MacBook Pro Retina m370x throttling fixed?

Hello,

I need a Mac for my work. However, a month or so ago, I purchased the new 15 inch MacBook Pro Retina with the dedicated AMD m370x video card. Anytime I would attempt anything that involved 3D rendering, laptop would throttle horribly. I returned it to Best Buy the same day.

BTW - I'm completely familiar with how to confirm that it wasn't a power saving setting. Completely disabled switchable graphics and that fixed nothing.

I have heard rumors that the release of El Capitan fixed this issue. Can anyone confirm?

 

I don't know if software will fix it. You should download a temperature monitoring utility for OS X and check to see if it is thermal throttling. Given that AMD cards run hot and the small form factor of macbooks, it might be thermal throttling.

 

It's not just software but I believe a firmware update that came down around the time El Capitan was released. I have not purchased the Mac yet...but wanting to make sure this issue is resolved. I know it was throttling when I had it.

Thanks for the response but looking for someone who has the new MacBook that can confirm. Thanks.

 

Why don't you go over to an Apple Store or BestBuy and test there on site?

 

Don't have an Apple Store close and Best Buy has no 3D stuff to try. That's why I'm here. Thanks.

 

I hate AMD cards... I purposely waited for the next release hoping for an Nvidia Card. The run hot and and generally just cheaper all around...

 

Wish I had the option of waiting. At this point, just hoping I can confirm a fix before I have to drop money on this thing.

 

i havent had a problem with the AMD card..i use a utility to run fans on max everytime i run any 3d application in bootcamp

 

What application do you use? When I tried this laptop prior to El Capitan's release (and firmware update apparently), the GPU would throttle within 30 seconds of starting any type of 3D program.

Thanks for the first hand experience. I really appreciate it.

 

im using macfancontrol http://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control both for OSX and in Boot camp...it helps..
also eventually you may want to learn how to do a thermal repaste of the notebook...in a year or so at these temperatures, the computer will need it.

 

Thanks for the link. Very helpful. I'm a certified tech and know how to do repastes. However, I normally just choose to buy gear with good cooling solutions. Macs I have had in the past (that didn't have AMD cards) never had this problem.

Thanks again for the info. If I end up having to go down this road, will definitely utilize that app.

 

yeah, AMD cards are not known for their nice arctic temperatures and fresh mint breath.

 

Well, I can confirm that the new model Retina 15 inch Pro still throttles. I went ahead and bought one, upgraded to El Capitan, double and triple-checked all the power preferences and even tried utilizing the fan control app. Starting even the most rudimentary 3D game caused periodic stuttering, throttling...whatever you want to call it.

Have already returned it and giving up on Macs until they ditch AMD cards or at least offer an Nvidia option.

Thanks to all for their input. Very much appreciated.

 

Seems I am late to the party again, but yes throttling is still there and it happens on Nvidia models as well if you push them too much, I don't game but have it happen all the time in 3D modeling and video editing.

 

People have to be aware of this little thing called "thermal throttling". You can't expect to have a card run full speed and keep its temperatures from spiking in a tiny form factor like the rMBP. That is never going to happen, nVidia or AMD, unless the TDP is something super low like 20W or under and use a metal TIM like Liquid Ultra. I believe the current card is something like 50-60W and the previous nVidia was slightly lower, but still thermal throttled. No amount of software or firmware is going to solve hardware thermal management problems without sacrifices.

 

After owning about 10 laptops in the last 13 years, some Macs some Gaming Laptops, I can tell you that I've had better experiences overall with Nvidia then AMD... Call it coincidence, call it bad luck, I really don't care I just know that I'm sticking with Nvidia from here on out. My personal experiences tell me this and so does my gut... As soon as Apple release a laptop with an Nvidia Card I'll pick it up, if they don't I'll migrate away from Apple if I have to.

 

idk guys, i dont mean to play the devils advocate here, but in my experience: i ran a few benchmarks (ugine heaven, ugine valley and 3dmark11) and the max temperature on the card was 77C, which in my opinion isnt bad at all...the CPU on the other hand rocketed up to 97~99ish :O
i havent had a problem...yet.

ill post some screenshots when i run the benchs again

 

For me it's not just the temps that irk me about AMD, it's the drivers along with the simple fact that the systems comes out in May of this year and it costs roughly $2500 dollars and the AMD card they go with is somewhat outdated already it's old at this point. It just doesn't fly with me, when I got my system with the 750m, at the time it was not an older card. I'm not saying that the m370x is a very old or bad card, but I am saying that it does not warrant a premium price tag.

 

MacBook Pro throttles because it's too thin and light for sufficient cooling.

 

The 750M was a speed-bumped version of the 650M with an extra gigabyte of vRAM, so yes, it was an older card just like the M370X.

