Overclock your MacBook Pro's GPU -- if you dare

We're not suggesting you try this at home (though we're also not suggesting that doing so will melt your MacBook Pro), but according to reports trickling out on the internets, the graphics processor in Apple's MacBook Pro is woefully underclocked. One user who tested his unit found that the MBP's Radeon X1600 came in at just 310MHz, compared to 470MHz on similarly equipped laptops from other brands (we almost said "similarly equipped Windows-based laptops," but, hey, we can't do that anymore, can we?). So, what's a gamer to do? Why, overclock it -- or reclock it, if you believe the unit is underclocked in the first place. Just boot your MBP into Windows (you do know how to do that, right?), run ATI Tools 0.2.5 and kiss your sluggish graphics (and probably your warranty) goodbye. Oh, and just in case you really don't know how to run Windows on your MBP, it turns out that at least one retailer is now selling models with XP pre-installed. Get one now, before Apple shuts them down.

Read - GPU
Read - XP pre-installed on MBP

[Bren @ Apr 19th 2006 3:37PM]

I see Engadget is Pro apple as usual!!

[ben @ Apr 19th 2006 3:39PM]

They run hot to begin with, no? I suppose this way you could make steaks on the bottom of the MBP.

[kapsel @ Apr 19th 2006 3:43PM]

My MacBook Pro (first revision) runs hot even if my GPU is underclocked.. This is an image of what happend last night, after encoding a few minutes of video.. Think it got way too overheated: http://cool-teens.dk/kapsel/fuckup.jpg

[Silver @ Apr 19th 2006 3:54PM]

So Bren, I guess when Engadget runs a story on Dell (which they do - often), they're pro-Dell? And when they run a story on Sony they're pro-Sony?

Thanks for your insight.

[Bren @ Apr 19th 2006 4:01PM]

Hey "Silver" I guessed you missed the sarcasm, did you read the article?? Just to clarifly I'm a Mac user, and I love Mac OSX.

[Steve @ Apr 19th 2006 4:04PM]

The article a few days ago that showed the 13.3 mbpro, what was the wallpaper on the computer??

[Kyran @ Apr 19th 2006 4:06PM]

As for the MBP itself, there's no doubt this thing is underclocked for a reason. X1600 chips in both mobile and desktop are notoriously hot for what they do. I'm sure the fan noise would kick up a few notches if you run this thing at full speed in a MacBook Pro, considering how thin these laptops are compared to the others.

Reclock at your peril.

[willyjsimmons @ Apr 19th 2006 4:13PM]

Silver!!!!

Ha ha ha.

Attacking one of your own!!!

CLASSIC.

So now we know why you went 'poo poo' on the whole vaporware UMPC thing in favor of a VAPORWARE video ipod.

'For Shame!!!'

If I were a like you, I'd probably say PWNED!!!

But I won't.

[daschupa @ Apr 19th 2006 4:24PM]

Sarcasm on a message board is better left alone unless you are CS Lewis.

Anyhoo, this is pretty cool. Definitely a huge plus having the diverse utilities on windows. It'd be interesting to find out how much heat/energy this generates.

[whtnoise @ Apr 19th 2006 4:25PM]

saw an ad in the village voice for a apple reseller called tekserve that's preloading windows xp on all intel based macs...

[glacia00 @ Apr 19th 2006 4:29PM]

Notebooks in general are bad candidates for overclocking. There are some really good precautions that you can take to keep things cool but very few are practical for a notebook.

There are an enormous number of overclocking references on the web. Before you start overclocking research is a must.

[Eric @ Apr 19th 2006 4:41PM]

ATI TOOL OVER CLOCK WILL VOID WARRENTY? I don't think so.

I've set my ratio to 430 / 470 , which is still far less than the ATI recommandation for vendors. and if my MacBook Pro did melt for this and apple did not offer a warrenty, i'll sue it without question.

I'm not going to win i know, but i'll want to let the rest of the world know that apple is fvcing up everyone with its fake-innovative attitude.

I thought the �2200 price tag is the only cost for making a one inch thin super laptop, and now i know i am wrong.

Eric
A MacBook Pro 2.16Ghz + 2G Ram User.
A PowerBook 17" and MacMini User.

[Edward Grefenstette @ Apr 19th 2006 4:46PM]

willyjsimmons >> You, sir, are a freaking idiot.
First, Bren is just really bad at sarcasm, cut this 'Silver' guy some slack.
Second, how the hell does anything here relate to vaporware?
Thirdly, how is the video iPod, or any apple product, vaporware? Vaporware is when a company advertises a product, or sends out teasers or press releases, then never releases it or significantly changes the key features. Apple always releases their products the day they announce them, or at least offer pre-orders and ship them a few weeks later. Anything related to the new iPod video is speculation and fan-made mockups.

So that's three points of argumentation on which you proved you were a stuttering imbecile. If I was 12, I'd say PWNED. Fortunately enough, I'm quite unlike you, and will settle for a kind recommendation: stick to using the internet for google.

[Jim @ Apr 19th 2006 4:52PM]

One the new Mini, Apple locks the (Intel GMA 950) integrated graphics at 64mb of vRAM (or 80mb depending on your take), but Intel's specs on the GMA 950 say that the chip is "programmable" to allocate up to 225mb (or some such number). Obviously, Apple locked it at 64mb because the basic mini�s config only has 512mb of RAM and they couldn't afford to leave Tiger only 250mb of system RAM when/if graphics-intensive jobs grabbed half the system RAM.

My point and question is, for someone like me who has the new mini with 2GB of RAM, is there a way to program or hack the GMA 950 to utilize the full 225mb of �vRAM� if required?...on my mini, it's obviously going to leave Tiger with plenty of system RAM�

[willyjsimmons @ Apr 19th 2006 4:55PM]

Oh Edward.....

