Should I be expecting a lot more from my 8600M GT GDDR3 than this?

Well...the screenshot below kinda says it all. I saw someone with a 8400M GT with a higher framerate with higher AA & AS. In-game my frame rate sometimes drops to as low as 20.



Comp specs:
Macbook Pro 15.4"
T8300
8600M GT GDDR3
2MB RAM

- I already upgraded to 169.04 drivers from laptopvideo2go.com
- I'm plugged in to A/C power, using the power scheme 'Home/Office Desk', although I can't find any where to alter my clock settings.
- I also upped my clocks to the stock 475/700, since Apple downclocked it for everyone.

 

people play games on macs now?

 

Can't see the picture.

 

Try closing all those programs in the background maybe? I mean you even got Windows Live Messenger running.

 

lol...

(Not very well)

 

Are you running a Windows XP in a MAC?????????? Wtf... if it wasn't for the OS... why did u buy a mac in the fist place?????

DAmn... it reminds me of a friend, who actually bought a MacBook because she loved the "little apple logo" on the front cover of the laptop...

Then, after she realized it wouldn't run Microsoft's Office and Microsoft's Live Messenger (yep, she's blonde...) she'd started pissing me off, asking me to help her change the Leopard OS for "some Windows" (in her own words...).

And I tell you: If she wasn't that HOT, I wouldn't had helped her at all!

 

this isnt normal at all!
im using an 8600m gt 256MB DDR2 (a lot slower), Im running CSS @ 1920x1200 (a lot bigger than yours!) with everything maxed out, except for AA, its on 2x and AF on 4x..

Whenever i run the FPS test i get about 100fps.., the thing u should know is that i overclocked my video card, but it shouldnt make any difference..

Try different drivers (im using 174.31) and if that doesnt solve the problem try downloading 3dmark06 and post your score (mine is about 4300@1280x1024)

 

That's the problem right there! Try adding another 1998MB to your laptop.

 

My sister bought a dell because its pink... and then saw a cheap camera at BB that matched it and bought it...

MSN works for apple btw... and idk... blaaah if shes hot theres no reason not to help... or am I wrong? just post a picture of MS WORD from your computer onto hers and tell her it works and she just has to use her imagination...

 

Lmao!!!

hehehehehe....

About the hot girl, let's just say she was so grateful I'd helped her that she "repaid" me in a VERY special way... (over and over, btw).

But your idea was great! Next time a hot blonde girl asks me to help her change the OS or Install the MS Office... I'm just gonna post a prt screen pic of my own computer into her desktop wallpaper, and then tell her: If you have any trouble using your computer again, please do not hesitate do call the tech support (a.k.a: ME!). Hehueheuheu...

 

Please get back on topic. Discussions about helping less knowledgeable people of the opposite gender should go in Off Topic.

Is something else perhaps eating up your resources in the background, such as malware or a virus? When running CS:S, open up Task Manager and see which applications are using up your CPU and RAM.

 

How can you get XP running on a Mac, are you using boot camp, i heard that might reduce your performance in intensive tasks. And why you bought a MAC in the first place when you're gonna use Windows. It reminds me of my friend, I recommended him a XPS M1530 about ~$1600 which will play games smoothly and he bought a ~$2000 MBR 15' and realized how bad MBR run Windows (After I make him stop bragging about how beautiful MAC is while he never used it)

 

I have an older model MBP (see sig) and have my settings at a higher resolution than you do with higher settings and I get over 100 FPS in that benchmark.

I am using the 169.25 driver. I just make sure I am in high performance mode in Vista first. Maybe some piece of hardware in your system is faulty, because you should DEFINATELY be getting MUCH higher FPS.

Maybe its because I use Vista?

 

Are you using bootcamp? You have to have installed xp via bootcamp, emulating it any other way will result in degraded perormance.

Is your DirectX updated? Just to make sure visit this site in internet explorer

Update your drivers to 174.16 / 174.53 / 174.74 (latest whql) via laptopvideo2go.com

Dont run the game in window mode

 

Dunno about you, but my MBP runs Vista better than my PC laptop.

These things run windows better than many windows computers... plus they look snazzy... plus they run OSX... plus I'm a hardcore gamer...

Get your head out of the ground and don't pass around heresay.

