Retina Macbook Pro - Dual GPU Laptop and OpenCL powerhouse?

[Kevin Ford]

So the newest Retina MacBook Pro has an upgraded 750m discreet GPU. That is an improvement, but only mildly exciting.
The integrated graphics (iris pro) however, is a massive jump (think sub-650m performance). This performance is showing up less on the gaming side, and more on what we care about: parallel processing or GPGPU.
New tests with OpenCL are showing that if both integrated and discreet are utilized, you can get some serious bumps in processing power over just the discreet. (around 4.4x the performance)

With GPU acceleration playing a greater roll in REDCINE as well as Open CL becoming more important in all NLE's, could this further solidify OpenCL as a technology that all power junkies should be watching closely?

 

[michael zaletel]

I ordered mine like this + CalDigit Thunderbolt 2.0 Docking Station.

15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display
Intel Iris Pro Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
with 2GB GDDR5 memory

Configuration

• 2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
• 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
• 1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage
• Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
• Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter
• Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adptr 065-C1N9 No VGA Adapter
• Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
• Accessory Kit

 

[paul schefz]

saw that article as well.....not sure what to think....i have the older top of the line retina and the newest imac with the 4gb vram....i am sure this new retina is slight step up from the older one (especially the ssd) and gets much better battery life but even the imac is really only "better" with fcpx, rcx and resolve....not "much, much better"....4x the graphics performance is "waaaaay better" and i don't see how this is possible....i am getting a mac pro (somewhere in the mid range probably) and in all honestly don't expect 4x the graphics performance compared to either the retina or the imac....
but i this obviously sounds great...just not sure how these numbers will translate in reality...actual work...

 

[Kevin Ford]

Agreed Paul,

The test merely shows a 4x-ish increase in theoretical compute and, as always, the transition from tests to actual work is never 1:1. Whenever a single link of your chain gets stronger, it just means something else became the new weakest link (I'm looking at you 16gb of RAM).
If anything, this test gives us a small taste of the what the Mac Pro, OpenCl GPGPU integration, and Maverick's can all accomplish together.

As far as the concept of a "mobile workstation" goes, I still just want my early-2011 MacBook Pro to reach charge equilibrium at full load...

 

[paul schefz]

Agreed Paul,

The test merely shows a 4x-ish increase in theoretical compute and, as always, the transition from tests to actual work is never 1:1. Whenever a single link of your chain gets stronger, it just means something else became the new weakest link (I'm looking at you 16gb of RAM).
If anything, this test gives us a small taste of the what the Mac Pro, OpenCl GPGPU integration, and Maverick's can all accomplish together.

As far as the concept of a "mobile workstation" goes, I still just want my early-2011 MacBook Pro to reach charge equilibrium at full load...

if this new retina had a 32gb ram option, it would probably replace my retina and imac....but...
i agree and am very excited as well about what the whole hardware/software package will be able to do...