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GPU Throttle utility?

Mr Screech

Mr Screech

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 2, 2018
260
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I'm looking for a utility/app where I can throttle the GPU.

My Studio M1 Ultra is heating up and the fans are getting loud.
I rather limit the GPU than deal with the noise.
A quick search didn't yield any results, so I'm hoping some of you know a trick to do this.
 
Apple automatically throttles the GPU back to reduce power use whenever the load isn't 100% load, so if the software you're running has any knobs to turn to reduce its demands on the GPU, that should do it. (For example, in a game you could limit frame rate and resolution.)
 
The load is continuously 100% for the gpu, cpu is about 25%. Sadly the software doesn't allow for any gpu/cpu settings, so I need some sort of global control.

I know the mac has its own temperature management, however if I let it do its thing, the mac studio becomes very hot. As in uncomfortable to touch for longer than 5 seconds. I use TG Pro to manually set the rpm higher, which helps but in return makes the system too loud.
 
Mr Screech said:
My Studio M1 Ultra is heating up and the fans are getting loud.
I rather limit the GPU than deal with the noise.
Click to expand...
Don’t have a solution but out of curiosity, may I ask what computing activities you are doing that task the Ultra GPU to the point the unit is too hot to touch?
 
Be sure to clean the bottom of your Mac from the dust with a vacuum cleaner, after a year my system was throttling quite a bit during the summer and became very loud because I was forcing the hot air out by ramping up the fan speed with a fan utility, turn out it was the dust. Once cleaned everything was back to normal, mostly silent even after many hours of continuous work.
 
sirio76 said:
Be sure to clean the bottom of your Mac
Click to expand...
Upon its arrival, I affixed a dust filter along the bottom and raised it a few centimeters to keep the interior dust-free. However, considering it's been two years, the filter likely requires replacement. While it might marginally reduce temperatures, I'm uncertain it addresses my main issue. Ideally, I wish to instruct the GPU to utilize only 50% of its power, but surprisingly, such a feature seems nonexistent. Perhaps not for my specific scenario, but I would expect it to be desirable for laptops.

I'll likely need to procure several extension cords and relocate the studio to another room. Fortunately, I no longer require extending Thunderbolt displays.

//chatgpt is a blast
 
startergo said:
Free solution to what? The Mac needs more cooling apparently due to the nature of the load. It needs forced air flow.
Click to expand...
if someone don't care about filtering dust on intake then it can lead to Mac overheating. Smart filter like that will keep the internals dust free. Or you didn't get it from it when you asked "Free solution to what"?
 
Dust isn't the problem, I already use a filter.
Extra fans defeat the purpose of what I want, a silent Studio.
(though one could make the argument that a large fan, could lower the rpm of the internal cooling)

So like the topic title, I need the gpu to be throttled to achieve my goal.
It seems this isn't possible, so I'm forced to put distance between the Studio and I.
 
Mr Screech said:
So like the topic title, I need the gpu to be throttled to achieve my goal.
Click to expand...
The software you are using to “upscale videos with AI” doesn’t have any configuration or settings which allow you to control GPU resources?
 
Mr Screech said:
Dust isn't the problem, I already use a filter.
Extra fans defeat the purpose of what I want, a silent Studio.
(though one could make the argument that a large fan, could lower the rpm of the internal cooling)

So like the topic title, I need the gpu to be throttled to achieve my goal.
It seems this isn't possible, so I'm forced to put distance between the Studio and I.
Click to expand...
lower temperature of the environment whwre the Mac is and it will also lower the noise
 
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Mr Screech said:
Extra fans defeat the purpose of what I want, a silent Studio.
(though one could make the argument that a large fan, could lower the rpm of the internal cooling)
Click to expand...
Well, you can always use MFC to override the internal temperature control and increase the temperature for the fans to activate, which in turn should throttle the CPU down earlier (although I don't know what throttling the CPU will achieve apart from reducing the productivity). Overheating and increased fans speed is because the CPU temperatures could not be lowered. There is just not enough airflow for the load.
Look here too:
stackoverflow.com

How to limit cpu usage for a terminal command that works on m1 mac and macOS Monterey?

