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Performance reduced after EFI update on MacBook Pro Retina
- Thread starter jisongkun
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Actually the rMBP is very capable machine. It benchmarks pretty damn high. It also games very well for a machine this size and weight. So I don't really think your statement brings any value here.
People are having issues and that is what we are trying to fix, constructive comments/Suggestions are always welcomed.
Of course, if you knew what you were talking about and felt able to meaningfully contribute rather than just fishing in a thread you know nothing about we might get somewhere.
Not a great. Exactly.
But it does not mean that apple should not fix this bug.
Talking about me: im using this GPU for heavy modeling software like 3ds Max, so why i have to endure this :/
What rubbish. Most people who play PC games run 1920x1200 resolutions and games on mid to high details. This is exactly what you can to with the 15" rMBP. How can you NOT call this machine great for games when all games are running really well? If you don't then you're the minority of hard core gamers who always have to have 60+ FPS for their games. For the vast majority 30 FPS are more than enough.
GT 650m isnt the best GPU , but it is strong enouth for HIGH sets games.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-650M.71887.0.html
At home i have gaming PC with GTX 670, but when iam traveling some where iam using my rMBP as a gaming machine (Battlefield 3 at high and borderlang 2 at ultr and Skyrim at ultr is enouth for me) , but Apple crushed my gaming laptope with theyr stubid "EFI perfomance" bug.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-650M.71887.0.html
At home i have gaming PC with GTX 670, but when iam traveling some where iam using my rMBP as a gaming machine (Battlefield 3 at high and borderlang 2 at ultr and Skyrim at ultr is enouth for me) , but Apple crushed my gaming laptope with theyr stubid "EFI perfomance" bug.
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The rMBP is a very capable machine, yes. But only if it *feels* like it.
It seems you don't fully understand my comment and this situation, yet you accuse me of trolling.
Really ? Have you even seen my contribution to this thread, other forums and tech sites about this issue ?
Yes, I'm just fishing. That's what people do nowadays, right ? Just like that, sitting in front of their computers, going into Mac forums and "fishing"...
Get real. The rMBP is a great machine plagued by the stupidest bug to ever exist, and the manufacturer isn't even acknowledging the issue. It's a defective $2300 laptop.
If you're happy with that, that's fine (and I'm a bit disappointed, too), but I'm giving a genuine advice here. We've already waited 3 months for a fix and I think it's time to give up because, honestly, it doesn't look like it's going to get better. And obviously, you're not obligated to follow my advice, okay ?
Whether it's a great gaming laptop or not, that's not the issue (it's great btw).
The rMBP is simply not performing as advertised. I hope your work doesn't require more than 1.2ghz and that you don't mind the sluggishness.
Apple may just release the elusive EFI update after OSX 10.8.3. I'm sure they're focusing their energy on more important things... like eliminating scroll lag in Safari with the next WebKit update (this works, by the way. Just go and install the latest WebKit nightly to feel the improvement).
And they have heard and seen enough complaints about this problem at my local Apple Store.
Personally, though, I think it may just be because something got stuck in SMC. Try resetting it another... probably couple more times, and maybe you'll get it to "unstuck" just like I did.
Again, I've been using my rMBP since then with ZERO EFI bug. It never reoccurred regardless of how hot my rMBP got. And the only thing I did that I think really mattered was that I reset SMC a hell of a lot. Probably over 2-3 times a day for a whole month.
And they have heard and seen enough complaints about this problem at my local Apple Store.
Personally, though, I think it may just be because something got stuck in SMC. Try resetting it another... probably couple more times, and maybe you'll get it to "unstuck" just like I did.
Again, I've been using my rMBP since then with ZERO EFI bug. It never reoccurred regardless of how hot my rMBP got. And the only thing I did that I think really mattered was that I reset SMC a hell of a lot. Probably over 2-3 times a day for a whole month.
Okay first of all, on the CPU side of things, the rMBPs are some of the fastest laptops out there. The extreme edition CPUs won't be much faster - and are beyond most of our price ranges.
On the GPU side, while the rMBP isn't the fastest system out there, it is certainly capable of holding its own. Just because some of us value performance doesn't mean we want to take all the negatives (weight, heat, battery life, etc..) associated with an actual gaming laptop.
Is it so wrong to want the performance our laptops are advertised to have? I personally already have a gaming desktop -- but I use my rMBP when I'm on the go. I'd like for it to be able to handle some gaming without throttling down to 1.2GHz
In response to naujoks- The MacBook is great for productivity, but if you think this is great gaming laptop, you haven't ventured from under a rock for the last 3 years. You can get gaming laptops with 2-3x the gpu performance of the rmbp for about 1500. Playing games on the rmbp is an exercise in futility, and after thought at best. OSX is a 2nd rate environment for gaming.
