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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

Reply
110 replies

Sep 29, 2012 9:03 PM in response to w00fa

Here's a more detailed description:


Hello,

I've a MacBook Pro with Retina display, running 10.8.2 and Win7 64-bit (via Bootcamp). 1660x1330


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 on this computer, under OSX, with standard resolution settings (not retina), and it played very well, and really smooth. When I ran it today, it lagged really bad (i.e., ran at very low FPS). It's was unplayable. This shift occurred overnight. Two days ago it worked, and now it suddenly doesn't.


It's really noticeable in Borderlands 2, under Windows (Bootcamp). This game used to run just fine until this 'performance drop' occurred.


Did some testing;

- Ran System Information while simply idling and browsing the net, System Information reported that my machine was using the Intel HD 4000.

- I then ran Diablo 3 - System Information switched to the Geforce GT 650M. At this point, the game was running with very low performance.

- Ran Activity Monitor - 93% CPU Idle, 10.5GB free RAM, hardly any disk activity with peaks of 1MB/sec. So I'm assuming the CPU, Memory and Disk are not the problems.

- Ran atMonitor, which monitors GPU load and temp - The GPU idles at 0% load and at a temperature of 40c. With the game running; the GPU was at 99% load and went as high as 66c. When I quit the game, it dropped down to 0% and 55c within ~2mins.


I then canceled Automatic graphics switching, under 'Energy Saver', so that my system was always running on the NVIDIA Geforce GT650M. I've confirmed that it is running on it. At this point the atMonitor app displayed standard values. So, I'm assuming the GPU is not totally gone.


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


Thanks. All the best,

-w00fa

Sep 30, 2012 11:53 AM in response to teggo

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

Sep 30, 2012 12:21 PM in response to teggo

Well done! Went through the process, and now D3 on OSX runs smooth again, same goes for Borderlands 2 and Torchlight 2 on Windows (via Bootcamp).


I actually saw this SMC reset proposal yesterday, but didn't see how it could relate. My bad. Reading more reveals that some people had to go through this process several times already, so I'm guessing that with time, the problem will re-surface, and another SMC reset will be in order.


In any case, let's just hope that Apple is aware of this, and that they'll patch a permanent solution sooner than later.


Cheers everyone! Thanks for the attention and assistance!

-w00fa

Sep 30, 2012 1:24 PM in response to buttmonki

So they were very nice, but they seem unaware of this problem, so I opened a support case and need to contact them when it happens again. If you have this issue, please do the same, the more that report this, the more likely they will fix it.


Just noting that I've put my macbook retina to sleep several times and I do not have the problem yet, iti will probably come back though and then get in touch with apple again

Sudden rMBP graphic performance issues

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