Release the Hidden Graphics Processing Power in your Macbook Pro

PVC - FreshDV by Matt Jeppsen

Since sometime in late 2008, Apple’s 17” and select 15” Macbook Pro models have included not one but two graphics processors, the nVidia 9400M and 9600M GT. It is my understanding that by default the laptop uses the integrated lower-wattage 9400M, which includes 256MB RAM and helps extend battery life. It will run the main laptop display and push an external display as well. The additional nVidia 9600M GT graphics option is actually a discrete internal PCI-E card featuring 512MB of RAM and offers significantly faster Motion GPU rendering performance. You can see both of these cards listed separately in your System Profiler. So how do you tell which card you are using, and how do you switch between the two cards? I’m glad you asked, grasshopper. Read on and I’ll tell you how…

First off, how much of a performance difference is there between the two graphics cards? Quite a bit, actually. Mac benchmarking gods Barefeats have benchmarked the 9400M and 9600M GT in an Apple Motion GPU rendering task (using one of the included HD templates), and saw approx 2.5x to 3.5x faster render times using the 9600M option. That is quite a difference. I was not able to find any benchmark numbers for Compressor or FCP-specific tasks, but we know that FCP leans on the GPU for RT performance. And Barefeats has also benchmarked the two cards for 3D gaming. Again, the 9600 spanked the 9400 by a wide margin. So it stands to reason that you’d see performance gains across the board with the 9600M when using Apple’s Pro Apps (at the expense of battery life, of course. Also, your lappy may run a little hotter.). read more...