Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

vb7200

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 21, 2014
40
5
New York
I have a 13 inch MacBook Pro with Retina and I was wondering if there was anyway at all to overclock the GPU in it. It's got Intel Iris graphics in it and it isn't really terrible, but I'd like a little more out of it or an FPS boost (I play Diablo III a lot and some other games on Steam) Since it's integrated, things aren't looking bright, and combined with the fact that OS X isn't very overclocking friendly in the first place, then things really aren't looking very well. Could I do it through Bootcamp? And if I can't overclock it, could I at least give it a little more RAM? In System Report it says VRAM 1536 MB so is there any way to bump it up to 2 GB? Thanks
 

ha1o2surfer

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2013
425
46
I have a 13 inch MacBook Pro with Retina and I was wondering if there was anyway at all to overclock the GPU in it. It's got Intel Iris graphics in it and it isn't really terrible, but I'd like a little more out of it or an FPS boost (I play Diablo III a lot and some other games on Steam) Since it's integrated, things aren't looking bright, and combined with the fact that OS X isn't very overclocking friendly in the first place, then things really aren't looking very well. Could I do it through Bootcamp? And if I can't overclock it, could I at least give it a little more RAM? In System Report it says VRAM 1536 MB so is there any way to bump it up to 2 GB? Thanks

Only unlocked CPUs allow for Intel HD overclocking. This is all done through UEFI/BIOS (if supported) and the Mac platform does not. Sorry.
 

vb7200

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 21, 2014
40
5
New York
Only unlocked CPUs allow for Intel HD overclocking. This is all done through UEFI/BIOS (if supported) and the Mac platform does not. Sorry.
I said Intel Iris not Intel HD. There's a big difference there since Iris is drastically better than HD 3000/4000. Plus, in Macs, they were in older models. The processor is a 2.4 GHz Core i5 (I5-4258U). Would that work?
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,184
19,037
No, you can't overlock it (there might be a possibility in messing with the DSDT, but this requires you to hack your Mac in major ways and I have no idea how to do this or if this is even possible). And more VRAM won't help you. The integrated GPU can direct access to the system RAM so that should not matter anyway. That 1536Mb is the minimum the system is reserving for the GPU purposes.
 

vb7200

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 21, 2014
40
5
New York
No, you can't overlock it (there might be a possibility in messing with the DSDT, but this requires you to hack your Mac in major ways and I have no idea how to do this or if this is even possible). And more VRAM won't help you. The integrated GPU can direct access to the system RAM so that should not matter anyway. That 1536Mb is the minimum the system is reserving for the GPU purposes.

Ohhh I get what you're saying. The newer cpus use turbo boost anyway I think so i might not need to anyway
 

TechGod

macrumors 68040
Feb 25, 2014
3,268
1,121
New Zealand
I said Intel Iris not Intel HD. There's a big difference there since Iris is drastically better than HD 3000/4000. Plus, in Macs, they were in older models. The processor is a 2.4 GHz Core i5 (I5-4258U). Would that work?

Umm he never mentioned the HD graphics...
 

ha1o2surfer

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2013
425
46
Umm he never mentioned the HD graphics...

Doesn't matter. Intel HD/Iris. No overclocking available for macs. My HD 4000 is more powerful then an Iris in a mac anyways since it doesn't throttle. :p ok not really lol

But being serious here, if your CPU is loaded even a little while playing a game, the CPU has to balance power between the GPU and CPU so overclocking wont help at all. This is clear if running a Luxmark bench with both the CPU and Iris Pro. It scores pretty terrible on a Mac
 
Last edited:

TechGod

macrumors 68040
Feb 25, 2014
3,268
1,121
New Zealand
Doesn't matter. Intel HD/Iris. No overclocking available for macs. My HD 4000 is more powerful then an Iris in a mac anyways since it doesn't throttle. :p ok not really lol

But being serious here, if your CPU is loaded even a little while playing a game, the CPU has to balance power between the GPU and CPU so overclocking wont help at all. This is clear if running a Luxmark bench with both the CPU and Iris Pro. It scores pretty terrible on a Mac

Yes I realise all of this. Why am I being taught this lol?
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,184
19,037
Better to have the facts then just say "no, can't be done" lol even if someone knows the details already, someone reading this may not.

Even though you are technically right, virtually every game will be GPU limited on an iGPU, so over clocking will bring clear performance benefits in most cases. So it's not useless at all.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.