16” MBP not charging while gaming

[Prime5045]

Hey! Just got a 16” MBP recently the 2019 model, and I noticed while playing games like ark it barely charges or doesn’t at all even with the 90 something watt power adapter. Is this normal? Also I noticed that when running steam games or any intensive task the Touch Bar and the metal just above get shockingly hot to the point where it uncomfortable to the touch. Are these normal or do I have an issue?
-Edit-
I have been using boot camp to run win10 primarily.

 

[bill-p]

No. That's not normal. Sounds like you have a defective charger and/or the cable can't transmit 90W of power. I'd call up Apple.

 

[joelhinch]

It is normal. There’s about 100w of headroom for your Mac to eat while at high load, (less when continuous). The power adapter only supplies ~94w. If your game is using 90+w I.e. CPU/GPU at high load, then there’s no juice left coming from the power adapter to charge the battery.

 

[bill-p]

It is normal. There’s about 100w of headroom for your Mac to eat while at high load, (less when continuous). The power adapter only supplies ~94w. If your game is using 90+w I.e. CPU/GPU at high load, then there’s no juice left coming from the power adapter to charge the battery.

It's not normal.

I have just played Forza Horizon 4 for 1.5 hours and come back to 96% battery. That's on a 85W charger (supplied by the monitor). The 97W charger would have kept 100% at all times.

The 16" can draw up to 100W with mixed use (either the CPU is fully stressed or the GPU is fully stressed), but when both the CPU and GPU are stressed, it won't be able to sustain 100W for long due to thermals. The most I have seen when both CPU and GPU are stressed is about 90W for >30 minutes. That seems consistent with how 85W power delivery from my monitor is able to keep the battery at 96% after 1.5 hours (90 - 85 = 5W power consumption over an hour, which seems about right).

So again, it is not normal. The included 97W charger should be sufficient (or else thermals should limit power consumption anyways).

 

[joelhinch]

It's not normal.

I have just played Forza Horizon 4 for 1.5 hours and come back to 96% battery. That's on a 85W charger (supplied by the monitor). The 97W charger would have kept 100% at all times.

The 16" can draw up to 100W with mixed use (either the CPU is fully stressed or the GPU is fully stressed), but when both the CPU and GPU are stressed, it won't be able to sustain 100W for long due to thermals. The most I have seen when both CPU and GPU are stressed is about 90W for >30 minutes. That seems consistent with how 85W power delivery from my monitor is able to keep the battery at 96% after 1.5 hours (90 - 85 = 5W power consumption over an hour, which seems about right).

So again, it is not normal. The included 97W charger should be sufficient (or else thermals should limit power consumption anyways).

Op says their MBP charges slowly “barely charges” when gaming... Not that the battery is discharging while gaming. If they are using 90w of power gaming, then there’s only 4w left over to charge the battery, the battery can charge at ~40w at full speed, so your machine (CPU/GPU/Display Brightness/Backlights/connected accessories) would only be able to use 54w to charge at full speed, the 96w adapter only provides about 94w. It will be slow. It’s normal.

 

[Ultra3]

That doesn't sound normal, especially if others with the exact same machine arent having those issues.

 

[marmiteturkey]

It’s expected behaviour.

Gaming on my 16in with the included charger and the battery will barely increase its held charge. Charging from the ultrafine monitor on my desk and it’s more noticeable - the battery can drain slightly.

Others have said the same on this forum; it’s well observed that you can continue to drain the battery under significant load, even while charging.

Also - using bootcamp to game in particular - yes, the area by the touchbar in the top right corner can get very hot.

 

[sebpettersson]

I can make my 15" MBP (2013) draw even more power than the 85 W power brick can deliver when gaming (which means it will slowly drain), so "barely charging" when gaming seems normal to me.

 

[leman]

Barely charging while under extreme load is normal. The charger more or less matches the combined power consumption of the entire system under sustained load, so there won't be much left to charge the battery. Top of the computer being hot is also normal — that's where the heatsinks and the air exhausts are. It can easily reach 40-50 C during gaming. It is not a cause for concern, it won't harm your laptop.

 

[Prime5045]

It’s expected behaviour.

Gaming on my 16in with the included charger and the battery will barely increase its held charge. Charging from the ultrafine monitor on my desk and it’s more noticeable - the battery can drain slightly.

Others have said the same on this forum; it’s well observed that you can continue to drain the battery under significant load, even while charging.

Also - using bootcamp to game in particular - yes, the area by the touchbar in the top right corner can get very hot.

Yes, forgot to mention, I have been using boot camp to play games and program on. Mac OS is used 1/3 of the time spent on computer.

 

[chrfr]

Yes, forgot to mention, I have been using boot camp to play games and program on. Mac OS is used 1/3 of the time spent on computer.

Windows is much less power-optimized on Mac hardware, so what you're seeing is totally normal.

 

[LinkRS]

Yes, forgot to mention, I have been using boot camp to play games and program on. Mac OS is used 1/3 of the time spent on computer.

Howdy Prime5045,

You didn't list the specs of your MBP, but with only a 96Watt charger, you might not have enough power to push the system AND charge. If it is as you describe, and just NOT charging, as others have said, you should be fine and OK. If your system is actually discharging your battery while playing, then there *might* be a problem. However, I would think that Apple would want to see that behavior under MacOS, before they recognized it as a problem. Last year, there was a similar issue with the Microsoft Surface Book 2, discharging while playing. The included charger wasn't big enough to support the power requirements of the system, so it would pull power from both the wall, and the battery.

With that said, if your usecase is primarily under Windows, why get a MacBook Pro in the first place? You can get faster (for gaming) laptops for much less money going the Windows route. Also, have you tried to see if you can play any of your games under MacOS? Many popular ones are cross-platform these days. Personally, I use my Mac for "work" and then game on a desktop. I do use BootCamp for Unreal Engine (and occasionally Diablo 3 ), as UE runs poorly under MacOS. I am pretty sure it is the GPU, the native drivers just aren't as optimized as the ones for Windows. Out of curiosity, what driver is installed for the AMD Radeon Pro M5X00 under Windows?

As for the touchbar/top of your system getting hot, my 2015 15" MBP does this under Windows too (obviously no touch bar LOL). As long as your CPU isn't throttling down (check Task Manager) while playing, you should be fine. The Apple engineers kind of use the metal skin of the MacBook Pro as a heat sink, to help keep internals cool. In other words, it is hot on top, but cool inside. Good luck!

Rich S.