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OK, I also did some tests now. I wasn't patient enogh to do it for an extended period of time, but long enough to be able to confirm the theorie you developed during the course of this thread.
In idle state with my USB audio interface unplugged my temps were at 31°/27° C for CPU 1/2, ambient at 22°. Power was at -0,75W/-0,5W (?).
I played music in iTunes until the temperatures stopped rising, which took about 10 minutes (I can also confirm that even the blip sound when pressing the volume keys causes the temperatures to rise). They rose to 52°/42° at 21,88W/22,88W. As soon as I stopped playback the Power values fell slightly below zero again. Ambient temperatures rose to 25°, which is probably due to bad heat dissipation caused by my Mac Pro standing pretty close to a wall corner.
I let it cool down to about 30° again and then plugged in my USB interface (Tascam US-122), which made the Power values immediately jump to 22W/25,88W and the temperatures start to rise.

So, I can confirm the problem with audio interfaces, and I also feel sad now :(


Do you own a Octo? Because 22W seems very low :p

Idle for my 2.66Ghz Quad is around 10W and this bug makes it 50W and 1080p HD encoding load is 6x W.


Also interesting finding about the FW800 HDs... I shall try that one (although with only one FW800 disk) soon!

This also explains why a USB webcam w/o audio has the same effect.

Oh deary deary me...

This seems like quite a MASSIVE bug and it seems it must be deeper than CoreAudio if FW disks and USB webcams make it do it, drivers/kexts?
 
Other than an increased electricity bill, does this have any negative effects? A CPU at 65°C is still outside the danger zone, right?
 
Also interesting finding about the FW800 HDs... I shall try that one (although with only one FW800 disk) soon!

This seems like quite a MASSIVE bug and it seems it must be deeper than CoreAudio if FW disks and USB webcams make it do it, drivers/kexts?
Wonderful... New information demonstrating it's actually worse than has been previously understood. :rolleyes: :(

It's definitely with the software - physical layer interaction, and it looks to be in the PCI lane access in general, not the interaction between it and Core Audio.

So now we need to check out if the NIC chips are affecting temps. :eek: ;)

How ugly is this going to get?

Other than an increased electricity bill, does this have any negative effects? A CPU at 65°C is still outside the danger zone, right?
Intel's Thermal Profile gives all cores at 100% a temp of 67C. Technically, 65C is OK, but keep in mind, that's being produced with less than 1% of a single core. :eek:

So if you wanted to do something else at the same time, you could push the temps past the 67C limit rather easily. :mad: Now there is more safety margin than the 67C figure implys, but you don't want to rely on that. Temps in the 80'sC range will shorten the life of the CPU/s. The higher the temp, the faster damage will occur, and eventually can completely kill a chip. :eek: :(

So the concerns are extremely valid.
 
I'm talking about even more serious effects, like damage to the CPU. Should I completely avoid listening to music on my Mac Pro until it's fixed?

If it dies, apple replaces it...

Use it as you would.

I've now made my Macbook Pro play audio while working so I can get all 8 threads to the thing I want it to be doing, not 6 of them...
 
Do you own a Octo? Because 22W seems very low :p

Yes, it's an Octo 2,26GHz. Perhaps I haven't waited long enough, though they seemed to be pretty constant once the USB interface was plugged in. The negative values in idle state make me doubt their accuracy anyway...
 
Yes, it's an Octo 2,26GHz. Perhaps I haven't waited long enough, though they seemed to be pretty constant once the USB interface was plugged in. The negative values in idle state make me doubt their accuracy anyway...
The reported temps are almost certainly not accurate (not calibrated), but the differential (rise) should be (within 3C).

Just figure out the absolute value, and post. If you've a rise of ~25C, then it's falling in the same as other reporting. ;)
 
It is SUPER easy. Open up a terminal window:

to turn off:

hwprefs cpu_ht=false

to turn on:

hwprefs cpu_ht=true

:)

I havn't followed the whole thread. Has someone tried if the audio bug with also occurs when HT is switched off?

Next question obviously is if you can also disable turbo boost?
 
I can now confirm that simply copying files from an internal drive to a Firewire drive will also cause this. Moving a 200GB folder resulted in core temps as high as 88C! :(:apple::(
 
Not working. "hwprefs: command not found".

