged for the upgraded video card if I'm unable to use it as it was intended. I'm very, very frustrated.
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I haven't monitored temps at all in windows. I know it was a big difference though, I could feel it much cooler on the keyboard even.
zorahk said:
I haven't monitored temps at all in windows. I know it was a big difference though, I could feel it much cooler on the keyboard even.
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Yeah, that sounds like heat. I don't think your computer will get fixed by apple either. I'm pretty sure the problem is the fans not kicking in fast enough. The machine gets really hot (gaming) then the fans try to turn up but it's too late. That's why I put mine to 6000 first so it shouldn't get near those temps then. Like I said in my previous post, I don't have exact numbers of the temps unfortunately.
Hope that works out for you when you get your comp back.
Alucardx03 said:
Yeah, that sounds like heat. I don't think your computer will get fixed by apple either. I'm pretty sure the problem is the fans not kicking in fast enough. The machine gets really hot (gaming) then the fans try to turn up but it's too late. That's why I put mine to 6000 first so it shouldn't get near those temps then. Like I said in my previous post, I don't have exact numbers of the temps unfortunately.
Hope that works out for you when you get your comp back.
The weird thing is though, the fans start almost immediately. Literally fifteen seconds after I start the game, the fans are spinning at 6200+ rpm. That's why I was confused as to what the issue was. So, I'm not sure if is an issue with heat, or not... I don't know, it's a weird situation.
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Well gaming will push it to the max anyways, so in that 15 seconds your graphics card gets hot enough to make that happen. I'm suggesting putting them to 6000 before you even start the game. It's better to lower the temp before you start so the temp doesn't get way higher than the idle temp. Maybe someone else can test this, but you have nothing to lose by trying my suggestion. If it doesn't work then you lost nothing, but if it works then there you go.
Alucardx03 said:
Well gaming will push it to the max anyways, so in that 15 seconds your graphics card gets hot enough to make that happen. I'm suggesting putting them to 6000 before you even start the game. It's better to lower the temp before you start so the temp doesn't get way higher than the idle temp. Maybe someone else can test this, but you have nothing to lose by trying my suggestion. If it doesn't work then you lost nothing, but if it works then there you go.
Well, I'm absolutely irate right now. I've been checking the status of my repair for the last few days now, and it was just updated to "no trouble found." This is funny, considering the Applecare support tech on the phone said there was definitely something wrong, not to mention the Genius at the store telling me that it definitely wasn't right.
I got so fed up, I called up Applecare and explained the situation. The guy asked me, "Oh. Didn't they call you?" I explained that they hadn't, and he told me that they failed to replicate the problem, and were trying to get in touch with me to find out how to cause the computer to stutter again. When I told the guy the problem, he said, "Yeah, sounds like a heat issue. I'm not sure why these new computers get so hot. In fact, a buddy of mine just burned his leg with his new Macbook Pro. I think it's because the internals aren't adequately spaced." Imagine, all of this coming from Apple tech support!
So if you're counting, that is three separate Apple employees that have told me something is wrong.
I explained the entire situation to the guy (even though it was just a rehash of everything the original Genius wrote in the report...) and he told me that he would relay the information to the repair depot and see if they could replicate it.
Though I was hoping they would have replaced the heat sink or the logic board (don't think that would have helped any, but it would have at least narrowed down the problem), now I'm confident they won't even be able to replicate it.
Frustrated, frustrated, frustrated.....
I want to use SMC fan control 2 but I have a question. Is it always going to sit in my menubar or can I hide it somehow?
I recently bought a 2,4ghz mbp, and yesterday i played cod4 for about 40 minutes in one session. But today when i started playing i got the "black screen of death" after around 5-10 minutes :S And i also noticed that my fans have more sound when the computer is in idle now than it has before, or am i maybe having illusions? However why didn't i get the black screen yesterday when i was gaming for more than an half hour longer? I'm probably being paranoid when it comes to the fans, or could they really start having more sound after I gamed once?
I also used iStat while gaming and it gave me temps at around 80°C for both CPU and GPU and the fans were spinning just below 4000 rpm. And today I just watched iStat once and then the temps were around 80°C too, and just like a minute after that the game crashed (or the computer).
And now as I'm sitting here writing this i noticed that if i have my palm on the right side as you have when typing, the sound from the fan disappears, any suggestions ? ^o)
I also used iStat while gaming and it gave me temps at around 80°C for both CPU and GPU and the fans were spinning just below 4000 rpm. And today I just watched iStat once and then the temps were around 80°C too, and just like a minute after that the game crashed (or the computer).
