Retina MBP BootCamp Overclocking Results and Gaming Benchmarks

Im copying this over from my Macrumors thread just incase some people on this forum are interested and don't check over there.

All I can say is WOW. The GT650m in the Retina Macbook Pro is already clocked higher than a normal GT650 at 900Core/1254Memory.

With the stock clocks I was able to achieve a score of 2252 on 3dMark11 which is about average for this card and the 3720qm (2.6ghz) proc. The temps at stock clocks ranged from 99-105C for the CPU and 77C for the GPU. Even though the temps for the CPU seem high, the laptop only gets a bit warm to the touch. Very impressed.

I wanted to see how far I can push the GPU and installed MSi afterburner. I thought that I would get about a 10% increase, and oh boy was I surprised. I spent over four hours increasing clocks a little bit at a time to make sure I had no artifacts and that temps stayed stable. By the end of my testing, I reached a software limitation, not a hardware limitation on the core clock. MSI afterburner only lets me increase the core clock by 135 and 1000 on the memory clock.

I had no artifacts from increasing the core clock and only received artifacts when going to 1000 on the memory increase. 950 was perfectly fine and no artifacts. Im sure if I figure out how to pass the software limitation of MSI afterburner, the GPU can handle higher than the 135 increase for the core clock.

My final stable overclock was 1035/1729, up from the original of 900/1254. One would think temps would go up alot with this type of overclock, but mine only went up by 1C to a max of 78C for the GPU.

With this overclock, I was able to achieve a 3dmark11 score of 2860. This is nearly a 27% increase over the previous score and higher than a stock GTX660m. I couldnt believe how far this card can be pushed.

http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q509/jakubp12/1035core1729mem.jpg

If anyone has info on how to increase the core clock further than the MSI max, Id be willing to OC more (I already tried turning on unoffical overclocking)

edit: Here are some gaming benchmarks at 2880x1800 (apart from FFXIV which is at 1920x1080)

LP2 DX11 2880x1800 ALL HIGH
Stock - 16.9 FPS
OC - 21.1 FPS

FFXIV High (1920x1080)
Stock- 1894
OC - 2131

Resident Evil 5 2880x1800 ALL HIGH
Stock - 29.8 FPS
OC - 32.8 FPS

MAFIA 2 2880x1800 ALL HIGH
Stock - 9.1 FPS (lol)
OC - 10.6 FPS (still lol)

Crysis 2 oaMan Benchmark
Gamer Settings 2880x1800
Stock - 19.608 FPS
OC - 23.256 FPS

Gamer Settings 1920x1200
Stock - 46.512 FPS
OC - 52.632 FPS

Hardcore Settings 1920x1200
Stock - 25.974 FPS
OC- 28.986 FPS

Crysis Warhead FRAMEBUFFER Benchmarking Tool
Gamer Settings 1920x1200
Stock - Framerate [ Min: 17.38 Max: 33.84 Avg: 26.11 ]
OC - Framerate [ Min: 17.83 Max: 39.17 Avg: 28.39 ]

OC AT 1200/1649

Crysis 2
Hardcore Settings 1920x1200
32.258 FPS

Gamer Settings 2880x1800
24.691 FPS

Crysis Warhead
Framerate [ Min: 21.33 Max: 39.69 Avg: 30.70 ]

3dmark11
3248

If you guys have any requests for benchmarks, Ill do my best to run them.

 

wow. I am impressed.

 

I wanna see if you can run afterburner and F@H or P95 together and see if the CPU can sustain turboboost while doing that

 

By p95 do you mean prime 95? just ran it while overclocked for about 20 minutes and according to throttlestop, the multiplier stayed around 30 the entire run.

 

Asdad123
Can you run Prime95 and Furmark together and track the clock speeds using CPU-Z and GPU-Z and temperatures with HWmonitor?

Thanks. I am considering a MBP+R for my next laptop but thermals and throttling are a serious concern for me.

 

Yeah, sorry for the confusion. It's prime95

I'm still having a doubt about the Furmark+Prime95 stress. I want to see if the CPU and GPU (1035 core) can sustain the stress with CPU TurboBoost on.

Also, you might want to use nVIDIA Inspector and click on "unlock max", that will give you a higher core clock offset compared to afterburner

 

WOWOWOW Thank you for that Program.

Benching right now. Currently at 1100/1604 and I just hit 3046 on 3dMark11 which is GTX670m speed .

