7 replies to this topic

[IMG News]

For those that haven't yet heard the news, various owners of the MacBook Pro that have been tinkering with Boot Camp have successfully been overclocking their ATI X1600s by using ATITool in WinXP. Word is that Apple's current driver keeps the X1600 underclocked compared to similar PC setups, and folks have since then been using ATITool to boost performance in graphics applications.

Accelerate Your Mac has started a running thread of reader reports regarding the overclocking. Initial reports vary, with one user reporting instability issues when clocking past a certain spec.

Acutally it is a quite strange overclocking experience to me , because on most desktop graphics cards, it may get glitch on the screen if you push the card too much before the system crashes. However on my MBP's X1600, it will run perfectly without any glitch at 460 / 360, but when I set it to 470 / 370, the system became very unstable and crashes.

As always, those interested in overclocking are cautioned against the usual issues, including overheating and increased power usage. On the Mac side of things, AYM has sent an inquiry to the maker of ATICellerator II to see if an update is forthcoming for the X1600.

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[nagromme]

A nice project, but no thanks, I think I'd rather live vicariously through other people's experiments! I'm thinking Apple reduced the heat in the MacBook Pro for a good reason. And when I saw my uncle's brand new Dell laptop that was as thick and heavy as a tank, I can guess why. Truly TOP performance is not a goal to be met at the same time as portability.

[griel]

I figure they reduce the clock speed on this version of the 'book so that they can bump it back up on the next version and call it an X1600 pro or something.

[hambone]

tinkering with a replaceable card in a tower is one thing, but risking your entire laptop mobo for a few extra FPS is not worth it.

[the Battle Cat]

::singing:: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

[converted2truth]

My question is if this is a similar situation to when apple released the 9800pro OEM G5 (release machine).  They purposefully underclocked the card because the chips were defective at retail clock speeds.  It was how apple got a price cut on the card.

Are they doing this to the MBP because of heat problems? or because it's a reject incapable of retail speeds and they just wanted to save a few bucks...

[bobbob]

converted2truth, on April 20th 2006, 01:37 PM, said:

Are they doing this to the MBP because of heat problems? or because it's a reject incapable of retail speeds and they just wanted to save a few bucks...

If they have heat/battery problems, then there's no use paying more for a higher speed bin if you can't use it.

[Abecedaria]

bobbob, on April 20th 2006, 01:55 PM, said:

If they have heat/battery problems, then there's no use paying more for a higher speed bin if you can't use it.

You would think that overclocking a PC was some new revelation. Big deal. When running Windows XP, the MacBook Pro is just another WinTel laptop, but with a really fancy case.

Of course, there's that thing about being able to boot the Mac OS that's pretty cool, too.


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