 

Bootcamp doesn't slow your apps, in some cases they run faster. One negative effect of bootcamp is that it really cuts battery life.

People with a mac put windows on to play games or use software that isn't available on osx whilst still being able to use osx.

Try running osx on any other laptop without messing with bios,hardware and entirely screwing up..

 

Thxs for the info

 

Try out the 169.09 drivers, thats what I use. Also is your VSYNC on? I have no problems in CSS on my MBP, XP here as well.

edit* I see from your SS vsync is off. Id say try different drivers.

Whats sad is my MBP runs games just as well as your Dell, if not better.

 

TS, I recommend trying the 169.04 Forceware drivers from Laptopvideo2go.

It's what I run all my games on my MBP on.

 

I guess I must have done something wrong the first time, and kinda overreacted. Tested it again like 10 times with the same settings and I get an average result of about 105. Sorry all.

Well, now I'm kinda having another problem. I realized that whatever clocks I use on RivaTuner 2.08 doesn't affect any thing at all! Changing the slider value from 375/502 to 475/700 gives the exact same performance. Anyone knows what's wrong this time? So sorry to bother your with these questions.

 

after you hit apply on the clocks and exit rivatuner, launch rivatuner and see if the clocks are reverted back to defaults or not.

 

Clocks weren't reverted, but I didn't see any performance or temperature difference at all. Anyway, I'm using ATITool and it works. My new problem now is 3dmark06. I'm running the basic edition, and the first time I ran it I got 3.7k. After downloading 169.04 drivers, it dropped to 3.6k, and upping my clocks to 575/900 only boosted it to 3.8k. Seems kinda odd huh? =/

 

Not odd at all.

 

3dmark is very weird. Try running 3 loops and get an average.

 

Gahhh....well...I was just a little upset with my score I guess. I mean most people get 3700 3dmarks with no OC, and after OCing they hit up to about 4500~. Anyway, COD4 performance is great.

 

Mac sucks for gaming.

I dont mind Mac, but I would not play games with it.

I got a XPS M1530 T8300 Penryn 8600GT DDR3 and no probs what so ever, Even got up to COD4 with no problems and awsome graphics.

 

So what if it`s a MAC? it can game just as good, since it has a ddr3 8600M GT.
A normal 4k score is expected from the ddr3 version.

 

The person who posted this has just proven 1 point.

I have never had any problems gaming on a normal 8600gt either ddr2 or ddr3

Neither has anyone else, Mac was not built for gaming, its probably getting too hot.

Last time I seen a mac the air vents were not that great to be honest.

Dont slag mate just my opinion.

 

That..thats your answer to the OPs problem...macs cant game?

Whats with all the hate?

Macs can game just fine using bootcamp

Bootcamp doesn't slow your apps, in some cases they run faster. One negative effect of bootcamp is that it really cuts battery life.

People with a mac put windows on to play games or use software that isn't available on osx whilst still being able to use osx.

Try running osx on any other laptop without messing with bios,hardware and entirely screwing up..

 

Too hot? there are ASUS G1S which hit 90-95C on max load. MAC BookPro`s do not get that hot.
Your point is ?

 

... That made my day... But it's true that I don't really understand people buying macs for installing windows on them ^^ and I hate people boasting that their mac is superior because it can can run osx and win...

Back to the topic those scores seem fine to me.

 

What resolution did you do the 3DMark06 at?

Even with newer drivers, I have never broken the 4K barrier, I'm always around 3800. This is when I test at 1440x900.

Those with over 4K either have BRILLIANT overclocks (at least 20% or more) or are testing at resolutions lower than 1400x900 or the standard 1280 x 1024.

 

If you do not mention the resolution that you ran your 3dmark06 test at...the data is useless. Thus, the whole idea of comparing systems with the same variables.

 

People like you have no idea what you're talking about. Get off your fanboy high-horse.

Everytime Ive run 3dmark Ive come in over 4k, and I haven't had a problem yet with my MBP with gaming Some of you obviously have never used the machine in real life, or just use **** drivers.

 

I don´t mind Macs, though they are not made for gaming in the first place. Also it seems like most Mac people are real fanboys, it is more a hate against PC than the other way around. Check this Emeek guy on Youtube he is hilarious, according to him a Mac with a 8800GTX runs Crysis much much better than any PC because it runs through bootcamp, that tells something doesn´t it

 

the guy u saw with the 8400M GT was me probably ....lol. I run CSS maxed out with an average of 59 fps (stress test) after OC'ing my GPU.

