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Artemis777

macrumors newbie
Dec 26, 2019
28
19
On my system GPU temperature (147F) is lower than CPU (153F). Two external monitors (1080p and 1200p) connected via Thunderbolt dock. I do not use clamshell mode - such a waste of a beautiful screen.
This is idle right? Sounds “good” anyway, or at least better
 

yeah3x

macrumors member
Sep 22, 2014
46
17
Yeah I'm still having this on Big Sur too. Really sucks.

Edit: My CPU temp is at 70 C (158 F) with about 5 tabs of Firefox and minimal other stuff open. Pretty unacceptable. Love the machine otherwise, but using an external monitor is such a key feature especially with people still working at home. Can't believe this is / never will be fixed.
 
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Camarillo Brillo

macrumors 6502a
Dec 6, 2019
531
525
Unfortunately clamshell is the only way to go with these machines, if you want to hook up an external monitor.

That said, I'm pretty happy at this point with the way mine is performing. In clamshell with a standard hd monitor attached via hdmi, Radeon is pulling 4-5 watts, the the cpu temp is staying around 50 degrees, fans are staying at minimum speed, and I'm not even needing to disable turbo boost most of the time. I think they have made some improvements in the most recent versions of catalina.

As soon as I open the laptop though radeon starts pulling 20+ watts and temp goes up considerably, so still no solution there, and I dont think there ever will be, I think that's just how these radeon cards work unfortunately.
 

timelessbeing

macrumors 6502
Oct 15, 2009
447
131
macbooks have been toasty since day 1.

One thing I've noticed is that the new ones now vent out the bottom rather than the top. That seems like a very strange strategy to me.
 

Grohowiak

macrumors 6502a
Nov 14, 2012
768
793
Big Sur didn’t fix the issue for me and now my mac reboots/crashes on every eGpu disconnect. I’m getting tired of Apple.
 

beMuc

macrumors newbie
Nov 17, 2020
3
0
Same problem here. Recently got a new MBP (MBP 16" 2,3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 and Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB)
As I have AppleCare+ I have opened a ticket. After almost one day in calls with support (L2) they told me this is a mobile device and based on the form factor I have to accept temp and the resulting noise. If I work only stationary I should get a iMac or Mac mini. Quite disappointing for a device worth ~4000 €
 

king11527

macrumors member
Aug 2, 2010
32
19
My 2017 15" died and I have been credited with the entry 16" as a replacement (2.6ghz i7, 16gb ram, 5300m). I am allowed to pay for any upgrades I would like. I was going to go with 2.3ghz i9, 32gb ram, 5500m 8gb (an additional $1350AUD). Reading through this thread I am pretty concerned about the 5500m. I use the 27" LG Ultrafine display. It costs an extra $900AUD to move to the 5600m and I don't need that performance. What would those with the machine recommend? Use case is mainly FCPX work.
I returned my i9 5500M and got i7 5600M, lower the CPU to entry level to compensate the pricy 5600M, and I am happy with the results so far. I don't see difference between i7 and i9 for daily tasks. and I don't think the thermal cap of the laptop can sustain full CPU load for long time anyway. I use the laptop lid open plus a LG5k at home, and llid open plus a dell 38 inch widescreen and an Apple 27 inch monitor at work. With 5500M, fan speeds goes to 3000 rpm at idle, GPU consume 18-20W. With 5600M, fans stay quite at 1700-1800 rpm most of time with daily task, and GPU power is about 7-10 W with external monitors. Consider the laptop only consumes 5-7 W total when runs on battery without external monitor for light works, 10W (difference between 5500M and 5600M) is a big thermal load to the system.
 
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petterihiisila

macrumors 6502
Nov 7, 2010
404
304
Finland
Can anyone test new M1 Macbook Air with 4/5/6K display?
It will very likely be fine from temps PoV. But it won’t be able to support more than 1 external display. That’s what kills it for me, until they release M2 or whatever is needed for multi monitor support. Still no reports if DisplayLink would work.

Speed-wise the M1 is on par with Radeon 560. Not bad, but could be better.

