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Performance reduced after EFI update on MacBook Pro Retina

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Howto break MBPR Throttling

After several Days i've found a way to stop the throttling of GPU Power under heavy load (for example while Gaming) in Bootcamp.

Under normal conditions the GPU rund unter 135 MHZ Core Clock and 419 Memmory Clock.

normal.jpg


While Gaming it reaches normally 725 up to 900 Mhz Core Clock and 2000 up to 2508 MHz Memmory Clock. But if the MacBook Pro Retina gets to Hot (80 Degrees) it throttels down the GPU massively to 200 Mhz Core Clock and what causes the micro lagging (stuttering) while Gaming .. FPS is during the throttling normal at 25 to 40 FPS. With the new SMC 1.1 Update Apple has change some things and the throttling does not happen so often as it does before.

You can see on the picture that everything was fine until the Temp reaches arround 80 degress. Then the GPU beginns throttling.

normal_gaming.jpg



... So i have found a solution to tell the GPU **** and stay at the Clock that i want ^^

Just download the Tool Nvidia Inspector and play a bit arround.
Download it here: http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/nvidia_inspector_download.html

Create a shortcut and add following to the end:

-forcePState:0,1 -setGpuClock:0,0,135 -setMemoryClock:0,0,135 -setGpuClock:0,1,405 -setMemoryClock:0,1,405 -setGpuClock:0,2,740 -setMemoryClock:0,2,1500

the very important part is "-forcePState:0,1" which will tell your GPU to run under state 1 which you set 740 Core Clock and 1500 Memmory Clock.

You can play arround with these settings but 900MHz (or more) and 2508 Mhz will overpower your MBPR very fast and may active safety throttling of your GPU.

After that just execute the shortcut and your GPU should stay for the most time (also while gaming) under 740 Mhz CoreClock or 900 if you want.

Here is a picture how this looks like when the MBPR is in normal state.

normal_settings.jpg


and here a picture while i was gaming and the throttling startet and i executed the even created shortcut. After a couple of seconds GPU has stopped throttling.

gaming_settings.jpg



and here a picture of nvidia inspector.

nvidia_inspector.jpg


Oh and think about not to put your MacBook on Materials which will disturb the cooling of you system. for Example your Bed, or a towel etc ... just put it on your table and start gaming. So everything should be fine.

I hope it helps you all a lot.
 
caesarox said:
After several Days i've found a way to stop the throttling of GPU Power under heavy load (for example while Gaming) in Bootcamp.

Under normal conditions the GPU rund unter 135 MHZ Core Clock and 419 Memmory Clock.

Image

While Gaming it reaches normally 725 up to 900 Mhz Core Clock and 2000 up to 2508 MHz Memmory Clock. But if the MacBook Pro Retina gets to Hot (80 Degrees) it throttels down the GPU massively to 200 Mhz Core Clock and what causes the micro lagging (stuttering) while Gaming .. FPS is during the throttling normal at 25 to 40 FPS. With the new SMC 1.1 Update Apple has change some things and the throttling does not happen so often as it does before.

You can see on the picture that everything was fine until the Temp reaches arround 80 degress. Then the GPU beginns throttling.

Image


... So i have found a solution to tell the GPU **** and stay at the Clock that i want ^^

Just download the Tool Nvidia Inspector and play a bit arround.
Download it here: http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/nvidia_inspector_download.html

Create a shortcut and add following to the end:

-forcePState:0,1 -setGpuClock:0,0,135 -setMemoryClock:0,0,135 -setGpuClock:0,1,405 -setMemoryClock:0,1,405 -setGpuClock:0,2,740 -setMemoryClock:0,2,1500

the very important part is "-forcePState:0,1" which will tell your GPU to run under state 1 which you set 740 Core Clock and 1500 Memmory Clock.

You can play arround with these settings but 900MHz (or more) and 2508 Mhz will overpower your MBPR very fast and may active safety throttling of your GPU.

After that just execute the shortcut and your GPU should stay for the most time (also while gaming) under 740 Mhz CoreClock or 900 if you want.

