wyager wrote:
@ds_store
I thought the HD 3000 didn't really have any RAM, but it could borrow 384 megs from the system RAM?
Yes the HD 3000 uses main memory where programs and working files are stored, assuming the 384MG is assigned when the machine boots up. If one places more RAM in their machine, there is the possibility that more memory could be used by the HD 3000.
With about 11 on the OpenGL for the dual core with HD 3000, the quad core with HD 3000 might be around 22 or so on the OpenGL which might be just around as fast as the descrete Radeon 6490M. (which is a poor card BTW)
If certain programs were optimized for the HD 3000 by default, yea sure on this machine it's looking like certain programs may be faster on the HD 3000 than on the descrete card.
wyager wrote:
I understand if the HD 3000 gfx performs better at encoding/decoding video, it has a whole new instruction set for that, but it seems like if it performs this well all around, apple shouldn't have wasted the space for the discrete card...
It's looking with the low end 15" one has the same performance on either, all depends upon the software if it's written for integrated or descrete graphics.
Some 3D games won't run unless it has a descrete video card, what's the use.
You can see here though, descrete graphics is way ahead of integrated graphics
http://www.cbscores.com/index.php?sort=ogl&order=desc