GT650m slow performance under 10.13 High Sierra

Question

Level 1

15 points

GT650m slow performance under 10.13 High Sierra

I have an early 2013 15" Retina MacBook Pro with intel HD4000 and Nvidia GT650m dedicated GPU.

Since installing High Sierra I have had issues where the laptop switches over to the discreet gpu and performance drops, photoshop becomes unbearably slow, indesign slows, illustrator slows and so do other applications, in fact one 'predict wind' for visualising wind/weather patterns from grim files is also slower using the discreet GPU than using the onboard video.

None of this was the case when using Sierra 10.12.

Has anyone else noticed this?

I am assuming it is not a hardware issue as up until the installation of High Sierra everything was working fine, there have been no hardware mods of any kind since the new OS was installed, everything else seems to be fine, just anything/everything that requires the discreet GPU slows to a crawl.

Posted on Nov 14, 2017 1:26 AM

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Answer 1

edjonesy Author

Level 1

15 points

Nov 14, 2017 1:25 PM in response to dominic23

Here is the report from etrecheck, I had just rebooted my Mac, if that has any bearing on the results.

GPU still running mega slow too.

EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)

Report generated 2017-11-14 21:19:20

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 1:57

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Other problem

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro10,1

1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-3635QM) CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 250

iCloud Quota: 4.15 GB available

Video Information: ⓘ

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 3360 x 2100

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M - VRAM: 1 GB

Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE SSD SD256E disk0: (251 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [APFS Container]: 250.79 GB

USB Information: ⓘ

USB20Bus

hub_device

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

USB20Bus

hub_device

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

USB30Bus

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks: ⓘ

Macintosh HD (disk1s1 - APFS) / [Startup]: 250.79 GB (121.71 GB free)

Physical disk: disk0s2 250.79 GB (121.71 GB free)

(disk1s2) <not mounted> [Preboot]: 250.79 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 250.79 GB

(disk1s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 250.79 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 250.79 GB

(disk1s4) /private/var/vm [VM]: 250.79 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 250.79 GB

System Software: ⓘ

macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 (17B48) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (5.0.0) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (5.0.0) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (5.0.0) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (5.0.0) [Lookup]

/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.getdropbox.dropbox.kext (1.8.1 - SDK 10.11) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks

[loaded] 178 Apple tasks

[running] 103 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 37 Apple tasks

[loaded] 185 Apple tasks

[running] 108 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-07-26) [Lookup]

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-14) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-09-26) [Lookup]

[running] com.bjango.istatmenus.agent.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2017-11-07) [Lookup]

[running] com.bjango.istatmenus.status.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2017-11-07) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[running] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-14) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-01-14) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.acc.installer.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-09-26) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-10-02) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.apple.installer.cleanupinstaller.plist (? 1963bf56 0 - installed 2017-09-26)

[running] com.bjango.istatmenus.daemon.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2017-11-07) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.bjango.istatmenus.installerhelper.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2017-11-07) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.daisydiskapp.DaisyDiskAdminHelper.plist (Software Ambience Corp. - installed 2017-04-11) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.linotype.FontExplorerX.securityhelper.plist (Linotype GmbH - installed 2016-08-16) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.quadro.QuadroInstaller.HelperTool2.plist (Actions s.r.l. - installed 2017-02-27) [Lookup]

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.startup.plist (Shell Script 700b9385 - installed 2015-08-02) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-07-26) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2017-08-10) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-09-28) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.linotype.FontFolderProtector.plist (Linotype GmbH - installed 2017-11-13) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (? 1046f612 91c14e3e - installed 2016-07-07) [Lookup]

User Login Items: ⓘ

XMenu Application

(/Applications/XMenu.app)

iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-11-02)

(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

AdobeResourceSynchronizer Application

(/Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app/Contents/Helpers/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)

Dropbox Application

(/Applications/Dropbox.app)

gfxCardStatus Application

(/Applications/gfxCardStatus.app)

Sip Application

(/Applications/Sip.app)

Backup and Sync Application

(/Applications/Backup and Sync.app)

ScreenSharingMenuletHelper SMLoginItem - Hidden (Apple, Inc. - installed 2015-06-26)

(/Applications/ScreenSharingMenulet.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/ScreenShari ngMenuletHelper.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

Silverlight: 5.1.50901.0 (installed 2017-03-26) [Lookup]

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2017-11-14) [Lookup]

AdobePDFViewer: 18.009.20044 (installed 2017-11-14) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-09-21)

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2017-09-26) [Lookup]

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

[disabled] FastestTube - Kwizzu - http://fastesttube.kwizzu.com/ (installed 2016-03-22)

[enabled] feedly - The feedly team - http://www.feedly.com (installed 2015-06-26)

[enabled] Adblock Plus - Eyeo GmbH - https://adblockplus.org/ (installed 2017-01-19)