Here's the help I got when just typing hwprefs into terminal. Not sure why it's not working for you. It might be that you need to install Xcode.

hwprefs 4.7.2
usage: hwprefs [options] parameter
hwprefs [options] parameter=value

OPTIONS
-v verbose mode
-h display this help message

PROCESSOR COUNT
cpu_count {1..N} number of physical processors available to MacOS X
cpu_enable {1..N} enable a specific processor
cpu_disable {1..N} disable a specific processor
cpu_ht {true, false} processor hyperthreading
thread_count {1..N} number of processor threads available to MacOS X
thread_enable {1..N enable a specific processor thread
thread_disable {1..N disable a specified processor thread

PROCESSOR CACHES
cpu_l1_cache {true, false} processor l1 cache
cpu_l2_cache {true, false} processor l2 cache
cpu_l3_cache {true, false} processor l3 cache

POWER SAVING
cpu_nap {true, false} processor nap

INFO AND STATUS (READ ONLY)
os_class displays OS class {Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard}
os_type displays operating system type
machine_type displays machine type
memory_size displays system memory
cpu_type displays processor type and version
cpu_freq displays processor clock frequency
cpu_bus_freq displays processor bus frequency
memctl_type displays memory controller type
ioctl_type displays io controller type
 
I can now confirm that simply copying files from an internal drive to a Firewire drive will also cause this. Moving a 200GB folder resulted in core temps as high as 88C! :(:apple::(

Firewire lives up to its name! OK, that was lame :eek:

Looks like my 2006 MP might just outlast most 2009s ;)
 
Apple = Green?


Imagine the power consumption on all the sold machines ´09 (what, 500k?) x extra 25% work to get the same result = Few medium sized coal plants?
You should send this link to greenpeace.. :D


But seriously,this is absurd. And the guys at apple didnt notice this?

"Uhhm, dont say this to Steve,he is using his mini anyway,so he wont notice.."
 
But seriously,this is absurd. And the guys at apple didnt notice this?

Yah this is seriously starting to make my blood boil. Does anyone have any new ideas on how to get Apple to wake up?
 
Yah this is seriously starting to make my blood boil. Does anyone have any new ideas on how to get Apple to wake up?

I really can't imagine them doing anything about this until a high number of RMA's start to get reported. I hate to say it, but I think we all will need to insist on getting this problem "serviced". Simply making noise about it isn't going to get their attention... when it starts costing them money, only then will they possibly do something.
 
I really can't imagine them doing anything about this until a high number of RMA's start to get reported. I hate to say it, but I think we all will need to insist on getting this problem "serviced". Simply making noise about it isn't going to get their attention... when it starts costing them money, only then will they possibly do something.

My PS failed (09 2.66 4x2), was repaired. Then the rearmost CPU failed. I asked them (Apple's main repair agent in UK) to investigate the audio/power/heat issue as a possible cause (also reported to all parts of Apple that I could contact, and asked AppleCare for help - fob-offs all around). It was obvious that they could not understand and did no tests.

My sense is that the connection between hardware failures and the people in Apple that need to understand the issue is non existent. It will take thousands for identical failures for Apple to get the message.

And to casually assume that Apple will fix hardware failures gives no sense of what a grievous hassle that can be. My repair took 3 1/2 weeks and was filled with incompetent bungling, lies, and needless Apple mess-ups. From my experience this (repairs) are a significant liability. If I knew that my CPU failure was associated with this bug, I definitely expect it again, and in retrospect would rather that I had found a way to work without spending a huge amount of money on this particular MP model. After using Apple kit since the Apple ][ (as user and developer), this has been the most unsettling experience with Apple. I seriously question their viability in my future, and in that I'm considering setting aside a lot of s/w experience too. The sum of Apple unresponsiveness (eg. the sound bug) + Apple repair traumas = a big problem.

Apple may have always had an arrogant, secretive and uncommunicative style, but I've not bumped into it before like this. And the experience is most distasteful. The showroom sparkle begins to look rather sick.

I digress. My point is that hardware failures still may not force Apple to take note of the issue.
 
I left my machine idling last night. This morning, ambient temperature in machine is 25C, CPU-A was 65C (inc SMCfancontrol), power draw 296W. I'd watched a youtube clip last night and not closed the browser.

So extra 100W x 24hrs = 2.4kWhr @ 0.1933ukp/kWhr = 0.46392ukp = $0.74
= $270/yr

The costs of this bug add up.
 
I havn't followed the whole thread. Has someone tried if the audio bug with also occurs when HT is switched off?

Next question obviously is if you can also disable turbo boost?
4208673982


4208673982_26688fcaa5.jpg


HT=F is hyperthreading off
HT=T is hyperthreading on
each played in iTunes one track 9.4minutes, nothing else running.

(curved labeled Work is with hyperthreading, sound track, plus doing some work)
ambient temperature chilly.
 
Maybe we need to start legal action?

Because this is ridiculous!

I might just take my Mac Pro into the apple store and tell them to fix it there and then.

Might just go and get a refund and buy a 2008 3.2 Octo...

I might just take my Mac Pro to the apple store and tell them to fix it!
 
HT=F is hyperthreading off
HT=T is hyperthreading on
each played in iTunes one track 9.4minutes, nothing else running.

interesting. slight change in termperatures but there is still a rise.

lol concorde i dont think apple would be able to fix it that easily, ESPECIALLY those dope-heads that work in the stores.
 
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