Varying Geekbench Results with new M1 Pro!?

[Marathonianbull]

Hi, I'm new here, but have been using Macs for three decades...

Could someone please explain this (?)

On my new 16" M1 Pro 10/16 16 GB Ram, I consistently get varying Geekbench 5 'Multi-Core' scores:

Following a fresh start-up, I could for instance get a long series of similar scores (circa 12450-12675); after a reboot, same kind of scores; yet, rebooting immediately afterwards or at a later time, I would then repeatedly get scores as low as 11300-11800! Keeping the Macbook in a Sleep state would keep its scores where they were, whereas a full Shutdown or Restart would likely alter the scores once more. As if the CPU were going from faster to slower and vice versa at each reboot. Puzzling, to say the least! The Geekbench GPU Metal scores are not affected at all, though.

Could this depend on battery cells not providing equal amount of energy? The ten-core CPU position / usage alterning at each start-up? Or would such discrepancies be RAM related? I doubt it is caused by random indexing, since I've turn all Spotlight searches off during those tests...

Is this normal (or did I get a lemon from Apple)?

 

[Sanpete]

Check Activity Monitor CPU tab and see if some other process is running that's using a lot of CPU.

 

[metapunk2077fail]

Anything within 5% is margin of error for that multi processor benchmark.

 

[Marathonianbull]

Interesting, what kind of results you can get when testing several times in a row! I'd be curious to know if this variation is the norm for the M1 Pro/Max.

 

[white7561]

Hi, I'm new here, but have been using Macs for three decades...

Could someone please explain this (?)

On my new 16" M1 Pro 10/16 16 GB Ram, I consistently get varying Geekbench 5 'Multi-Core' scores:

Following a fresh start-up, I could for instance get a long series of similar scores (circa 12450-12675); after a reboot, same kind of scores; yet, rebooting immediately afterwards or at a later time, I would then repeatedly get scores as low as 11300-11800! Keeping the Macbook in a Sleep state would keep its scores where they were, whereas a full Shutdown or Restart would likely alter the scores once more. As if the CPU were going from faster to slower and vice versa at each reboot. Puzzling, to say the least! The Geekbench GPU Metal scores are not affected at all, though.

Could this depend on battery cells not providing equal amount of energy? The ten-core CPU position / usage alterning at each start-up? Or would such discrepancies be RAM related? I doubt it is caused by random indexing, since I've turn all Spotlight searches off during those tests...

Is this normal (or did I get a lemon from Apple)?

Just noticed that my machine suddenly has 7k in cinebench r23. So weird. Not thermal throttling etc. Rebooted countless times. Verified that it's not in low power mode etc. Everything is as normal as it was. Tried on battery and on AC. same thing.

I have istat menus and I can see the total power consumption which is the SOC and display etc. Usually with display on the same exact brightness. It's taking 30w++ when multicore cinebench. But when it's throttled for some reasons it goes to about 20w and that's about it. 21w etc. It's like being power limited for some reasons.

Sometimes it goes thru to 30w++ for a few seconds then drops back down to 20w limit or something (remember that 20w is combined) . So that's weird. Tried rebooting shutting down . Same thing. I'm gonna let it sit and check again later. So weird.

When this happens it was like 10630 or something in Geekbench multicore. Which is weird too. So I'm lost. Idk why it's doing this. Since it's not power (tried battery and AC). It's not heat (the thermal sensors are all really really chill) so what is it then?

Also edit : the activity monitor shows it's using 900 cores or so. So it should be pretty fine since istat also shows that it's using the whole CPU

 

[Sanpete]

Just noticed that my machine suddenly has 7k in cinebench r23. So weird. Not thermal throttling etc. Rebooted countless times. Verified that it's not in low power mode etc. Everything is as normal as it was. Tried on battery and on AC. same thing.

I have istat menus and I can see the total power consumption which is the SOC and display etc. Usually with display on the same exact brightness. It's taking 30w++ when multicore cinebench. But when it's throttled for some reasons it goes to about 20w and that's about it. 21w etc. It's like being power limited for some reasons.

Sometimes it goes thru to 30w++ for a few seconds then drops back down to 20w limit or something (remember that 20w is combined) . So that's weird. Tried rebooting shutting down . Same thing. I'm gonna let it sit and check again later. So weird.

When this happens it was like 10630 or something in Geekbench multicore. Which is weird too. So I'm lost. Idk why it's doing this. Since it's not power (tried battery and AC). It's not heat (the thermal sensors are all really really chill) so what is it then?

Also edit : the activity monitor shows it's using 900 cores or so. So it should be pretty fine since istat also shows that it's using the whole CPU

Are other programs (besides iStats) open while you're running the test? 14" or 16"?

 

[white7561]

Are other programs (besides iStats) open while you're running the test? 14" or 16"?

16". Tried with all apps closed. Same thing. So weird. Tried rebooting a couple of times. Sometimes when I run it. It takes 30 to 40w like it's supposed to do. Then a few secs and it drops to 20w 21w max (which is like 6w for display) so it's 15w on the CPU. Explains the 7k cinebench. It's like the normal M1. So weird. But sometimes short burst of multicore works okay. That's why Geekbench 5 when I tried it multiple times. It varies between 10k to 11.3k etc. So weird

 

[Sanpete]

16". Tried with all apps closed. Same thing. So weird. Tried rebooting a couple of times. Sometimes when I run it. It takes 30 to 40w like it's supposed to do. Then a few secs and it drops to 20w 21w max (which is like 6w for display) so it's 15w on the CPU. Explains the 7k cinebench. It's like the normal M1. So weird. But sometimes short burst of multicore works okay. That's why Geekbench 5 when I tried it multiple times. It varies between 10k to 11.3k etc. So weird

Yeah, that is strange. Maybe boot in safe mode and then try it?

 

[white7561]

Yeah, that is strange. Maybe boot in safe mode and then try it?

In safe mode i can't open user apps right? Can I force it to open say Geekbench?

 

[Sanpete]

Yeah, I don't know if you can run Cinebench well that way or not, depending on the graphics restrictions in safe mode.

 

[white7561]

Yeah, I don't know if you can run Cinebench well that way or not, depending on the graphics restrictions in safe mode.

i fixed it. And yeah you can run user apps on safe mode. but it seems like it takes awhile after first boot for us to be able to run user apps..

Anyways, it seems like safe mode fixed it. I'm baffled. I then tried to run every apps that's on my Login Items to run at boot. and it's all running fine. then i think to myself. what else does safe boot disable? Kernel extensions and things like that.

I'm like okay. then what is it? i haven't installed any new apps that required kexts or something like that (i'd know since it will ask me to allow it and to reboot. even if i have the reduced security with kexts allowed) . Then i remembered. a few days ago i tried using MacFuse. to mount some ext4 img for my phone . I had already installed macfuse from the beginning but just used it this one time a few days ago. then i remembered that it did popup me to reboot to allow macfuse to run.

So i removed it using the uninstaller and bingo!! it goes to 40w again and my cinebench is back to 12k.

CRAZY HUH? How does macfuse make the CPU run slower? even when it's not running? it's not even on the CPU usage!! . It just physically limits the maximum wattage of the CPU. If its slower but the cpu is taking 40W still, i'd think some software is taking some of the cpu . but the fact that it's power usage went down it's like its making it limit the cpu power. like wtf??