Macbook Pro Overclocking Benchmarks

After endlessly searching the internet and having no luck in finding actual overclocking benchmarks, I decided to post my own. This is for the Macbook Pro 2.4ghz with 256mb 8600m with before and after overclock stats. NOW INCLUDES OVERCLOCK WITH 169.02!

3dMark06

470/635


590/700


610/950 New Drivers 169.02


F.E.A.R. (Maximum Settings)

470/635


590/700


610/950 New Drivers


3dMark05

470/635



590/700


600/800 New Drivers



Lost Planet (Max settings except AA. 1280X740)

470/635
Snow- 16
Cave- 13

590/700
Snow- 17
Cave- 13

610/950 New Drivers
Snow- 24
Cave- 23


3dMark03

470/635


590/700


610/950 New Drivers



Company of Heroes (All Settings High. No AA)

470/635


590/700


600/800 New Drivers



CRYSIS 1024x768 NoAA All setting HIGH

470/635
Gameplay- 13
Cut Scene- 8

610/950
Gameplay- 18.5
Cut Scene- 11.5

Note this is running under XP Pro using the ORIGINAL bootcamp drivers unless otherwise noted. All new drivers are running under 169.02.

Any other good programs to test?

 

nice job! how hot does it get at those settings?

you can test 3dMark05 and Lost Planet (directx9 since you got XP) if you have some time.

 

I added 3dMark05 Results. I'll redo them later to test validity so they may be higher then. Currently downloading Lost Planet and will post results when it's done.

 

awesome! the mbp gets really nice scores. im impressed!
i think i will be getting one and putting XP on it. Not a big fan of osx but I love the new MBP specs and design.

 

Fantastic Job! Very well done. But, Wave has a good point, how hot does the video card get at those overclocked settings? Also, what program did you use to overclock with?

 

I overclocked it with RivaTuner. The Temperature peaks at 84 but then the fan kicks in and stabalizes around 76-78. And with lost planet, how long does the performance test last and what settings should I test it on?

 

How is the MPB at 690mhz getting faster scores then the Asus G1s, which runs at a stock speed of 700mhz? What is going on here?

 

is it the CPU? The macbook Pro has a 2.4ghz

 

Lets keep this post at the top...it is the first true OC benchmark we have seen. I think this post is important. The performance of the MBP 8600gt seems to be spectacular...even better then the Asus g1s...this is very interesting.

 

I added the Lost Planet results that were almost Identical in both tests... guessing its largely processor based? Or did I do something wrong?

And are there any more tests?

Edit: Added 3dMark03 Results

 

Did you ever change the shader speed? I think lost planet needs alot of shaders. You increased the core and memory. Did you leave the shaders unchanged?

 

No wave I didn't see an option for that... Is it in system settings or where?

 

What are you using to overclock? ATITool or coolbits? I think only RVtune has an option to overclock the shaders. It shows the wrong clockspeed (bit to high for the core and shaders) but it still works.

 

Using RivaTuner.. still don't see the option to do that.

Edit: Added Video Card Stability Test Benchmarks

 

What does the Stability Test Benchmark show us? Is it showing that the card is stable at the higher clock speeds?

 

anyone know the stock 3dmark06 and 05 for the 128mb 8600gt version of the mbp??

 

Sorry for the ultra noob question, but when you overclock a gpu, do you risk damaging the gpu or another part of the laptop?

 

yeah. heat goes up and can fry easily. more speed more heat. too much heat and ur gpu is fried. not sure if anything else can get damaged too but i assume some other components could heat up as well and become damaged.

 

If you overclock too aggressively you can damage your GPU or adjacent components due to the heat increase. Also, overclocking GENERALLY shortens the life of your GPU due to the increased heat output. But, if heat output doesn't go up that much (I.E. an increase in only 1-5 degrees Celsius), overclocking the videocard can be one of the best ways to increase video performance.

The general rule is to overclock the core 5 MHz and then test for artifacts using Ati Tool or some other program, overclock 5 more MHz, check for artifacts, etc until you see artifacts. Then turn the clock down 15MHz and test again.

Then you do the same for the memory.

