LOL, they probably fixed it with the new 5600M GPU. It uses another GPU (Navi 12) and HBM2 memory. 
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(2019) 16" is HOT & NOISY with an external monitor! :(
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LOL, they probably fixed it with the new 5600M GPU. It uses another GPU (Navi 12) and HBM2 memory.
Presumably the 5600M is likely to draw more power and run hotter than the current GPU's so in theory the problem could actually be worse!
Plus at $800 it's a pretty expensive option that adds nearly 50% to the sticker price of a laptop that was priced pretty steeply to begin with....
Be interesting to see some benchmarks though as it sounds like it could offer double the performance of what's currently available in the 16" MBP.
No one at Apple has ever plugged this thing into a external display before?
I'm sure they did. Problem is that after a few minutes of running, the cooling system starting making so much noise that when the senior engineer told the junior engineer to "Check the fan noise" but all the junior engineer heard was "Checks fine now", so they submitted the design for manufacturing.
From boot up and not initiating any other major apps from the base state...
Of course when you start running other apps and doing anything heavy there will be changes. Note background processes will kick in from time to time and cause higher temps/fans such as your backup process, but again these are generally a modest impact e.g. a 3rd party virus background scan will take CPU for short periods of time but again normal.
Balanced temp and fans should remain low with nominal apps, of course, start rendering 4k movies and that changes considerably. Ive often found the 13" to be low temp/fan under normal loads and that is why it is appealing. Low temp, low or no fans, low energy draw, longer battery life.
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Clearly won't help with a 5K display if you wish to see 5K!
If the ticket has the same effect as Change.org, I save myself the trouble of writing it. Because then no one cares anyway.
When you select simplified settings and use GTF, it automatically changes the resolution to 1680x1050? When I create it on mine it keeps the resolution that the monitor is currently set to.
It will be interesting to see the 5600M benchmarks and if it fixes this issue.
Ridiculously expensive upgrade though. I just got a 5700 XT + Razer Core X Chroma for the same price which is way more powerful and keeps the 16" a lot cooler and quieter. Very happy with this setup except for the noisy fans which I’m about to replace, and the flaky USB hub which is unusable for me.
It would be nice to have the faster internal GPU and I would probably convince myself I needed it if I was buying a 16” now, but it turns out I don't do as much intensive graphics work / video editing in planes or forests as I imagined lol.
Ridiculously expensive upgrade though. I just got a 5700 XT + Razer Core X Chroma for the same price which is way more powerful and keeps the 16" a lot cooler and quieter. Very happy with this setup except for the noisy fans which I’m about to replace, and the flaky USB hub which is unusable for me.
It would be nice to have the faster internal GPU and I would probably convince myself I needed it if I was buying a 16” now, but it turns out I don't do as much intensive graphics work / video editing in planes or forests as I imagined lol.
Insignificant boost in synthetic benchmarks, and quieter laptop. This is with liquid metal alone, did not consider thermal pads around the chip dies before closing it back up, which on the 16" is a mission.
If apple doesn't think this is a serious issue now the only way apple will bump up the priority is when our GPUs starting dying en masse and a class action lawsuit for hundreds of millions gets launched. We'll get a fix in 5 years I estimate.
I've already wrote 2 tickets for this issue to Apple and looks like it just goes into the garbage at Apple
Yep. They do not care. I've had 3-4 calls with their supposed higher level reps, each one lasting 45 minutes to over an hour. Sending logs, screen shots and screen recordings showing the problem in action. They love to waste your time on the phone collecting data. But they continue releasing Catalina updates without any fix. They probably can not fix it, it's probably just the way these stupid radeon cards work.
Yeah, I guess if the laptop automatically switches to the discrete GPU whenever an external display is connected I guess there might not be any way to disable the behaviour unfortunately.
Perhaps the internals on the laptop are wired so that even though an iGPU can drive an external display it can't do this when also paired with a discrete GPU.
Perhaps the internals on the laptop are wired so that even though an iGPU can drive an external display it can't do this when also paired with a discrete GPU.
Overall, pretty good. I'm using it in macOS most of the time, and have also got it working in Windows 10 Boot Camp following these steps -
I mainly got them to use with Unity and Unreal Engine and get about 3x better performance than the 5500M.
As I mentioned already, the Razer fans are quite loud so I'm going to replace them with Noctua fans. Anything connected to the USB ports disconnects constantly or doesn't show up at all. Some people don't seem to have these issues, but I've tested 2 Chromas and had the same issues with both. I've also read that the ethernet port is very unreliable on macOS but I haven't tried it. I also have trouble disconnecting from the menu bar, probably due to background apps using the eGPU.
Since the USB ports were unusable for me, I bought a standard Core X and planned to return the Chroma. However, the standard Core X gives me the dreaded "error 12" in Boot Camp and I just couldn't get it working, so I'm keeping the Chroma instead and using a separate USB hub. £120 extra for some lights and flaky USB and ethernet ports that I won't use, but at least it works in Boot Camp without have to mess around with EFI bootloaders etc.
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So the heat / fans seemed to be a "one-off", but ... my external monitor will not consistently remain active when I move to clamshell mode. Lid open...no problem. Close the lid and I get "no signal detected". I've tried different power on sequences without success so far. No idea how to proceed. The HDs etc I have connected to the Chroma dock appear reliably...so far.
