[rebelzeppelin]

I have a MacBook Pro that I bought in August 2007. It's got 2gig RAM (2x 1gig sticks) and a 256meg ATI Radeon X1600.

I run both OS X and Windows XP and play games on both. Ever since a couple of weeks ago, any 3D games I run are BADLY distorted.

Here's some examples so you get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Fallout 3 looks like this.
http://i114.photobuc...12-43-06-56.jpg

Left 4 Dead looks like this.
http://i114.photobuc...14-20-02-52.jpg
http://i114.photobuc...14-19-51-02.jpg

Civilization 4 looks like this.
http://i114.photobuc...214-24-31-4.jpg
http://i114.photobuc...214-24-27-5.jpg

I also have Heroes of Might & Magic 5 for OS X, and that has similar graphical issues as well.

I'm tempted to buy a 2 gig stick so that I can have 3 gigs of RAM and see if that clears it up, but I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem and if anyone knows how to fix it.

Unfortunately, I don't have Apple Care so I can't just send it in.

Just to mention, I've tried cooling down my computer with fan controllers and external fans and neither have produced any results.

Thanks in advance.

[bobbob]

rebelzeppelin, on February 3rd 2009, 06:34 PM, said:

I'm tempted to buy a 2 gig stick so that I can have 3 gigs of RAM and see if that clears it up

Looks like bad VRAM, so I doubt it. Cooling might help, but it's probably going to need some work.

[rebelzeppelin]

bobbob, on February 3rd 2009, 07:34 PM, said:

Looks like bad VRAM, so I doubt it. Cooling might help, but it's probably going to need some work.

This might be a stupid question, but is "VRAM" different from the 2gigs of RAM that I have?

If it's the same, couldn't I just replace the RAM sticks?

That'd be far too simple...

[Hansi]

Your video card is broken. Period. Replacing RAM won't help.

[the Battle Cat]

rebelzeppelin, on February 3rd 2009, 05:00 PM, said:

This might be a stupid question, but is "VRAM" different from the 2gigs of RAM that I have?

If it's the same, couldn't I just replace the RAM sticks?

That'd be far too simple...

"VRAM" (Video RAM) is the RAM built into your video card and is different from the typical RAM sticks that one upgrades their computer with. They are soldered onto the video card.

[rebelzeppelin]

Oi.

So this is a "forget about it and buy a computer suitable for gaming" or a "pay Apple $300 to fix a 2 year old computer that will probably break anyway"-thing isn't it?

Bah!

Thanks for the quick responses though, gents.

[Tetsuya]

rebelzeppelin, on February 3rd 2009, 06:42 PM, said:

Oi.

So this is a "forget about it and buy a computer suitable for gaming" or a "pay Apple $300 to fix a 2 year old computer that will probably break anyway"-thing isn't it?

Bah!

Thanks for the quick responses though, gents.

if you want to game "seriously", a Laptop should never be your only/primary machine.

[rebelzeppelin]

Tetsuya, on February 3rd 2009, 08:48 PM, said:

if you want to game "seriously", a Laptop should never be your only/primary machine.

Truth, but I originally bought it for school and we all know how that goes.

[the Battle Cat]

The best gaming Mac laptop would be the Macbook Pro, so if you are committed to laptops, then the Macbook Pro is for you.

[PeopleLikeFrank]

Alternately, a refurb MB, spending the balance on a home-built PC, depending on whether the rest of the MBP's features are needed.

*hides before the dual-machine/reboot flame war breaks out*

[rebelzeppelin]

the Battle Cat, on February 4th 2009, 11:02 AM, said:

The best gaming Mac laptop would be the Macbook Pro, so if you are committed to laptops, then the Macbook Pro is for you.

Apparently not, considering this whole thread, and all.

[the Battle Cat]

rebelzeppelin, on February 4th 2009, 09:03 AM, said:

Apparently not, considering this whole thread, and all.

One that works that is.

