Full Hybrid SLi support?

rasmooserasmoose
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Greetings fellow geeks



I find it oddly old-fashioned that I still have to log off and back on, when I want switch between which graphics adapter to use on my otherwise much beloved Unibody MacBook Pro. I am actually surprised that Apple still haven't fixed this, especially since Apple normally puts such an effort into making their operation systems and programs user friendly.



Does anybody know why? And more importantly, can we ever expect to get full hybrid SLi support, so we won't have to log off and on again?



Thanks in advance.



Rasmus Westh

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    karl kuehnkarl kuehn Posts: 756member
    The problem is that the WindowServer is the process that controls the interaction between the GUI programs and the screen (and thus the GPU). Everything connects to that, and the WindowServer runs as the user. My guess is that changing what that is speaking to is not a trivial process, while changing it between the user instance and the LoginWindow (root) instance is pretty easy. So they cut to a simple solution and did that.



    My guess is that part of this is that there is so much involvement with using the GPU to speed up rendering that making the transition and handing off all of the data from one GPU to the other while still juggling all of the live objects was more trouble than it was worth.



    It might be that we will see this change in 10.6, as they are already in there monkeying with things, but my guess is that this will have to wait till the next major revamp of the Imaging Model (last one was around 10.2).
  • Reply 2 of 2
    rasmooserasmoose Posts: 20member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Karl Kuehn View Post


    The problem is that the WindowServer is the process that controls the interaction between the GUI programs and the screen (and thus the GPU). Everything connects to that, and the WindowServer runs as the user. My guess is that changing what that is speaking to is not a trivial process, while changing it between the user instance and the LoginWindow (root) instance is pretty easy. So they cut to a simple solution and did that.



    My guess is that part of this is that there is so much involvement with using the GPU to speed up rendering that making the transition and handing off all of the data from one GPU to the other while still juggling all of the live objects was more trouble than it was worth.¨



    That makes sense, although it is my personal opinion that they ought to have fixed this anyway. Especially the fact that the computer comes from the factory with the slow GPU switched on, and no apparent guidelines that illustrate how to turn on the fast one - or even any that indicate that there is an option to switch between the two. Most Pro users will know this, but still...



    Quote:

    It might be that we will see this change in 10.6, as they are already in there monkeying with things, but my guess is that this will have to wait till the next major revamp of the Imaging Model (last one was around 10.2).



    From this, I can understand that Leopard didn't feature a revamp of the Imaging Model. And from what I can gather from the above, there is little hope that we will see this in Snow Leopard?



    Thanks for a very competent reply, it is highly appreciated



    Best,



    Rasmus (waiting for iPhone 3G S to hit the Danish stores!)
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