And now as I'm sitting here writing this i noticed that if i have my palm on the right side as you have when typing, the sound from the fan disappears, any suggestions ? ^o)
My machine won't even survive for 30 seconds playing a game.
This is clearly a widespread issue. I really believe it is a defective 9600 which is generating way too much heat.
Whatever the case, at bare minimum, these machines should operate perfectly out of the box for any daily task. Its not like we're overclocking our GPUs.
When I contacted apple, they set up a logic board replacement. Let's see if the new GPU is any better then the one I got on release day.
If not, I'm writing Jobs and will be requesting a full refund.
This is clearly a widespread issue. I really believe it is a defective 9600 which is generating way too much heat.
Whatever the case, at bare minimum, these machines should operate perfectly out of the box for any daily task. Its not like we're overclocking our GPUs.
When I contacted apple, they set up a logic board replacement. Let's see if the new GPU is any better then the one I got on release day.
If not, I'm writing Jobs and will be requesting a full refund.
Were you in windows or osx playing the game? What game? Have you done anything that's been said in this thread? Eg: (if in windows) change the drivers, get smc fan control and set the fans higher. I haven't had a problem since I've done this playing far cry 2, left 4 dead, and the orange box in windows. It's true we shouldn't have to do this, but it does work great in osx, they just neglect the bootcamp drivers.
Verify where you're having problems. Let us know if the logic board replacement helps.
I did an 6 hour stint in COD4 on saturday with the 9600 in OS X and it ran ok
im still dissapointed i cannot have AA on at all its a bit lame considering the internals of this laptop
All too familiar
I definitely think this is a heat related issue. I have a 2.53 Uni body MBP with the 512 nVidia upgrade, with (legit) XP Pro SP3. I run it closed connected to a Dell WFP. After some unspecified amount of time it just locks up. This happens most commonly in Fallout 3. I used to play with everything cranked up, but due to this problem I lowered some setting. This seems to make it last longer, however it still inevitably will lock. I don't get a black screen, but rather the image freezes and I have to hard restart to get out of it. If I launch back to OS, I am seeing temperatures 80+ degrees C.
I have yet to upgrade the video drivers, but I am not sure that it will help, as the fans are screaming the whole time I am playing. I have also tried to run it open with no noticeable increase in duration. I searched around and saw that some of the video cards are failing and causing light spotting on the internal display, but I have no signs of that either.
I am not sure how true this is, but I read somewhere that nVidia is denying the issue, stating that the failures and poor performance are due to apples lack of cooling capabilities. Someone even said that they saw signs of the solder melting on the graphics card. 143
.
I definitely think this is a heat related issue. I have a 2.53 Uni body MBP with the 512 nVidia upgrade, with (legit) XP Pro SP3. I run it closed connected to a Dell WFP. After some unspecified amount of time it just locks up. This happens most commonly in Fallout 3. I used to play with everything cranked up, but due to this problem I lowered some setting. This seems to make it last longer, however it still inevitably will lock. I don't get a black screen, but rather the image freezes and I have to hard restart to get out of it. If I launch back to OS, I am seeing temperatures 80+ degrees C.
I have yet to upgrade the video drivers, but I am not sure that it will help, as the fans are screaming the whole time I am playing. I have also tried to run it open with no noticeable increase in duration. I searched around and saw that some of the video cards are failing and causing light spotting on the internal display, but I have no signs of that either.
I am not sure how true this is, but I read somewhere that nVidia is denying the issue, stating that the failures and poor performance are due to apples lack of cooling capabilities. Someone even said that they saw signs of the solder melting on the graphics card. 143
Does 10.5.6 not correct the crashing issue?
I have returned my MBP, but it would crash under OS X playing wow, so was wondering if the recent firmware, SMC and OS X updates might have corrected this. If they have not, then the MBP has some serious issues. Though it seems some peoples systems are okay.
It would good to get two people with the same spec MBP, play the same game on the exact same settings. All we need is someone who says thier MBP is fine and someone who's is crashing. Just want to simulate the same conditions, cause the person who does not have their MBP crash might be running it under lower graphic load.
Any volunteers?
WOW or CD4 might be a good start
I have returned my MBP, but it would crash under OS X playing wow, so was wondering if the recent firmware, SMC and OS X updates might have corrected this. If they have not, then the MBP has some serious issues. Though it seems some peoples systems are okay.
It would good to get two people with the same spec MBP, play the same game on the exact same settings. All we need is someone who says thier MBP is fine and someone who's is crashing. Just want to simulate the same conditions, cause the person who does not have their MBP crash might be running it under lower graphic load.
Any volunteers?
WOW or CD4 might be a good start