ParhamS Author

Level 1

85 points

Slow Graphics Performance MacOS High Sierra

Am I the only one that witnessing horribly slow graphics performance

and high CPU usage in 10.13?

Any solutions to speed things up?

Youtube videos 1080p are jumpy

Quicklook of 3D models are horrible

System UI animations are jumpy

Very high CPU usage ("windowserver")

VMs are consuming 2X CPU as they did in 10.12

Had a Kernel panic twice already

Did Apple's graphics firmware/driver change destroy the performance of older models??

I can't trust the "updates" anymore. Both on MacOs and iOS sides. They are killing performance.

Using

2.3 GHz Intel Core i7

16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB

Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

MacBook Pro with Retina display, High Sierra

Posted on Nov 1, 2017 10:43 AM

Top-ranking reply

Eli Wang

Level 1

17 points

Posted on Mar 26, 2018 7:24 PM

High Sierra Graphics Performance Issue (Nvidia GPU)

After months of suffering, I found a remedy: Nvidia Web Drivers. Basically an Nvidia maintained version of video card drivers.

For some reason, video card drivers on macOS is in Apple's hand. Apple does not release stand alone video card drivers, they include this in macOS releases. However, Nvidia does have its own version of drivers, and they are called Nvidia Web Drivers. It has nothing to do with Web. It's just a differentiator from the Apple-provided driver.

Nvidia does not list these drivers on its website. But if you search for 'nvidia web driver mac' + macOS version (aka. 10.13.3) in Google, you will find a bunch of download links listed in various blogs, posts, etc, which really are links from Nvidia's website.

After installed this driver, my performance issues were completely gone. Everything runs perfectly just like it did in Yosemite era. It even resolved the freeze issue when sometimes my MacBook Pro awakes from sleep when my 4k external monitor is connected.

If you have a Nvidia GPU model this is definitely worth trying. Hope this helps. Thanks.

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372 replies

Apr 11, 2018 11:22 PM in response to ParhamS

Try this:

1) Disable SIP

2) Install latest version of (1.2.3) https://github.com/vit9696/Lilu/releases into /System/Library/Extensions/

3) Install latest version of (1.2.5) https://github.com/lvs1974/NvidiaGraphicsFixup/releases into /System/Library/Extensions/

Reboot.

wolan

Level 1

4 points

Apr 12, 2018 12:25 AM in response to kecinzer-cz

I force loaded it with

cd /System/Library/Extensions/

sudo kextload Lilu.kext/

sudo kextload NvidiaGraphicsFixup.kext/

gave it another reboot and now they are shown as loaded.

The UI definitely is more fluid, but the GFXBench results are roughly the same as without it. I'm not sure how to interpret it. Maybe it's using different mode? I'm by no means an expert in this area 😟

ParhamS Author

Level 1

85 points

Nov 3, 2017 6:20 AM in response to chris_g1

Thank you for the generic response.

Nov 7, 2017 9:32 AM in response to DaveHowden

I'm experiencing exactly the same on the MacBook Pro Late 2013 model with GeForce 750M. Doubting I'd I should go back to Sierra although it could be an updated firmware problem...

Nov 11, 2017 2:08 AM in response to ParhamS

Try reseting NVRAM and SMC. Let me know if this helps.

Nov 11, 2017 3:08 AM in response to spacecash021

It doesn't (first thing I tried). Neither does installing separate official Nvidia Drivers nor updating to High Sierra 10.13.2 Developers Beta.

Nov 11, 2017 3:10 AM in response to Lexiepex

Even on a clean install and forcing to use the discrete graphics doesn't resolve the issue. And my hardware runs perfect on Sierra, just not on High Sierra.

ParhamS Author

Level 1

85 points

Nov 11, 2017 3:36 AM in response to FransTwisk

I agree. Seems like we dont have a solution to actually fix this.

Its a case of not “just works” we shouldnt have to go to any length to maintain a functionality that was there already.

Nov 11, 2017 5:46 AM in response to DaveHowden

All of what you're saying applied to my Macbook Pro Late 2013 as well. I'm staying on Sierra (for now).

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Nov 11, 2017 6:31 AM in response to DaveHowden

Good information. Apple has trouble keeping up their own speed....

Lex

Nov 14, 2017 6:59 PM in response to ParhamS

Same graphic slowdowns here. MBP late 2013 2.3ghz with geforce 750M

Nov 14, 2017 7:29 PM in response to Zack Holmes

and how are the suggested downloadable NVIDIA drivers working for you?

Nov 14, 2017 8:14 PM in response to aorlans

This thread has three pages of stuff regarding slow graphics on High Sierra. If you are not already running High Sierra, you need to make New thread, and post your issue there, not here.

aorlans

Level 1

8 points

Nov 14, 2017 9:47 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

OK to delete that post; I have found the right place to post it.

On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 11:14 PM, Apple Support Communities Updates <

Nov 15, 2017 1:05 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I tested these before I went back to Sierra and it doesn't fix anything.

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Slow Graphics Performance MacOS High Sierra