MacBook Pro :: How Often Someone Switch Graphics Cards On Regular Basis?
Feb 24, 2009
I'm interested in seeing how many of the people that own a unibody Macbook Pro switch graphic cards on a regular basis. I know when the unibody Macbook Pros came out people were complaining that switching graphics cards required logging out. Is this still an issue or do most people stick with one? I just switched to the 9600M after being on the 9400M for about two months as I needed the extra power and battery life wasn't an issue.
How do I switch the graphics cards in my 15" MBP? Its the current highest end 15" and is there just a application or what. It has the dual graphics cards.
So if I have a GT 120, and I buy a 4870 of newegg, can I flash it? Also how loud is this card? I used to have a alienware desktop with a GTX 280 and it was loud as all hell. Also can I switch between graphics cards when not gaming?
My macbook pro came installed with 4GB of RAM but this is slowly being eaten away. Brand new there was 2.77Gb available. Yesterday there was 2.4 and today there is 1.43Gb free. ( I know this as I am using free memory) Nothing is running but Finder and now this browser. Without the browser (Safari) I cannot seem to get more than 1.7Gb free. Something seemnd s to be gobbling up about 1Gb in the background this is not visible to Finder/Force quit
I'm aware that with windows computers you need to defragment regularly to keep processes running top notch. However, I read that the macbook runs on fragmentation, thus, defragging is not necessary.
However, I saw in another thread that defragging is also important for a macbook. My question is: 1. Is it necessary to defragment? 2. If so, what is a good program for defragmenting on a macbook?
I have a macbook pro. My machine won't wake up at all. Battery is being charged on regular basis. I have tired to hard boot but all i hear is sound of machine booting up and shutting down. Is there ant possible way I can get my display back on my machine? When i close the lid, the indictor light is blinking slowly but as soon as i open the lid cover screen is always black. For last 5 days I have tired to discharge the battery and charge again, attached a wired mouse to see if it might wake up my machine but with no luck.
The cursor on my Macbook Pro skips and puts me at a different spot on a regular basis. This makes typing very difficult particularly when the page is accessed through the internet.
Several manufacturers have tried to produce external graphics card boxes to connect to your laptop. Most have given up, but it seems the only real barrier is bandwidth.
MSI have this: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Gra...nal,10527.html
using the Expresscard 34 (max 2.5Gpbs) and say they will switch to USB 3 (4.8Gbps) when it goes mainstream.
Do you think 4.8Gbps is enough to make connecting high end external graphics cards to your laptop a possibility?
My primary concern is whether or not uMBP users will ever be able to switch the graphics cards without logging out every time? I remember hearing that it was a software issue, does that mean that it might be supported in Snow Leopard?
I have a 2011 Macbook Pro, quad core, RAM maxed at 16gb, 250 SSD, and SSHD to replace optical drive, but wanted to know if there was a way to add an external graphics card via Thunderbolt for more screens and faster work in VIDEO editing on-the-go?!?!
I DO have a 2006 Mac Pro that I've also maxed out and it's STILL a BEAST and i love using it... but wanted to see how i could increase my macbook pro too, seeing it can run mavericks and ALL my adobe CC apps too.
I may have sold a PC user on buying a mac and she's interested in the MBP. I noticed that some models of the MPB have a "NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB" while others have the "NVIDIA GeForce 9400M." Are either of these integrated graphics? And what is the advantage of the models with "NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB?" That sounds to me like it has two video boards. Why would Apple do this? And is there a big difference in video processing power between the models with one video board and two?
I heard that to enable the faster graphics, you have to log out and log back in to switch between 9400 and 9600... Is this true? If so, is there any word on when this will be automatic or if there is any current work around?
After installing adobe cs5 on my computer, gfxcardstatus has been going crazy changing between intel and nvidia graphics. I happens at random, while using google chrome. For instance, the front page o [URL] triggers the nvidia graphics to come one. When i navigate to these forums, it switches back to intel. When I log into gmail, its fine, until gmail signs me into gchat(i disables video chatting b/c i know that was a known issue with turning on the nvidia card)
I'm thinking of getting myself a Mac. I have not decided on much more than this. Well, a few things have been sorted. I'm either going for a MB 13" as a nice little e-mail and surfing companion or I'm getting the next iMac. If I would go for the latter then it would have to serve as a gaming platform as well and preferably for a couple of years.
Since gaming will be a good part of the duties performed by the dear little thing I must ask what we could expect in terms of graphics cards?
I'm aware that Apple often use last generation GC in their computers so a GeForce GT 120M is probably out of the question.
I'm currently working on completely migrating from my PC to my Mac (having kvm switches here and there has got very tiresome and I'm now very much restricted for room.) So I've set up boot camp and I am able to dual boot between OS X and Windows 7. I have two graphics cards currently sat inside the Mac, 1 ATI 4870 which I use with Snow Leopard, and a GTX 280 (which I've pulled from its water cooled environment in my PC) to use in Windows.
Now the problem, I use OS X exclusively for productivity apps like FCS3 and Adobe CS4, and wish to use Windows preliminary for recreation and games, which is where my GTX280 comes in.
Currently I have both cards in the machine, naturally OSX doesn't detect the 280, and I am fine with that. In windows I am able to utilize both cards, Windows detects both cards, installs drivers for them and works no problem running games on either card (preferably the 280 as it's relatively more powerful)
But that's with the aid of an additional PSU to separately power the 280 as the 4870 uses up both of the 6-pin PCI-e sockets on the Mac Pro Logic Board.
