For many serious Mac gamers, having a computer with a dedicated graphics card is essential to locking in excellent performance on cutting edge titles. 2012 15″ MacBook Pros (and later) have both a basic onboard graphics card that comes in most of their laptops, the HD4000, as well as a dedicated graphics card that varies depending on the model, though many have the NVidia GT650M. This week we show you how to change the graphics card switching settings so you can maximize the performance of your games.
The default setting is to have automatic graphics card switching on, which means that your laptop will switch which card it uses depending on the graphical intensity of the task. This is an energy saving setting, ensuring the battery lasts longer and you’re not using the dedicated graphics card for simple tasks like running Office or web browsing. However this well-intentioned setting can wreak havoc on game performance, causing a game to chug unnecessarily because of rapid switching back and forth between cards. Turning this off while you game is ideal, and a pretty simple process:
Go into System Preferences>Energy Saver> and find the option for Automatic graphic switching.
Uncheck that box so the option for Automatic graphic switching is turned off.
Voila! Your Nvidia GT 650M (or other dedicated video card) is now being used exclusively and not your Intel HD 4000.
These are just a few of the titles that Aspyr Support has reported as showing performance improvements when this option is changed:
Don’t forget to change this option back when you’re not going going to be doing any gaming for a while. Leaving this option unchecked when you’re not gaming will drain your battery quicker and potentially puts unnecessary work on your video card when the HD 4000 is fully capable of simpler, day-to-day tasks and takes a lot less energy.
Have any questions about this process or other issues? Post something in the comments and we’ll help you out! And of course, for any serious issues regarding your hardware or game performance of the titles mentioned above and many more, please contact Aspyr Support.
This week brings two new titles to GameAgent, both with a theme of building. You can build an empire or build Middle Earth, depending how realistic you’re feeling. Here’s the full details on these great games:
The anticipation for Apple releasing their quarterly financials this time around seemed to bring with it foamed mouth conjecture of a much higher volume than usual. With the company surpassing Exxon to become the most valuable company in the world; then lost that title a while back. There’s pundits on both sides preaching Apple’s bright feature with equal fervor as those lamenting its demise. It’s been almost two weeks since Apple released its financial results for the first quarter of the 2103 fiscal year.
Now that the dust has settled and your news feed isn’t flooded with people’s predictions, we figured it was a good time to take a look at many of the numbers in this report and pick out the ones we think would be of interest to you, dear readers. Maybe all those numbers in thick blocks of texts made your eyes glaze over like they did mine upon first reading it. So we’ve grabbed the most interesting data from this and put it in handy charts for your perusal.
Let’s look at the big picture first. Since the last time we posted about Apple’s numbers in 2010, that number, which was 274 million total iOS devices and Macs sold over the course of five years. That number has doubled in just three years, with the total of iOS and Mac devices sold between 2010 and 1st Quarter of 2013 is almost 540 million! Here’s a further breakdown by device: (more…)
This week is the 28th annual Macworld event, billed as the “ultimate iFan event.” This celebration of all things Apple began in 1985, created by Peggy Kilburn and intended as a place for both professionals and casual users of Apple products to talk technology and technique. People could share experiences, new ideas as well as gadgets and peripherals to get the most out of their Mac experience.
It wasn’t until 1997 that things really ramped up for the event, when Steve Jobs returned to Apple and made several exciting announcements, including corporate restructuring and a partnership with Microsoft. Since then the event has only grown every year in size and attention, with Jobs’ keynote every year being met with frantic anticipation as he used it as platform to introduce new products and ideas, as well as a “State of the Union” regarding Apple as a company.
Here’s a description of the modern Macworld | iWorld in their own words:
Macworld/iWorld is the world’s ultimate fan event for those who use, create, and love Apple products. Attendees will encounter a unique celebration of Apple technology-infused art, music, and film, as well as learning opportunities, and a shopping mecca in our exhibit hall filled with products and services for Apple users of all skill levels and interests. From home users, to artistic hobbyists and professionals, and the true Technorati—Macworld/iWorld gives attendees the chance to experience all that the amazing world of Apple-related tools can offer.
In celebration of one of the biggest events of the year for Apple enthusiasts, we wanted to bring you some facts and cool nuggets of history about this special event. (more…)
The internet is a vast wealth of information. Sometimes the information we’re looking for can feel lost amongst an information overload. It’s hard to check in every possible place for answers. When questions come up fairly frequently or cause a stir in the community, we’d like to address those here so that you get access to the help and information you need.
Controllers are an important aspect of playing many games. Across companies and titles, it seems like every game has its own preference for setting up controller usage. Some require 3rd party drivers, while many games from Aspyr Media and Feral Interactive do not, with drivers built into the game.
It can be hard to keep up with which ones do and do not need drivers, so we wanted to clear the air a little by detailing which Aspyr games have built-in controller drivers and what to do if you have problems connecting your controller to a game. The following is an excerpt from the Knowledge Base on Aspyr’s Support site, courtesy of Jason, one of Aspyr’s support leads:
EA will shut down the servers for classic Mac game The Sims 2 on January 14th. (more…)
