MacBook Pro :: Unable To Switch Between Intel HD And 330M Graphics?
May 5, 2010
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.
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.
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 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.
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?
Before there was a discussion on a couple of apps people had written that show in the status bar whether you're using the Intel HD or Nvidia 330M on an i5/i7 macbook. I now have an i7 MBP but can't find the thread anywhere (tried MRoogle too!).
This is my (second) first post, and I tried using mrooogle to find the issue (i've been a lurker for the most part) I can't seem to find any consensus or info on it.
I have the 2.4 core i5 15" MBP with HR Glossy display, just got it on Monday, installed an owc ssd, and 8 gb of ram and i LOVE IT. The only issue is when the graphics card switches from the nVidia back to the Intel graphics, the screen briefly blanks out or "blinks" for a split second and the Intel graphics comes back on. It doesn't blink when it goes from intel to nvidia, only from nvidia back to intel.
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?
I have installed windows 7 on my mac. Now, I am not able to switch to Mac OS X. I tried to restart my mac book and holing ALT key and I tried to restart in OS X by- right Click on boot camp, I Can not find Mac OS XI find it strange when I open boot Camp Control Panel I can not see Mac OS X in "select the system you want to use to start up your computer".
When I was installing Windows 7- I deleted some partition Disk, is this the causing an issue??
If this is causing an issue is there an alternative or someway where I can log into my MAC OS X back.
I cannot get my macbook pro to switch on.when it is not plugged as I press the power button nothing happens, when the computer is power plugged, it gives me the white blackground with the apple centered and the loading button below but it keeps loading forever left it as for 4 hours and still nothing. I have try to reset the SMC but didn't change much, now instead of the apple logo I get a circle crossed My macbook is 1 year and 4months?
My 2.4ghz i5 MBP runs a lot better when using discrete graphics. Minimizing and maximizing windows, scrolling, opening folders etc... all run smoother with the 330M. Is there a way to always run the 330M when plugged in, and switch to automatic graphics switching when unplugged? This would be the perfect solution for me.
If I select from the menu bar another available wireless network (one without a password for example) and then switch back to my own wi-fi network, am I still safe?
Did the fact that I connected to another network present any risks?
I did not send any private info during that time, any risks of getting hacked?
What the heck is the difference between the integrated GFX card in the first and 2nd 15" MBP?
I can't figure it out
EDIT: Nevermind, it's not even worth figuring it out. It's a $60 difference for the higher spec'd MBP after student discount difference ($100 vs $150 off). I'll pay $60 for that
i opened a page which should have allowed me to download a mock TOCFL exam (that's the standardized Chinese exam in Taiwan), but instead i just got a page of gibberish and since then skype won't let me close it, also while closing tabs there's no longer an x to click, instead i have to right click and then close it that way. anyone know what's going on here? also since safari won't switch off, i have no way of trying to deinstall and then reinstall it...
I'm thinking of getting a new MBP, but want to be able to play MMORPGs like Warhammer Online or similar games coming out. Can anyone speak to first hand experience with the various 15" MBPs with i5 or i7? With 256MB GT 330M vs 512 MB? I would love to be able to get the 13", but I'm sure that video card won't make it happen.
Right now, I have a 2009 MBP with 2.66 core 2 duo and the 256MB 9600gt. I am looking to buy a 17 inch i5 with the 512MB 330m. With regards to gaming under bootcamp, how much better is the 330m to the 9600gt? Will I notice a big difference in my games or will it be barely noticeable? I tried to play black ops under bootcamp and it was barely playable.
So I just sold my MB and am going to be upgrading to a MBP. I have been reading up on the current ones and have seen that almost everyone reccomends going with the 15" 2.44ghz vs the 2.66, as the ~$400 difference is not justified. What still sways me towards the higher end 15" is that the 330m has 512mb vs the 256mb in the base model. I will be using it for games such as The Sims 3, Civilizations, and SC II. I will also be using PS as well. Will I notice a huge performance difference between the 512 and the 256?