Here is a picture how this looks like when the MBPR is in normal state.

Image

and here a picture while i was gaming and the throttling startet and i executed the even created shortcut. After a couple of seconds GPU has stopped throttling.

Image


and here a picture of nvidia inspector.

Image

Oh and think about not to put your MacBook on Materials which will disturb the cooling of you system. for Example your Bed, or a towel etc ... just put it on your table and start gaming. So everything should be fine.

I hope it helps you all a lot.
Click to expand...

I think this might be my problem. I will give it a shot.

Can you verify two things:

1. Did this improve your gaming experience substantially?
2. Does this pose a possible harm to our beloved machines? ;-)

Thanks for all the hard work!
 
caesarox said:
After several Days i've found a way to stop the throttling of GPU Power under heavy load (for example while Gaming) in Bootcamp.

Under normal conditions the GPU rund unter 135 MHZ Core Clock and 419 Memmory Clock.

*snip*

While Gaming it reaches normally 725 up to 900 Mhz Core Clock and 2000 up to 2508 MHz Memmory Clock. But if the MacBook Pro Retina gets to Hot (80 Degrees) it throttels down the GPU massively to 200 Mhz Core Clock and what causes the micro lagging (stuttering) while Gaming .. FPS is during the throttling normal at 25 to 40 FPS. With the new SMC 1.1 Update Apple has change some things and the throttling does not happen so often as it does before.

You can see on the picture that everything was fine until the Temp reaches arround 80 degress. Then the GPU beginns throttling.

*snip*


... So i have found a solution to tell the GPU **** and stay at the Clock that i want ^^

Just download the Tool Nvidia Inspector and play a bit arround.
Download it here: http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/nvidia_inspector_download.html

Create a shortcut and add following to the end:

-forcePState:0,1 -setGpuClock:0,0,135 -setMemoryClock:0,0,135 -setGpuClock:0,1,405 -setMemoryClock:0,1,405 -setGpuClock:0,2,740 -setMemoryClock:0,2,1500

the very important part is "-forcePState:0,1" which will tell your GPU to run under state 1 which you set 740 Core Clock and 1500 Memmory Clock.

You can play arround with these settings but 900MHz (or more) and 2508 Mhz will overpower your MBPR very fast and may active safety throttling of your GPU.

After that just execute the shortcut and your GPU should stay for the most time (also while gaming) under 740 Mhz CoreClock or 900 if you want.

Here is a picture how this looks like when the MBPR is in normal state.

*snip*

and here a picture while i was gaming and the throttling startet and i executed the even created shortcut. After a couple of seconds GPU has stopped throttling.

*snip*


and here a picture of nvidia inspector.

*snip*

Oh and think about not to put your MacBook on Materials which will disturb the cooling of you system. for Example your Bed, or a towel etc ... just put it on your table and start gaming. So everything should be fine.

I hope it helps you all a lot.
Click to expand...
Dude, I'm gonna try this tonight and, if it works, you rock. I'm fed up with this issue on a €2.5k laptop. I can't take it anymore. I want to use it as it should be able to run and Apple is just ignoring this.

What I noticed (and I don't really know if I already mentioned this) is that, running some benchmark tests under MSI Kombustor, the GPU reaches 95ºC really quickly. Soon the fans start running full speed and the temperature decreases immediately. Still, I don't know if 95ºC is normal. What are normal temperatures on the 650M? Can this harm the machine?
 
I'm trying to do what caesarox said but I can't really understand it. I created the shortcut but where should I add that lines? And do I create the shortcut before or after setting Inspector as it is on the image? Could you, please, make a step by step tutorial? Please man, I just want to be able to play games properly again.
 
Junkyman said:
I think this might be my problem. I will give it a shot.

Can you verify two things:

1. Did this improve your gaming experience substantially?
2. Does this pose a possible harm to our beloved machines? ;-)

Thanks for all the hard work!
Click to expand...