The CPU though. The M1 smokes everything that’s out there. It’s a beast. And it takes almost 10 mins before the fanless Air starts to throttle under Cinebench.

I need the 16” screen when working off my desk. The next gen 16” can’t come fast enough.
 

x3sphere

macrumors member
Apr 17, 2014
72
46
New M1 laptops seem to resolve all the heat / power usage complaints. My Mom got the Air, and I tested it out on an external display and it's running great. Runs super cool in comparison to my MBP 16" that gets quite warm to the touch even at idle when an external display is connected.

But 16GB RAM is not enough for me, so I will be waiting until they bring this to the 16" probably with a chip revision. Hopefully it includes dual monitor support by then as well.
 
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Mr.Potato

macrumors newbie
Oct 7, 2020
12
17
New M1 laptops seem to resolve all the heat / power usage complaints. My Mom got the Air, and I tested it out on an external display and it's running great. Runs super cool in comparison to my MBP 16" that gets quite warm to the touch even at idle when an external display is connected.

But 16GB RAM is not enough for me, so I will be waiting until they bring this to the 16" probably with a chip revision. Hopefully it includes dual monitor support by then as well.
btw, how many external monitors do Intel MacBook Air and two-tbport MacBook Pro 13" support?
 

petterihiisila

macrumors 6502
Nov 7, 2010
404
304
Finland
btw, how many external monitors do Intel MacBook Air and two-tbport MacBook Pro 13" support?

One for Air/Pro, two for Mini. And that’s a hard limit, unless someone tests DisplayLink and has success with it. DisplayLink is CPU-based AFAIK.

Edit: Sorry, missed the keyword Intel!

Someone just posted an M1 DisplayLink configuration with two ext monitors on an MBP.


Speed-wise the M1 isn’t a major upgrade over the 16”. Battery and temps is a different story. Maybe by WWDC we’d know what offer at the high end next.
 
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antipodean

macrumors regular
May 2, 2014
198
145
btw, how many external monitors do Intel MacBook Air and two-tbport MacBook Pro 13" support?
The two-port Intel did internal + 2 4K externals. Same for the Intel MBA, but that could also go upto 6K for a single external which was higher than the single external limit of 5K for the MBP:

Video Support​

Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colors and:

  • One external 5K display with 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors, or
  • Up to two external 4K displays with 4096-by-2304 resolution at 60Hz at millions of colors
 

panzer06

macrumors 68040
Sep 23, 2006
3,286
230
Kilrath
One for Air/Pro, two for Mini. And that’s a hard limit, unless someone tests DisplayLink and has success with it. DisplayLink is CPU-based AFAIK.

Edit: Sorry, missed the keyword Intel!

Someone just posted an M1 DisplayLink configuration with two ext monitors on an MBP.


Speed-wise the M1 isn’t a major upgrade over the 16”. Battery and temps is a different story. Maybe by WWDC we’d know what offer at the high end next.
Excellent, thanks for the good news
 

mjturner

macrumors member
Aug 23, 2011
35
26
Godalming, United Kingdom
Just wanted to thank all who've contributed to the valuable information in this thread. With some tweaking of settings in SwitchResX I was able to get my Radeon High Side down from around 18W to around 5W. As was suggested, trying various variations on the standard refresh rate for my monitor did the trick. I have an HP LP2475w and am using 1920x1200 HiDPI at 60Hz without problem. Using a non-HiDPI setting also works, I just prefer the HiDPI setting now that Apple has butchered sub-pixel rendering.
 

thedocbwarren

macrumors 6502
Nov 10, 2017
430
378
San Francisco, CA
Just wanted to thank all who've contributed to the valuable information in this thread. With some tweaking of settings in SwitchResX I was able to get my Radeon High Side down from around 18W to around 5W. As was suggested, trying various variations on the standard refresh rate for my monitor did the trick. I have an HP LP2475w and am using 1920x1200 HiDPI at 60Hz without problem. Using a non-HiDPI setting also works, I just prefer the HiDPI setting now that Apple has butchered sub-pixel rendering.
Looked it up, isn't that the native resolution anyway? it wold seem that is the best choice for it. plus I think, if I understand the thread, using a solid 60Hz vs slightly less or other is a problem.
For me, eGPU lets me use both screens with low wattage. 3w - 5w on the internal panel using 5500m and the eGPU powers all my other monitors. Works wonderfully. Was even able to hack my bootcamp with some advice from EPGU.io to get a fully working system that does what I need.