You've just gone WAY off the deep end with that.

It's OBVIOUSLY an INSIDE JOKE.

Less coffee, more sex.

Now find a corner to sit in. Good lord.

[willyjsimmons @ Apr 19th 2006 5:01PM]

The video settings are in the 'BIOS' or EFI settings as it were. Like hitting F2 during post.

Unless apple excludes that section.

On boxed boards, you can set it to STATIC or DYNAMIC, with a limit on how much to use.

But I don't own a new Mac, so that's as much as I can tell ya.

[Andy @ Apr 19th 2006 5:55PM]

Benchmarks?

[thomas_h @ Apr 19th 2006 6:01PM]

as long as it runs hl2dm ok, then im satisfied.

[Ihar Filipau @ Apr 19th 2006 6:28PM]

What you smoking people?

On my aging iBook G4 graphic card was quite evidently underclocked too. (That's ATI Mobile 9200.) You can tell this since vertical sync is locked into something like 40-50Hz.

But still 6-8 hours of work off battery (or 2 hours of DVD playback) is something I think much much more important to notebook.

My friend's Toshiba on Intel's Centrino technology runs *much* faster. But max for 3-4 hours.

What will you choose?????

[tom @ Apr 19th 2006 6:30PM]

Sure. Like a respectable hardware company such as Apple would forget to set their clocks right. So go ahead and fix their "mistake."

[uberwear @ Apr 19th 2006 6:53PM]

wait, which apple notebook is running for 8 hours?

[Zombie Flanders @ Apr 19th 2006 6:54PM]

Ihar,

I'd go with the Dell, because I would be given the option to use ATI Tool to underclock it. Then I would get the battery life of the 'locked' Apple.

You're saying you could either buy something that could go fast if it weren't locked down by the manufacturer, or something that can go fast by default and can also be slowed... that's not a hard choice at all if you're looking for actual choice. : )

[kibets @ Apr 19th 2006 7:14PM]

does this all mean windows games will run 35% slower on the mac?

[Matthew Johnston @ Apr 19th 2006 8:08PM]

How about the imac?

I have a 20 inch intel and that uses the same graphics chip as far as i am aware.

Would i be right in thinking that this is underclocked to?

If so, i would imagine the imac would be far better at dealing with the excess heat?

[MACBOT vX @ Apr 19th 2006 9:00PM]

BEEP BOP...FOOLISH HUMANS!...BOOP BOP...

APPLE HAS UNDERCLOCKED THE GPUS ON THE LATEST BATCH OF HARDWARE BECAUSE APPLE KNOWS WHATS BEST FOR YOU...BEEP BOP BOOP BOP...APPLE TOTALLY DOESNT WANT TO EMBARRASS THOSE WHO OWN THOSE UGLY HARD TO USE WINTEL PCS BY HAVING THE MOST PERFECT OS EVER AAAAAAAAND THE FASTEST MOST AWESOMEST HARDWARE IMAGINEABLE...BEEP BOOP...BY REMOVING MEANS TO MODIFY YOUR CARDS SPECS APPLE IS TRYING TO PROTECT YOU FROM EVIL!...DOOTDOTOLOO...DOOTDOTOLOO...FREEDOM IS SLAVERY...

[Grasshopper @ Apr 19th 2006 9:04PM]

I don't believe the iMac is underclocked, just the MacBook Pro at 310MHz. If you run the MBP on battery the x1600 clocks down to around 150MHz, which pretty much makes it useless for portable gaming under XP.

[Mike @ Apr 19th 2006 9:44PM]

The Best Buy in Coquitlam has Windows running on ALL their Intel Macs... they're selling them with step-by-step instructions on how to do it, too.

[home theatre guru @ Apr 20th 2006 1:06AM]

I love best buy I get most of my gadgets and computer stuff from them, but I notice macs have been selling at diff price points from state to state, wonder why

[Andres @ Apr 20th 2006 5:40PM]

i just ran this ati tool. knocked everything to 450 mhz and compared the before and after w/ their little rendering too. i was getting 70 fps w/ the stock settings at 400mhz i was getting 90 fps and at 450 mhz i was getting a wopping 110 fps. Since i just got this thing i dont want to run it too hard. but I played half life 2 at full res settings maxed out and it ran way better at 400 mhz than it did at the stock 320 or so mhz. And i wasn't over heating.

before i give this baby more juice. anybody what the whole fan situation is when running boot camp on a macbook pro?

[Chris Bell @ Apr 20th 2006 7:11PM]

Guys,

Here is a program for overclocking ATI cards in OS X. I can't confirm if it works on MacBook Pros though because mine is at Apple for repair. :(

http://mapage.noos.fr/campahunta/index.html

[Anonymous Freak @ May 11th 2006 11:59PM]

uberware: My 12" PowerBook G4 can get over 7 hours, and my MacBook Pro over 5 hours. See http://www.hurtley.org/MBP5hr19m.png and http://www.hurtley.org/PB7hr24m.jpg

[Danny Jones @ Jan 9th 2007 4:24PM]

we need a tool to overclock the gpu on our mbp`s asap. something that does it in a similar way to the power management on the core 2 duo, i.e when more juice is needed the thing will run faster and when its idle it runs at def speeds. !!

[gpu for you @ Jul 26th 2008 4:03PM]

Find the right gpu for yourself at:
www.gpuforyou.com

[Crazy @ Jun 9th 2009 6:46AM]

I managed to overclock my MBP's 8600M GPU:

From a 470Mhz to 600Mhz Core
and 635 to 765 Mhz Memory

Temps are at 50 idle, and 65 under stress.
Fans are at 6000rpm

I used ntune.