Standard bootcamp drivers are quite old so I went to upgrade the drivers from nVidia.com; I noticed that nVidia doesn't support the 330M under its driver page, am I to assume the 330M is an Apple specific part? Will nVidia support the 330M in an upcoming release?
I am not really a gamer on my laptops, is there any other reason I would want 512 vs. 256? Can OS X tap that memory for other functions? I just do programming, web dev, virtual machines, email, office, etc.
I know a couple guys in the MBP refresh gaming thread were able to overclock using Nvidia Tools. I'm not having any luck; the sliders are grayed out and I can't make any changes with system tools 6.06. I've also got errors when trying to install Nvidia drivers other than the ones included with Bootcamp. What driver/system tools version are you using to OC? And what settings have you tried? (I'm on Windows 7 64bit).
I would first like to start off with the disclaimer that I am not good at writing guides and I am also not a pro with overclocking but here is my attempt at both. Also I am not liable for damages to your computer and ask fobis has mentioned each gpu even if they are the same may overclock better or worse then the next. So take my overclocking numbers for what they are worth. Experiment and try it out on your own.
Note: This guide assumes your running Windows 7 64bit, and also it assumes that you are new to overclocking.
-------------------------------GUIDE------------------------------ 1.First make sure you have a copy of windows installed through bootcamp.
2.Then go ahead and install the drivers that came with bootcamp ( we won't be using the gpu drivers but the rest are going to be useful anyway so might as well go ahead and install them )
3.After you have all that you will want to go here to get a modified driver. This will give you better performance then the bad drivers that apple supplies it will also let you overclock the gpu
4.After you have downloaded both the driver and the INF file open up the driver and it will extract the files to the directory that you choose. It will also try to launch the install but it will fail saying something like " no compatible hardware found " ignore this for now.
5.Now take the INF file and copy it to the folder that the driver was extracted too. It will ask you if you want to overwrite the file just say yes.
6.Now open up the device manager by right clicking on my computer, selecting properties, this should open a new window and on the left there should be something that says device manager.
7.Under the tab that says "display adapters" select the only device that shows up on that tab. Right click it and choose uninstall.
8.After you have done that it will likely mess up your resolution and set it too 800x600 don't worry this is normal. Now just restart your computer.
9.Once you have restarted when it starts back up it will say new hardware found. Now you have to choose to install it manually choose the option that says something along the lines of " search for drivers in specified area "
10.Now it will take you to a new page and on that page there should be an option that says "have disk" choose this and select the directory that you extracted the driver too earlier in this guide. It should find one of the files that it can use and install it just fine.
11.You will need to restart again once this is done but when you start back up your resolution should be fixed if not just right click and hit screen resolution and just change it back to the native resolution.
12. Download Nvidia system tools found here
13. Go ahead and install this it should be self explanatory.
14. Once it is installed open the program and go to the performance tab on the left. ( It might ask you to agree to some terms of use )
15. Just put in these numbers and hit apply 646 for the first one 864 for the second one and 1314 for the third one
Now your done if your paranoid like me of overheating your computer you can also optionally download and install LubbosFanControl to max out your fans to keep it as cool as possible.
Enjoy your faster GPU!.