Just in time for Apple Silicon. :p
 

mjturner

macrumors member
Aug 23, 2011
35
26
Godalming, United Kingdom
Looked it up, isn't that the native resolution anyway? it wold seem that is the best choice for it. plus I think, if I understand the thread, using a solid 60Hz vs slightly less or other is a problem.

It is indeed. Selecting 1920x1200 @ 60Hz via System Preferences > Displays resulted in the fans idling at 3,000-4,000RPM (Radeon High Side 17-18W). The monitor itself displays 60Hz as the refresh rate when using that setting, so no idea why the wattage is so high? Either way, by going through each of the resolutions in SwitchResX I was able to find some that didn't raise the temperature. Very odd, as they all have the same resolution and nominal refresh rate.

For me, eGPU lets me use both screens with low wattage. 3w - 5w on the internal panel using 5500m and the eGPU powers all my other monitors. Works wonderfully. Was even able to hack my bootcamp with some advice from EPGU.io to get a fully working system that does what I need.

That would've been my next stop. Well, after getting a new monitor - this one is just a temporary measure until I can settle on the best 4K for my needs.

Just in time for Apple Silicon. :p

;)
 

MikeALaGuitare

macrumors newbie
Oct 2, 2020
7
2
Hello,

Did anyone try successfully a double 1920x1200 monitors in clamshell mode with a low wattage for Radeon dGPU ? I have a Dell U2415 which works fine with a SwitchResX custom configuration and I've seen in this thread a double 1080 setup, but none for 1200. Many thanks.
 

MacFlop

macrumors newbie
Aug 13, 2020
23
11
I was not able to change refresh rate with my Dell S2716DG using HDMI. I think it is only possible with a DisplayPort cable. I get 18w with default resolution 2440x1440 60 hz with HDMI. I haven't been able to test with DisplayPort yet but then I should be able to select a few other resolutions.

With 1920x1080 I am getting 5w but 1080p is way too small for me on a 27" sitting this close as I am.

dell27.jpeg
 

Minga089

macrumors regular
Jun 26, 2020
122
99
München, Bayern
The whole thing is very weird. I am running my 24" 2K monitor in 2048x1152 HiDPI and Radeon High Side is 4-5W at idle in Clamshell mode. Before that I had it running in native 2560x1440 and it would draw about the same. Now I tested it again and Radeon High Side is all the sudden at 16W with 2560x1440 in Clamshell mode. That doesn't make any sense, especially since 2048x1152 HiDPI is way more demanding for the GPU than native resolution. I never would use native resolution anyway (looks horrible in macOS), but the jump from 5W to 16W is also very dubious.

I am still on Catalina btw.
 

Mr.Potato

macrumors newbie
Oct 7, 2020
12
17
I was not able to change refresh rate with my Dell S2716DG using HDMI. I think it is only possible with a DisplayPort cable. I get 18w with default resolution 2440x1440 60 hz with HDMI. I haven't been able to test with DisplayPort yet but then I should be able to select a few other resolutions.

With 1920x1080 I am getting 5w but 1080p is way too small for me on a 27" sitting this close as I am.

View attachment 1674869
My case with 1440p monitor was similar
I solved it by installing SwitchResX, copying specs of 1080p preset, pasting to a new custom preset and changing the resolution to 1440p and correcting refresh to 60HZ (as form automatically lowered it after resolution adjustment), saved, restarted, activated - excessive power draw solved.
 
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MacFlop

macrumors newbie
Aug 13, 2020
23
11
My case with 1440p monitor was similar
I solved it by installing SwitchResX, copying specs of 1080p preset, pasting to a new custom preset and changing the resolution to 1440p and correcting refresh to 60HZ (as form automatically lowered it after resolution adjustment), saved, restarted, activated - excessive power draw solved.
Was this possible with HDMI or via Displayport?
 
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