I think my 2018 computer is cooler with the pads, but I want even more progress. Have you continued experimenting since we spoke last time?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
(2019) 16" is HOT & NOISY with an external monitor! :(
- Thread starter Appledoesnotlisten
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Well.. my issue is "solved".
I have the VRMs and the TB3 controller padded. The 16" is in a vertical dock with exhaust pointing upwards, connected to a HP thunderbolt 3 dock with one monitor connected (clamshell mode).
Heating is "fine". Fans only come up under higher load. I can even cut 4K HDR in Final cut wihtout the fans going crazy.
Android Studio, Xcode, Affinity Photo, Capture One... They all run without any fan noise at all. Even with MS teams or **** Zoom conference on.
Sure: When going out of clamshell with dual monitor, you're screwed. That's simply an AMD design fault. My brother's AMD Desktop GPU (RX 6900 XT) also does that with two displays on. VRAM always runs on full clock. Just that on a desktop this is a minor issue.
Apple should've went with HBM2 instead of GDDR6 on all GPU options.
I want to describe my situation hoping it will help someone suffering from this issue.
For sometime I was using an external ultrawide monitor at 3440x1140 resolution with 100Hz refresh rate and had this heating issue and my fans were spinning high all the time. Here is what I found:
3440x1440 at 100Hz clamshell -> 18~20w Radeon High
3440x1440 at 100Hz dual monitors (internal and external) -> 18~20w Radeon High side
3440x1440 at 60Hz dual monitors (internal and external) -> 18~20w Radeon High side
3440x1440 at 60Hz clamsell mode -> ~5w Radeon High side.
I dont have switchresX or anything installed for managing my display settings. Just put the macbook pro 16 to clamshell mode and changed refresh rate to 60Hz and it all got quiet and calm. Just updated to big sur 11.4 and still cool and quiet. As soon as I use 100Hz fans start to party. Sad situation for such an expensive machine, I enjoyed dual monitors and the smoothness 100Hz refresh brings while coding but cannot stand the fan noise...
I use a Satechi usb-c HDMI adapter if it is important and both power and display cables are connected on the right side usb-c ports.
For sometime I was using an external ultrawide monitor at 3440x1140 resolution with 100Hz refresh rate and had this heating issue and my fans were spinning high all the time. Here is what I found:
3440x1440 at 100Hz clamshell -> 18~20w Radeon High
3440x1440 at 100Hz dual monitors (internal and external) -> 18~20w Radeon High side
3440x1440 at 60Hz dual monitors (internal and external) -> 18~20w Radeon High side
3440x1440 at 60Hz clamsell mode -> ~5w Radeon High side.
I dont have switchresX or anything installed for managing my display settings. Just put the macbook pro 16 to clamshell mode and changed refresh rate to 60Hz and it all got quiet and calm. Just updated to big sur 11.4 and still cool and quiet. As soon as I use 100Hz fans start to party. Sad situation for such an expensive machine, I enjoyed dual monitors and the smoothness 100Hz refresh brings while coding but cannot stand the fan noise...
I use a Satechi usb-c HDMI adapter if it is important and both power and display cables are connected on the right side usb-c ports.
That's simply how the GPU works. AMD needs full VRAM clock for higher refresh rates. They can only handle standard resolutions well. Everything that is an extended resolution config (like 100Hz or certain exotic resolutions), the VRAM has to go full clock and causes extreme heating.
Managed to sell mine this week for 80% of what it cost after having it for a year. I liked the gorgeous screen, but the fact that it overheat just browsing the internet or creating an empty boilerplate react app in terminal made it sit and collect dust. If there's anything the AMD cpus have amazed me with, it's how quiet and cool and power efficient they run on my Lenovo. Tried both connected to a Dell U3219 as well and the Macbook got hot and loud immediately. Looking forward to the M1 14 and 16 inch releases later this year.
Nice price you got there. I have an over-the-top 64GB/2TB machine that I wouldn't mind selling for a new Apple silicon 14 or 16", if it wasn't for the Windows VM I have on it. It's such a bonus for many things to just be able to fire up Windows when I need it...
Yes noticed the same on mine under high refresh rates. No such issue with the newer M1 machines though, so if those are an option, I'd recommend. I can run my 38" 3840x1600 monitor at 160 Hz with the M1 MBP and it's still whisper quiet.
I contacted Apple support for this problem. A senior advisor had me do a lot of tests / diagnostics that were analysed by the engineering team. According to them there is nothing wrong with the machine (16 inch with AMD 5500 - 4Gb) and the big fan noise is totally normal and expected if the laptop is connected to an external screen. Although I can mitigate the issue by using the computer in clamshell mode, it's still unacceptable to me.
Although I insisted heavily, a paid upgrade to the AMD 5600 model was declined (my MacBook Pro is only 5 months old).
Although I insisted heavily, a paid upgrade to the AMD 5600 model was declined (my MacBook Pro is only 5 months old).
