(2019) 16" is HOT & NOISY with an external monitor! :(

[aknabi]

Update for all... I have to have 2 monitors so axu2's (great) solution write-up was too sub-optimal for my use case (in addtion as mentioned before Apple should be ashamed that a 5000+ Euro machine can't idle with 2 monitors connected without thermal issues... speaking from experience that would have been a standard and easy part of hardware testing/validation... and 90+% certain they did it, knew it and rolled it out anyway... or need to fire a bunch of HW test engineers.

So given my need I just received my Blackmagic eGPU (an impressive looking beast... larger than my trash can Mac Pro)... 700Eur, plug and play and now everything is silent with two monitors connected and some serious workload (and many participant MS Teams calls).

Now many say the Radeon Pro 580 8 GB in the BM eGPU is outdated and surpassed by the 5500m in the 16 MBP which I recall is true, but the MBP can't handle the thermals so the 5500m's capability isn't relevant. The BM eGPU can handle the load and due to it's size can stay silent (and makes for a decent, if not huge TB3 dock). I'm not gaming so this level of GFX performance should last me several years (as I'll keep this as my last Intel Mac which I'm sure I'll need for a few years for legacy reasons).

As an aside my "old" trash can Mac Pro with the low end dual D300 GPUs also can handle my GFX workload and MS Teams just fine and stay quiet (well it always does... even though it had a tight thermal envelop, the tMP stays in it rock solid and quiet).... and this even though the MBP16 5500m GPU should kick the D300's backside.

So for those looking for a eGPU to handle 2+ monitors I can recommend the BM eGPU for non-gaming (and in my case non-video editing) purposes... for 700Eur it's designed well (and with Apple's help), solid and looks impressive... and actually cheaper than the enclosure+gfx card solutions right now (given the insane GPU card pricing at the moment). If you have heavy requirements then I guess you need to roll something like a Razor Chroma eGPU with a higher end AMD card... but you'll be at 1000-2000Eur.

UPDATE2UPDATE: Also there's a "hidden" option for eGPUs... if you go to an Application and Get Info you'll see a checkbox for "Prefer External GPU"... I've done that for several apps, including MS Teams and Slack.

 

[PeterJP]

... but you'll be at 1000-2000Eur.

Might as well buy myself an M1 machine at that point.

 

[axu2]

axu2s's suggestion actually worked for me.

I am getting 64C on clamshell mode with an ultrawide T34w-20 monitor with HiDPI enabled:

```
LEN T34w-20:
Resolution: 6880 x 2880
UI Looks like: 3440 x 1440 @ 60.00Hz
```

The script works like a charm. There was just a bit of turbulence when I started my Macbook, as already mentioned.

64c on 3500RPMs @ IDLE compared to 90C on 5000RPMS @ IDLE before the fix.

How interesting, so my fix applies to 1440p ultra wide too.

 

[axu2]

Now down to 2K rpms on idle with the `one-key-hidpi` script. So relaxing...

Personally use the GPU wattage to tell if the fix is working, since fan noise is a symptom of excessive gpu wattage.

 

[excessiveobserver]

I have two monitors: UWQHD and QHD 144hz. The fix worked for both, but I had to run the script twice.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

I am glad I found this mammoth thread. A few months ago I bought the 16" i9 32GB 5500m, It is mainly used, especially these days, connected to my ultra wide LG38WK95C, which is a fantastic thunderbolt 3 monitor.

…

Wondering if anyone else has the display connection issue or may know why it's happening? I tried using different ports but it seems to occur randomly despite the port, and usually when in a Zoom / Meet / Teams call.

I’ve got the same MBP16/5500 & Display pair. I bought it when it just came out, and found it would fan blast itself to throttle state just sitting there doing nothing. Well, I have now returned the MBP to Apple Engineering four times for new motherboards, and finally now got it back in a usable, working condition for the first time since I bought it. That’s two years of screwing around with an unusable computer due to a known issue they insist they’re completely unfamiliar with every time I‘ve talk to them. I’ve been overly friendly and submissive and understanding every time, because I know its not the service phone techs fault, but at no point in all this time would Apple offer a replacement with a functional 5600 model even after I inquired with the offer of paying the upcharge. “We can only replace the item with the same model purchased, it’s policy.”. Well its becoming my policy to not buy from companies that sell premium priced junk and then refuse to find a workable solution after it becomes a problem.