1. Yes it does ... i have played about 8 hours of farcry3 on highest settings 1280x800 and have no throttling or stuttering.
2. no it doesnt harm our machines because i have setup o clock limit to 740 Mhz Core clock wich is under the maximum of 900 Mhz and 1500 Mhz Memmory clock which is under the maximum of 2805. so i think it should not harm our MacBooks.
 
dastinger said:
I'm trying to do what caesarox said but I can't really understand it. I created the shortcut but where should I add that lines? And do I create the shortcut before or after setting Inspector as it is on the image? Could you, please, make a step by step tutorial? Please man, I just want to be able to play games properly again.
Click to expand...


1.download and unpack nvidia inspector (you dont need to do any setup in nvidiainspector ... just the shortcut).
2. create a shortcut of nvidiaInspector.exe
3. right click on the shortcut and open properties.
4. under "target" add right after the filepath the following text (without the text in quote)
5. thats all. ... just doubleclick on the shortcut and let the magic begin.

"C:\Users\Desktop\Tools\nvidiaInspector.exe" -forcePState:0,1 -setGpuClock:0,0,135 -setMemoryClock:0,0,135 -setGpuClock:0,1,405 -setMemoryClock:0,1,405 -setGpuClock:0,2,740 -setMemoryClock:0,2,1500


it should look like on this picture

Bildschirmfoto2013-03-26um22-49-27.png
 
caesarox said:
1.download and unpack nvidia inspector (you dont need to do any setup in nvidiainspector ... just the shortcut).
2. create a shortcut of nvidiaInspector.exe
3. right click on the shortcut and open properties.
4. under "target" add right after the filepath the following text (without the text in quote)
5. thats all. ... just doubleclick on the shortcut and let the magic begin.

"C:\Users\Desktop\Tools\nvidiaInspector.exe" -forcePState:0,1 -setGpuClock:0,0,135 -setMemoryClock:0,0,135 -setGpuClock:0,1,405 -setMemoryClock:0,1,405 -setGpuClock:0,2,740 -setMemoryClock:0,2,1500


it should look like on this picture

Image
Click to expand...

Thanks buddy! Greaty appreciated! I will give this a try.

One thing: You specified the clock frequency and that it wouldn't pose harm to our machines. Is that already the maximum frequency one can set? Or could you go beyond that? How did you determine exactly that frequency? Could you get more performance out of the rMBP if you raised the frequency higher? Would it then harm the machine?

Thanks again!
 
Junkyman said:
Thanks buddy! Greaty appreciated! I will give this a try.

One thing: You specified the clock frequency and that it wouldn't pose harm to our machines. Is that already the maximum frequency one can set? Or could you go beyond that? How did you determine exactly that frequency? Could you get more performance out of the rMBP if you raised the frequency higher? Would it then harm the machine?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

the maximum Frequency for the Core clock is 900 Mhz (but you can set it up to 1035 Mhz) and for the memmory clock the maximum is 2508 Mhz (with some programmes you can go further until 3000 Mhz) even when overclocking the gpu to the limit it wouldnt harm your macbook because CPU & GPU have security mechanisms which will throttle them if components get too hot. I have tried it out by disabling the fans. after couple of minutes CPU begins throttling down to 1000 Mhz.

... i have determined this frequencys by official papers and even nvidiainspector shows you the limits.
 
Tried caesarox's procedure and it seemed it helped at first but not for long. The animations/transitions didn't become better but the game itself seemed a bit more fluid. Not for long.. it soon got back and nothing changed. Don't know what to do anymore. I'll try to remove Windows partition and reinstall from the beginning again. When I get it reinstalled, I'll just install Boot Camp drivers and update NVidia drivers. Will install FIFA and try it. If it doesn't work, I'm taking it in for repair next week (can't this week).

Thanks a lot for your work, caeserox.
 
dastinger said:
Tried caesarox's procedure and it seemed it helped at first but not for long. The animations/transitions didn't become better but the game itself seemed a bit more fluid. Not for long.. it soon got back and nothing changed. Don't know what to do anymore. I'll try to remove Windows partition and reinstall from the beginning again. When I get it reinstalled, I'll just install Boot Camp drivers and update NVidia drivers. Will install FIFA and try it. If it doesn't work, I'm taking it in for repair next week (can't this week).

