rMBP throttling to 0.8ghz: Apple says “working as intended”?

[MacRS4]

In my opinion you can try another rMBP 15 with same spec to compare and see if the results are the same.
Or you can buy a more powerfull machine...

My 2018 i9 was throttling badly - the Apple Store refused to help saying it was 'within specifications'. Fortunately I found a guy in our office who had the same spec and he agreed to come to the Apple Store with me. I demonstrated the extremes of performance running exactly the same load on exactly the same version of MacOS on an external SSD.

They replaced the machine. It's frustrating to have to go to such lengths, and that was pretty close to me deciding I'd not buy an Apple machine again. That lasted until the 2020 16" happened of course.

 

[Webster's Mac]

Today I was informed by Apple support that they won’t be fixing a throttling issue with my 2015 15” rMBP (m370x, 2.5ghz, 512gb). Whenever I put any real TDP load on the system, it will throttle badly:


Trine (FPS goes from 60 to >30, reported CPU speed drops to 0.8ghz)


World of Warcraft (~20fps in Stormwind @ lowest graphics preset, reported CPU speed at 0.8ghz)


Handbrake (export slows considerably, reported CPU speed at ~1.7ghz)


Uniengine Heaven Benchmark (I scored 18.9FPS over the duration of the bench, MacWorld scored 35 FPS at similar settings. Reported CPU speed at 0.8ghz)


I’m employed full-time doing Motion/FCPX work and this computer is very difficult to use with those programs. Here’s what it looks like when I try to open my FCPX projects on this computer:

Not exactly usable.


(And here are some videos of people running demanding programs on the same SKU I have, without apparent throttling.)


I’ve been in communication with Apple for two months about this issue. At the behest of Apple support, I’ve deleted many of the third-party programs on my computer, and removed all third-party kexts. I’ve also tried installing fresh copies of several different OSX releases.


All the while my computer continues to throttle in the exact same way. And today, I was told in-person that Apple won’t be trying anything else to fix my computer.


I’m a technically literate and patient person, but I’m very frustrated. Apple has refused to acknowledge any kind of problem when it seems likely there’s a hardware issue.


Here’s a partial log of my communications with Apple.


What the hell am I supposed to do?

I have the same machine except mine has an aftermarket 1tb SSD. You may need to repaste it. If it's out of warranty (most likely is since it's a 2015 model unless you got it refurb from Apple), you can do this yourself pretty easily. You could even try simply cleaning the fans first as they and the heatsinks may be clogged with dust.