My real question is, am I able to buy two 4-pin molex y-splitters (still allowing the power to the DVD ROM drives), and then using the spurs to connect those to a '4-pin molex to 6pin PCI-e connector'; with addition to getting two 6-pin PCI-e Y splitters and connecting the 2 spurs to both the 4870 and the 280 via 6 to 8 pin PCI-e connector? -- Yeah the 280 is a power hugry card!
I've contemplated this myself knowing that the Mac Pro as a rated 1KW PSU, what concerns me is the PSU rails. Even if I can get these connectors to wire up the 280 with the built-in PSU, I don't know if the PSU's rail's will be able to provide the current required.
I like to keep my laptop cool, so I usually run on the integrated 9400 graphics chip. But lately I've been finding myself playing a lot of games on my unibody mbp. However, it gets kind of tedious to have to continually switch over to the "better performance" 9600M option in energy saver. Instead of opening energy saver, clicking "better performance" and then restarting, is there a simple applescript or shortcut I can just double click that will do all this for me? I'd like to just place that script on the desktop and call it "play games" or something." I know it's a small inconvenience, but does anyone have a solution? Or can anyone make a simple automator or applescript to handle this?
My new MBP 2010 won't use Intel HD graphics, it seems stuck on the 330M graphics card with no programs running at all. I also checked the power saver option for auto-switching graphics.. What to do?
It worked before I calibrated the battery, but today when using the MBP for the first time since calibrating it won't switch.
I currently have an ATI 4870 card in this Mac Pro (late 2009). I use this rig for heavy Adobe Creative Suite 5 and FCP work. I use dual Apple LED 27" monitors.I'm about to order the 5870 graphics card upgrade from Apple, but before I do, is it possible to run TWO 5870 graphics cards? I am running into conflicting information and trying to get a definitive answer. If yes, do I need additional power cables and if so, which ones?
Alternatively, I've read the 5970 card is essentially two 5870 GPUs on one chip.Will this be a better solution?I also want the cards to be drop and play ready/natively supported. As I rely on this computer for business, I'm not interested in continually chasing down third-party drivers.
why can't we have discrete graphics inside the mac mini? Two reasons. There isn't any space, and there's no way to connect it. To the first we could always mount the card outside the enclosure - I'm sure many of us here are able and willing to sacrifice the time needed to make that look pretty (or even the good looks) in order to get some better frame rates.
So, its now the 3870 vs. the 8800. As someone who plays games on the Windows and uses iLife '08 on the Mac side (not many games though), which card is looking better?
Currently I have a GTX 285 in Slot 1, and a GT 120 in Slot 3. Slot 2 is the faster slot, which I would think would benefit the GT 120, but then it's closer to the GTX 285 that leads to overheating concerns. I'm going to run anything graphics intensive on the GTX 285-connected monitor, so any real drawback then to having the GT 120 in Slot 3?
I have a 2008 Mac Pro with a Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT in it. I'm currently running two Dell 24" monitors (at 1920x1080) and I'm looking to add two Dell 21" Monitors to the setup (at 1600x1050).
Do I need to purchase an identical GeForce 8800 GT or can I run a different card for the second paid of monitors?
I'm also planning on running Windows 7 via BootCamp with the same four monitors - are there any potential problems with this?
I'm also having trouble locating Mac specific graphics cards, are there any recommended retailers? Or will I be OK with a 'normal' PCIE graphics card? I'm in the UK btw.
I have a Power Mac G4 AGP Machine and was wondering what is the best graphics card that will go into this machine??I dont it can but im going to ask Are there any HD Graphics cards that will work with it??
I am thinking about buying a used original 2007 Mac Pro. This Mac Pro would not come with a graphics card, so I am obviously responsible for finding one for it. I found a Radeon HD 5770 that I like on Newegg, and want to know if it would work with the Mac Pro. I really can't imagine it not, but don't want to toss a piece of hardware in my new machine that won't work.
Here's the graphics card in question: [URL]...will it work? If not, is my only option for a 5770 the one that is available on the Apple Online Store? What other cards does this Mac Pro support?
I'd like to start by saying excuse the stupid questions, I'm still very new with using macs. I'm a long time PC user, but I've recently made plans to replace my PC with an iMac. Specifically a 21.5" with an Intel i3 processor. This mac comes with 4gb ram, and a Radeon 5650 HD graphics card.
Now I'm a fairly big gamer, and I like my hardware to be as high-end and up-to-date as possible. If I were to plan on upgrading the graphics card, ram, and processor, could this be easily done at home?
I'm asking because of the unusual structure of the iMac. i.e. the lack of tower, and all the hardware being merged with the screen. I'm assuming it would be a lot easier on a mac pro because it actually has a tower that I can easily open/customize.
Lastly, granted that the above is possible, are the generic graphics cards, processor, and ram chips compatible with iMacs? Or would I need to buy a special iMac compatible version from an Apple specialist shop?
I am about to purchase a Mac Pro, and I saw the rumor about the new ATI Radeon 3870 coming for the Mac Pro in late May.
I had a few questions about it and Mac Pro graphics cards in general. First, will this card be available as an optional upgrade when configuring a Mac Pro from the Apple Store? Is that usually how it goes?
Secondly, I'm a video editor planning to use this Mac Pro primarily for Final Cut Studio and After Effects. It seems to have been indicated that ATI cards are better for this sort of work, versus the 8800GT they off right now.
Do these programs gain significant benefit from using ATI or is it more unsubstantial?
The other question I have is whether or not these cards would be recommended for use with the Avid product line (namely Avid Xpress Pro or Media Composer). It seems that Avid only will certify NVidia graphics cards, as it has with the 8800GT. I also am aware that Avid is not compatible with Leopard just yet, but will be in the near future.
So does anyone know if Avid performs well (or at all) with the ATI cards? Would the overall performance increase of ATI over NVidia be enough to take a chance with compatability issues?
