MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

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.

William Kucharski wrote:

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.

There is nothing special about this monitor.

2560 × 1440 that draws 18W on the dGPU no matter how you connect it, even while closing the lid.

For some reason connecting it with HDMI uses 60hz while DP and mDP uses 59.88hz, but I saw no impact on the wattage.

You must be doing very light tasks on your machine for not noticing fan noise with the monitor. Browsing emails or chatting in Slack with a video opened on the second screen is enough to go over 3000RPM when the dGPU is at maximum VRAM clock.

I gave up with the 16" and I'm now on an iMac 2013 running three 2560 × 1440 total displays with zero fan noise with the same tasks.

I know comparing a laptop to an iMac is not fair, but if you are looking for a quiet two / three screens experience, the 16" is still not up to a 7 years old iMac for the job, at least with the 5300M/5500M. It blows the iMac out of the water in terms of performance but the added noise is very noticeable with an external screen.

The only exception is apparently to use one Magic monitor, either a 1080p@60hz or a 1440p+@144hz monitor and close the lid. Somehow it gets the right VRAM timing, consumes only 5W and now can enjoy a quiet and powerful desktop working experience.

Not what I expected when I saw this:

r-mon wrote:

Sorry William but this laptop has been super disappointing from a UX/UI Designer stand point as well.

That's too bad, but my machine runs great with dual 4k screens. I run Affinity Designer/Publisher/Photo, ADobe Indesign, and much more all day long. Many times it's running FCPx too at the same time. This is a great machine. I would hope you can get that under control with what you have loaded, because something is causing your GPU to be way more than it should.

MacBook Pro 16" (2019 model, built in 2020) with the 5300M:

The laptop is on battery power & "idle" i.e. without any specific applications running. Total power consumption is around 10-15 watts (and again, remember the 100Wh battery):

An external display (28" 4K UHD, no scaling, USB-C to DisplayPort 1.2 & 60Hz exactly) is connected to any port on the MBP, the power consumption immediately jumps to & hovers around 40-50 watts on idle:

If I then close the clamshell and keep the external display as-is attached, the idle power consumption drops to around 20-25 watts, which is expected as it's pretty much the base load (first screenshot) plus the expected load of the dGPU:

When the laptop is idle with an external display, anything less than the 25 watts is pretty understandable, 40-50 watts is not.

@emmanuelfrombruxelles And how many watts does the dGPU consume? Clamshell or not?

@itunestux Does your "external USB to double HDMI adapter" happen to use DisplayLink? If yes then this solution use CPU instead of the dGPU and has downsides. Your external displays will run one frame late and the mouse can have a lower refresh rate when playing a fullscreen video.

@EngagingExposures Waiting for your screenshot, I believe you but I'm looking for evidences of the 5300M / 5500M running 2 displays at low power.

Cool, so what monitors are you using? Exact resolution + refresh rate + connection type will be nice to document how to get the "low power dGPU mode". And I assume this is for clamshell only right?

Thanks!

As the Mac ecosystem is currently set up, design decisions like this one are made by Apple. Your only vote on this issue is 'with your feet'.

That is, "If you don't like it that way, you can leave or buy something else"

If you would like to change the design for your preferences (reduced noise in exchange for flickering) you can submit product feedback:

Product Feedback - Apple

iTech23 wrote:

He keeps calling it a defect because you don't expect a $4000 "PRO" machine to go all the way to 100 degrees which causes cpu throttling and the fans running like the machine is ready to go flying WITHOUT RUNNING A SINGLE PROGRAM, just by connecting an external monitor.

Mine certainly doesn't, nor do those of other users here, so you're exaggerating. I understand your displeasure, but it is not a universal issue.

I can also point you to several Windows laptops that do the exact same thing, so it's certainly not an Apple-exclusive trait.

Nevertheless, that's why Apple gives you a 14 day return period to determine the suitability of its products for your environment.

I don't consider something working contrary to how you would prefer it to operate to be a "defect."

Hi,

My only addition to the thread is that this issue is real. Apple should start recognizing it instead of denying it.

I am a very upset customer. I upgraded from my old MacBook Pro 2014 after 6 great years, only because I needed more ram for work. (thank you apple for not allowing to add more ram in existing machines).

I was reluctant to buy the new version after hearing online about potential issues, as you all know it's a very expensive machine , but we buy it for the superior experience.

Unfortunately i have to join the choir of people claiming that APPLE MESSED UP.

