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Is it worth it to get 2018 MBP with core i9 despite throttling if price is no object?
- Thread starter Owen3820
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It's too early to get a clear answer on that, I feel it's a lateral upgrade at best, and probably a downgrade for most people (but that's just my opinion).
Maybe read some reviews before dropping upwards of $3000 US.
Consensus seems to be that it's a downgrade in performance once the thermal envelope has been reached. YMMV.
Consensus seems to be that it's a downgrade in performance once the thermal envelope has been reached. YMMV.
Maybe Geekbench doesn't run for long enough to rule out throttling ?
What about the i7's and the 13"'s ??
Have to say if I had ordered one of these i9's, I would now be cancelling it!
Have to say if I had ordered one of these i9's, I would now be cancelling it!
It doesn't which is why I personally think it's a waste of time and for those who just want to brag about big number's...
Try the OCCT stability tests or hit the system repeatedly with Cinebench R15, a 10 second benchmark is basically meaningless.
Q-6
The i9 will get you more cores.
If you run workloads that can make use of more cores then yes, maybe.
But the whole macbook lineup at the moment, hardware wise, is a joke. Well, the 12" is reasonably good at what it is aimed at, assuming the keyboard issues are fixed (will give apple benefit of the doubt for comparison purposes, but i wouldn't buy one yet). But that USB-C port should have thunderbolt.
That said, all machines throttle to some degree these days.
They make use of thermal headroom if any to temporarily raise clocks. Sometimes that headroom is only available for short bursts.
For most desktop/notebook users their workload is quite bursty, so this works well.
If your processor is running at its base clock or faster, it is NOT throttling. The base clock is the only speed you're supposed to EXPECT from a CPU. That's the clock it is designed to be able to sustain in the rated TDP. If you have great cooling (and stuffing an i9 in a modern macbook is NOT an example of that) then you can maybe sustain the turbo clock. But the CPU itself is only designed to be able to sustain the BASE clock, at the heat dissipation it is rated for.
TLDR: if you actually want decent performance in 2018, you shouldn't be looking at Macbooks.
If you run workloads that can make use of more cores then yes, maybe.
But the whole macbook lineup at the moment, hardware wise, is a joke. Well, the 12" is reasonably good at what it is aimed at, assuming the keyboard issues are fixed (will give apple benefit of the doubt for comparison purposes, but i wouldn't buy one yet). But that USB-C port should have thunderbolt.
That said, all machines throttle to some degree these days.
They make use of thermal headroom if any to temporarily raise clocks. Sometimes that headroom is only available for short bursts.
For most desktop/notebook users their workload is quite bursty, so this works well.
If your processor is running at its base clock or faster, it is NOT throttling. The base clock is the only speed you're supposed to EXPECT from a CPU. That's the clock it is designed to be able to sustain in the rated TDP. If you have great cooling (and stuffing an i9 in a modern macbook is NOT an example of that) then you can maybe sustain the turbo clock. But the CPU itself is only designed to be able to sustain the BASE clock, at the heat dissipation it is rated for.
TLDR: if you actually want decent performance in 2018, you shouldn't be looking at Macbooks.
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Well. If you are not going to tax CPU much, the burst speed of i9 is worthy enough if you have money.
For me though, no.
For me though, no.
If you can’t get i9 speeds with i9 processors, it’s a waste of money.
Will playing the occasional video game on a boot camp windows tax the cpu that much?
Something to consider... those getting the i9 that need maximum performance could also get a nice cooling pad and use it when you're trying to run the high level/prolonged CPU tasks, and otherwise expect the system to run on par with the i7 off the extra cooling...
Well, if the Core i9 is throttled, I don't see the point, its just bragging rights. You can't blame Apple either due to the thermal envelope. If you have the money, splurge on it, but I think a more practical choice if you were to buy one of these 2018 models is to spend the money on the RAM, Core i7 and SSD storage if you can.
Don't believe everything you read. Most for-profit media outlets have agendas. I would do your own testing to be sure before jumping the gun about an issue that may not even exist.
If the price is no object like OP said, then hell yeah! I’d love to drive a Ferrari, even more so once an everyday basis, regardless of a 100km/h limit.
It all depends on your workflow. In mine I see a bump of 30%+, so I'm very happy. And I believe Apple rushed these out and we'll see a firmware update that incorporates the Intel microcode updates and optimizations for this processor.
