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M370x holy thermal issues...

D

dingobiatch

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 29, 2009
227
48
I've spent the last few weeks bothering Apple and ATI about possible drivers issues with my M370x, as I'm getting core clock throttling within 15 seconds of running a game. I thought it was to do with the Bootcamp drivers for the card.

Tonight I realized GPU-Z has a log system, so I actually checked the details of what is happening. Turns out at idle, the M370x sits at 67 degrees. When I start any 3D game, within ~15 seconds, the temperature climbs to ~81 degrees and the clock speed goes from a full 800MHz down to ~350MHz. It then struggles with the temperature from there, so it just continuously stutters.

Surely this is a problem with my laptop? This can't be expected behavior, since this happened in 15 seconds, meaning the GPU is basically meaningless since any 3D activity causes it to get too hot and drop in performance.

Do I take it into the Genius Bar?

**Edit**

I just tested the Mac side of things - the only monitoring software that shows GPU readings on Mac is iStat, but the readings don't seem to match the temperatures reported on the windows side of things. At least - the idle temperature on the Mac side is ~10 degrees cooler. And then, while running a game, the high temperature is ~88 degrees. The weird part is, I don't see any stuttering on the Mac side (although I'm limited by what games I can test with). Does anyone know a Mac program to view GPU core clock speed? That's the only thing I can't read.
 
Last edited:
That does sound intriguing.
I have the same computer, I'll try logging my thermals with GPU-Z as well.

Out of curiosity; what games were you running?
 
Windoze sucks that it can't even have an app that reads the sensors correctly. Windoze thinks your AMD is overheating and that's why it's throttling. Just get an iMac if you really need Windoze for gaming.
 
Ovedius said:
That does sound intriguing.
I have the same computer, I'll try logging my thermals with GPU-Z as well.

Out of curiosity; what games were you running?
Click to expand...

I've been testing a few games - Rocket League, Witcher 3, Abe's Odyssey New & Tasty, Portal 2....

After a long night of testing, I noticed something *very* strange. When I'm in a game and the clocks get brought down due to temperature hitting ~80 degrees, the clocks *never* go back up completely until I restart the game. They sit at 400MHz and sometimes rise to 500MHz but that's it. If I restart, they are full clocks again until they dip.

Another thing - I tried MSI Afterburner and I did the force voltage option... it seems that locked my clocks at full speed temporarily... my GPU temperature hit ~85 degrees and stayed around there. But after a few minutes it dropped again.
 
I'm going to subscribe to this thread as well. I just got a 15" rMBP with the M370x and will be using it for gaming like I did my 2011 MBP. Will post my results.
 
dingobiatch said:
Yep.
Click to expand...

Try El Capitan, fixed most of the throttling issues for me. I run GTA V in Bootcamp, have not done it in a while but throughout the Beta program and Apple played around with the thermal settings with each Beta. When I was doing my heavy gaming with the rMBP, I was on Beta 1 and I never saw any throttling even when the GPU was running over 90c. The subsequent versions saw the throttle limit adjusted, have not played any games since the final version though....
 
Macs run hotter in Windows in general. I wonder if it's directx being more aggressive with the GPU than osx? Is it possible to install a later driver from amd's website?
 
I'm going to try playing the Star Wars Battlefront beta on mine this weekend to see how well it can do... I'll have to see what happens and log it.
 
n1smo said:
Try El Capitan, fixed most of the throttling issues for me. I run GTA V in Bootcamp, have not done it in a while but throughout the Beta program and Apple played around with the thermal settings with each Beta. When I was doing my heavy gaming with the rMBP, I was on Beta 1 and I never saw any throttling even when the GPU was running over 90c. The subsequent versions saw the throttle limit adjusted, have not played any games since the final version though....
Click to expand...

I don't understand - why would El Capitan have any bearing on the bootcamp side of things? Is there a different set of drivers?
 
dingobiatch said:
I don't understand - why would El Capitan have any bearing on the bootcamp side of things? Is there a different set of drivers?
Click to expand...

El Capitan update Bootcamp's bios for a lack of better term. It is not the drivers. Try it out. I was able to play GTA V for as long as I want when I was running the Betas. Like I said, have not tried it with the final version but I can't envision Apple retrograding the throttle settings back down to what they were in Yosemite.
 
It's either throttling because of heat or power. Once you post the logs, it'll be clear which is which. The only thing I can think of on the Mac side is most of their openGL games run with vsync on which won't get the temps nearly as high as running unlimited FPS. The heaven benchmark may show GPU clocks under OSX, I can't remember.
 
Almost forgot... here's my file from playing the Star Wars Battlefront Beta in Windows 10 last weekend. I don't know what I'm looking at, so maybe someone else can tell. What I do know is that at the end I had closed the game and left it sitting for a bit before I thought to turn off the logging, so that may show up.
 

Attachments

  • GPU-Z Sensor Log.txt
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I don't experience any throttling issues when gaming in Windows with my M370x...
 
W123a said:
Macs run hotter in Windows in general. I wonder if it's directx being more aggressive with the GPU than osx? Is it possible to install a later driver from amd's website?
Click to expand...

You have it the other way. Macs run hotter on OS X NOT windoze in general. because the fan control is too aggresive on Windoze. Hell fans are already blasting at 50-60 degrees on Windoze while it's still whisper quiet on OS X.
 
cbautis2 said:
You have it the other way. Macs run hotter on OS X NOT windoze in general. because the fan control is too aggresive on Windoze. Hell fans are already blasting at 50-60 degrees on Windoze while it's still whisper quiet on OS X.
Click to expand...

Nope... not in my experience. I use chrome in windows though. I can't hear fans on Windows until about 90 degrees C, which i never even hit in OSX with my "work" load.
 
leman said:
I don't experience any throttling issues when gaming in Windows with my M370x...
Click to expand...

What are you running on the Mac side? Have you upgraded to El Capitan? I'm just trying to figure out if it's the El Capitan thing or if I have a faulty card.

My GPU throttles at 81 degrees, I've checked multiple times now. I'm surprised it throttles at 81 degrees since I would that isn't *that* hot for a GPU. I mean, it's hot... but it's also a tiny computer so...

Is there no way to change the temperature it throttles at?
 
dingobiatch said:
What are you running on the Mac side? Have you upgraded to El Capitan? I'm just trying to figure out if it's the El Capitan thing or if I have a faulty card.
Click to expand...

El Capitan, yes

dingobiatch said:
My GPU throttles at 81 degrees, I've checked multiple times now. I'm surprised it throttles at 81 degrees since I would that isn't *that* hot for a GPU. I mean, it's hot... but it's also a tiny computer so...
Click to expand...

The throttling temperature depends on the GPU. Maybe it is lower for the M370x compared to the Nvidia cards...
 
Well, that's a bummer. I upgraded to El Capitan and clean installed Windows 10. No luck, same exact problem.

I also remembered that I got 'spindump[350]: [329] Not monitoring stuck process due to thermal pressure.' in Console all the time before I upgraded to El Capitan. I can only assume that's also temperature related... I guess I have to take the computer into Apple.
 
Have you chosen performance mode in windows?
Does the computer powered by cable during the game?
What about fans ? do they work during gaming?
 
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