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Audio Decoding KILLS MacPro (2009) green factor

I took delivery of my new '09 Quad a few days ago, and I'm not seeing much evidence of this extreme CPU temperature increase. I've been playing music in iTunes and surfing the 'net for the last 20+ minutes, and my CPU temp is sitting at 48C - certainly not the 60+ people are reporting here.

For reference, mine is a Week 04 2.93 Quad.


EDIT: In fact it just dropped to 47C...
EDIT: Now at 45C
 

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Washac said:
Anybody out there done a clean install and still get the problem ?
Click to expand...

Yes.

I don't have any sound card, and haven't used Firewire HD. Just vanilla 2.66x2x4 as it comes from Apple (same with extra internal HDs and GTX 285). Same symptoms under 10.5.8 through 10.6.2.

I can imagine how people who were unaware of the issue were using something that triggered the bug most or all the time, so on looking for the symptoms by such as playing iTunes don't see any change (the temperature rise & power drain is not accumulative with more evocations of audio).

My take on those in denial or who actually don't see the symptoms is that they have an attack of heresy horror or are suffering the problem all the time anyway (hence don't see the change).

I tried a 2.26 dual machine in the Applestore, the temperature jump was nowhere near as large as on my machine. But I put that down to it being clean (and I wonder if 2.26 systems show it less than the faster CPUs).

But there was still a significant step up in temperature and power drain.

And the same machine, I expect, would show seriously high temperatures if executing audio (other than through a PCIe card) (or equivalent Firewire load) and under heavy load from any application that taxes all cores.

So yes, a set up showing say a 30C to 50C change (with commensurate power drain) is no big issue, a waste of resources and an inconvenient little bug. But the same machine under different circumstances now roasting up into the 90C range (and this with winter ambient temperatures), well that's another issue.

That puts the CPUs beyond Intel's operational ceiling (~70C). And to be told by Apple that everything is within operational parameters is just crass.

These are heavy duty workstations, not laptops, they are meant for sustained hard work. It is appropriate for them to used to do big batch tasks and worked to extremes.

It is not OK for a bug that makes them overheat and lose performance to be brushed aside as irrelevant.

IMO
 
peskaa said:
I took delivery of my new '09 Quad a few days ago, and I'm not seeing much evidence of this extreme CPU temperature increase. I've been playing music in iTunes and surfing the 'net for the last 20+ minutes, and my CPU temp is sitting at 48C - certainly not the 60+ people are reporting here.

For reference, mine is a Week 04 2.93 Quad.


EDIT: In fact it just dropped to 47C...
EDIT: Now at 45C
Click to expand...

What app you using there that you posted a pic of ?
 
If this is supposed to manifest itself more on both the quad and higher clockspeed models, then it should be extremely easy to notice on the quad 3.33.

I happen to have one of those being delivered tomorrow at work, and it'll be a clean machine, so I want to see how that compares to what I see at home on my octo-2.26.
 
peskaa said:
I took delivery of my new '09 Quad a few days ago, and I'm not seeing much evidence of this extreme CPU temperature increase. I've been playing music in iTunes and surfing the 'net for the last 20+ minutes, and my CPU temp is sitting at 48C - certainly not the 60+ people are reporting here.

For reference, mine is a Week 04 2.93 Quad.


EDIT: In fact it just dropped to 47C...
EDIT: Now at 45C
Click to expand...

Istats pro doesn't show the true core temperture values I think you find they are the heatsink values try hardware monitor they show the real tempertures of the cores. My octcore 2.26 doesn't get to hot it reaches 55c, in istats pro however in hardware monitor the true tempertures are around 65-67c
 
peskaa said:
I took delivery of my new '09 Quad a few days ago, and I'm not seeing much evidence of this extreme CPU temperature increase. I've been playing music in iTunes and surfing the 'net for the last 20+ minutes, and my CPU temp is sitting at 48C - certainly not the 60+ people are reporting here.

For reference, mine is a Week 04 2.93 Quad.


EDIT: In fact it just dropped to 47C...
EDIT: Now at 45C
Click to expand...

What build of OS X do you have?

The current release of OS X 10.6.2 is Build 10C540. Perhaps your Mac shipped with a newer build.

If it truly is a newer build of OS X perhaps there is a fix coming in 10.6.3.
 
peskaa said:
II've been playing music in iTunes and surfing the 'net for the last 20+ minutes, and my CPU temp is sitting at 48C - certainly not the 60+ people are reporting here.

For reference, mine is a Week 04 2.93 Quad.

EDIT: In fact it just dropped to 47C...
EDIT: Now at 45C
Click to expand...


Before people start to speculate about new firmwares or whatever, please install hardware monitor, let your system idle for 5 - 10 minutes and check the temperatures hardware monitor presents.
Then hit the play button in iTunes and take a look at the temperatures.
 
peskaa said:
I took delivery of my new '09 Quad a few days ago, and I'm not seeing much evidence of this extreme CPU temperature increase. I've been playing music in iTunes and surfing the 'net for the last 20+ minutes, and my CPU temp is sitting at 48C - certainly not the 60+ people are reporting here.

For reference, mine is a Week 04 2.93 Quad.


