MBP 1,1-10,2 MacBookPro4,1 neofetch GPU reporting, uh, confusion?

[B S Magnet]

I’m sure there’s probably a simple technical explanation behind this which I haven’t yet found on MR or elsewhere. Maybe the resident GPU experts on here — ahem, @Amethyst1 — might have some insight.


Why would neofetch report a MacBookPro4,1’s GPU not as a GeForce 8600M GT, but as… an Intel HD Graphics 3000 (like the 2011 MacBook Pros)?

Granted, I ought to add how there might be some outside possibility that because this build of 10.6.8 on this MBP4,1 here originated from a cloned SSD of the early 2011 MBP8,1 (which I’ve owned since new — which itself was transplanted directly from a factory install of 10.6.0 bundled on a MBP5,5 back in 2009 which I bought new one week after Snow Leopard went on sale), the “Intel HD Graphics 3000” could be some residual plist-related relic of this OS build’s roots.

Even so, System Profiler reports what one would expect:

Hypotheses, anyone?


[And for reference, this is neofetch on the aforementioned donor OS X Snow Leopard build from the MBP8,1]:

 

[Amethyst1]

I must have missed that thread, I’m sorry... but I’ve found the solution — have a look at this snippet in neofetch's code:

When you first run it, it runs System Profiler to identify the GPU — and stores the GPU's name in /Library/Caches/neofetch/gpu. On subsequent runs, it doesn't call System Profiler anymore but simply displays the file’s content (I've taken the liberty to change that on my system):

So, to fix this, just delete that pesky file.

 

[B S Magnet]

I must have missed that thread, I’m sorry... but I’ve found the solution — have a look at this snippet in neofetch's code:

View attachment 2164792

When you first run it, it runs System Profiler to identify the GPU — and stores the GPU's name in /Library/Caches/neofetch/gpu. On subsequent runs, it doesn't call System Profiler anymore but simply displays the file’s content (I've taken the liberty to change that on my system):

View attachment 2164814

So, to fix this, just delete that pesky file.

Wowwww that’s amazing. I never would have figured that out, not in a million years.

[And yes, I’m acutely aware my cap, with the corrected caching issue here, is exactly one-fourth the size of yours. You and all your retina-flexing, even on your hated iGPUs… ]

So for fun, I opened and altered the newly-generated cache file, just for you:

 

[Amethyst1]

[You and all your retina-flexing, even on your hated iGPUs… ]

I don't "hate" iGPUs. In fact, with the exception of my treasured green-dot 2007 MBPs, all of my Intel Macs only have iGPUs because I'm paranoid about soldered-on dGPUs failing and taking the Mac with them. The machine I posted the screenshot from was chosen because of its cRazy CPU... and its decent (for 2015) iGPU

 

[B S Magnet]

I don't "hate" iGPUs. In fact, with the exception of my treasured green-dot 2007 MBPs, all of my Intel Macs only have iGPUs because I'm paranoid about soldered-on dGPUs failing and taking the Mac with them. The machine I posted the screenshot from was chosen because of its cRazy CPU... and its decent (for 2015) iGPU

So wait a second… as I review that Intel specs page and, in a separate tab, look at the specs of my iMac A1418 with i5-4570S, I see both have an integrated Graphics built into the CPU.

Both Everymac’s page on my model, and on my iMac both System Information and iStat Menus list only the GeForce GT 750M as a GPU. (And yet, iStat Menus, on the menubar, shows an i and not a d for GPU as the one actively in use — suggesting iStat Menus is receiving info that an integrated GPU is running (despite the menubar pulldown definitely showing the GeForce only). Is this some kind of firmware-disabling of the integrated GPU which happened on some of the post-Sandy Bridge Macs?

 

[Amethyst1]

Both Everymac’s page on my model, and on my iMac both System Information and iStat Menus list only the GeForce GT 750M as a GPU. (And yet, iStat Menus, on the menubar, shows an i and not a d for GPU as the one actively in use — suggesting iStat Menus is receiving info that an integrated GPU is running (despite the menubar pulldown definitely showing the GeForce only). Is this some kind of firmware-disabling of the integrated GPU which happened on some of the post-Sandy Bridge Macs?

Sandy Bridge and newer iMacs with dGPUs only use the iGPU headlessly for Quick Sync. Everything else is handled by the dGPU.

 

[f54da]

I don't "hate" iGPUs. In fact, with the exception of my treasured green-dot 2007 MBPs, all of my Intel Macs only have iGPUs because I'm paranoid about soldered-on dGPUs failing and taking the Mac with them. The machine I posted the screenshot from was chosen because of its cRazy CPU... and its decent (for 2015) iGPU

You can sort of mitigate this via software workarounds to only force iGPU

 

[Amethyst1]

You can sort of mitigate this via software workarounds to only force iGPU

On iMacs too?

 

[f54da]

Most likely? Does gfxcardstatus not work for you? I recall there's other ways as well such as undocumented pmset command, or nvram args.

 

[Amethyst1]

Most likely? Does gfxcardstatus not work for you?

I don't have an iMac with an iGPU+dGPU config, but it was my understanding that on iGPU+dGPU-equipped iMacs (unlike on MBPs), only the dGPU is wired to the display.

 

[f54da]

Ah yes you're right, that's probably the case.

 

[B S Magnet]

I don't have an iMac with an iGPU+dGPU config, but it was my understanding that on iGPU+dGPU-equipped iMacs (unlike on MBPs), only the dGPU is wired to the display.

Would this also mean that any OpenCL-related processing activity would also be dealt with by the iGPU and not the dGPU?

 

[salamanderjuice]

Would this also mean that any OpenCL-related processing activity would also be dealt with by the iGPU and not the dGPU?

No, with OpenCL you can pick the target. You should be able to see the iGPU and dGPU using a program like clinfo and a well designed OpenCL program should let you pick the device.