Thanks a lot for your work, caeserox.
Click to expand...

Hmm okay ... Lets try to analyse why it doesnt work.

1. have you used standard settings with 740 and 1500 Mhz or have you modified something?

2. how is the temp arround you? (here i have about 20 - 23 Degrees Celsius

3. Is your MBPR on a desk (wood, stone, plastic etc?) I've found out that gaming on a desk let the game be more fluid than playing in bed on my knees.

4. try to use 1280x800 and antialiasing turn down to 2XAA or turn it off completely.

5. Are you playing on highest settings ingame? When yes, turn some PostFX Effects off or minimum quality.

Please tell me if it works better now.
 
caesarox said:
Hmm okay ... Lets try to analyse why it doesnt work.

1. have you used standard settings with 740 and 1500 Mhz or have you modified something?

2. how is the temp arround you? (here i have about 20 - 23 Degrees Celsius

3. Is your MBPR on a desk (wood, stone, plastic etc?) I've found out that gaming on a desk let the game be more fluid than playing in bed on my knees.

4. try to use 1280x800 and antialiasing turn down to 2XAA or turn it off completely.

5. Are you playing on highest settings ingame? When yes, turn some PostFX Effects off or minimum quality.

Please tell me if it works better now.
Click to expand...
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/17058666/

Please, read this to understand what my issue was and how I was able to, hopefully, fix it. Your workaround probably works to reduce throttling but it's not surprising that it didn't do anything on my MBP since that was not the issue. What felt really wrong about what was happening to me, is that, before, I was able to play FIFA 13 on the highest settings and 1920x1200 smoothly but not anymore. I managed to do it again tonight, after doing what I mentioned in the reply above (link given).

I will, most probably, use your workaround when I play heavy graphics games but I do not have any installed atm. Last time I felt throttling due to temperatures was playing Tomb Raider. Back when that happened, I'd just let the MBP rest for a bit.

Once again, thanks a lot for your work.
 
caesarox said:
the maximum Frequency for the Core clock is 900 Mhz (but you can set it up to 1035 Mhz) and for the memmory clock the maximum is 2508 Mhz (with some programmes you can go further until 3000 Mhz) even when overclocking the gpu to the limit it wouldnt harm your macbook because CPU & GPU have security mechanisms which will throttle them if components get too hot. I have tried it out by disabling the fans. after couple of minutes CPU begins throttling down to 1000 Mhz.

... i have determined this frequencys by official papers and even nvidiainspector shows you the limits.
Click to expand...

So I have been experimenting with your method. And it works! :D

I have set the core clock frequency at 900 and memory at 2508.

There is one thing though: When I play, the clock frequency always drops intermittently, from 900 to 725, then again up, then again down, up, down etc. It's really annoying. While idle, it stays at a constant 900. The memory clock doesn't have that issue. It stays at 2508 regardless of what I do. It also has both min and max at 2508, which I am not able to achieve with the clock frequency (min 405, max 900).

Is there a way to lock both min and max for the clock frequency at 900?

Thanks again, greatly appreciated!
 
@Junkyman : then if your GPU is doing what you describe, this is unfortunately pure throttling.

I still have the same throttling issue on my Entry level RMBP, even with 10.8.3, which did not fix anything in my case, as throttling occur even without hitting 80°C...

I've tried every possible fix :

- latest nvidia driver
- delete driver, cc cleaner & reinstall driver
- SMC reset
- PRAM reset
- Nvidia inspector GPU core speed locking
- disabling CPU turbo (95% max state in power profiel management)
- lubbo fan control.
- using rMBP in a cool room

In every case, soon or later, throttling occur... without any apparent reason.

In addition, when i reset SMC, GPU speed sometimes lock @ 725mhz instead of 900. I have to reset SMC again ti fix it.

