Amazing system, FFXIV taking FPS hit. Why?

[Coldfire]

You should be able to disable the IGP in bios and plug the HDMI/DP-cable directly into the GPU. In AMD control center: if you click on Performance->(Clock controls->)AMD Overdrive you should be able to see the GPU usage while the game runs in window mode.
And I have my doubts about SE fixing the loading in towns issue before PS3-release...

[Archadius]

You should be able to disable the IGP in bios and plug the HDMI/DP-cable directly into the GPU. In AMD control center: if you click on Performance->(Clock controls->)AMD Overdrive you should be able to see the GPU usage while the game runs in window mode.
And I have my doubts about SE fixing the loading in towns issue before PS3-release...

Cable? O_o Running on iMac, the only cable is the power plug. Also, if I were to disable the IGP in the BIOS, wouldn't that make it so I can't view anything on screen if my ATI (bootcamp) drivers were ever corrupted/uninstalled?

That ATI CCC thing is so broken! I launched it yesterday and saw the AMD Overdrive option and went "oooo shiny!", so I unlocked it, and it turns out I can't even adjust my fan speed or anything, I think it's bugged :/ It also won't let me update to 11.6 (latest) drivers even though my card is supported in 11.6, it just freezes and I have to quit CCC. It was such a weird process to install the CCC too... I had to DL it, install a "package", then navigate to some remote directory, then find the "Core" folder and install AGAIN. So ridiculous.

[Coldfire]

That's why I hate mac... if something doesn't work it's impossible to fix xD

[Sorel]

Were talking about an Apple iMac notebook computer right?

There is no way I know of disabling integrated video on any notebook, much less an Apple notebook. I'm not saying it's not impossible. I'm just saying I've never even heard of anybody trying to.

If the integrated video is indeed attempting to process high level graphics instead of the ATI hardware, I imagine it will be difficult to tell it to just stop, and let the ATI hardware handle things.

[Coldfire]

An iMac is a desktop all-in-one PC and not a laptop(that would be a Macbook).

[Archadius]

Yeah, we're talking about an iMac (equivalent of a desktop PC), everything is just built into the monitor so it's only 1 cord. This is the latest model with some nice upgrades so it's pretty top notch. Most of what I'm experiencing seems very software related. The ATI driver programs just refuse to function properly (or maybe ATI really did design their drivers this terribly) but regardless, CCC should not be malfunctioning the way it does, and reinstalling it does nothing. Downloaded directly from AMD support site. My card is in the compatibility list. I don't know what else I'm supposed to try... I installed a bunch of ATI drivers/software that is doing nothing for my machine.

[Coldfire]

ATI drivers were not the best in the past but AMD does their job quite well. The problem lies with Intel and Apple. Intel always had bad IGP drivers and Apple just has no clue how to handle the current highend hardware. The best hardware is useless without a working software system.

[Archadius]

ATI drivers were not the best in the past but AMD does their job quite well. The problem lies with Intel and Apple. Intel always had bad IGP drivers and Apple just has no clue how to handle the current highend hardware. The best hardware is useless without a working software system.

Shouldn't that be irrelevant when running on Windows though? Through bootcamp, the iMac essentially becomes the same as a Windows machine. This is the only thing I've encountered that just refuses to cooperate. I wish I could describe it better, but the drivers I download for ATI CCC are doing something they shouldn't. For example, DLing the 11.6 package, but when installing I receive something older, and given the option to update, but when I opt to do so, the program freezes.

How would you tackle this problem on a regular PC? Perhaps I can relate it Mac-wise.

[Capita]

ATI drivers were not the best in the past but AMD does their job quite well. The problem lies with Intel and Apple. Intel always had bad IGP drivers and Apple just has no clue how to handle the current highend hardware. The best hardware is useless without a working software system.

That's why I hate mac... if something doesn't work it's impossible to fix xD

Please try not to spread uneducated rabble like this. Macs handle current high-end hardware just as well as any PC, and they're a lot more customizable and upgrade-friendly than they used to be. OSX is what Microsoft tried to do with Windows 7, and came fairly close. You can't knock Apple for building upon their own excellent OS (and OSX is excellent). At least they give you the option to dual boot now for those days you want to play games. Bootcamp runs Windows flawlessly, and games just as well, so I don't see why you'd have any sort of complaint with it.

MacPros are basically PC's. MacBooks are like any other laptop (but better in terms of functionality). iMacs are like the older Macs, but you can still upgrade virtually everything on it.

FWIW, I only have a MacBook. The rest of my computers at home are custom PC's that I build. I just don't like it when people knock something they know little about.

[Coldfire]

There's a good reason I have this guy on my iggy
Not even gonna bother to read it.