w00fa
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Sudden rMBP graphic performance issues

Hello,

I've a MacBook Pro with Retina display, running 10.8.2 and Win7 64-bit (via Bootcamp).

 

It's since a couple of days now, that I'm noticing a sharp drop in my rMBP's graphic performance. This is best observed in games, running both on OSX and Windows. For example, I've played a lot of Diablo 3 with this computer, under OSX, on standard resolution (not retina), and it played very well, and really smooth. When I ran it today, it lags really bad (i.e., running at very low FPS). It's unplayable. This shift occured overnight. One time it worked, then suddenly it doesn't.

 

I've observed this playing Borderlands 2, under Windows (Bootcamp). This game used to run just fine until this 'performance drop' occured.

 

Did some testing;

According to System Information, when I'm just browsing the internet, my machine is using the Intel HD 4000, and when I run Diablo 3, it then switches to the Geforce GT 650M. I get very poor performance. Then, while the game is running, I ran Activity Monitor only to see my system totally chilling. Had 93% CPU Idle, 10.5GB free RAM, hardly any disk activity @ peaks of 1MB/sec. I then ran atMonitor, which apparently monitors GPU load and temp. the GPU was at 99%, and I'm not sure about the temp. I assume it went up as well.

 

I'm not sure what exactly caused this shift. Is any familiar with this? Any bright ideas?

 

Thanks. All the best,

-w00fa

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Sep 29, 2012 8:36 PM

by teggo,Solvedanswer
teggo teggo
Level 1 (10 points)
A:

So was sent to this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4375770 and used the suggested solution (resetting SMC) and it worked, back to normal!

 

To reset your SMC, follow the instruction on this page: http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/qt/Resetting-The-Smc-System-Management-Con troller-On-Your-Mac.htm

 

Under the  Mac portables with non-user-removable batteries heading

Posted on Sep 30, 2012 11:53 AM

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Q: Sudden rMBP graphic performance issues

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  • by teggo,

    teggo teggo Oct 17, 2012 3:08 PM in response to mtr64
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 17, 2012 3:08 PM in response to mtr64

    Hmm okay, did you only reset it once after you made the updates? and are your issues in MacOS or Windows 7? I had to reset SMC once after doing this, but it's been two weeks now, without having to do a single SMC reset, whereas I had to do it daily before.

  • by farfouillis92,

    farfouillis92 farfouillis92 Oct 19, 2012 3:07 AM in response to teggo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2012 3:07 AM in response to teggo

    Hey guys, i actually have the same problem, and moreover i can't reset the SMC, it doesn't work on my MBPR...

    Do you have find any solution with Apple ?

  • by Barnahog,

    Barnahog Barnahog Oct 30, 2012 2:25 PM in response to farfouillis92
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2012 2:25 PM in response to farfouillis92

    I'm also not getting any feedback when trying to reset the SMC. On my previous machines the Magsafe light would blink to orange, but I'm getting no change on my rMBP. Using left side shift+ctrl+option and power, and nothing.

     

    I had the graphics problem in Windows (also with Borderlands 2), and in OS X my GPU temps are very high (70-80ºC) in normal usage causing my fans to be spun up to 4k-6k RPM during basic usage. It used to rarely go above the 2K baseline. Driving me nuts.

  • by Xaar,

    Xaar Xaar Nov 11, 2012 1:53 PM in response to w00fa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2012 1:53 PM in response to w00fa

    Same issue here... I need to reset the SMC every time I want to play a game...

     

    Is this going to be fixed?

  • by teggo,

    teggo teggo Nov 11, 2012 2:02 PM in response to Xaar
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 11, 2012 2:02 PM in response to Xaar

    Did you install the latest MacBook pro retina update from Apple? Was just released in the last couple of days. Just open App stor and click check for updates, it should show up there.

  • by Barnahog,

    Barnahog Barnahog Nov 11, 2012 2:09 PM in response to teggo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2012 2:09 PM in response to teggo

    I've been testing it, and unfortunately it doesn't appear to have solved the problem. I still need to reset the SMC on each bootup to game, otherwise the performance is dramatically different. From smooth to unplayable.

     

    I don't believe the most recent update was an EFI update, where else the last EFI update seemed to be the cause of these issues. I'm guessing that until we get another this problem isn't going away.

