Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2018 i9 MacBook Pro throttling discussion [merged]

Ploki said:
Okay i was seriously considering i9 for audio (logic pro x mostly), my 2012 quadcore rMBP is hitting its ceiling and i was waiting for a 6-core to get significantly more processing power as I do now (as well as 32GB RAM for sample libs).

Throttle can cause audio dropouts... I had a preorder on i9 but pulled back.

I'm gonna wait a week or two now and then order it if what you say really is true, and i9 can be made to consistently maintain at least base clock.
Click to expand...
I didn't even think of this... i do music production for a living and use Ableton, i wonder if i can find any evidence of audio drop outs because of the i9 throttling, and if not i'll just have to see for myself when mine arrives!
 
  • Like
Reactions: galactic orange
My conclusion(**CPU and GPU both under heavy load**):
It's all about temperature.
You just can't run this machine over 70C for a long time. I have verified that on Dota2.
When you turn on the Turbo Boost, it runs hot and the temperature goes up to 75 ~ 80 even if you limit the CPU power to 45w. CPU throttle(the ugly 800Mhz) will show up after a few mins.

So I tried this:
Turned off the Turbo Boost of the CPU and not limiting the CPU power, the temperature stays at 69C. The throttle never came.

It's i7 2.2 Ghz. I don't think this machine can keep temperature under 70C when the CPU runs at 2.6Ghz or 2.9Ghz.
So if anyone needs some gaming better choose i7 2.2Ghz and just turn off Turbo Boost using volta.

Maybe I am wrong...

Edit:
Tested with Fortnite, same result as Dota2
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: sennomulo
pl1984 said:
Then those people should use a MacBook instead of a MacBook Pro. It makes little sense to put a high end processor into a form factor which cannot accommodate it. My top of the line 2012 rMBP has no problem maintaining its minimum clock speed while at full utilization. But then it's a larger system which can sufficiently dissipate the heat it generates.
Click to expand...

No doubt, but the market has spoken. In general, notebooks are getting smaller and lighter, so Apple went there also.

If Apple really wanted a system that could support the i9 running for sustain periods it would look like a gaming laptop. Maybe apple buyers would buy it. They tend to buy anything with an Apple label.
 
JD2015 said:
From the many youtube videos, forums posts I am confident in your use case it will be a beast of a machine. Even with temporary throttling it would perform just fine.
Click to expand...

That's reassuring, thanks :)

Would I have to worry about it heating up or making excessive noise for my short-burst tasks? My work-loaned 2017 Macbook Pro 13 i7 gets really noisy when on Chrome of all things (I know Chrome on macOS is poorly optimised but it's annoying for such a trivial case).
 
jerryk said:
No doubt, but the market has spoken. In general, notebooks are getting smaller and lighter, so Apple went there also.

If Apple really wanted a system that could support the i9 running for sustain periods it would look like a gaming laptop. Maybe apple buyers would buy it. They tend to buy anything with an Apple label.
Click to expand...
Nah they could have the heat sink span the width of the laptop, don't know if it would double the thermal capacity without more heat pipes but it would practically double the surface area available for heat to dissipate from. Might not be a true doubling if nothing else changes besides the vent sizes and surface area but I bet it would be enough to handle a 60W TDP thermal problem, assuming the heat sink is sized for a 50W TDP right now.
 
OC40 said:
You said that “those people should use a MacBook instead of a MacBook Pro.”
Click to expand...
In response to someone stating people would be complaining about size. If size is the most important attribute in a laptop than the MacBook would be the logical choice for these people.
[doublepost=1532364967][/doublepost]
jerryk said:
No doubt, but the market has spoken. In general, notebooks are getting smaller and lighter, so Apple went there also.
Click to expand...
Which is why I recommended these people switch to the MacBook over the MacBook Pro. It's smaller and lighter. Exactly what you're arguing for.

jerryk said:
If Apple really wanted a system that could support the i9 running for sustain periods it would look like a gaming laptop. Maybe apple buyers would buy it. They tend to buy anything with an Apple label.
Click to expand...
It's your opinion there's nothing in between the current MBP form factor and the form factors of gaming laptops?
 
Qaulity said:
Nah they could have the heat sink span the width of the laptop, don't know if it would double the thermal capacity without more heat pipes but it would practically double the surface area available for heat to dissipate from. Might not be a true doubling if nothing else changes besides the vent sizes and surface area but I bet it would be enough to handle a 60W TDP thermal problem, assuming the heat sink is sized for a 50W TDP right now.
Click to expand...

It is not just the heat sink it is the airflow. That would require bigger fans and bigger vents to move the large volumes of cool air in and the hot air out Also, the case would have to be taller than fit the bigger heat sink. Starting to move more toward the cooling systems in gaming laptops.
 
So, since these run so hot, will the internal components wear out prematurely because of excessive heat?
 
  • Like
Reactions: swerve147
anshuvorty said:
Because then it would require ECC memory and Apple isn't going to change the memory architecture just to appease hard core Apple enthusiasts and separate the core i7 from the core i9 this radically.
Click to expand...

It's a common misconception that Xeons require ECC memory. They do support it, but they don't require it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ploki
jerryk said:
It is not just the heat sink it is the airflow. That would require bigger fans and bigger vents to move the large volumes of cool air in and the hot air out Also, the case would have to be taller than fit the bigger heat sink. Starting to move more toward the cooling systems in gaming laptops.
Click to expand...

Nah, pretty sure heat sink size is independent of fan size. It would not be unlike the current situation with apple putting a processor in a 50W TDP chassis even though it can pull 125W peak load. Except the results would be better I'm sure.
 
anshuvorty said:
I stand corrected then. Thanks for the clarification.
Click to expand...

so yeah. "Xeon" would be a better selling point for a Pro machine (since most of their Pro machines use Xeons anyway), and it has cTDP of 35W like previous models. It's a tad more expensive tho (100-200$).

it also has the same socket FCBGA1440.

There's also a lower clocked 2176M, running at 2.7GHz.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compar...n-E-2186M-vs-Intel-i9-8950HK/3242vs3232vs3246

I don't know, i guess it doesn't sound as fancy as "Core i9".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back