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Why does my external monitor get x5 lower frame rate?
My frame rate is about 5x lower, and often unusuable on my external monitor (causes weird problems even for FixedUpdate). Unity version 2021.2.9f1 Personal, Apple Silicon version.
Anyone know why, and know a fix? This looks like a bug or something.
I am using a macbook pro M1 max, running on apple silicon, so maybe there is some issues there on the platform that haven't been fixed yet?
Here is a video of the problem. Phone video due to it being on two screens: https://vimeo.com/682465947
Answer by LEDWORKS · Mar 03 at 10:54 AM
Thats just how macbooks behave when you use an external monitor, i used to use one too.
The graphics cards are not really cut out for running two montors, nevermind 3D rendering. I'd suggest using windows instead for this kind of work. You will run into much bigger problems than this further down the line on a macbook. They are good for audio production and maybe some photoshop work but useless when it comes to 3D graphics and rendering
You might be right, but something seems off. And I definitely appreciate you taking the time to answer.
So not sure how much you know about the new M1 Max chips, but it sounds like you just commented on macbooks generally, and what you said might have been true in the past - but I think the new chips are pretty different. For instance, M1 max chip is said to be able to run "Up to three external displays with up to 6K resolution and one external display with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors (M1 Max)" according to Apple's specs. So it seems weird that they can't use a single unity with a 1080p without tanking frames by more than 5 times.
Also (according to this article) the M1 max in my machine (24 core) is rated at 7.8 terraflops - which is comparable to a GeForce 2070. Which should be able to graphically do this with ease - right?
Unless unity just runs really badly on macbook pros specifically? Like is the code written really badly to make it behave like this? This would seem really strange. Please let me know if there is something I missed. To me this just seems like a bug.
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