GPU Temp was only 79C, CPU temps hit 99-100C.

 

asdad123: Just curious. When you click on the Turbo Power Limits (TPL) button, are those values unlocked on your Mac? A lot of the PCs lock these values but I think some of the previous generation Apples left these open to adjustment using ThrottleStop. Post a screen shot of that window if you can.

If you are not getting full CPU Turbo Boost when fully loaded you might be able to bump these values up a little but it looks like CPU temperature will be your ultimate limit. You are getting near the 105C throttling point.

 

Here you go:

http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q509/jakubp12/tpl.jpg

I had to download the 5.0 beta since under the 4.1 version, TPL was greyed out and not able to be clicked.

 

That's just crazy that card has unlimited overclocking capabilities lol

 

Just got my max stable clocks. 1200/1649.

Result was a 3248 3dmark11, about 1000 points more than stock.

http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q509/jakubp12/1200core1650mem.jpg

 

Any artifacts? Can you run games at those clocks for a few hours?

BTW, Your score is scratching the GTX 580M

 

Thanks, nice of Apple not to lock these limits and they also have set them so high that they will never get in the way of getting full Turbo Boost. Too bad PC manufacturers didn't do the same.

TS 5.00 is the first version to support Ivy Bridge.

 

No artifacts whatsoever during the benching. Running Crysis 2 and Warhead benchmarks in a bit.

Ill be playing some games this weekend and Ill reply with how it has been at these clocks.

 

Are you saying we could use the 400MHz partial OC' on the RMBP?

 

Aikimox: Apple has left the Turbo Power Limits unlocked but I am not sure if the multipliers are locked on this CPU or if ThrottleStop has the ability to increase them.

asdad123: Can you post a screen shot of the ThrottleStop Turbo Ratio Limits window? (TRL button)
If it is unlocked, I am not sure if ThrottleStop or some version of Intel XTU will be able to do any magic in there.

You could also try running a single threaded application, even a single thread of the TS Bench, and see what multipliers are reported while that is running. I will have to do some more reading about this CPU.

 

Here you go:

http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q509/jakubp12/trl.jpg

They are not greyed out and can be changed.

To be honest, I haven't noticed a real difference between throttlestop on and throttlestop off (unlike how on my M11xR2 it was like night and day). Maybe I am doing something wrong?

 

do you really have to put giant pictures on the forum... we really want to see all that wasted space of your desktop instead of just cropping it down to useful info...

edit: Thanks for the picture change

 

The M11x-R2 was one sick puppy out of the box. Running ThrottleStop was almost mandatory when overclocking the R2 in the bios. It really woke up those low power UM CPUs.

Your new laptop is running great as is and doesn't appear to have any major issues. ThrottleStop not improving the performance of your new laptop is a good thing. That means the manufacturer did some proper testing and got things right before shipping it. All of the PC laptop manufacturers could learn a thing or two here.

How high can the Turbo Ratio Limits be adjusted in ThrottleStop? Do the adjusters all max out at 36? I will look up the official Intel specs tomorrow when I get the chance.

You can use Paint if you need to do some quick cropping. I appreciate the data but my eyes need all the help they can get too.

Edit: OK, the Core i7-3720QM has the following maximum Turbo Boost multipliers.

1 core active - 36
2 cores active - 35
3 cores active - 34
4 cores active - 34

I am not 100% familiar with what these new Ivy Bridge mobile CPUs can do yet but ThrottleStop seems to be reporting that even when all 4 cores of your CPU are fully loaded, it can overclock and still use the 36 multiplier. For a quick test of this feature you can run Prime95 or the TS Bench test; set that to 8 threads and see what multipliers ThrottleStop reports. That test puts out a lot of heat so you only need to run it long enough to get a screen shot. Email it to me at the address in the About box of ThrottleStop and I will be happy to crop it for you! A full load 36 multiplier would be awesome to see.

Make sure the Set Multiplier option is maxed out to Turbo and that is checked. With your Turbo Power Limits set so high by Apple, the only thing holding you back from 34 multis across the board when fully loaded would be too much heat. A 36 would be like a bonus but you might need a meat locker for that.