Was the same for me. They didn't want to refund the machine and also not upgrade it (also not for money). They just state "works as designed" and call it a day.
Well, from engineering point of view. You cannot expect to have good heat dissipation from something that is build with intetion to be as much thin as possible...so desktop power puted into a4 size paper thin... the new M1 macs are with better efficiency, thats nice...just wait some more time till devs will put more stress to them and then quess what will happen, they will start heat as well....so i can definitely say...that the m1 machines will be junk in few years as well..
Look. Some of the problems are resolveable. We're not talking about that the fan goes on under load. We're talking about the fan going loud for just having an external monitor connected.
That's mainly an issue of the AMD GPU and also the un-cooled VRMs. That's something Apple could've fixed, but they apparently didn't bothered.
That's mainly an issue of the AMD GPU and also the un-cooled VRMs. That's something Apple could've fixed, but they apparently didn't bothered.
I have a 5500M and I'm seeing some early good results with this script. Still high radeon values with the lid open (which is expected) but at least my fans are running below 2500 rpm when using just chrome and teams. Great find!I found a solution.
When I plug in a Macbook Pro 16 inch 5300M with Big Sur 11.3.1 into a 2560x1440p60 external monitor, the GPU power draws jumps up to 20W. I measured it using iStat Menus. It doesn't take long until the mac gets really hot and noisy due to the fans spinning up to dissipate all the power.
But I ran the script here to force enable HIDPI mode for my 1440p monitor, and suddenly GPU power draw is only 5W at idle and stays cool and silent.
GitHub - xzhih/one-key-hidpi: Enable macOS HiDPI and have a native setting.
Enable macOS HiDPI and have a native setting. Contribute to xzhih/one-key-hidpi development by creating an account on GitHub.github.com
This has to be a software bug, if just enabling HIDPI mode solves the issue (when in clamshell mode.)
Last edited:
This shows a fundamental lack of understanding.
The M1 is a 15w TDP chip. It is not capable of the same thermal output as a 45w TDP chip.
The statement you've made is akin to thinking because a 70's big V8 car overheats going up a hill in the desert, a brand new Corolla with a 4 cylinder making the same power will too.
BTW: The M1 also gets hot af. It's just not as bad because it's only 15W. That tells you everything about Apple. Instead of using the cooling they have to make that thing run cooler, they just let it run hotter.
track your battery capacity with "coconut battery" and report to apple. that was my angle to get them to admit that the internal parts like battery degraded faster than usual. they also told me that its by design bla bla but at 89% capacity left after 40 cycles they changed the battery. after a fresh one, track again and again and let them repair until they upgrade you away from 5300 or 5500 or refund that **** machine… see https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....2211747/page-194?post=29927779#post-29927779
a class action would be nice.
right now I use a m1 air and its like a gift from heaven with the same 34" lg 34wk95u
a class action would be nice.
right now I use a m1 air and its like a gift from heaven with the same 34" lg 34wk95u
Sadly.. my battery doesn't want to degrade.. After 12 months it's still at 101% design capacity...
The new M1 is more efficient no doubt. The M1 is using crap gpu build in. My mbp 16 is not heating as well when using only crap build in gpu. Just wait till dgpu will be introduced and the machines will heat as well. They will have more power for sure, but they will heat as well...as the resolution, data transfer etc will be more demanding..
nothing official, it was just my argumentation. just be persistent
don't think so, this was the last machine of hell with intel and amd crap combined.
apple has the power to build by far superior hardware stuck in a laptop. they even can challenge GPUs coming from amd and Nvidia as far they don't label them "gaming" hardware. just casual gaming stuff. or they surprise the industry and will challenge the gaming industry. if someone can surprise a market, then its apple for sure.
so I think there will be no heat anymore. just efficiency, Long battery hours and power in cpu and gpus
the sensors on the M1 hits 90+ degrees but the surface temperature is MUCH cooler than intel 10th gen or 8th gen found in the 13" intel MBP.
The area above the Touch Bar is warm compared to intel CPUs where it gets hot. I checked it at an Apple Store and stressed test it.
Also the M1 is not 15W, thats just the CPU the is 15W. The GPU in M1 is 10W.
The total TDP is around 25-30W. The M1 is a SoC.
Does Apple really need better cooling if the M1 is also found in the iPad Pro?
Apple can't do that because it's up to AMD to do that. AMD designs the GPU's, Apple buys them from AMD.
For the 5300M and 5500M AMD have chosen GDDR6 and for the 5600M AMD chose HBM2.
HBM2 is very expensive as well.
The previous 15" did not have this issue cause it was using GDDR5.
yep yep yep and perhaps. nevertheless its not the first time AMD and Apple fckd up. Remember iMac 2009-2011 or MacBook Pros in the same time period. all with dying AMD cards. that's the reason why apple is moving away from them and more to a vertical integrations