  • by teggo,

    teggo teggo Nov 11, 2012 2:22 PM in response to Barnahog
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 11, 2012 2:22 PM in response to Barnahog

    Alrigth too bad

     

    Still haven't had this problem return since I updated my GFX drivers. Windows 7 and MacOS runs perfectly fine now and haven't had to SMC reset once, no matter how many games I play. Seems like there is more to this problem that I initially thought, wonder if there are some hardware differences in the different retina models that was sold this summer.

  • by Xaar,

    Xaar Xaar Nov 12, 2012 2:57 PM in response to teggo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 12, 2012 2:57 PM in response to teggo

    I tried to install the Nvidia drivers but it did not work. I had to restore my Macbook Pro Retina from my TimeCapsule backup. I definitely would not recommend this manipulation ...

     

    I hope the problem will be fixed by Apple.

  • by sinaxwe,

    sinaxwe sinaxwe Nov 16, 2012 3:29 AM in response to Xaar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2012 3:29 AM in response to Xaar

    Just a question on the side.Has apple successfully resolved this issue for anyone? maybe a hardware repair or something? if so i will take mine into a store otherwise i wont bother as it is really inconvenient for me.

  • by Dsacdalan,

    Dsacdalan Dsacdalan Nov 16, 2012 5:31 AM in response to w00fa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2012 5:31 AM in response to w00fa

    I just got this problem yesterday, thought it was a hardware problem, but I will try the SMC fix once I get back to my dorm room.

  • by mtr64,

    mtr64 mtr64 Nov 16, 2012 6:42 AM in response to sinaxwe
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2012 6:42 AM in response to sinaxwe

    I took mine to the store and it was a complete waste of time since they do not know much about the problem yet. So all they could really do was a standard systems check to make sure everything was working ok. I did the driver updates mentioned on here about a month ago and I still have to reset my smc but not nearly as much as I used to.

  • by tommyoliu,

    tommyoliu tommyoliu Nov 19, 2012 5:55 AM in response to w00fa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 19, 2012 5:55 AM in response to w00fa

    Here is a conclusion of this bug from Hong Kong:

     

    I have had this issue with my rMBP bought in early launch period, i believe it is the first batch.

     

    Then, i bought another one with customization, which is believed is FRESH and a newer batch. NO SUCH ISSUE!

     

    I have compared this 2 machine with different batchs and here is the result:

     

    Cooler about 5-10 degree

    No throttling under load, both CPU & GPU

    use less power of CPU Package and CPU IA Cores according to AID64

    lower voltages of CPU Core

     

    3dmark 06 constant at around 15000

    3dmark 11 around 2500

    3dmark vantage around 10800

    with driver 306.97

     

    Are we just help Apple to improve their product at our cost?

  • by tommyoliu,

    tommyoliu tommyoliu Nov 19, 2012 5:58 AM in response to w00fa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 19, 2012 5:58 AM in response to w00fa

    Even it is at stock clock shown in GPU-Z, the one with bug has a lower GPU load in GPU-Z, don't know why...

  • by tommyoliu,

    tommyoliu tommyoliu Nov 19, 2012 8:43 AM in response to w00fa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 19, 2012 8:43 AM in response to w00fa

    Here is a conclusion of this bug from Hong Kong:

     

    I have had this issue with my rMBP bought in early launch period, i believe it is the first batch.

     

    Then, i bought another one with customization, which is believed is FRESH and a newer batch. NO SUCH ISSUE!

     

    I have compared this 2 machine with different batchs and here is the result:

     

    Cooler about 5-10 degree

    No throttling under load, both CPU & GPU

    use less power of CPU Package and CPU IA Cores according to AID64

    lower voltages of CPU Core

     

    3dmark 06 constant at around 15000

    3dmark 11 around 2500

    3dmark vantage around 10800

    with driver 306.97

     

    Are we just help Apple to improve their product at our cost?

  • by Gav1nj,

    Gav1nj Gav1nj Nov 20, 2012 6:09 AM in response to w00fa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 20, 2012 6:09 AM in response to w00fa

    i just got this issue over the last couple of days.  I noticed a huge 50% performance drop on black ops2 which was running at high detail 1080p with around 30-60 fps, i got this issue and my fps dropped down to 5-15.  I updated graphics drivers, rebuilt my whole bootcamp partition and the problem persisted.

     

    I found this thread and tried resetting my SMC and it worked first time, back to smooth gaming.  I hope i dont have to reset my SMC everytime.

     

    Hopefully Apple will release a proper fix, but at least the SMC reset works for now.

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