…if they’d originally replaced the 5500 machine with the 5600 model in the first place, they would have lost less money than they did shipping it across the country four times & swapping out 5 motherboards, and wasted a lot less of all our time and customer goodwill. I wonder who will end up with the first four motherboards that failed to operate properly in my machine, and whether I’m really happy paying for a new computer and when finally getting one that works, recieving one cobbled out of used parts from other warrantied units, nevermind two years of “i dont know how its been with us this long, the system must have lost track of your repair somehow” headaches.

Now, I have this thing. The LG 38” looks great, with no disconnection woes. And the fans stay quiet. When scrubbing through effect-laiden video tracks in premiere, the fans will run, bc it’s a laptop, & I expect that. The rest of the time seems so far so good. However after the growing irritation of this experience, and the continual parade of bad compatibility & privacy developments from Cupertino the last couple years, I might just unload all my remaining Apple stuff on the classifieds here. …but I don’t imagine the resale value is very high on these things, given their well-earned reputation of being notoriously problematic here. …the computer purchase that just keeps twisting the knife.

 

[aknabi]

Now, I have this thing. The LG 38” looks great, with no disconnection woes. And the fans stay quiet. When scrubbing through effect-laiden video tracks in premiere, the fans will run, bc it’s a laptop, & I expect that. The rest of the time seems so far so good.

Out of curiosity is it behaving well with the lid open? Just curious as doing a hard complain may be better than my Blackmagic eGPU solution (which is working, though the 5500m/5600m are actually more powerful GPUs.

And yes the (typical) silence from Apple on a well know issue, and refusal to take any action is lame... when you make a premium product that means you also stand by it... if you screw up you're premium status and margins an and reputation should mean you make it right for your customers (BMW had a similar issue with a faulty design in their mid-90s 7-series... never made it right and now after spending ~$300k on BMWs I've never purchased another in over 20 years).

They should either offer a 5600m swap or give a huge discount on the eGPU (though not the best solution, but maybe a way of getting rid of these obsolete 580s prior to an update).

And my recommendation to friends now is don't buy anything Apple releases until it's been shaken out for a few months... and certainly do some research on known problems prior to purchase for existing products (or buy me a few drinks and I'll do it for you).

 

[panzer06]

Out of curiosity is it behaving well with the lid open? Just curious as doing a hard complain may be better than my Blackmagic eGPU solution (which is working, though the 5500m/5600m are actually more powerful GPUs.

And yes the (typical) silence from Apple on a well know issue, and refusal to take any action is lame... when you make a premium product that means you also stand by it... if you screw up you're premium status and margins an and reputation should mean you make it right for your customers (BMW had a similar issue with a faulty design in their mid-90s 7-series... never made it right and now after spending ~$300k on BMWs I've never purchased another in over 20 years).

They should either offer a 5600m swap or give a huge discount on the eGPU (though not the best solution, but maybe a way of getting rid of these obsolete 580s prior to an update).

And my recommendation to friends now is don't buy anything Apple releases until it's been shaken out for a few months... and certainly do some research on known problems prior to purchase for existing products (or buy me a few drinks and I'll do it for you).

My eGPU has the AMD RX 5700XT. I set most apps to prefer the 5700XT. No issues at all except inconsistent getting Windows to see the eGPU graphics card.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Out of curiosity is it behaving well with the lid open? Just curious as doing a hard complain may be better than my Blackmagic eGPU solution (which is working, though the 5500m/5600m are actually more powerful GPUs.

I haven‘t even tried pushing my luck with lid open + ext display. Since this thing lacks any useful ports I’ve relocated it off my desk, and have it on a stand in a vertical position where I can quickly unhook the LG’s USB-C charging/display cable & just grab it & go. …on my desk next to the 38” is the old 2009 17” MBP, which acts as a second display, port hub, media & backups server, etc, to do all the secondary tasks I need while not sapping resources from the 16” so it can be 100% dedicated CAD or AV editing work. The old 17 is still 100% useful for everything else but high-processing load work and still the best computer ive ever owned. That old tank goes with me everywhere. The 16 is just a more easily movable (albeit less capable) workstation than an iMac.

 

[romanstrogonov]

I would like to thank everyone here, who gave an information about one-key-hdpi script. Now my MacBook Pro (16" with 5500M) is quiet as a normal machine when using elder 27" 2011 2560x1440 iMac as an external screen (in target display mode). The last thing to do — clean the MBP from inside, since there's some dust is seen thru vents.

You all may see, what happened with a consumption for Radeon:

 

[axu2]

That’s a great graph you posted! ? Really demonstrates the before and after.

 

[cinoxil]

I have two monitors: UWQHD and QHD 144hz. The fix worked for both, but I had to run the script twice.

