According to HardMac.com, Apple is massively underclocking the ATI Radeon X1600 graphics processor fitted in its Intel-powered MacBook Pro laptop PCs, the aim presumably being to cut down cooling fan activity - to reduce noise and extend battery life (by about half an hour, says HardMac).
However - and you just knew we were going to say this, didn't you? - the clever sods who found this out also realised that it's possible, when running Windows XP (see our recent review of the Apple Boot Camp utility that enables OS X/XP dual-booting), to download from ATI tools and drivers that let the GPU run at full speed, greatly increasing the framerates that can be achieved when playing games and benchmarking.
Seemingly, Apple clocks the GPU/RAM at 310MHz /278MHz when the norm elsewhere is 470MHz/470MHz. Switching to these higher settings is reckoned to result in the benchmark for Counter Strike: Source jumping up from 61fps to 97fps without any noticeable artefacts (though with noticeable fan activity). This was with all settings at max and at the PowerBook Pro's native screen resolution of 1440x900.
Check out HardMac.com's report and comment, if the fancy takes you, over in the HEXUS.community.
