MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

The answer of the AMD support does say there is not an impact. Yes, of course if the fans are going to the roof for saving the GPU. However, it is not stated that it was intended to produce always on the highest refresh rate. The question is which user experience is going to be satisfied. For sure not from a noise point of view - as the rest of the threads show...

Dropbox is not innocent. It is an Application ported from Windows, and is the classic example of an App that does NOT take advantage of MacOS features.

Drop box and similar ported Sync-ing apps are unrelenting in reading your files, looking for changes. Because the drive in these Macs is about 100 times faster that the standard rotating magnetic drive shipped in slightly older Macs, it punishes performance and runs up the generated heat.

By contrast, iCloud Drive, a Mac-native app, uses the Files System Event Store to see immediately what folders have changed, and so iCloud Drive does Not punish performance and drive up heat generated.

If you were to run Dropbox ONLY when needed, and quit it when done sync-ing, I believe you would get noticeably less generated heat.

What would you propose to avoid this defect to kick in? To go to full throttle if it is not needed does not help. Not providing the user with an option to reduce the vram speed is maybe the worst.

[Edited by Moderator]

itunestux wrote:

What would you propose to avoid this defect to kick in? To go to full throttle if it is not needed does not help. Not providing the user with an option to reduce the vram speed is maybe the worst.

Aside from the fact Apple never provides users with the ability to tweak such things, I know that AMD does provide that ability for some GPUs in Windows.

However, I don't believe you can adjust that parameter for the Radeon Pro 5500M even in Windows.

I don't use Windows/Boot Camp so I couldn't say.

However, before trying that, note that AMD also states:

Overclocking any AMD processor, including without limitation, altering clock frequencies / multipliers or memory timing / voltage, to operate beyond their stock specifications will void any applicable AMD product warranty, even when such overclocking is enabled via AMD hardware and/or software. This may also void warranties offered by the system manufacturer or retailer. Users assume all risks and liabilities that may arise out of overclocking AMD processors, including, without limitation, failure of or damage to hardware, reduced system performance and/or data loss, corruption or vulnerability.

In short, tweaking timing parameters makes it very easy to accidentally cause damage to hardware components, whether internal to your Mac or in your monitor.

I too have this issue. Tried multiple different displays (QHD, FHD, UHD 4K), different multi-port "docks", different USB-C HDMI/DP adapters to no avail. With a base load of just Microsoft Teams & Outlook, adding any external display to my 16" base model machine results in a "fans spin on max" condition. Verified with ears and iStat Menus showing 20 watts in Radeon High Side.

Lowers my overall satisfaction to the 16" model quite a bit and I'm super disappointed to see this isn't already fixed (or at least acceptable workaround proposed by Apple).

I purchased brand new Macbook 16", 2.4Ghz 8-core 9th Generation and 32 GB memory.

My computer was overheating drastically and loud fan noise would become apparent when using Skype + Sketch program.

This happened first day received, my old 2016 Macbook 13" wasn't making as much noise. Apple made me return and sent me a new one after a 3 week wait.

After using the new laptop, this laptop was a complete disappointment. I would not recommend anyone purchasing this laptop. Brand new laptop and the fan noise didn't decrease much and computer overheats when designing. I can't have many applications open or else the rainbow loading log appears which means "slowing down due to low resources, such as memory, hard drive or processing power".. which is absurd as I ordered a "custom laptop" for situations like these don't happen.

I installed "Turbo Boost" for when computer starts to overheat.. hope a new OS version will help this model.

Hi r-monique - Most in this thread is about the GPU of the 16" MBP when external displays are plugged in. There is a defect in the mapping table for the VRAM. As in many cases the right VRAM speed cannot be calculated right and the VRAM uses full speed which results in a lot of noise. If you have no external displays pls provide all the tasks running and leaving the CPU with a certain load leading to much of fan noise.

By the way do not load on the left side. Plug the power in one of the UBS-C on the right side.

In Windows 10 try:

Power Options. Find Processor power management and open the menu for Maximum processor state.

Change the setting for on battery to 80%.

Change the setting for plugged in to 80%.

Аnd no noise!

Hey Greschor,

I really appreciate how well you detailed your experiences. I'm at the point where apple wants me to reinstall macOS, and then they may setup an appointment like they did with you. What did it all cost and is your gpu still pulling 20 watts? Also, how long did they have it?

Sincerely,

Brandon Hohn

Hi Brandon - until Apple fixes the defect in power consumption (VRAM speed too high) or offers to adjust by the user I fear the only way is to work without external displays attached. You may buy an external GPU (expensive), an USB to HDMI adapter (cheap, works for usual surf/office usage) or work with the built in only. I re-installed multiple times, used different cables and different displays.

Or you buy another MacBook without dedicated GPU or give the new 16 with 5600 and HBM2 a chance - and give back if it doesn‘t work for you.

Or pick up a monitor like the Dell U2717D and a USB-C to mDB adapter and you can use a second monitor all day without issues.

It's also not a defect when VRAM timing was set that way on purpose by AMD to avoid possible flicker.

Hello Brandon,

the whole thing cost me nothing - except time and travel costs and nerves.

Because I (and all of us) are in the 1 year warranty. They told to me before in the genius bar.

Yes the GPU still needs 19,X Watt - 20 Watt is really rare, its always 19,x Watt.

The repair went very fast. I went to the Apple Store on Tuesday noon and on Friday evening I already had it back. Fortunately I still had my old Macbook Pro for the meantime.

But as written - there is a completely new system on it - because the SSD is built in. Make sure to make a backup before!

New installation? Nobody asked me for it.

Had you ever tried the safe mode (boot)? Then everything is unspeakably slow, but the behavior should also occur. And with that they verify that the behavior does not come from an external software. That was also a point that was asked at the hotline.

Also, before I reinstall everything, I would do the reinstall on an external hard disk and test it - then your system is as you need it and you have a clean Mac OS on an external disk. But the behavior occurred right from the start - even without external software...

But with me it has already helped.

I have between 2600 - 3100 rpm in daily use - I can live with that (CPU intensive processes are now done)

If I do something CPU intensive, it will of course go much higher, but that's OK and expectable.

But what is not OK yet is the behaviour during video conferences - it easily goes up to 4100 rpm - but that is probably because it is done via Chrome - there I have hardware acceleration etc. already enabled but it still goes up.

What helps here is to disable the Turbo Boost of the CPU during video calls (Endurance App ist here my favorite) - then it stays at 3000 rpm (you don't do anything elaborate on the side) - that's ok so far.

Hope this helps, all the best!

greschor

I posted stats several pages ago that while playing full screen 1080P HD video from YouTube on the Dell and reading this forum on the built-in screen, the power usage was near 20w but the fan never exceeded 2400 RPM, a level that wasn’t even audible in my environment.

We did a similar test just to run Adobe InDesign. All static imagery. Fans are out of control. They are unworkable. This halted a purchase of 20 16-inch laptops loaded up for animation. If it can run InDesign it can't run animation applications. Really sad to see the end of Apple's laptop dominance in the Arts. We changed to high-end gaming laptops and they are cool at high-loads -- why -- because they don't need to shave an extra 20 microns off the case to make it thinner -- In fact the 16-inch laptop when held by a corner or side edge literally bends slightly because it is too thin. The fans make it a totally useless machine.

DPSpearhead wrote:

In fact the 16-inch laptop when held by a corner or side edge literally bends slightly because it is too thin. The fans make it a totally useless machine.

For you.

For thousands if not hundreds of thousands it's a kick butt machine.

I don't get why anyone in the industry would do animation on a laptop, but that's your call.