Maybe its cus of overheating

 

Not normal, just ran my DDR2 8600m GT through the same setup as yours, except 1280 x 960 res, and I got 115 FPS.

 

for what its worth, boot camp doesn't really do anything. "boot camp" is just a partition manager for OSX to help you set aside some space to install windows. it is also a windows application that allows you to control the hardware (keyboard backlight, screen brightness)

you don't have to have boot camp to run windows at all. you can use any partition manager and install the drivers on your own if you want.

and intel macs run windows exactly the same speed as any pc configured with equivalent hardware. its definitely not faster because of "boot camp"...

 

Tell that to emeek then ... anyway The max I hit with the 174.74 with my 8600m gt dd2 @600/400 is 3655.

 

No use, emeek is a blind fanboy.

 

There's your problem. You need to disable "apple" and enable "microsoft"

 

To be honest, I have no idea. I'm using 3dmark06 basic so I can't change my settings. The stated resolution is 1280x800 but I believe it's running at 1440x900.

Anyway, to those of your wondering why I got a MacBook Pro and running Windows, these are my reasons in order of importance:
- Subsidised cost, insurance & warranty, as well as bundled software (Microsoft Office) since it's sold by my school's vendors
- 2nd lightest notebook with a 8600M GT
- Relatively light, small and slim for it's screen size
- Father won't let me touch Dell
- It's pretty
- Couple of modules in my school require us to use Mac OS X

Well, anyway I'm learning to appreciate Mac OS X. I always knew how to use it since I was a kid as my uncle uses Macs, but I never quite liked them since practically none of Windows stuff worked on it. The only stuff I cared about that worked were Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger & Warcraft 3.

 

Funny you mention this... my Macbook Pro running Vista blows doors off of my wifes M1530 with identical specs.

I hardly ever run OSX with my MBP.. I didn't buy this machine because it has a mac logo or is able to run OSX. I was honestly tired of the crap build jobs of Dell, (having owned an M1710 and M1530) always worrying about which crap screen they would send your unit with, (Samsung, LG, etc) and many other reasons. Oh, and how is your M1530s LED screen working for you? Wait, its still not out yet...

I would agree with you, that Mac's aren't geared toward gaming, but that doesn't mean its not a completely capable gaming rig. They are well built, all around computers, that can do any task a normal PC can these days.

 

Umm for ppl who say u kant game wit a mac, click my sig plz k thx.

 

Well Nothing wrong with the mbp used as a game machine, but the most vocals people about mac almost always are utter douches so in the end you associate the brand with that kind of arrogant behavior(the mac ads didn't help either)...

 

I hate to say it but iv yet to find a resolution for this problem, It seems like the 8600 GT and the 8600M GT are both crap graphic cards to be honest. I have a 8600M GT and get low as hell frame rate with more than half the games I play. It happens randomly as well even in low settings. I believe we got served and the graphic card is just not working properly.

 

What framerates do you get exactly and with what games?

 

Check the post under this mate, ^_^ What game....

Cabal online
Sword of the new world
Pirates of the burning sea
FFXI <--- the worse less than 5fps.
2 Moons
Sometimes Hellgate London. <--- This one runs half decently most of the time 30fps.

 

you need to get drivers sorted out, check the reply in your other thread

 

Then something´s messed up with your wife´s xps Anyway nice to see Mac being able to play games in the first place. But I assume cooling isn´t Apples strong side on these machines compared to other PC gaming brands. Well I could be wrong, would be nice to hear though. Personally I don´t care I own a XPS myself and had the former XPS M170 which in fact had really good building quality and my new M1730 has much better building quality not to talk about the insane cooling abilities of this notebook. When it comes to gaming notebooks I think Dell is in the lead for sure. Uhm Samsung screen is one of the best looking out there not to talk about the LG when it comes to sharpness.

Also the easy answer to this thread is that don´t expect too much out of a 8600m GT DDR3, it isn´t a high end card but should be able to play games decently albeit newer ones in lower resolutions if you want some eye candy. It is definitely restricted by it´s 128 bit bus. I know I have owned two myself specifically 8700m GT´s albeit in SLI.