EDIT: In fact it just dropped to 47C...
EDIT: Now at 45C
Click to expand...

Just FYI, my 2.66Ghz Quad idles at around 30C Heatsink temp with a 22C ambient....

Exit every app and you should see the temps fall away nicely...

Also, 60+C is when your fully loading the CPU AND playing music, 45Cish is what my machine hits when its just playing music.

Edit: Oh and your CPU is drawing 50W. You have the problem. Sorry. 25% performance loss on quads, 12.5% on octos (tested and confirmed on multiple machines!)
 
Easily replicated on clean install of 10.6.x or 10.5.x



Washac said:
Hi All


Just been reading on another forum of a person who has 30 Mac Pros running everyday ( I assume in some business )

He says that when he does updates etc he always does clean installs and has never seen nor had this this temp problem on any machine
and says that they are loaded quite heavely whilst working.

He claims because he always does clean installs he does not get left with old mangled files etc which can screw the way the machine works.
Hence maybe why Apple always say there is nothing wrong with the machines etc....

Anybody out there done a clean install and still get the problem ?

I must admit I am guilty of just updating one on top of the other, then on buying a new machine just moving everything over, so god knows
what rubbish I have drifting around in my machine :(

In the meantime I have turned off Hyperthreading and shut down two cores and my temps have dropped way way down :)
Click to expand...
 
He claims because he always does clean installs he does not get left with old mangled files etc which can screw the way the machine works.
Hence maybe why Apple always say there is nothing wrong with the machines etc....

Anybody out there done a clean install and still get the problem ?
Click to expand...

Ive done multiple installations of 10.5 and 10.6 on new drives with the same results. Clean installation will not fix this problem.
 
Importance of cpu voltage assessment, iStat, Hardware monitor

A word of caution about iStat and evaluating this issue... iStat pro and iStat menus display the cpu heat sink sensor data only on my 09 MP. I can’t seem to get either tool to display the cpu diode temperature, which of course is a much better indicator of temperature in terms of evaluation of the “audio bug.”

We should be primarily looking at the increased cpu voltage load during audio playback and data transfer over the IEEE 1394b interface. Increased temperatures are merely a symptom of the problem.

Bresink hardware monitor is a great tool. CPU diode temps can be monitored concurrently with device voltages.
 
Temps for a 2.26 GHz

Temp at idle after a fresh boot sitting for 10 min.

Temps after 20 min running iTunes and make MKV over FW

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro4,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per processor): 8 MB
Memory: 16 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 5.86 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: MP41.0081.B07
 

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So I have a two month old 2009 8core mac pro (2x2.26, 6gb ram, 640gb hdd, gt120) and I just found out about this issue. I made a video and emailed it to the manager of the apple store I got my mac pro from. He said that maybe I could get a replacement. But this is a mac pro line issue right??? If I get a replacement it will be plagued with the same issue?? Should I wait for the MP'10 In case I get a replacement???

The video file is here

Code: 
being edited right now to add more relevant info

it's a 24 minute long video and about 100mb file in case you wanna download it. You can see temps going up to 60C from 38 idle with 27C ambient.
 
beto2k7 said:
[...] the manager of the apple store I got my mac pro from. He said that maybe I could get a replacement.
Click to expand...

Is this the first member of Apple staff who haven't behaved inappropriately over this issue. On the one side encouraging that it is not wall to wall dark ages at Apple.

I understand that all 2009 Mac Pros are the same in this bug.

Hence I'd go for the 2010 MP.
I bet Apple fix the bug for the next MP - just because that will really rub salt in our 2009 MP wounds.
 
Intel

Has anyone written to Intel?
It just occurred to me that folks at Intel might be better qualified to understand this bug.
And Intel couldn't be less inclined to give constructive advice than Apple.
 
cl-user said:
Has anyone written to Intel?
It just occurred to me that folks at Intel might be better qualified to understand this bug.
And Intel couldn't be less inclined to give constructive advice than Apple.
Click to expand...

It's not an intel bug since it doesn't happen in windows under bootcamp. IMO
 
beto2k7 said:
[...] it's a 24 minute long video [...]
Click to expand...

beto2k7 you give out so much information!
Even your Firewall settings are "Allow all incoming connections".
(suggest that you enable firewall).

Also re. showing temperature rises, try Temperature Monitor's history display (under Window menu, called "Show History Windows").

You say (in your vid) that you don't know what would happen if the system was under load as well as playing audio. The answer is far higher temperatures. At least in to the 80C range, maybe higher.

Meanwhile the machine running just full load stress test (ie. no audio or firewire) keeps its temperatures within sensible bounds.
 
beto2k7 said:
It's not an intel bug since it doesn't happen in windows under bootcamp. IMO
Click to expand...

Quite. But Intel will know their CPU and how to drive it. They might know what mistake Apple is making. They may not like their excellent CPU looking so bad.
They might be disposed to lend some expertise to those who want to make the most of their products.
 
Hi,

I want to conduct the test on my Mac Pro, but just to be sure: is it the processor core diode I should be monitoring?.. (And not the heat sink temperature that iStat is showing.)

Also: what temperature levels are dangereous for the processor?..

Thanks.
 
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