[Sneaky Snake]

nobody, on February 4th 2009, 11:30 AM, said:

*hides before the dual-machine/reboot flame war breaks out*

i dunno who would argue with dual machine, reboot yes, but i can't think of a single downside to dual machine (besides cash). However I own a dual machine setup so i guess I'm a spot biased.

As to your situation rebelzeppelin:

If I were you I'd try to sell your laptop for as much cash as you can. With a fixed GPU u could probably get around 1200-1500 for it. Then with that money you'd have several options

1. save up about $500 and get a new MBP, they're significantly better then the one you had for gaming

2. get one of the new aluminum Macbooks. will game semi-decently but Fallout 3 and L4D (and any other modern game) would be pretty slow on em

3. buy the baseline Macbook (white) for $1000. Then save up an additional $500-$1000 for a desktop gaming PC.
this system could beat every mac for gaming, even the Mac Pro with the 8800. Its ~ $625, but those prices are a couple months old so it would be cheaper today. Although you would have to factor in a keyboard/mouse and Screen. Those can probably be had for another $200 to get a nice 22" monitor with a cheap keyboard mouse setup

[jackdawsson]

the Battle Cat, on February 4th 2009, 08:37 PM, said:

One that works that is.

Preferably with AppleCare this time... something I'd always seriously consider with Mac laptops & ditto an extended guarantee with any PC laptop.

[AussieMacGamer]

rebelzeppelin, on February 4th 2009, 12:42 PM, said:

"pay Apple $300 to fix a 2 year old computer that will probably break anyway"-thing isn't it?

Thats more than a $300 dollar job mate. They will charge a fair bit for it. Does the problem persist under both XP and Mac OS X?

[teflon]

yup, replacing the logic board is bleeding expensive. When I had to have mine done (and thankfully I was sensible enough to get AppleCare) the invoice stated that it would have cost £700... Read that as a new MacBook...

So now you have to ask yourself if thats worth it.

[rebelzeppelin]

AussieMacGamer, on February 9th 2009, 06:24 PM, said:

Thats more than a $300 dollar job mate. They will charge a fair bit for it. Does the problem persist under both XP and Mac OS X?

Yep.

It's definitely not worth it, for me. I'm just going to buy a gaming-ready PC once I have the fundage.

[AussieMacGamer]

You know its not doomed. Its still worth taking it to a genius bar and seeing what they can do for you. Will you be keeping the Macbook Pro as an 'anything but gaming' computer?

[Sneaky Snake]

rebelzeppelin, on February 10th 2009, 04:33 AM, said:

Yep.

It's definitely not worth it, for me. I'm just going to buy a gaming-ready PC once I have the fundage.

Alright well I'd recommend this one (article just released today), its updated with new parts and prices vs the older link I posted. It'll game incredibly well compared to the 8600M MBP. However I would definately stay with mac in the long run. I use Vista on my homebuild PC and Linux on my PS3 and nothing compares with the sheer power and simplicity of OS . At the very least keep your MBP as a everything but gaming computer like AMG said.

If you wanted you could build a similar homebuild to one listed above, but exchange the 4870 with an 9800 GTX+ (which is still a great, cheap gaming card). This way you can dual boot your homebuild to run Hackintosh (which is OS X hacked for certain homebuild configerations). Upside to this is a cheap, powerful, fully functional mac. Downside is potential, serious problems when upgrading your OS. Google "hackintosh" if your interested.

Other solutions are in my above post. I apologize if this post breached any rules during my hackintosh talk.


-Snake

[teflon]

wait a sec, I just remembered!
didnt Apple extend the warranty on GPU related failures for the 8600M GT model MBPs??

this isnt strictly the same issue (cos youve got a different GPU), but its GPU related, and you might be able to blag it if you take it to the genius bar and say you remember something about GPUs failing, and that this looks like the same thing.
Of course, theyll probably just point out that its a different computer and therefore unrelated.
But theres always the very slight outside chance.