 

Wow, that's a little over the limit buddy. Try buying a penta screwdriver from ifixit and do a repaste

Imagine if the voltage can be upped O_O

I'm predicting 1.3GHz+ speeds

Intel XTU only runs at HM67 (equiv HM77), and not on HM65 (equiv HM76). So I'm not confident about the XTU working on the rMBP




I wonder if the partial 400MHz OC on the 3720QM's and unlocked TPL applies on the standard MBP non-R. Since I don't have the money to buy the retina

 

Here you go.

http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q509/jakubp12/TSBEnch.jpg

The adjusters can go higher than 36, but it does not make a difference. Setting the multiplier to turbo doesn't do anything, it stays at a multiplier of 34. I did try setting the multiplier lower to 30 just to see if it did anything, and it did lower it under load.

 

This is Amazing but we are sooooooo limited with the cooling system that is not even worth thinking on overclocking at least not the CPU

 

Pop off the bottom cover and let the fan have some fresh air. The difference is day and night, plus, you add a TON of thermal headroom if you do this.

 

but what is the point of having a beautiful ultra light laptop that you cant use in bed anymore if I want to overclock I use my M18X better lol

if overclocking the GPU on the mac give me the ability to play a game at native res and and the temps are not increased by more than 2c then all this is worth it to me but not removing any covers

 

I only saw about a 3-4C increase on average when I was OCed to 1200/1649.

When I was at 1035, it only increased by about 2C.

 

that's good to hear so if I can play a game at 1000mhz totally stable with 2c more only this is really worth it because you saw how you can barely play diablo 3 at max res but with the little bump is going to be just fine

 

But my 2008 MB reaches 104c CPU temp (2.1GHz)

And drops to 89 when cover opened (2.212GHz)

 

I need to buy some new Ivy hardware so I can try and figure out how to get beyond the 34 barrier. This CPU might be capable of going higher with a tweak or two but Speedy Gonzalez is right. Your laptop is already being limited by heat so there won't be any practical advantage of getting the CPU to run faster. It still would be interesting to get this figured out. Thanks for sharing.

 

yeah maybe the regular uni body macbook pro 2012 has better cooling for a little bump but I doubt because the last year one runs at 105c with load lol

and to bad the 3610QM or 3615QM don't have this unlocked multi to match 3720QM speeds at least

 

Looks great, the temps are a little ridiculous sometimes but with an external keyboard + mouse (and maybe a cooling pad) I don't think there should be many problems.

The i7 3720QM is rated up to 105° C from what I found here: Intel Core i7-3720QM Mobile processor - AW8063801013116

 

This is a laptop not a desktop, components get packed jam inside a laptop so temperatures affect all parts. Processors will throttle at about 105c, the issue isn't the processor it's the surrounding components.

In my testing I've fried 6/6 laptop motherboards by replicating 105c temperatures in hotboxes (cardboard boxes with no ventilation, sealed with duct tape with 3 temp diodes) while putting the laptop on load.
3 Intel systems (Core 2 duo's)
3 AMD Systems
One of the AMD systems had failing ram module however the ram unfortunately was not tested before so it could have been there.
All 6 motherboards had thermals replaced, as well as new cmos batteries prior to testing.
Oddly enough, on all 3 Intel laptops the USB ports failed before the motherboard died.
The motherboards worked fine while idle. It's one thing to survive at 105c but only feeding 3/10ths of your power envelope to components and running at 105c but feeding 8/10ths of your power envelope.
Power systems flat out are not capable of getting anywhere near 105c, and in laptops I am afraid it is a reality.

 

To be honest, even though it reaches 105C, there is no need for an external keyboard and mouse. The laptop only gets a little warm to the touch (atleast in my opinion) that it does not bother me.

 

Sincerely I can only see that this RMBP should come with haswell, with their lower TDPs. And that is one of the main reasons that Im going to wait next year, dont mind me saying that this is one hell of a machine, even with ivy

 

You'll endup in the same situation. Die shrink doesn't mean the processors run less hot. Most of the time it means that the manufacturers will add more transistors and offer higher clocks within the same TDP budget. So next year, we'll get 6-8core CPU's clocked @ 2.5-3.5GHz within the same 45W.

 

highly doubt of 6-8 cores in mobile next year, and I wouldnt get one if availbale, though very tempting.

But aikimox its a not die shrink, its a whole new arch with a new set of tdp, lets hope that the chipsets dont lag like they did when moving to SB, but from the leaks so far they dont appear to be

 

Penryn -> Clarksfield -> Sandy Bridge -> Ivy Bridge - I didn't notice a lower TDP tendency and we are talking more than 4 years of progress here. What makes you think that HW is going to change that?

