MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

alex91s wrote:

The only solution, for now, is using matching monitors (same resolution and same refresh rate) with a standard refresh rate (60hz;120hz).

Nope, it is not as simple as that. I tested with two Dell U2717D (1440p@60hz) in clamshell and it still drawed 19W.

Also the 16" internal display is using a custom resolution of 3072 x 1920. Not a single monitor exists with that resolution. So you cannot "match monitors" at all with the lid opened.

Instead, some people have success (drawing only 7W) using the internal display (60hz) with one high refresh rate monitor (120-144hz), from 1080p to 4k and results are pretty random.

Also one guy now has success only when rotating his display 90° (Maybe because there is a match in the 1920px vertical resolution?)

alex91s wrote:

I can’t post links here, as far as I’m aware, but NVIDIA cards had this issues too and they fixed it updating the drivers.

They still have not fixed mine using a GTX 980 with three monitors. Full clocks when plugging the third display with the latest drivers. My only solution is to use a very old driver or manually underclock it.

Have you tried settings both monitors to 1080p instead of 1440p?

I was under the impression that this is the old issue with AMD and NVIDIA cards on multi monitors. Do you think that’s not the case here?

I did try reducing both monitors to 1080p@60hz in clamshell and it was drawing 19W also.

The only way I was able to get ~7W was using a single 1080p@60hz in clamshell.

Again, a single 1440p@60hz in clamshell was enough to draw 19W.

alex91s wrote:

I was under the impression that this is the old issue with AMD and NVIDIA cards on multi monitors. Do you think that’s not the case here?

I can't say if it's more or less the same issue here. In my case, my GTX 980 only triggers full clock speeds when I plug a third monitor while the 5300M triggered it with a single one in clamshell.

DPJ wrote:

Apple also allows returns of products purchased at the Apple store shipped to them directly and Apple will pay for the shipping. Nobody is forced to wait for COVID-19 to end before returning their product if they are within the 14 day return period, which I'm sure the majority here discovered their disappointment during that time period.

Correct, but for products directly shipped, your return period is 14 days.

For products purchased at a retail store, your return period has been extended to 14 days after which the retail store at which you purchased it reopens to accept returns if your return period ended during the closure.

So for example, if you bought a 16" MBP on March 10 from a retail Apple Store, your 14 day return period fell within the retail closure period and so you can return it up to 14 days after your local Apple Store reopens for returns.

If you purchased it from the web site and it was delivered on March 15, your return period expired March 29.

William, I may be wrong but I believe you have stated on a number of occasions that not all of the MBP16inch do the fan explosion on attaching a monitor. I may be wrong, but I understand your computer also doesn't. Why then, are you saying that those MBP16inch that do have characteristics (excessive fan noise leading to battery problems) that are different to what is considered by everyone else to be normal, are not defective? If the MBP 16 inch can run quietly (as you have said some do), but doesn't for many (as has been made obvious in this thread), then how is it you can then say this is not a defect?

ahmedfromreservoir wrote:

I find it weird that he doesn’t think our laptops are defective when he himself acknowledged he wasn’t having the same issues with his laptop.

kind of implies defect for the rest of us.

Just because it heats and the fan ramps up doesn't mean it's defective, and the fact that the displays are different resolutions with different clock speeds means the GPU will need to handle those displays differently.

If I use my MBP 16 to run a word processor and you edit 4K video, yours will heat more than mine, but that's not indicative of a defect.

More to the point here, if you use the same USB-C to Mini DisplayPort adapter connected to the same brand/model monitor and your MBP 16 acts differently than mine, that would be an interesting data point requiring further investigation.

At present it may simply be that to properly drive your monitor the GPU needs to drive the VRAM at high speed, increasing power usage, and creating heat.

Showing off fan speeds of less than 10 minutes being connected to the U2717D proves nothing...

I have the same monitor and I remember after about 15min I would start to hear the fan ramping to a constant 2700-3000RPM while doing very light tasks.

In your screenshot, your temp is at 75°C (167°F), fans were just about to start ramping. Nailed it with the screenshot timing.

I don't know about others, but especially in my case, when I have CPU + dGPU + high I/O operations, I see thermal CPU throttling. Also I see CPU throttling even in simple games. My room temperature is below 35C. So everything according to specs. The computer is failing to do something its specifications state it will.

Well wouldn't you know it... after months of frustration with fan noise on the 16", I've just taken delivery of a new 2020 MacBook Pro 13" (2.3 GHz i7), plugged it in to my 4k monitor (lid open), started a Teams call, and the fans are... SCREAMING. CPU is around 25%, iGPU is running around 20%.

I know I'm off topic and obviously it is not the same issue with the dGPU we are seeing with the 16"... but seriously? Has Apple lost completely lost its way? iStat Menu doesn't yet support the sensors in the 2020 MBP13, but I also suspect that there is some CPU throttling going on.

It's very disappointing...

William Kucharski wrote:

Apple releases updates periodically; many people complain if Apple releases updates more than monthly, and sometimes even about that.

People expect daily updates from Linux, and Windows can't update enough.

What people expect is not important, if the security is the concern.. Do you want me to believe that MacOS is such a secure system that a monthly update is enough? Linux gets daily updates much because of security.. Everyday they harden the system more and more.. Windows the same story.. They test and test again.. Fix here and there.. Daily update means serious development..

I did it for a half hour earlier before I briefly installed iStat Menus to appease demands from others.

You can say the fans were “about to start screaming” but the temperatures and fan speeds were all completely stable.

The GPU temps were not rising, so neither were fan speeds.

We returned our third 16" MacBook Pro (AMD 5500M 8 GB) unit back in January. It was impossible to work: the reported noise and the keyboard would get very, very hot — this behavior was present as soon as an external monitor was connected, in our case the EIZO CG247X (with or without the CalDigit TS3 Plus) and no applications running. It was a nightmare as soon as applications such as FCP, Resolve, Logic, etc were open. We’ll wait to see what happens at the end of the year — if a new Mac is released. 

Good to know, as most reasonable people have suspected the overheating issue of the AMD GPU has clearly eaten into its performance and killed its performance.

Still hoping you get a chance to test the 5600M, lots of people claim it has solved the poblem.

I hope you are really joking :D

Operate 100% CPU + GPU and download files without degradation. And also support 2x 6K displays without degradation.

Now it is working like wooden PC, even macbook 2020 13 inch outperforms 16 inch mac in all categories. Is it really expected behaviour?

Also, as I mentioned, I have already issues with battery life.