2019 MBP, thermals and the general user

[spacey20]

I am curious with all these issues regarding the thermal throttling, will this be an actual issue for general users. (I know the keyboard is a different thing, so not asking about this!)

See, I am a Xcode and web developer, and I use a 2013 rMBP (15 inch and 16 gig ram) as my daily driver for up to 12 hours a day. My daily routine is that I will occasionally have a VM or 2 running, xcode open, my IDE of choice (sublime text), multiple browsers open (chrome ~ 5 tabs, safari ~ 10 tabs, ~ Firefox 2 tabs) and occasionally have open the adobe suite (mainly Photoshop and Illustrator). I also have a 150gig Photos collection, but use this only to import and backup my photos. Finally my setup at work and at home is dual monitors, with Magic Trackpad and magic keyboard (I rarely type just on my MacBook - only when on the train, or travelling)

So, would a user such as myself have any issues with throttling with the new i9 8 core Macbook Pro. If I was to start some casual gaming like Civ6, Cities Skylines or Parkitech (I'd rarely do more than an hour or so in one session) - would the Vega 20 help?

(Asking as my work has agreed to buy me a new Macbook Pro, and I can pretty much max spec it out).

thanks

 

[frou]

You could install the Intel Power Gadget on your current MBP and see what kind of load your typical usage puts on the CPU. If it's not tapping it out then the newer generation CPU doing the same stuff isn't even going to break a sweat.

 

[maflynn]

So, would a user such as myself have any issues with throttling with the new i9 8 core Macbook Pro. If I was to start some casual gaming like Civ6, Cities Skylines or Parkitech (I'd rarely do more than an hour or so in one session) - would the Vega 20 help?

Given what I've seen in one review (not comprehensive I know), it will run somewhat hot, and that temp will affect performance to a degree, but it will still be faster then your 2013 MBP.

 

[leman]

I am curious with all these issues regarding the thermal throttling, will this be an actual issue for general users.

There is no thermal throttling. There are simply other laptops that perform better using the same hardware, since they can afford to run the hardware at higher power levels. What is important is that you can run your Mac laptop for indeterminate amount of time under high loads without being any performance degradation. It just won't be as fast as a dedicated gaming laptop to begin with.

If I was to start some casual gaming like Civ6, Cities Skylines or Parkitech (I'd rarely do more than an hour or so in one session) - would the Vega 20 help?

Vega Pro 20 is much faster, so it will definitely make a difference. I've seen performance increases of over 50% in many games from the 560X. Gaming performance of MBP with Vega Pro 20 is generally comparable to or better than of 1050Ti-equipped laptops.

 

[poorcody]

I actually run a similar scenario (minus the Adobe suite) on a 2016 MBP. When spinning up a VM or doing a compile my machine can get warm, but most of the time is stays very cool. I think you would encounter similar CPU loads (depending on exactly what you're doing). I think heat build-up happens more with long-running processes like video encoding or Machine Learning building.

Are you worried about a performance loss from the heat or just the heat itself? Performance-wise you are going to see a huge bump even in the worst-case scenario. If heat itself is a concern, you can always use third-party software to limit the load. I think @maflynn did that before he abandoned us (😉).

In addition to the performance boost with the Vega, isn't it also reported to run cooler than the 560X?

If cost is little to no issue, I say max it out. You are also one of the few people who could probably make real use of 32GB RAM.

 

[spacey20]

Thanks all for the replies.

It seems I only really "push" my CPU when I start up a VM or 2, and have my development apps all open at the same time. Even then it rarely goes near maxing the CPU.

Are you worried about a performance loss from the heat or just the heat itself? (😉).

I guess my main concern was, will heat cause issues, performance loss and degradation over time. But as stated, after looking/watching the Intel Power Gadget, I think I am pretty safe.

Yep, now I am going to max spec this baby out (but still stick with the i9, 2.3 8 core cpu), but get the 32g ram and the Vega 20.