 

the current leaks so far it seems that the xm models are going to be 47w of tdp, while the mainstream stuff at 37w.

and you are correct the tendency in fact has been to stay on the 35w, 45w for mainstream

 

It means (if true) that the next gen of notebooks will have smaller fans and less robust cooling to allow for slimmer form factor. I think we'll be seeing the exact same temps.



@Everyone,

Has any of the RMBP owners tried repasting the CPU and/or using fan controlling programs? I wonder if it's technically possible to slash 10C of the load temps and keep it under 90C under load.

 

given that when the unibody 15 was launched, it suffered some design changes, that I liked more to be honest, its not out of question that this could be one thing that they would do, hopefully this chassis is final, like the 2009 models were and they will stay the same until the chassis goes EOL

 

Since the the CPU doesn't managa temp under load nearly as well as the GPU can we just overclock the GPU or will the 3720 bottleneck performance?

 

Worst case, if you're using windows, you can limit adjust the CPU frequency to keep the CPU temps at bay. I do that on my MBA and never touch 70C (fan is not even noticeable) but then again, there's a performance sacrifice. So dunno, I'd rather repaste and have the temps under control.

 

A warm keyboard = warm / sweaty hands and that's my absolute worst nightmare
With the aluminium conducting head better than composites used in other laptops, I worry about getting warm hands with those kinds of temperatures.

So I guess each to his own, though.

I didn't even think of the surrounding components and I agree that those overheating would be far more detrimental than the heat on just the CPU chip.

 

becaus im new to the mac world and im about to change from aliewanre m18x to a RMBP , Im going to ask a newbish question

why is it that regardless version of games to mac OS , people still perfer to use bootcamp and install it on windows ?

 

you mean "some people" not just people.
many games are designed and made for Windows/DirectX from the beginning, and the Mac port is done quickly as possible without optimization which ends up making it usually run much slower or worse... then companies often don't keep up with patches or updates or expansions on the Mac side... many mods people make are only for Windows, etc etc...

I'm sure everyone would rather play on OSX, but for many people they don't like the disadvantages, so just use Bootcamp so they have a PC.

 

So if im to get a mac and I paly things like BF3 / diablo 3 / max payne 3 then bootcamp is the way to go ?

 

i only gane on windows. doh123 is one of the developers for wine, it makes possible for windows programs to run on OSX, unluckily I have been unable to run stock trader platforms on it, thus I use windows a lot

 

I once tried a ported version of Bad Company 2, lagged like hell even on the lowest settings.

Surprisingly it was holding 15fps+ on Win7

 

Thanks very much for this, asdad - I'm wondering if you can get some playable frame rates with any recent games at 2880x1800. For example, instead of using "Gamer" setting, if you reduce your AA or shadow quality, etc., on Crysis 2, can you get it up to 25-30 fps @2880x1800?

I'm considering picking one up primarily because of the display, but if I can't run any recent games at 2880x1800 with playable frame rate (at least with lower settings), then I'd rather go with something cheaper that I know for certain can run games on high at 1920x1080, such as a dv6t or Envy 15.

I'm just looking for at least 25-30 fps @1800p for games like Skyrim, Arma2, ME3, Sniper Elite V2, RAGE, Civ 5, DXHR, Dishonored, Bioshock Infinite, perhaps with lower draw distance, shadow quality, etc., MSAA disabled and using FXAA instead, etc.

 

Wine is always a constant work in progress. Basically you have to get commands from the software and replicate the same results back and on the screen as Windows would with no documentation on how Windows works... In gaming there is also the Direct3D->OpenGL layer that can slow things down too. It gets better all the time. Some programs and games run fantastic... some won't run at all, but most are in the middle somewhere that may or may not run good enough.

If you can get a game running good at 2880x1800, just disable AA, as you shouldn't need it at that res anyways, unless you still lean really closely to the sxcreen and don't play at a normal distance. At a normal distance you shouldn't be able to see the pixels anyways, hence the whole "retina" thing.
The only game in your list I play is Civ5, but the Mac version runs great, but you don't want to play a huge late game on 2880x1800, though it is playable. No idea if it works better in Windows, because I don't use Windows.

 

Someone should point out that 105C on the cpu is not just a warm keyboard.

Those are critical heat levels for a laptop on any component as they are all squished in there.