At least, this is how I overclock, does anyone else have a better method?

 

LightofHonor89.....do you have Medieval 2 Total War? Or, have you tried the demo to see how it runs?

 

The XP results are kinda low, this is what I get under Vista using bootcamp 1.3 drivers. So my Vista results for 1280 are 10.5% higher than yours. It'd be interesting to see if that is a linear trend or not.
No overclock here yet! Kinda chicken-hearted to do that to my new favorite toy but I suppose I'd be fine. I'll get RivaTuner and try it later!
(does that tool have temp monitoring? What happens if you go too high and the OS freezes? Can you boot again or do you have to reinstall since it'll always freeze?!?!)


3dmark 06
============
1440 - - - - - - 3704
1280 - - - - - - 4135
1024 - - - - - - 4614
1024 4xAA AF - 3592

 

randfee- At the end of the benchmarks I stated that vista has NEWER drivers. I don't know why but XP doesn't support them as of yet. Whenever they do they scores will better match yours. And if yours is a 17inch it has natively higher clock speeds. Also, Rivatuner DOES have a temperture moniter. If in a rare case the OS freezes, do a hard restart and it should be fine.

Edit: I noticed you also have 4gbs of RAM where I have only the stock 2.

And I'll try Total War if I get a chance.

And the Stability test has a benchmark mode and test mode. The benchmarks are what is posted. As I guess proof that the card is stable I did do the test along with a CPU torture test at the same time to replicate game conditions.


So it ran for 9 hours+ straight without crashing.

 

Thanks LightofHonor89...your posts have been very helpful.

 

Well Washington that was the plan.

I added Company of Heroes for all you RTS fans.

 

Thank you for being patient and providing some helpful information.

 

After repeatedly testing the latest drivers (thanks to masterchef) and numerous overclocking programs, I have found that these drivers are (for the moment) not overclock-able using Rivatuner, Ntuner, Powerstrip, etc (yes, I tested them all). It seems like until one of these programs support the new drivers overclocking is not an option.

Unless someone out there can figure it out

Edit: Ran 3dMark06 under the new drivers and got a 3891 with both graphics test increasing about 50 points and the CPU by 100.

 

What new drivers are we referring to here and what old drivers were you using that WERE overclockable.

 

The new drivers are 162.81 and the old ones are the original boot camp drivers (which i think are like 102. something). Whenever you select a now clock speed in riva (or anything else) as soon as you apply them they revert back to the original speeds. Riva states that the drivers are untested as of yet so I'm guessing thats the reason. May have to use the next release down or 2 to make overclocking work (or just wait to see if they fix this problem).

I'm guessing it may be because its beta because nTuner (the official overclock software) doesn't work either.

One thing that is worth mentioning is that nTuner did set my optimal speed to 590/1000 so when this problem is fixed the benchmarks could be interesting.


Edit: After some tests I found the new drivers give you about 5% increase in most cases.

 

could you run Supreme Commander if yo have it and post benchmarks? Thanks!

 

I think you meant to say your new drivers are 162.18 and the Boot Camp drivers are 101.34

 

I just realized that the original posters benchmarks could not have been run at 1280x1024. They must have been run at 1280x800, right? He has the 1440x900 screen, so those 3dmark06 scores are for the lower res. of 1280x800, or something very similar to that.

 

Let's keep it coming!

 

Installed XP again:

normal clock (470/635):
==============
1024x768_____________4695
1024x768 4xAA 1xAF____3686
1024x768 4xAA 8xAF____3510
1280x800_____________4224
1280x800 4xAA AF______3206


overclocked to 560/635:
================
1024x768____________5212________tmax(core)=83°C


I'll do more tests on that tomorrow. I will also install Supreme Commander and HL2 and get going. Is there anybody with a 2.2GHz MBP who would do the same so we could compare?

 

No it was by 1024. You actually don't see the whole screen (you have to scroll up or down to see it all).


And until I can find a way to overclock my system again, I can't really add anymore results... so if anyone has any ideas that would be great


Edit: Tried downgrading to 157.82 (I don't remember the actual number) which Wave said he had on his and resulted in a system crash... so no luck downgrading to the drivers below these either.

