Orion force the use of the dedicated GPU

guib

Steps to reproduce:
Open Orion and look into the Energy tab of the Activity Monitor. Orion is mentioned to require the use of the high performance GPU.

Safari is not asking for the high performance GPU

Expected behavior:
Use the integrated GPU so lower energy is used

Orion, OS version; hardware type:
Orion: Version 0.99.112-beta (WebKit 614.1.1)
Hardware: MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)
macOS: Mojave (10.14.6)

Image/Video:

Vlad

guib From what I see on your screenshot, Orion energy use in minimal. Can you provide more context how does this affect energy use vs Safari in same circumstances.

guib

Vlad Well, the energy impact of the application itself is ok on that screenshot since Orion was static in the background and the energy impact value raise when doing manipulations. I'm often seeing Orion appearing on the top 3 of the high energy applications of Wattagio, but my point and what I wanted to show with this screenshot is mainly the fact that Orion force the use of the dedicated GPU instead of staying on the integrated one.

This switch to the dedicated GPU force the use of a GPU that consumes higher energy power and which generate more heat and would therefore activate the fans more which consume again more energy.

It is not that bad, but Orion could be more efficient and help mobile users to get some more time on the battery.

Also, you are asking "If applicable, does Safari behave in the same way", then I thought you are trying to make Orion as good or even better than Safari. So, since Safari doesn't force the use of the dedicated GPU like Orion is doing at the moment, then I would think that you would want to do the same so Orion is as efficient in this regard.

Hope this helps!

Vlad

guib Can you try to disable "WebGL via Metal" under "Develop"->"Experimental Features" to see if it changes things?

guib

Vlad thanks for having a look!

Unfortunately, simply disabling this feature didn't change a thing. I've disabled it and restarted Orion and macOS still specify that Orion is using the high performance GPU.

However, I investigated this a bit and found that we need to add

<key>NSSupportsAutomaticGraphicsSwitching</key>
<true/>

To the application "Info.plist"

I've tested it by duplicating Orion.app and adding this to the "Info.plist" file and signed the duplicated Orion.app with my own developer signature.

With this, now when I start Orion with no opened website then it doesn't use the high performance GPU which it does with the latest version of Orion. However, when I open a website, then it switches to the high performance GPU, but then if I disable the "WebGL via Metal" feature and restart Orion and open a website, then it doesn't start the high performance GPU.

So, I think this is the way to go, to simply add the "NSSupportsAutomaticGraphicsSwitching" key to the "info.plist" file and disable the "WebGL via Metal". I've opened Safari and I see that the experimental features "WebGL 2.0" and "WebGPU" are disabled.

Thanks again for having a look and all the best!

guib

@Vlad thanks for marking this as done in latest release. However, I just downloaded the update and actually the "NSSupportsAutomaticGraphicsSwitching" doesn't seem to be added to the "info.plist" file. Is it an omission or there's a bug in my update?

I've updated to version: 0.99.113.1-beta (WebKit 614.1.5.7)

Thanks!

Vlad

guib We seem to mistakenly not included updated file, returning status. Thanks for checking!