 

Nevertheless, the applications that I ran between the two systems (650m and 750m) are night and day differences. This is NOT the case with the m370x. IF you want I can produce that list of applications that run very differently between the 650m and the 750m.

 

Is it possible to say how much will the performance suffer when throttling on video editing? 30% 50%?

 

depends on your application, OS and how it utilizes CPU and GPU and if one or both throttle back or get stuck.

In FCP-X which I use rarely, I would say upwards of 35-40% unless it gets stuck throttled then its about a 60-70% hit until you restart the unit. In AVID its a 40% hit and that is on top of the fact that AVID is far far faster with a Fire Pro or Quadro. Premier Pro - OSX I would say 40% ish and in windows slightly more as the windows version has more GPGPU functions if your GPU throttles. If you get into 3D applications from autodesk etc they vary from an off the cuff guess of 15-50% keep in mind that many pro 3D apps and renderers also are massively faster on pro GPU's as well.

 

That's a lot to lose from this beautiful and very expensive machine.

Guess I have no other option but to wait for the MBP 2016

 

Or...not get a macbook at all. This will be the case for every macbook with dedicated graphics, they will always run hot by design. You have a M15x? Just upgrade the GPU and enjoy way better, unthrottled performance. 7970M/R9 M290X is a great gaming/workstation card that can be flashed to the firepro equivalent and back to the radeon form, letting you do workstation stuff no problems.

 

I have to agree with Raidrar here. I do all my production on Wintel workstations now at home and work. I will be refreshing my units again in about 3 months too so I keep a close eye out, and its gotten to be a sad day when I can use a workstation laptop now and have it faster than my Mac Pro in half my applications!! ( CUDA not supported for legacy apps and cant even upgrade it to a quadro to get it back is a real pain )

at this time I WILL be getting an Hp Zbook Studio instead of a skylake rMBP ( Xeon CPU, Pro GPU, Upgradable, better screen, better support ) as my more portable powerhouse to replace a pair of rMBP 15's and the Precision M3800

in the larger units I am deciding between a P70 and the Precision 7710 or a pair of 7710's. for my top end once again I have no choice but the Zbook 17 Gen 3 when it arrives since I really do need that 30 bit screen that line offers for on site color work and realtime field edits..

right now I honestly cant be bothered for the speed hit for any pro station without 32GB or more of RAM and a Pro GPU in a main production unit. unless they can triple the performance of the current rMBP and give it better drives and screen it isn't an option for me in performance and productivity.

 

Running into major throttling while trying to play Guild Wars 2 on my GF's rMBP 15 with the AMD card on bootcamp. It throttles at 70-74 degrees and it throttles down to 400 MHz the entire time the game is running. Tried installing the latest AMD crimson drivers using the guide here: http://www.remkoweijnen.nl/blog/2015/09/21/update-amd-display-driver-under-bootcamp/ and the throttling still keeps popping up, I'm not sure how to fix it at this point. We even got a new replacement unit and the issue persists even on a completely new machine. I think the only solution at this point is to get a full refund.

 

It's not a gaming laptop and sessions of Guild Wars can be long I don't believe the system was tested or meant to run on dedicated card for hours upon hours at a time. And even if you can do this you could potentially damage the laptop over prolonged hours. It doesn't matter that the system is a Macbook, you are utilizing it as a gaming laptop. It's like utilizing a powerful Sedan with a V8 motor on the track, you're going to ruin the car over the long hull and extended sessions even if can get decent laptimes.

My suggestion would be to get a gaming laptop with proper cooling/throttling and even those have issues sometimes.

 

Nothing wrong with the AMD card, just in the shell that it is in.....the rMBP is too thin and too poorly designed to run a dedicated GPU for an extended period of time. It is the equivalent of giving a car a 5.7L V8 but only giving it a 5 gallon gas tank. You're just not gonna get very much usage out of it without having some down time in between. Best you can hope for is for a better thermal compound and to drill some holes in the chassis for better ventilation. Otherwise, sell it and get a properly designed notebook.

 

It's only a month or so old, I'm gonna see if I can get a full refund somehow. My XPS 15 can blast through GW2 at 60-80 FPS on high settings with no throttling and little heat problems. The thermals don't really appear to be an issue, I run the game on lower resolutions and settings and throttling is still a problem. I'm guessing the combination of the AMD card and poor bios/drivers combined end up resulting in this situation.

 

the AMD card has no bearing really, I have the same issue with the 750m in the last generation. Its the lack of windows APM drivers, hardware locked throttling patterns and yes the XPS and its old counterpart I have the M3800 do have a better cooling unit. if you watch your CPU temps you will see them spike high even if the GPU is only in the 70-80c range.