[Early 2011 MBP] Low FPS in Windows 10

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[Early 2011 MBP] Low FPS in Windows 10

[Precog: I know that Windows 10 is not, and never will, officially supported in Early 2011 MBPs, so waiting for something from the Apple side is pointless. The intent of this thread is to see if anybody found an out-of-the-box solution to the problem. Downgrading to Windows 8.1 is not an option]

Hi everybody, I have an Early 2011 MBP with a Radeon HD 6490M as video card. I installed Windows 10 x64 and the 5.1 Boot Camp drivers for the Early 2011 MBP (Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5621) that where working like a charm in Windows 8.1. Everything works fine, including audio controls as somebody on another topic had issues (Early 2011 MacBook Pro windows 10).

However, I experience extremely low fps in video-demanding applications (i.e., games), much lower than when I was running Windows 8.1. I suspect this is a driver problem, specifically a power-saving kind of thing. It looks like Windows runs the video card in power saving mode because it thinks it runs on battery, while on the other hand is plugged in. Indeed, in Windows 8.1 I experienced low fps when unplugging the laptop for a while (hence discharging the battery), plugging it again. The drivers still thought the laptop was running on battery, and everything was super slow until I rebooted.

I tried the 15.201.1151.0, the latest AMD drivers. Note that with those Windows recognizes my video card as an HD 7400M, but the Catalyst Control Center seems to kind of work, even though with very few options I can configure. The power settings for instance only show empty drop-down lists for battery and plugged-in behaviors.

I also tried the 15.201.1310.0 (the latest AMD Boot Camp Drivers), and the 13.250.28.1000 (the AMD drivers shopped with the 5.1 Boot Camp), but with these whenever I start the AMD CCC, I get the error "AMD Catalyst Control Center cannot be started. There are currently no settings that can be configured using AMD Catalyst Control Center". Anyway, with all these drivers I always get 10-15-20 fps in games where before I got at least 60+.

Does anybody have this same issue? Suggestions on workarounds, or other drivers to try?

MacBook Pro, Windows 10

Posted on Nov 6, 2015 3:08 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

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Nov 6, 2015 5:10 AM in response to st1led

If your issue is the throttling based on power, you should also look at the ACPI drivers. They may not be the correct ones and can cause the Mac to behave as if it is running on battery.

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Answer 2

st1led Author

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Nov 6, 2015 8:38 AM in response to Loner T

This is actually a very good point that I didn't think about, thank you.

Specifically, what do you suggest to look at? Where should I look for these ACPI drivers? I went into Device Manager > Batteries > Microsoft AC Adapter or Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery but it doesn't look like there is much to do there. I tried updating the drivers (they are both v.10.0.10240.16384 and dated 21/06/2006, which makes me think they are a very basic unoptimized version) in Windows, but it says the drivers are already updated. I tried to unpack the Boot Camp 5.1 drivers and look in there, but I'm not sure where they are, if they are there at all.

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Answer 3

Loner T

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Nov 6, 2015 8:38 AM in response to st1led

If you have the Windows installation with ACPI, that is what is required. Please also check Processor Management states under Power Options -> Advanced Settings.

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Answer 4

st1led Author

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Nov 6, 2015 8:46 AM in response to Loner T

In the Power Options I have a custom plan (called Default) with the following settings. Do you see anything wrong here?

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Answer 5

Loner T

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Nov 6, 2015 8:57 AM in response to st1led

I usually reduce the the maximum values to a lower number (85%).

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Answer 6

st1led Author

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Nov 6, 2015 12:10 PM in response to Loner T

I tried playing a bit with those settings (including lowering the maximum values to 85%), but the issue on low fps persists. It could also be that the issue is not related to power saving, even though my sixth sense tells me so. How can I be sure? Running some benchmark maybe?

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Answer 7

Loner T

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Nov 6, 2015 2:01 PM in response to st1led

The FPS are unlikely to change due to such settings, which are GPU-related. If you are within the 30-day rollback window, roll back to W8.1. There are quite a few GOU driver issues related to AMD on W10, including some one the 2015 Macs.

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Answer 8

Rudegar

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Nov 6, 2015 2:24 PM in response to st1led

my iMac mid 2011 had the same issue because windows put on the driver it felt was the correct one

I installed the amd driver from the latests windows 8.1 bootcamp driver zip and performance became ok once more

now I have no issues with batman origins and the likes

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Answer 9

st1led Author

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Nov 7, 2015 4:10 AM in response to Rudegar

As far as I know, the latest driver for the Early 2011 MBP (and for the iMac mid 2011 too, if I'm correct) are these ones: Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5621. This Boot Camp version includes the AMD drivers 13.250.28.1000, which I think are the same you can find at the bottom of this page: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/bootcamp (the ones at the top are the 15.201.1310.0). Unfortunately, with both drivers I always experience low FPS.

If also other (especially recent) macs have GPU driver issues in Windows 10, I guess we have to wait (read: hope for) for new AMD drivers that will fix the issue, or miraculous workarounds by some enthusiast.

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Answer 10

Rudegar

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Nov 7, 2015 6:30 AM in response to st1led

Amd catalyst control center info

GPU AMD Radeon HD6799M

Driver packaging Version 15.201.11.51-150821a-188665E

2d Driver version 8.01.01.1500

Direct3d version 9.14.10.01128

OpenGL version 6.14.10.13399

Mantle Driver Version 9.1.10.0083

I feel my performance is fine

but then I usually let the game set the video settings based on my setup automatically

where some people would go into video settings and set everything to max in which case I suppose getting awfully low

fps would be a given on most computers unless they have several newest video cards and latests cpu model and the likes

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Answer 11

st1led Author

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Nov 9, 2015 12:52 AM in response to Rudegar

These drivers are the latest AMD for Windows 10, which I think are these: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+10+-+64. Note that they do not explicitly state they are compatible for Apple computers running on Boot Camp (for those there exists a separate version, the first ones on : http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/bootcamp). However I tried the drivers you have and still no significant fps improvement.

Finally, I also tried the 15.11 Beta drivers dated 11/5/2015, but the installation quits with the error: "We are unable to find a driver for your system. No supported AMD hardware was detected".

As for the settings, you're definitely right, but of course I don't expect a top-notch performance on a almost 5 years old machine. When I say that I experience low fps, it is because I compare the frame rate I have now with that under Windows 8.1. On the same games and with the same settings, in Windows 8.1 I had significantly higher fps than in Windows 10.

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Answer 12

Loner T

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Nov 9, 2015 5:45 AM in response to st1led

Do you have the option to go back to W8.1?

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Answer 13

st1led Author

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Nov 11, 2015 2:53 AM in response to Loner T

Unofrtunately, no. For now formatting and re-installing everything is not an option.

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Answer 14

Loner T

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Nov 11, 2015 5:38 AM in response to st1led

Is it possible to replace the 2011 Mac with a 2013/2014 model?

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Answer 15

st1led Author

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Nov 12, 2015 6:33 AM in response to Loner T

I'm not sure whether I get your point or not. Do you mean buying a new laptop? If so, I guess that would be a even more "extreme" solution than reverting back to Win 8.1...

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