Worsening gaming performance on 2010 MBA

[buckers]

I didn't buy my 2010 13" MBA for its gaming performance (I don't really play games that much), but it was a pleasant surprise that I could play games like Left 4 Dead, Portal under Snow Leopard and DiRT 2, Modern Warfare 2 on Windows 7 using Boot Camp.

But I've recently found I can longer run these games with acceptable frame rates on either OS, and doing a clean install of Lion has not rectified the problem on the Mac side.

Has anyone else noticed such a problem on their laptops?

 

[cluthz]

If performance has dropped on both OSes I guess Lion isn't to blame.
I would suspect dust accumulation inside the machine, overheating it and thus make the GPU down clock itself.

 

[castillo4141]

There is a program called Nvidia Inspector that should help to check out if the speed of your Graphic Card is going down, or even if you want you can overclock it or force it to run at max all the time. Really is one of the aspects that I envy from the last generation MBAs, Nvidia Discrete Graphics, anywhooooore, here is the link:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/NVIDIA-Inspector-1.94-download-2612.html

PD: This is only for W7, but...why play on Mac when the performance of the games you're using gets better on Windows?. Well, your choice, hope it helps.

PD2: Always check to have the latest DirectX release and Nvidia Drivers.

 

[buckers]

Just a follow up. I think the problem may relate to overheating. Although this was never a problem before, I tend to run the laptop with the lid shut and external monitor connected when at home. I tried out Left 4 Dead 2 the other day, and after 30mins or so, I started getting flickering and checkerboxes [instead of textures] in-game (but not in the OS). I opened the lid and allowed the laptop to cool, then resumed the game, and the checkerboxing didn't return (although performance remained worse than it used to be). The laptop's under AppleCare; I suppose I could ring them up and see what they say. I obviously don't need games, but it's a shame it can no longer be used for playing the odd game when it could be before.

I no longer have Windows installed under boot camp so I can't try out the NVidia tool, but I'll bear that in mind in if I have further problems; cheers!

 

[durruti]

open clamshell mode

This is speaking with experience from a core-duo 15" mbp and external monitor.

After getting an image with an external monitor, try opening the lid. You should be able to have the main image on the external monitor, and a blank image on the laptop, keeping all the video memory dedicated to the external. This should keep the temperature down much.

Savy?

Just a follow up. I think the problem may relate to overheating. Although this was never a problem before, I tend to run the laptop with the lid shut and external monitor connected when at home. I tried out Left 4 Dead 2 the other day, and after 30mins or so, I started getting flickering and checkerboxes [instead of textures] in-game (but not in the OS). I opened the lid and allowed the laptop to cool, then resumed the game, and the checkerboxing didn't return (although performance remained worse than it used to be). The laptop's under AppleCare; I suppose I could ring them up and see what they say. I obviously don't need games, but it's a shame it can no longer be used for playing the odd game when it could be before.

I no longer have Windows installed under boot camp so I can't try out the NVidia tool, but I'll bear that in mind in if I have further problems; cheers!

 

[buckers]

I find when I do that, the laptop's screen becomes active :S

 

[durruti]

that's too bad, mate.
it works with my 2006 core duo mbp though.
Maybe do some more googling and try to find a solution???

cheers