Unbelievable graphics problems on two diffferent builds

[brixx]

Hi,

I'll explain why unbeliavable...!

I had an 4690K i5, Z97 motherboard and Geforce GTX960,

Since High Sierra I had a problem: some time after boot (apparently random) the graphics got laggy, low bench scores, laggy image dragging in Photoshop, longer FCPX export times. A reboot solves the problem.

I switched to a Radeon RX560, the problem persisted! I was able to solve the problem going from an iMac SMBIOS to MacPro 6,1

Now I just built a new machine with an i7-8700K, using iMac 18,3, the problem came back! I think this is unbelievable! Same problem with two completely different builds! With a coffee lake I can't use older SMBIOS...

Any ideas on this strange problem?

 

[brixx]

I can't believe I'm the only one!

I did yet another flresh install... and the problem happened again!

The thing that is driving me crazy is that this happened with a Z97 MB and a GeForce and is still happening with a Z370 and an AMD! It must be something in High Sierra!!!

Using Mac Pro 6,1 solved the problem on my old build... here I can't use any mac pro SMBIOS...

 

[macbrush]

I am on Coffee Lake 8700 and I am using iMac 13,1 and also its board-id.

 

[brixx]

Can't it give problem to use older SMBIOS with a newer CPU...?

Probably Power management won't work as well...

 

[macbrush]

I don't know whether power management works 100% or not, but as long as the computer can switch off monitor, can sleep, CPU frequency go up and down normally and can restart/shutdown, then I am good for it. I never hibernate my hack, since hibernation is extremely glitchy, even on my real Macs.

 

[shuhung]

Personally, select a SMBIOS compatible to GPU is important than match CPU type, there are other methods better than native XCPM power control.

Using iMac 13,1 or iMac 18,3 have no big different in native XCPM mode, basically SKL/KBL native XCPM without HWP add-on, power consumption is poor.

 

[vulgo]

The thing that is driving me crazy is that this happened with a Z97 MB and a GeForce and is still happening with a Z370 and an AMD! It must be something in High Sierra!!!

The window server may be buggy in 10.13, Apple is collecting telemetry and the process could be hanging the UI, consuming lots of memory etc. i.e. its not working properly on some configurations - interesting that you say changing your SMBIOS helped on a previous build.

 

[brixx]

The strange thing is that when that happens CPU bench scores are still high and normal!

When that happens I still get 1500 cb for the CPU in Cinebench but the OpenCL drops from 110 to 35fps...Same thing in Geekbenh. FCPX export times get 3 times slower...everything just graphics related.

I don't see any strange process in iStat and the RAM is mostly free.

The last time it happened I hadn't even used anything graphics related...I was just moving files, browsing the web, installing something...

 

[vulgo]

I don't see any strange process in iStat and the RAM is mostly free.

It's in the window server process, the telemetry is handled by a linked private framework - check log show --predicate "category contains 'performance_instrumentation'"