It's totally confusing... I will bring bag my mac to genius bar tomorrow and check with them this issue, hoping for a direct replacment instead of a 3 week repair...
 
I haven't had any issues for a long time now. All I did is described on this thread. If not on this thread, I left links to the one where I explain what I did.
 
dastinger said:
I haven't had any issues for a long time now. All I did is described on this thread. If not on this thread, I left links to the one where I explain what I did.
Click to expand...


Please explain what you did.
I trying install windows 8, reset SMC, etc - not working.
In gaming my cpu temperature 100 and gpu 90.
 
frimp said:
Just change sleepmode to 25 with "sudo pmset hibernatemode 25". Believe me, the bug is history then. On the other hand, wake-up now takes the additional time to recover from disk instead of RAM.
But this is negligible compared to low fps.
I really hope Apple will fix this. I had no problems before the darn EFI update - so why change hardware?!?
Click to expand...

can someone comment on this? does it solve the problem?
 
Hi all! I've been following this thread for the past half year and I would like to suggest a possible solution for some of you hopefully! (since I've not seen similar advice in this thread)

From day one when I first received my mac, which I bought at launch week, it ran perfectly and I could play any game I wished to in bootcamp at a high frame rate with no issues. I played games such as max payne 3 and diablo 3 with medium to high details at resolutions of 1680x1050 or higher.

However after the infamous EFI update my macbook retina suffered whilst gaming in bootcamp, gaming suddenly became super choppy, and would stutter. Games would have to be played in low resolution with low settings for it to run at a barely playable framerate, and some games would remain unplayable at any level of detail.

I put off gaming for several months as I was frustrated from trying to find a solution to the problem. I visited the mac store several times to try and see if apple had a remedy to no avail...

After the EFI update fix came out recently in the past couple of months, I installed it and eagerly tested whether things improved for me in bootcamp when it came to gaming. Unfortunately nothing changed, at all. Games remained chopping and unplayable. Whilst my mac was in this state, temperatures on the cpu were around 70c at rest and 90c as I try to play games.

Fast forward to this week I decided to make a last ditch effort to fix my mac after seeing this funny picture from an apple service manual on reddit:
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/7541/lol1qe.jpg

After buying some arctic silver 5, a 5 point pentalobe screwdriver and some torx screwdrivers I set upon reapplying the thermal paste to my mac.

When I opened up the mac I saw this:
http://imgur.com/nBAWy3B,sNNsitX#0

I was floored, it was like a rats den inside my macbook! The dust was thick and almost like cloth in the vents on each sides below each fan. The fins of each fan had a thick layer of dust, and the entire innards were covered in a fine film of grey matter. Needless to say I got right down with cleaning it!

And so I ended up with this:
http://imgur.com/nBAWy3B,sNNsitX#1

In order to test whether the dust was the main cause of the problem as opposed to the original dodgy apple application of thermal conductant onto the cpu and gpu, I decided to put the laptop together and power it back up, without applying the arctic silver 5.

I reinstalled dishonored and to my surprise the game was running buttery smooth. At 1680x1050 with AA on, and medium settings. I was over the moon after all these months of frustration! Temperatures were around 50 deg at rest and 70-80 deg whilst playing, and importantly the game ran at around 100-150 frames per second and never throttled!

I have not since bothered with reapplying the thermal paste onto my cpu, but I feel that doing so would improve the situation further.

To conclude, I believe that the main problem with the retina macbook pro is one of internal dust accumulation and thermal dynamics. If your game is choppy and slow its probably extremely dusty inside, and if its working then you either bought it recently or you recently cleaned its innards! So if you've had similar problems with your retina macbook as me, go inside your macbook and have a gander!

TLDR: If your mac was fine when you bought it, but 3-12 months later the performance suffered hugely, try opening it up and cleaning out all of the caked up dust! It might do the trick

P.s. I have tried some other games such as tomb raider(60-80), bioshock infinite(60-80), league of legends(140-150) and team fortress 2(150-200), and they all run at very smooth framerates (labelled in brackets).
 
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