Refer to the link below and restrict the gpu to 650, 680, 7970, and you'll see under high/ultra that the latter 2 are 2-3x times fps of the former.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html
Refer to the link below and restrict the gpu to 650, 680, 7970, and you'll see under high/ultra that the latter 2 are 2-3x times fps of the former.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html
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Games are CPU intensive so the slightest performance drop is noticeable in the game as a freeze or fps drop. (smooth -> laggy without a cause ?)
I know you won't believe me so here's Intel's official app that monitors Sandy&Ivy Bridge performance.
No surprise there: When I tried it, I could see the rMBP's i7 fall down to 1.2ghz while the laptop still hasn't even reached 90°C.
I know you won't believe me so here's Intel's official app that monitors Sandy&Ivy Bridge performance.
No surprise there: When I tried it, I could see the rMBP's i7 fall down to 1.2ghz while the laptop still hasn't even reached 90°C.
And how big are these laptops? I don't think I'd want to lug around a 3-inch thick ,25 lb Asus laptop. Id rather have a laptop that I can use for work and school that is very portable with the ability of gaming at a decent level. I play BF3 every now and then when I get time, that does not mean I should go out and buy the best gaming computer....
I second that. Some just don't understand the beauty of portability, efficiency and performance combined.
However, we're losing track of the main issue here: Apple, we want a fix!
This is a brilliant utility, thanks for this. It can log to a CSV file too. The only potential caveat is it installs a KEXT, for those who are wary of 3rd party KEXTs. But being able to see estimates of power usage along with nominal frequency is super cool, and there is apparently an API for third party devs to hook into this...
Updates, updates, upades oh my!
So Apple pushed this update today (Dec. 6th 2012) for MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros:
MacBook Air & MacBook Pro Update 2.0 2.0 (Double 2.0 a typo?)
The updates lists "graphics performance and reliability enhancements" as part of the fix, but no notes on EFI modifications. However, a restart IS required, so I will test if this fixes the bug and report back here. Others, please test for the sake of science and closing this damned thread!
So Apple pushed this update today (Dec. 6th 2012) for MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros:
MacBook Air & MacBook Pro Update 2.0 2.0 (Double 2.0 a typo?)
The updates lists "graphics performance and reliability enhancements" as part of the fix, but no notes on EFI modifications. However, a restart IS required, so I will test if this fixes the bug and report back here. Others, please test for the sake of science and closing this damned thread!
Updates on the updates.
Okay. I restarted without doing an SMC reset and there was minor performance increase on the OS X side of things, but none on the Bootcamp side of things, which was to be expected. My sample size here is only 1, but I have a feeling this improves the graphics driver somehow and now the EFI CPU threshold. Please confirm my results, I only have one rMBP to test with. Thanks.
Also after scouring some more threads and talking to the Apple Store, I have found out that:
a. Others on the official Apple threads have said Apple has pulled the EFI update, meaning anyone who didn't update between the time it was released and approximately a week ago will not see it in software update today. EFI 2.0 is gone from Apple's servers meaning that about two weeks ago Apple discovered the problem.
b. My local Apple Store in Portland, OR reports they're working on EFI 2.1 to resolve the issue and performance problems are known.
Okay. I restarted without doing an SMC reset and there was minor performance increase on the OS X side of things, but none on the Bootcamp side of things, which was to be expected. My sample size here is only 1, but I have a feeling this improves the graphics driver somehow and now the EFI CPU threshold. Please confirm my results, I only have one rMBP to test with. Thanks.
Also after scouring some more threads and talking to the Apple Store, I have found out that:
a. Others on the official Apple threads have said Apple has pulled the EFI update, meaning anyone who didn't update between the time it was released and approximately a week ago will not see it in software update today. EFI 2.0 is gone from Apple's servers meaning that about two weeks ago Apple discovered the problem.
b. My local Apple Store in Portland, OR reports they're working on EFI 2.1 to resolve the issue and performance problems are known.
I thought that the problem was with the EFI 1.0, I've never read anything about EFI 2.0 for Retina. And 1.0 is available here: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1591
Regards
I know, I know. I'm not talking about the EFI 2.0 Update (that doesn't even exist yet).
I was relating to the original statement of "JacksonGariety", where he was walking about the "MacBook Air & MacBook Pro Update 2.0", which was released several weeks ago.
This was a apple server error as that was actually released 8th November:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1609
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