MacBook Pro - Graphics

mrshow

Hey everyone,



I was wondering if there was a command line tool or some other application that would let me know if my dedicated graphics card was running? or if it's just using the integrated even though I've switched the performance setting in Energy Saver.



The reason I'm asking is that I've accidentally left it switched to "Better battery life" performance more than a couple of times and launched WoW without realizing any difference in game play. Shouldn't there be drastic performance increase with the dedicated graphics?



Thanks in advance,



MrShow

marvin

You can check the System Profiler (Apple menu > about this mac > more info). In the graphics/displays section it will list the GPUs and it shows the connected displays. I'm not sure if it shows the same for both GPUs but I imagine if one is disabled, it should show no display info under it.



You can also use Cinebench:



http://www.maxon.net/index.php?id=162&L=0



It shows the graphics engine in use. Run the OpenGL tests and it will let you see how much faster it is. You probably won't benefit all that much using the faster GPU as mentioned but you may be able to increase anti-aliasing etc.

mrshow

Ok Cinebench show's the discrete graphics card is indeed running. I'm surprised there wouldn't be a more noticeable difference between the two. Oh well, thanks guys for the response.



On a side note, when I was in the integrated graphics mode the screen would occasionally flicker from the top. About an inch and half to two inches would go black. Is this a warning sign of impending failure?



Thanks

s.metcalf

What resolution are you running? If you have a 15" MBP, the 9400M is good enough for decent frame rates in WoW at that res, but if you have a 17", you'll notice the 9400M to struggle where the 9600 can perform better at 1680 x 1050 and higher (1920 x 1200) resolutions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrShow


Ok Cinebench show's the discrete graphics card is indeed running. I'm surprised there wouldn't be a more noticeable difference between the two. Oh well, thanks guys for the response.



On a side note, when I was in the integrated graphics mode the screen would occasionally flicker from the top. About an inch and half to two inches would go black. Is this a warning sign of impending failure?



Thanks

marvin

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrShow


Ok Cinebench show's the discrete graphics card is indeed running. I'm surprised there wouldn't be a more noticeable difference between the two.

What scores do you get running Cinebench on high performance mode and battery saving mode?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrShow


On a side note, when I was in the integrated graphics mode the screen would occasionally flicker from the top. About an inch and half to two inches would go black. Is this a warning sign of impending failure?

Is this while running anything GPU-related or something physical like moving the screen?

lxalfonso

Meh, WoW shouldn't increase that much...