On the MacBook Pro and GPU overclocking

Hey GadgetGavWhat CAD software are you using. I want to get a macbook pro and run Solidworks on it. Any suggestions? How does it perform? What are te specs of your machine?
Thanks.

I agree with Joe. For a lot of the people a lot of the time power consumption is not an issue because it's plugged in. And when you're on battery you know that you're going to be scaled back in CPU and GPU clock speed. I use my MBP most of the time at work, on AC power, in Windows running 3D CAD, so full power from the GPU would be very beneficial to me. I won't be trying this though because it already runs very hot under Windows - just had it in Windows in Firefox and it's much cooler now in OS X with Safari. When it's in Windows with CAD running it's really hot, and I think this would just make it worse... Unless the CPU and memory are working harder because the GPU is throttled back.... hmmmm.

sorry, the manufacturer is APPLE. the macbook clearly has existing heat issues. I dont care what the chips are rated to run at in a lab, crammed in a tiny case the clock speed seems appropriate.

ATI cards support smart automatic clock scaling. in much the same way that a CPU speed can be dynamicly lowered on battery power, the same can be done with the GPU. It would seem apples motivation could have been overall system lifetime, and more than just simple noise.

Why would you want to 'over'clock? Not everyone uses their macbook for the battery. a full half the people i know with macbooks never take them from the charger, myself included. the portability is an essential feature when you need it, but when you dont, power consumption is meaningless.

This is NOT overclocking. Overclocking is setting the clock speed ABOVE the rated speed set by the manufacturer. This is clocking your GPU up to the manufacturer's rated speed. Remember that the manufacturer is ATI, not Apple and that there is no hardware limit on the clockspeed in the Pro. Apple is deliberately, and perhaps understandably, UNDERclocking the GPU for battery-life enhancement.

Parallels does not actually use your graphics card, but rather, only takes advantage of generic 2D acceleration through an emulated VGA driver. You cannot play 3D games worth any salt through parallels, nor will the ATI tools even work.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the overclocking software you speek of (ATItool) is not made by ATI themselves. To imply this creates a bit of a twist on the story.

http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

I think Engadget sleeps with Bill Gates...

You know I don't get why you would want to OC your graphics in the first place. Apple should be shouting the mantra of battery life... sadly they aren't the best in the industry. Not by a long shot.

With users wanting to OC their graphics... what do you want? Less battery life?

I seriously doubt that the ATI tools would work under Parallels. It doesn't present the real underlying hardware to XP, but rather a virtualized layer that doesn't have the same set of hardware as the real machine.