 

I have not been able to get Rivatuner to work with my stock bootcamp drivers for Vista. I change the clock speeds and hit the apply button. Then, I run 3dmark06, but my score does not change. Am I doing something wrong?

 

did you get the 2.02 Beta? 2.0 did not work for me either!

 

Ok so I just got my computer back from apple (had to replace the screen, motherboard, ram, dvd drive,... basically everything) and just got XP up and running again. Does anyone know if the overclocking issue has been resolved yet? I'll try the Beta of Riva later but I'm pretty sure thats what I had.

 

I would try the 163.44 XP Drivers with modded inf, they yielded ~300 pt 06' increase for me at stock clocks.

 

But the question is, are these drivers overclockable? And does anybody know what are the latest drivers that are?

 

These ones are not overclockable however, I get better performance with these ones at stock then I do with the older ones overclocked.

 

I tried overclocking with ATITool on the 163.44 drivers and it doesn't seem to work. I only get about 2500 in 3DMark06 on 1400x900 on stock speeds.

 

Minx it is true that you get a substantial boost in performance by using the new drivers (~300 points in 3dmark06) but using the stock ones overclocked I got more than double those numbers... so if those number could be combined then it would be truely impressive...

Side note though, I used a driver cleaner and WAS able to overclock the newest drivers but games would not play so it was pretty much useless unless someone could overcome that.

 

That's a really low score.

 

Standard Drivers from Boot-Camp 1.3:

Azureus was running in background which effects the performance quiet a lot I believe, but none the less, the Macbook was stable at Core=600MHz and Mem at 720MHz, I ran the test 8 times, and temp peaked at 84C I will push it further later, perhaps 625MHz Core, note Screen resolution was 1280x800.

 

never2fast, next time just run 3DMark06 twice, but with no other programs running: once at stock clock speeds and once overclocked? Just a suggestion , you could follow a similar format to LightofHonor89's original post.

 

yeah was gonna do that, but my azureus client was hitting massive speed for something that wasn't downloaidng for ages, didnt want to disconnect it, I will do it next time, i.e. tonight or tommorrow.

 

Ok here we go:

MacBook Pro: C2D 2.4GHz / 2GB / 250GB 5400RPM / 8600MGT 256MB
Tested on Vista Ultimate 32 Bit OS ambient Temperature is 25C
Stock Temp of the GPU is 61C

Screen Resolution is 1280x800
Drivers are stock BootCamp 1.4 Drivers

3DMark 06 - V1.1

Stock:
3DMark = 3712
Core = 470MHz
Mem = 635MHz
Max Temp = 82C



OC: (100% Stable, 8 Runs of 3DMark)
3DMark = 4345
Core = 590MHz
Mem = 740MHz
Max Temp = 81C <- I know!



Once Core goes over 610Mhz I get system freezes and artifacts, but I think the memory clock can go higher and I will do so soon, sweet GDDR3!

 

I used nTune 5.05.47.00 for overclocking. I was not able to overclock the 163.44 drivers. Each benchmark had a maximum GPU temperature of 84°C with averages ranging from 77.3-78.5°C. Intel Thermal Analysis Tool showed average CPU temperatures ranging from 78-85°C during the benchmarks. Let me know if I forgot anything.

Resolution: 1440x900; ForceWare: 101.34; Core/Memory: 470/635



Resolution: 1440x900; ForceWare: 101.34; Core/Memory: 475/700



Resolution: 1280x1024; ForceWare: 101.34; Core/Memory: 475/700



Resolution: 1440x900; ForceWare: 163.44; Core/Memory: 470/635

 

Sorry for the silly question, but what is the general issue to be considered in choosing from the 100 series and 160 series drivers from laptopvideo2go.com? I installed the 163.44 drivers, and found my 3dmark06 score dropped from 3700 (using Bootcamp 1.4) to 3200 on my MBP 2.4 8600M GT 256mb.

 

The .inf is modified in the 163.44 drivers from laptopvideo2go.com.

I also noticed a dropped when installing 163.44 drivers from about 2700 (101.34) to about 2500. I'm going to rollback to 101.34 and run the test again.