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Better performance with Iris Pro graphics than 750m? (rMBP 15")

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  • Macbook Pro
  • Performance
  • Graphics
  • Graphics Cards
  • Mac OS X
Last response: in Mac Os X
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August 21, 2014 6:03:28 PM

I just bought a retina macbook pro, and I got the model with the 750m graphics card. When I turned off the option that said automatic graphics switching in the energy saver section of system preferences, it gave me a message that said the computer would always use high performance graphics. However, I noticed some lag when I started using it, especially with animations. I went to the apple store, and told them the problem. They said that this was because since the NVIDIA graphics card has 2GB of memory, that acted as my RAM, and the 16GB was not actually doing anything, and with the switch turned on, it actually uses BOTH GPU's (or at least they work together somehow). So he told me to turn the switch back on.

I feel like since the computer told me that it would be "high performance", the guy at the store was contradicting what the computer was telling me...does this make sense? Was the guy at the apple store telling me to turn it back on because that's the default or something?

Thanks.

More about : performance iris pro graphics 750m rmbp

a b U Graphics card
August 21, 2014 6:30:15 PM

As far as I understand it, and Im no Mac person, turning off the switch forces the system to only use the IrisPro since it can no longer switch to the dedicated (better) 750m. The Iris pro has some memory built in but the bulk of it uses your slower system ram. The 750m has its own dedicated 2gb of much faster ram.

I'm not sure if Mac has the option of clicking on a program (like you would to bring up properties) and selecting which GPU you want to use to run it; like you can on many windows lappies.
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August 21, 2014 6:32:34 PM

Can't tell you why the 750m lags, but I'm pretty sure the guy at the apple store doesn't know what he's talking about. There's a difference between video RAM and system RAM, and I doubt any system is dumb enough to try to use the former as the latter.
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August 21, 2014 6:53:47 PM

popatim said:
As far as I understand it, and Im no Mac person, turning off the switch forces the system to only use the IrisPro since it can no longer switch to the dedicated (better) 750m. The Iris pro has some memory built in but the bulk of it uses your slower system ram. The 750m has its own dedicated 2gb of much faster ram.

I'm not sure if Mac has the option of clicking on a program (like you would to bring up properties) and selecting which GPU you want to use to run it; like you can on many windows lappies.


Unfortunately, there is no option for each app...just in system preferences.
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August 21, 2014 6:55:20 PM

jakjawagon said:
Can't tell you why the 750m lags, but I'm pretty sure the guy at the apple store doesn't know what he's talking about. There's a difference between video RAM and system RAM, and I doubt any system is dumb enough to try to use the former as the latter.


Right. That's what didn't make sense to me. And it's not like extreme lag. It's just the animations are not great I guess. The bottom line is the Iris Pro has smoother animations than the 750m. And the screen flickered a quite a bit when I tried to play Assassin's Creed.
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