----------------------BENCHMARKS----------------------------- Before OC: Furmark Points:912 FPS: min=13 max=22 avg=15 Crysis: 24.89 Unigine Sanctuary Demo (run with everything on defuilt excapt resolution turned down to 1280x800 ) DX10:24.9fps (score:1057) OpenGL: 23.2 (score:982) Unigine Tropics Demo: (run with everything on defuilt excapt resolution turned down to 1280x800 ) DX10:18fps (scores 452) OpenGL:16.3 (scores 410) Unigine Heaven Demo: DX10:14.8fps (scores 372) OpenGL:12.6fps (scores 317) 3DMark06:5975 3DMark Vantage: P2294
After OC:
Furmark Points: 1081 FPS: min=16 max=26 avg=18 Crysis: 33fps Unigine Sanctuary Demo (run with everything on defuilt excapt resolution turned down to 1280x800 ) DX10: 31.2fps (scores: 1322) OpenGL: 28fps (scores: 1211) Unigine Tropics Demo: (run with everything on defuilt excapt resolution turned down to 1280x800 ) DX10: 21.7fps (scores: 546) OpenGL:19.8 (scores:498) Unigine Heaven Demo: DX10:15.7(scores:395) OpenGL: 16.2(scores:408) WTF? OpenGL wins? lol 3DMark06:6994 3DMark Vantage: 2922
Notes: Crysis was run at 1280x800 everything on medium excapt physics on very high
Another note: The highest GPU temp underload from Crysis got up to about 78C after about 15mins of running the game. Furmark got the temp up to 80C though after about 15mins also.
I have also played TF2 at max settings @ 1920x1200 for over 2 hours to test stability and it ran fine without any hiccups
Also I feel that this card can be pushed further then this ( I have not tried ) but from what I see it cools a lot better then I expected from a laptop I come from a world of desktop overclocking.
The 9400M was in older Macbook Pros and I've seen many videos where people run crysis on high/very high and have pretty good FPS. The laptops arent as fast as the newer ones, but yet my MBP (specs down below) which is faster, can only run crysis on medium at around 30 FPS, unless i wanted 5 FPS with high. The only reasoning for this, to me at least, is that the 330M chip is not as good. Is this the case? If so, why the hell did the graphics chip get downgraded? Here is a link to one of the vids I was talking about: [URL:....] This guy is using the demo for his vid. when i use the demo, it doesnt even give me the option of using very high settings, and when i'm on high, my screen flashes in and out, i get random lines across the screen, and then my computer freezes.
Is there a significant difference between the new nVidia 330m Graphics against the older 9600 cards found in the slightly older MacBook Pros (i am talking about both having 512RAM) not really bothered about the auto-switching deal as i will be Windows frequently for Gaming and using Snow Leopard for University work, oh and as a side note, will the i5/i7 make much difference when gaming (more specifically Modern Warfare 2 and Gears of War),
I'd like to know how many over clock their 330M and how much. Somebody without Windows, who hardly ever plays any kind of game probably doesn't over clock but there are probably many that do play but still don't over clock. The only game I am playing now is Modern Warfare 2 and over clocked the 256mb 330M offers about 25% more performance. That is the difference between 25 and 30 fps. I found that temps don't really rise. At default the GPU reaches about 70C and the CPU around 50 (idle is 32-40). Over clocked 645/808/1451 it avg 73C and CPU is a little lower on 48-49C because the fans work a little harder while the CPU has the same amount of work. That sounds pretty cool to me and I didn't even test any higher, because usually a notebook GPU is a cool chip that over clocks well as long as it is cool enough, and desktop GPUs on the same silicon sometimes run standard on almost 90C. The max temps are higher with 82C which it reaches after game start for a short period until the cooling really kicks in. There is no fan control prog running. That is a 30% increase in clock speed with almost no increase in temps.
I don't know how to read out fan speeds in windows but I don't notice the fans from in the loud gameplay anyway. What are your clocks?? I don't like benchmark tools as they don't determine what matter really to me. I know with furmark I get higher temps but I am not running furmark for fun ever. I play CoD. I used in the game (Call of Duty MW2) in Act 2 of the campaign the misson "of there own accord" because it is probably one of the hardest with the lowest min framerates. I get stock 24-25 fps running outside and min 22. Inside it is 33-60fps. Over clocked it is 28 min 30-31 outside and 38-120 indoors. I use native res (high res) but no AA and no soften smoke edges because it kills performance in some scenes and I don't see the difference. Everything else is on the maximum I can switch it to and the textures are high. AA is only missing in some levels with high contrast where edges start flickering a lot but in general I prefer the higher res over AA. It is just more detail and easier to see the enemy.