I have 2 monitors too. 4k and fhd. But when use script, it doesn't change anything. Radeon high side is still 18w. What should I do for 2 external monitors exactly ? @axu2 do you have any suggestion? Thank you all of you guys

 

[axu2]

I think the other guy was only using 1 monitor at a time. My fix doesn't apply to using multiple monitors.

 

[excessiveobserver]

yep just one monitor at a time

 

[kasakka]

Can confirm that one-click-hidpi script works. It seems to add a DisplayEDID override so in case you were using that already like I was (to disable 10-bit color so my LG 4K TV runs at 8-bit 4:4:4 instead of 10-bit 4:2:0 which is horrible for desktop), you can combine one-click-hidpi scripts' EDID overrides and your own into a single file.

Now my 2019 16" MBP is silent after disconnecting and plugging my computer back in. Otherwise it looks exactly the same as the "looks like 3200x1800" scaling setting I used before so this is something Apple could totally fix but for some reason doesn't bother to do.

This has to be one of the stupidest, most ridiculous things I've seen on an Apple system. "It just works" my ass!

 

[schriker]

I was wondering about Bootcamp but it seems the problem exists there too, so I guess this is AMD drivers issue?

4W without external display:

14-15W with one external display

It's not 18W like on MacOS but fans still kicks in as soon as I connect display.

 

[IceStormNG]

AFAIK, this is fixed in the drivers from https://www.bootcampdrivers.com/. If you use the apple official drivers, it will work as bad as on macOS.

 

[schriker]

AFAIK, this is fixed in the drivers from https://www.bootcampdrivers.com/. If you use the apple official drivers, it will work as bad as on macOS.

I haven't tried those, but I downloaded official AMD drivers from: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/apple-boot-camp and still 15W so I guess AMD is here to blame? That wouldn't be a surprise, cause I also have a really bad experience with their drivers on my Windows PC.

 

[IceStormNG]

Well. AMD is to blame for sure. But Apple also is at fault as Apple provides the drivers for macOS. And the Radeon drivers on mac have been crap since Macs have AMD cards. Apple's NV drivers where also crap, that's why Nvidia released the webdrivers, which then also supported CUDA. But Apple then stopped signing Nvidia's kext and locked down macOS even further.

I would also prefer to have Nvidia cards. But Apple is Apple. And now that they move to their own chips we will never see anything else for the forseeable future.
I'm still wondering how Apple wants to get such fast GPUs. They never made high performance GPUs before while Nvidia and AMD have years of R&D and experience in that area.

 

[GumaRodak]

Apple have unlimited money, they just need to hire correct teams.
Same like with cars, hyundai had crapy design cars so they hired audi designers and wonders happen …

 

[Overlord.space]

It looks like issue with external displays has been fixed in one of the macOS Monterey Beta (with low power mode)
5300M

I have two monitors: BenQ PD3200Q (2K, 60hz) and AOC Q32G1WG4 (2k, 144hz).
Currently on macOS Monterey Beta 5 (21A5304g) i have about 14W with 1-2 external monitors connected
But also if i turn on the new «Low Power Mode» in settings I get about 7W.

The problem only occurs when changing the refresh rate other than 60 hertz (i get 18W+).

Spoiler: Screenshots

I did some tests with different connection combinations

Spoiler: Video (YouTube)

P.S. SwitchResX figured in monitor name, but it not used

 

[axu2]

That's a nice development. But it shouldn't be restricted to low power mode.

 

[IceStormNG]

So, apparently, they figured out how to fix it, but only do that for the low power mode?

 

[schriker]

@Overlord.space How bad is the laptop performance on that "Low Power Mode" profile?

 

[Minga089]

It looks like issue with external displays has been fixed in one of the macOS Monterey Beta (with low power mode)
5300M

I have two monitors: BenQ PD3200Q (2K, 60hz) and AOC Q32G1WG4 (2k, 144hz).
Currently on macOS Monterey Beta 5 (21A5304g) i have about 14W with 1-2 external monitors connected
But also if i turn on the new «Low Power Mode» in settings I get about 7W.

The problem only occurs when changing the refresh rate other than 60 hertz (i get 18W+).

Spoiler: Screenshots

View attachment 1821456
View attachment 1821457

I did some tests with different connection combinations

Spoiler: Video (YouTube)

P.S. SwitchResX figured in monitor name, but it not used

Nice to hear. So they limit the wattage for the Radeon GPU? Does it still run its memory at full clock when 2 or more monitors are attached? In my understanding that's what Radeon GPUs do when 2 or more monitors are used in order to gurantee a "smooth" experience and that's what causes the high power consumption.

So at least in theory the performance should now be worse than before? Did you notice something?