2012 MBP Retina performance issues

Question

Gareth G. Author

Level 1

10 points

2012 MBP Retina performance issues

Hi,

I have a mid 2012 entry level retina MBP (2.3 GHz i7, 8Gb ram) and recently installed Star Craft II under OSX.

Compared to the framerates posted by other users or in hardware reviews, I get abysmally low framerates.

SCII:WoL

Resolution close to 1440x900 (this one is not supported, but there are closeby resolutions), settings on "Ultra": 18-20 FPS. Settings on "High": 20-23 FPS.

Compared to what notebookcheck measured, this is a fraction of what I should be getting: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Apple-MacBook-Pro-15-Retina-2-3-GHz-Mid-2012 .78959.0.html

Other tests and user reports report similar framerates to the ones notebookcheck found.

There are serveral posts on low framerates and most of them seem to be solved by an SMC reset which I have performed multiple times to no avail. Also the SMC update released by apple at the beginning of this week changed nothing.

"Automated Graphics Switching" is disabled, so the GT 650m should be forced. Safari with few a tabs open (no flash) and dropbox is usually running in the background. My install is realatively clean with only dropbox, skype and a tex distribution installed.

I decided to run some more tests and bootcamped Windows 7. There SC2 runs better, but even if I play at a reasonable resolution (1440x900) and cap the framerate at 30, I get many 100ms "hickups" and the SC2 FPS tool indicates GPU temperatures of 90°C+.

These hickups can be observed in other games as well (e.g. Deus Ex: Human Revolution or Dead Island). No other programs (other than steam) running in the background.

I would like to take the machine to a local apple retailer, but I doubt they will have a performance table for games. I'm afraid to be told "everything is normal" and have my time wasted. Is there any way to produce "hard" evidence of the problem that increases my chances of being taken seriously?

Any help is appreciated!

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), Windows 7

Posted on Mar 23, 2013 8:25 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Mar 23, 2013 8:29 AM in response to Gareth G.

"Automated Graphics Switching" is disabled, so the GT 650m should be forced.

Are you sure? My impression was that disabling switching forces you to the built-in Intel Graphics.

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Answer 2

Shootist007

Level 6

16,703 points

Mar 23, 2013 8:31 AM in response to Gareth G.

Very doubtful. As long as the system turns on and loads OS X properly Apple will do nothing for you. In their eyes the system is functioning properly and Nothing is wrong. Apple never posted specs based on any Game Play or for that matter how well it would run any program.

Good Luck & Best Wishes.

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Answer 3

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Mar 23, 2013 8:54 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Deselect this option to use the higher-performance discrete graphics processor at all times.

MacBook Pro: How to determine which graphics card is in use

If Gareth can show issues with videos or websites, it may be easier to get the store interested.

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Answer 4

Mar 23, 2013 10:18 AM in response to andyBall_uk

andyBall_uk-

thanks for clearing that up. I must have been thinking of a thrid-party program that forces one or the other.

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Answer 5

Gareth G. Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 23, 2013 10:35 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks for the input so far.

I checked again and I am definately using the GT 650M.

Is there a way to verify that a SMC reset was successful? I remember my old MBP (among the first unibodies) had the fans spinning at top speed for a few seconds when resetting SMC. My retina MBP doesn't do that.

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Answer 6

Gareth G. Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 23, 2013 2:58 PM in response to Gareth G.

Update: I ran geekbench and several 3dmarks in windows7. Everything seems more or less nominal, except that everything graphics extensive has the 100ms second mini breaks once the system gets hot (not due to bad framerate, they seem rather unrelated).

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Answer 7

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Mar 23, 2013 5:42 PM in response to Gareth G.

no console messages at those times?

any temperature monitoring ?

but if the mac version of geekbench shows the breaks, and only happens once it's warm, you'd hopefully convince someone there's a problem. Better still if it shows on a clean install, or while running some regular appley app, but you can likely show cool:good, hot:skips and compare a store display model.

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Answer 8

Gareth G. Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 24, 2013 1:26 AM in response to andyBall_uk

Hi Andy,

So far I can only manage to produce the breaks under windows. Is there some graphics intensive benchmark in OSX that might be recognized in an apple store if it runs at an abnormally low fps rate?

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Answer 9

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Mar 24, 2013 8:36 AM in response to Gareth G.

I don't know that low benchmarks will sway anyone, but I don't work there. I'd hope that a change once hot would. If the numbers & no skipping are right in a mac version of geek, try others, although I've no suggestions, unfortunately.

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Answer 10

Gareth G. Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 26, 2013 12:06 AM in response to andyBall_uk

I downloaded the uingine Heaven benchmark which also runs in OSX and lets you run around. The skips are noticible there, even though the frame rate indicator shows 30fps (on the appropriate settings). I'll do some inquiries to see if they'd fix it.

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