I have a m1 macbook pro and I regularly need to do some heave processing with ffmpeg. When I do it, all my 8 cores go at it 100% and my cpu temperature goes to 92°C, which I don't feel comfortable ...
stackoverflow.com stackoverflow.com
 
Last edited:
Bigwaff said:
The software you are using to “upscale videos with AI” doesn’t have any configuration or settings which allow you to control GPU resources?
Click to expand...
I'm trying out different things, but it seems like the only option is to turn GPU acceleration on or off.

It's not great, but it's not a total disaster either. When I turn off GPU acceleration, I'm basically cutting my computer's power in half. That means tasks take twice as long, but hey, at least it's quieter. I'll need to do some more testing to figure things out. I might end up going with the extension cord idea anyway. Losing half of my computer's power is a big deal. Suddenly, 5-day renders turn into 10-day marathons.
 
You may be able to use Terminal to lower the priority of the process, but I'm not sure what effect that would have on GPU utilization. I know it's possible to force AS processors to run a process on only the efficiency cores, but not sure if you can limit the % of GPU power it can use.

Also, it sounds like you need to clean the filter regularly. The more it gets clogged up, the faster the fans will have to run in order to cool your Mac. Keeping it clean will allow for better airflow at lower RPMs. This may not be enough to keep it quiet under sustained max loads, but it'll give it the best chance to keep everything cool without running the fans as fast.
 
Timpetus said:
Also, it sounds like you need to clean the filter regularly. The more it gets clogged up, the faster the fans will have to run in order to cool your Mac. Keeping it clean will allow for better airflow at lower RPMs. This may not be enough to keep it quiet under sustained max loads, but it'll give it the best chance to keep everything cool without running the fans as fast.
Click to expand...
The filter also causes extra burden on the fans.

I'm skeptical of claims that the Mac Studio is improved by affixing an extra filter to it. The enclosure itself is a kind of dust filter, those holes in the baseplate are small and the airflow direction is up and lots of particles will get trapped on the outside. I've seen lots of people comment that they can wipe a bunch of dust off the base of their Studio after a few months.

It all strikes me as people preemptively implementing a solution for a problem when they haven't measured well enough to be sure there's a real problem which needs fixing. Nor have they properly measured whether the improvement actually is an improvement. This kind of approach frequently leads to "solutions" which are worse than the stock configuration.
 
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You should be able to achieve what you want to do with Low Power Mode, which reduces CPU/GPU peak performance by around 20% for a 40% reduction in power consumption (depending on the Mac.)

However as this option is not exposed on Desktop Macs like the Mac Studio you'll need to use the terminal via the following command:

pmset lowpowermode 1
(Note, I found this in the following thread and I can't vouch that it works as I don't have a Desktop Mac on which to test: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/low-power-mode-on-desktop-macs.2389036/)

Anyway, for reference, here are some results using CineBench 2024 for my M1 Max MacBook Pro:
CPU:~27W (~16W Low Power Mode)
GPU:~20W (~12W Low Power Mode)
 
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Malus120 said:
pmset lowpowermode 1
Click to expand...
This works on the studio(monterey).
Though it still behaves like a simple on/off switch for the graphics. It would be great if I could adjust this setting mid-process, but it seems it only functions at the initial start. Also having more gradual control over the throttling would be helpful. Nonetheless, thank you for your suggestion.
 
Mr Screech said:
For posterity, swapping out the filter significantly lowered the temperature.
I feel a bit foolish that this was the main culprit, but I'm glad the issue is resolved. :oops:
Click to expand...
By "swapping out", do you mean the filter was dirty, and replacing it with a clean one lowered the temps?
Or do you mean that you removed the filter entirely, implying that any filter at all was obstructing airflow enough to raise temps?
 
chown33 said:
replacing it with a clean one lowered the temps
Click to expand...
This. The old filter was dirty and I replaced it with a new one.
The filter I'm using is more dense than a foam or stocking, so the ventilation system is capable enough. Similar to this material:

Screen Shot 2024-02-14 at 0.35.48.png
 
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In the past, there was an app called apppolice to limit resources. Dont know if it is working for silicon
 
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