My Base 2012 15" Retina does not throttle (SMC bug) under any circumstance I have deliberately tried to induce throttling, the only thing I have not done is run Window`s, equally I have no use for the OS on a Mac so it`s unlikely I will try this.
Unlikely it`s related to the design of the rMBP or all machines would react the same. As stated my own Base Retina will not throttle regardless of how much load is applied, as do other Retina`s. My machine is well ventilated, although ambient is around 26C - 28, i have tried dev/null, video encoding, intensive 3D games, combinations of and simultaneously, yes applications do slow due to the sheer load on the CPU/GPU, yet CPU frequency remains above 3GHz all cores fully loaded, or another approach with apps in isolation, an extended video encode will not drop fps, nor a 3D game drop fps.
My 2.3 base Retina switches GPU automatically as needed and i have never had any issue, it has to run deeper, hence Apple`s lack of fix for those with systems suffering this issue. Fundamentally the user base with the problem is either too small, or Apple is unsure how to proceed; will a fix create more issue, who knows.
As stated i have deliberately tried to induce throttling on my own 15" Retina to no avail. The same attempts on my Late 2011 15" (2.4) result in almost instantaneous throttling yet my own Retina "to all accounts and purpose" appears to be impervious to throttling are all Mac`s equal possibly not, food for thought indeed...
As for the hardware there is potential for some difference due to Intel`s "binning" process be it due to performance or demand; is my Retina`s 2.3 a "binned" down 2.6 due to demand? Would this result in greater stability under extreme load? I seriously doubt as TDP of 45W is the same for both, still no real ideas.