I noticed since the first day i bought the new Mac that it was overheating (at touch) and that the fan was way way too noisy. No it doesn't happen in the old mac book pro with the same apps running and a much less powerful processor . End OF.!

For anyone wondering This is my spec.

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019 2,3 GHz)

Intel Core i9 8 core

32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

MacOsCataline

They made me think it was some software issue , installed OS , reinstalled OS, reset ram reset smc. and time goes by and now i am stuck with an inferior machine.. I am looking of finding ways to claim refund.

This is a hardware issue. Apple must fix it. We pay a huge premium for superior experience. This is not. Not specially if an old machine performs better than a new one.

New customers should be very wary and understand this is a real issue.

Stop telling customers they are making up the problem. We are thousands!!

Regards,

An upset customer who bought it's new mac in august 2020.

Yet another user... same issue, excessive fan noise, heat & battery drain with any external monitor connected. Extremely disappointed in Apple in the design decision and lack of a fix. It's an excellent machine aside from this issue, but the high fan noise and 2hr battery life when doing presentations completely wrecks the day-to-day experience for me. If I could return the unit I would.

Apple should issue a fix for this or they should do a recall, in my opinion. This is a defective product.

Specs:

10.15.7

2.3 GHz i9

32GB

5500M 8GB / UHD 630

Just a data point regarding the suggestion to use a USB-C to DP/mDP cable.

Hardware: i9, 32Mb RAM, 5500M 8Gb GPU, running 10.15.7. The display is a Dell U4919DW at 5120x1440.

I was having similar issues to those raised here: 17W reported for Radeon High Side, with some fan noise all day, even when just doing email and other humdrum tasks. Any moderate additional CPU usage would ramp fans to max.

I had power plugged in on the right hand side, with a (1st gen) Apple USB-C Multiport adapter feeding my external display over HDMI, also on the RHS. Left hand USB-C ports feeding USB devices only. Clamshell mode (because need for mobility has taken a nosedive of late...)

Ditching the Multiport adapter/HDMI combo and moving to USB-C -> DP dropped the Radeon high side to ~4W, same display & resolution at 60Hz. Video calls still seem ramp that radeon high side number back up, but once off calls, I'm back to silence. Huge quality of life improvement right there...

trevormeier wrote:

Am willing and have tried alternatives, none of which work in my situation. Glad you’ve got the time to confirm it’s not working, tell us we should get used to it and that I should find a way to get my job done. Helps.

I didn't say it's not working, what I said was based on the fact that I assume you have work to do and the most pragmatic thing to do is to do whatever you need to to get your work done.

If the fans annoy you, try headphones. That sounds silly but if it allows you to get your work done it's what you need to do. You can complain all day about the money you spent for your computer and that it shouldn't be this way, but ultimately I don't think any of those complaints would assuage your clients as to why your work isn't complete.

Of course it's not the perfect solution, but it does allow you to get the work that you need to get done done.

For what it's worth, I'm also perfectly serious when I say that I know of at least three different laptop PCs where simply using Windows 10 normally and clicking through control panel settings on the internal monitor will result in the fans ramping up to speeds I've never heard from any Apple laptop, so it's not just a matter of Apple being user hostile - shop carefully.

MacBook were always advertised as the silent ones (though they produced more heat which I am used to). Now it changed - heat is down the noise is on. I was using MacBooks since ten years with external displays and never had such noise level with all previous models. But not with the current MBP in resolution 1920 x 1200. I can have to displays attached with direct USB-C to DB with resolution 1600x1200 and 4.5 Watt usage. Or I use two displays with 1920 x 1200 with 18 Watt usage. No flickering or issues with both resolution. With 5 Watt noise level is great. With 18 Watt not acceptable.

I have tried to get the current 16MBP running silent with an external GPU (RX5700 XT) and an USB to dual HDMI adapter to get to the same noise level when consuming 5 Watt.

If you can help with finding other solutions to get the noise level down you’re invited to provide your help. Downplay the issue would not be any help.

I returned my Macbook Pro 16" with the 5500M GPU and got one with the 5600M GPU. The 5600M is running about 6W until I start something like Zoom and then it goes up to 10W or so. The fans rarely go over 2000 RPM and the machine is essentially silent. Expensive solution, but I'm happy with it now.

Actually I don’t agree with you at all, but if you insist on running a non-optimal configuration it may be a workaround that will allow you to get your work done without annoying you, given what you say you experience.

ASC exists to help Apple users help other users solve their issues, and I’ve just given you a workaround.

Many tens of thousands around the world love their MBP 16s and would buy one again.