The dynamic with this machine is getting untenable for me. I'm open to suggestions, but if Apple announces a cool new iMac next week, I'm very likely going to bail on the 16".
Update: the 3rd party app gSwitch was causing issues with getting into clamshell. Turn it off, problem gone.
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I measured it with the AMD Utility under Windows, which I realise may not give a good indication of what's happening under MacOS. Although measuring the eGPU wattage at the wall socket and subtracting the MBP's DC In as displayed in iStat gives a similar ballpark figure -- the eGPU case fan/lights/etc probably account for the rest.
Do you really think this might be the case? Any word on if it does yet? Its sooo expensive though lolLOL, they probably fixed it with the new 5600M GPU. It uses another GPU (Navi 12) and HBM2 memory.
Playing 30minutes of YouTube videos at fullscreen on the external display (4K) causes my entire chassis temperature to spike upwards of 85C/185F.
The dGpu drew 20W~21W in the process while the cpu remained below 10% usage. Entire right side (where the dGpu is located) is too hot touch while the left side (where the CPU is located) remained relatively cool.
And to even think that the MBP 16 supports up to FOUR 4K displays when even one 4k display is enough to cripple it. Have escalated it multiple times on a monthly basis but there has been no fix since DAY 1. That is on top of the audio popping issue that happens whenever an audio source is stopped. That has not been fixed as well.
Did no one at Apple test the MBP 16 before launch? Looks like they simply enlarged the existing MBP 15 chassis on CAD + replace the butterfly keyboard + new speakers and ship it off without any test done.
On top of everything, there's Catalina with its bugs and glitches. I'm beginning to think we are all just beta testers for Catalina before the next version arrives.
The dGpu drew 20W~21W in the process while the cpu remained below 10% usage. Entire right side (where the dGpu is located) is too hot touch while the left side (where the CPU is located) remained relatively cool.
And to even think that the MBP 16 supports up to FOUR 4K displays when even one 4k display is enough to cripple it. Have escalated it multiple times on a monthly basis but there has been no fix since DAY 1. That is on top of the audio popping issue that happens whenever an audio source is stopped. That has not been fixed as well.
Did no one at Apple test the MBP 16 before launch? Looks like they simply enlarged the existing MBP 15 chassis on CAD + replace the butterfly keyboard + new speakers and ship it off without any test done.
On top of everything, there's Catalina with its bugs and glitches. I'm beginning to think we are all just beta testers for Catalina before the next version arrives.
I've been using the 16" with USB-C connection to LG 27UK850-W for the last 2 days, just to get a feel for it without eGPU because I never really used it without eGPU except for some basic testing.
I did notice the fans were sometimes noisy (~4000rpm) and on rare occasion hit ~5000rpm (when compiling), but were often acceptable at <=3000rpm.
Here are two screenshots showing a 7 day view of the Radeon High Side and left side fan RPM. You can see clearly that besides the last 2 days with direct USB-C connection, Radeon High Side and fans are both pretty stable and low with the eGPU.
Radeon High Side:
Leftside fan RPM:
I did notice the fans were sometimes noisy (~4000rpm) and on rare occasion hit ~5000rpm (when compiling), but were often acceptable at <=3000rpm.
Here are two screenshots showing a 7 day view of the Radeon High Side and left side fan RPM. You can see clearly that besides the last 2 days with direct USB-C connection, Radeon High Side and fans are both pretty stable and low with the eGPU.
Radeon High Side:
Leftside fan RPM:
Interesting graph. Did a short test on my own just now from a cold start. I used the internal display only with the dGpu (Automatic graphic switching turned off to force dGpu usage).
This is the airflow temperature and wattage at idle. (Internal display only on dGpu)
The moment I plugged in an external display (4K), this happens.
The fans were spinning around 1500 RPM without the external display and 2600 RPM with the external display. All I did was just web browsing. Not even on YouTube or whatsoever that could require the aid of the dGpu. I understand that the inbuilt display has a resolution of 3072 x 1920 while a 4K display is 3840 x 2160. But the difference in power draw is too much.
This was taken from a cold start up. The temperature will rise with prolonged use with the external display connected.
There is definitely something strange going on with that dGpu.
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I‘ve made the following changes which have, over the last couple of weeks, made a significant difference to the heat / fan noise with my MBP 16 connected to (and powered by) a Philips 346B1 widescreen monitor via usb-c.
1. Switched the monitor cable to a usb-c port on the right hand side of the laptop.
2. Disabled Turbo boost via the Turbo Boost Switcher Pro app.
3. Run all apps only on the monitor not the laptop screen. It’s still open as I like to use the keyboard, touchpad and speakers of the laptop though.
With this the heat and fan noise run at acceptable levels to me but it’s a workaround. I shouldn’t need to disable turbo boost. I shouldn’t need to not use the laptop screen. I feel like I’ve paid a premium for a super powerful MacBook Pro and had to knobble it to run at an acceptable level. But at least I can now do Microsoft Teams calls without other participants thinking I’m sitting next to an airport runway. So, for now, I’m living with it and suppose I need to as I’m well past the return window. I will probably raise an escalation via AppleCare though.
Does this issue happen when the laptop screen is closed whilst connected to an external monitor?
It was in clamshell mode.
This is the dGpu power consumption with the MBP 16 lid open alongside an external display.
The power consumption does not throttle down at all in open lid configuration.