Which GFX Card MBP 2016

[urbZZ]

I have blindly ordered the Radeon 460 with my 15' MBP, not really knowing if I would need it.

Now I have learned, that the 460 won't be used in "Desktop Mode". So i started wondering:

1) Under what circumstances does the OS decide to switch to using the Radeon instead of the built in HD Grafics? What is the exact trigger? How is this implemented?
2) Does it make a difference if the MB is being charged?
3) If an external 4/5K Display is connected, Radeon is used always?

If the Radeon is only used when gaming, i will have no use for it ...

 

[leman]

1) Under what circumstances does the OS decide to switch to using the Radeon instead of the built in IRIS? What is the exact trigger? How is this implemented?

OS X switches to a higher-performance GPU if an application is using 3D or compute APIs (OpenGL/Metal/OpenCL) or explicitly requests the higher-performance GPU. The actual rules are a bit more complicated, but this is the basic idea.

Arstechnica has a nice little description of this: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2010/04/inside-apples-automatic-gpu-switching/

2) Does it make a difference if the MB is being charged?

I don't think so, but when low on battery the system might be less eager to activate the dGPU

3) If an external 4/5K Display is connected, Radeon is used always?

Yes, because external video output is wired via the dGPU

If the Radeon is only used when gaming, i will have no use for it ...

It will also be used for video editing and stuff like that in most contemporary apps.

 

[urbZZ]

OS X switches to a higher-performance GPU if an application is using 3D or compute APIs (OpenGL/Metal/OpenCL) or explicitly requests the higher-performance GPU. The actual rules are a bit more complicated, but this is the basic idea.

Arstechnica has a nice little description of this: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2010/04/inside-apples-automatic-gpu-switching/



I don't think so, but when low on battery the system might be less eager to activate the dGPU



Yes, because external video output is wired via the dGPU



It will also be used for video editing and stuff like that in most contemporary apps.

Thanks, exactly what I needed to know !

 

[monkeydax]

Thanks, exactly what I needed to know !

I guess it also really depends on whether you do anything else that may need the graphics card. But to be honest, if you don't actually know which applications would need it, you probably don't use many applications that rely heavily on it.