Disappointed in Radeon Pro 560 performance (MBP)

[kakashidinho]

Hi, I have recently bought MBP 2017 with Radeon Pro 560 GPU. I expected it to be almost as fast as Desktop AMD Rx 560. However, it cannot run Serious Sam 3: BFE (Mac version) - an old game - smoothly. Sometimes the fps dropped below 30fps.

When I benchmarked it with GeekBench (OpenCL), the score was only 43k - 45k. Even the old Radeon Pro 460 (MBP 2016 version) has 50k score. It doesn't make any sense.
Looked at some existing benchmark, seems the 43-45k OpenCL score is normal for 560 card in MBP. But I also saw some benchmarks achieving 56k score, they have the same specs as mine. That also doesn't make any sense either.

Anyone tried benchmark MBP with GeekBench OpenCL? What are your scores?

Also anyone having Radeon Pro 460 version, what is your fps when playing Serious Sam 3? I heard that the 460 GPU in 2016 MBP has better performance than 560 card in 2017 version, which is ridiculous, makes me question myself, why did I spend 100$ more to purchase 560 GPU instead of 555.

 

[Naimfan]

You might try a restart and then benchmark it again.

The MBP GPUs are 35 watt TDP, so are limited performance-wise, even if they do relatively well for the 35 watt limit.

 

[lpolarityl]

I'm guessing you're running the game at the MacBook Pro 15's default resolution, which is 2880x1800. A lot of games (even older ones like Serious Sam 3) will be very taxing at that resolution. The 560 isn't exactly a gaming GPU so it can only do so much at 2880x1800. Have you tried lowering the resolution to see if that improves performance? Maybe try 1080P?

Edit: OP hasn't chimed in since posting, but I'm betting the game was running at native resolution which would explain the sub par performance. Serious Sam 3 is can get crazy as the enemy numbers pile up.

 

[OriginalAppleGuy]

Are you sure the radeon is running and not the internal intel? A recent OS update fixed an issue with the GPU not switching properly, even with the energy saver off.

 

[Brookzy]

I've seen Geekbench throw up some very strange OpenCL scores with the MacBook Pro. On mine for example, if I connected an LG UltraFine 5K, it would score way higher. If I connected two, it would score slightly more still.

I assume some power management is going on.

 

[greenmeanie]

Could be the OLD GAME not taking advantage of the NEW VIDEO CARD.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I'm guessing you're running the game at the MacBook Pro 15's default resolution, which is 2880x1800. A lot of games (even older ones like Serious Sam 3) will be very taxing at that resolution. The 560 isn't exactly a gaming GPU so it can only do so much at 2880x1800. Have you tried lowering the resolution to see if that improves performance? Maybe try 1080P?

I agree. The RP 560 is likely a 1080P card at best, with 720P being more acceptable with higher quality settings enabled. It only has a 128bit memory interface, so it will most certainly stutter at anything above 1080P.

I expected it to be almost as fast as Desktop AMD Rx 560.

The RP560 has the same GPU and bus width as the RX560, but the RX560 runs at higher clocks for both the memory and GPU because it has more thermal headroom in a desktop form factor.

 

[smallcoffee]

Could be the OLD GAME not taking advantage of the NEW VIDEO CARD.

Yup that's what I'm thinking. The MBP's GPU is no Ferrari, but it should be able to handle older games just fine. Typically what I've found is that it depends on updates and patches to the game. For awhile, League of Legends was unplayable to me (20FPS max) after a patch where it was perviously over 100 FPS with ultra settings. It's back to mostly normal, now, although I don't really play it anymore.

 

[kakashidinho]

I'm guessing you're running the game at the MacBook Pro 15's default resolution, which is 2880x1800. A lot of games (even older ones like Serious Sam 3) will be very taxing at that resolution. The 560 isn't exactly a gaming GPU so it can only do so much at 2880x1800. Have you tried lowering the resolution to see if that improves performance? Maybe try 1080P?

Thank you but I'm playing at 1280x800 with a mix of ultra + high settings.
Could it be a defective GPU? I don't think it is a good enough evidence to call their customer service.

I also don't think serious sam doesnt use dedicated graphics. As I used gfxCardStatus and it showed that the game was using the dedicated graphics card.

 

[lpolarityl]

Hrm... I actually own SS 3, I may install it just for science. I'll get back to you later and see how it performs.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Thank you but I'm playing at 1280x800 with a mix of ultra + high settings.
Could it be a defective GPU? I don't think it is a good enough evidence to call their customer service.

I also don't think serious sam doesnt use dedicated graphics. As I used gfxCardStatus and it showed that the game was using the dedicated graphics card.

I have doubts that's it's defective, as you'd likely have instability or crashes to go with it. Chances are you are running into thermal limits of the MBP's cooling system, causing power management to throttle the GPU.

You might try running something like Luxmark to see what the GPU's compute score is.

 

[Honza1]

Hi, I have recently bought MBP 2017 with Radeon Pro 560 GPU. I expected it to be almost as fast as Desktop AMD Rx 560. However, it cannot run Serious Sam 3: BFE (Mac version) - an old game - smoothly. Sometimes the fps dropped below 30fps.

When I benchmarked it with GeekBench (OpenCL), the score was only 43k - 45k. Even the old Radeon Pro 460 (MBP 2016 version) has 50k score. It doesn't make any sense.
Looked at some existing benchmark, seems the 43-45k OpenCL score is normal for 560 card in MBP. But I also saw some benchmarks achieving 56k score, they have the same specs as mine. That also doesn't make any sense either.

Anyone tried benchmark MBP with GeekBench OpenCL? What are your scores?

Do not game on my MBP, but have 2017 MBP with Radeon Pro 560, 4GB RAM, OSX 10.13.3. Internal and Apple Cinema displays. My GeekBench (demo) OpenCL results for the card vary depending on display resolution settings. I get 54.7k when I have 1920x1200 on both with "retina" setting and only 47.6k when they are same resolution non-retina setting. No clue why, seems illogical to me.
Both seems fast enough for what I need. Can try tomorrow when I will have 4k display attached.

 

[Mathias Denichi]

As I've said before, its best to just bootcamp to play games. For instance, I can run Smite, an Unreal 3 game in native res of 2880x1800 at around 45-50fps. The same game on the macOS Steam side can barely run it at 40fps at only 1440x900. Its worth buying a Windows 10 key online for the $40-70 range to play games on your Macbook Pro.