2012 rMBP Extreme GPU Throttling?

[bioyuki]

I never gamed on my rMBP, but the recent Humble Bundle got me back into the saddle.

2012 rMBP, 2.3ghz base with the RAM upgrade. I just installed Win8 via Bootcamp and the latest Nvidia drivers. Battlefield 3 is unplayable (< 15fps) even on the lowest settings at low resolutions (1680x1050 or lower).

After installing GPU-Z I've noticed a few things:

When the discrete GPU is in use (e.g. external monitor), but the computer is at idle, its GPU temperature is 70-75°C. Fans are always spinning for the most part. When I start the game, the GPU immediately rises to 90°C+ and starts getting throttled. As a result, the GPU is usually running at only 270Mhz with spikes to 685Mhz. It's nowhere close to running at its expected 900Mhz speed. I'm already running Lubbo's and the fans are maxed out and I've disabled turbo boost on my CPU to try and keep things cool. I've also reset the SMC and PRAM/NVRAM.

This can't be normal can it? Unfortunately my machine is already out of warranty so taking it to Apple isn't an option yet.

 

[fatlardo]

Wow you already did what I would have recommended. Hoping someone else may jump in and advise. For comparison, I have boot camp W7 and pretty much get the same temps. I dont recall getting throttled though, just very hot according to msi afterburner and hw monitor.

 

[swerve147]

Not normal. You might as well repaste since you're out of warranty.

 

[jav6454]

That type of GPU operation isn't normal. You need to get your computer looked at.

 

[bioyuki]

Sigh, thanks guys. You can see the issues here.

Yellow = Temp
Blue = GPU Clock
Red = GPU Memory Clock

Once the GPU hits 90°C+, you can see the throttle start to happen and the GPU clock bounces between 270Mhz and 724Mhz. You can see the memory clock being similarly throttled.

So what's the issue here? I opened up the machine and everything looks fine in terms of the fans, heatsink, etc.

 

[bioyuki]

Update: Just came back from the story and after talking with a 'Genius', he said this type of throttling is normal and to be expected.

WTF?

He offered to change the logic board but that's a $500+ repair.

 

[sofianito]

Update: Just came back from the story and after talking with a 'Genius', he said this type of throttling is normal and to be expected.

WTF?

He offered to change the logic board but that's a $500+ repair.

Sell it on eBay and next time never ever get a rMBP without AC unless you live in Europe

 

[jav6454]

Update: Just came back from the story and after talking with a 'Genius', he said this type of throttling is normal and to be expected.

WTF?

He offered to change the logic board but that's a $500+ repair.

$500+repair?! Dear God...