[enabled] Save to Pocket - Read It Later, Inc. - http://getpocket.com/ (installed 2015-11-06)

[enabled] Tampermonkey - Jan Biniok - http://tampermonkey.net (installed 2017-10-22)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

None

Time Machine: ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

114% AdobeGCClient

15% WindowServer

9% kernel_task

8% trustd

1% iStat Menus Status

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

1.23 GB kernel_task

332 MB mds_stores

233 MB Backup and Sync

173 MB Backup and Sync

165 MB Adobe CEF Helper

Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ

Input Output Process name

105 KB 595 KB Dropbox

41 KB 5 KB mDNSResponder

7 KB 12 KB apsd

7 KB 2 KB cloudd

2 KB 578 B netbiosd

Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ

32.58 (AdobeGCClient)

16.28 WindowServer

5.26 trustd

1.12 Adobe CEF Helper

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

10.42 GB Available RAM

3.46 GB Free RAM

5.58 GB Used RAM

6.96 GB Cached files

0 B Swap Used

Software installs (last 30 days): ⓘ

PredictWind Offshore: 3.0.5 (installed 2017-11-13)

Adobe Acrobat DC (18.009.20044): (installed 2017-11-14)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Events (last 3 days for minor events): ⓘ

2017-11-14 21:10:46 Last shutdown cause: 3 - Hard shutdown

Files deleted by EtreCheck: ⓘ

2017-11-14 21:09:43 - ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist - Unknown

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Answer 2

edjonesy Author

Level 1

15 points

Nov 20, 2017 3:50 AM in response to MauroCL

Hi Mauro,

I'm really hoping it you're wrong. apples requirements for the MacBook Pro are from mid 2010 onwards, mine is an early 2013 and if yours is mid 2012 they are well within the parameters/requirements set out, so we are not being unreasonable by expecting a good experience.

I do find that sometimes things work as they should, photoshop runs quickly, but other times it is dog slow.

There are other threads with other users also with nvidia gpus (gt750m) where they find the same slow downs so I think/hope it's where code has not been implemented properly and they can reconfigure the drivers.

Another thread Slow Graphics Performance MacOS High Sierra, so you can see we're not alone.

Reply

Answer 3

dominic23

Level 10

83,916 points

Nov 14, 2017 3:48 AM in response to edjonesy

Please run EtreCheck and post the report here.

https://etrecheck.com

Click”Download EtreCheck” button, open Downloads folder, click on it to open, and then select ”Open”.

Click on the bouncing EtreCheck icon in the Dock.

“Choose a problem” from the popup menu box, and then “Start EtreCheck” in the dialog.

Click “Share Report” button in the toolbar, select “Copy to Clipboard” .

Paste it when you reply.

Reply

Answer 4

MauroCL

Level 1

4 points

Nov 20, 2017 2:48 AM in response to edjonesy

Hi edjonesy,

You are not alone... I believe that High Sierra's Metal 2 is too much for the GT650M. I am having the same issues as yours, slow UI animations, and if I have several Apps running and Windows 10 under Parallels, anything like Launchpad, or changing spaces is dead slow.

macOS Sierra used a different implementation of Metal that was lighter with the dGPU than Metal 2 in High Sierra. I don't see this will change soon, it has not improved with the 10.13.1 or in the 10.13.2 beta 4... so, I may roll-back to Sierra because it is getting uncomfortable to live with it.

Anyhow, our laptops (rMBP mid-2012) are at the edge of the "supported"ones by High Sierra, I think they barely make it for a decent browsing and opening mail app, anything that gets more serious than that, ours dGPU will suffer.

Mauro

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Answer 5

edjonesy Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 2, 2018 1:16 AM in response to edjonesy

Happy New Year everyone,

Well, over Christmas I decided to reinstall my MacBook Pro, I have a Sierra install USB, so I backed up, wiped, reinstalled and waited.

All problems are gone. running Sierra that is, GPU both discreet and onboard are back to full speed, it's amazing how much slower everything was under High Sierra.

I am sure that illustrates the fact it is not a hardware`re issue but a software issue where High Sierra is not actually fully compatible/optimised for the hardware it is meant to be compatible with.

I'll be sticking with Sierra until the issue is sorted out.

Early 2013 rMBP, 15", intel HD4000 and Nvidia GT650m GPU, quad core i7, 16gb ram and 256gb ssd.

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Answer 6

Jan 2, 2018 3:01 AM in response to edjonesy

If you are willing to make an experiment you may find out that perhaps it is not just Hogh Sierra. Install High Sierra on a clean external drive and run from that. Now if this is a HD and not an SSD, booting and launching applications are slow, but graphics performance is not affected. If you find that this clean system works then there is probably a conflict with other software that was installed on your system.

FWIW there are some threads here about poor performance on macs with the 650m and 750m gpu. I have the 750m (rMBP 2014) and do not see the performance problems, using programs that are very heavy on the gpu like FCP X and Motion.

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