TXnMA
Posted on 07/19/2018 6:00:40 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
Tech YouTuber Dave Lee spent his money on Apple's latest and greatest only to be met with utterly disappointing performance. According to Lee, the culprit is severe thermal throttling.
In the interest of offering up some proof to his viewers, he pitted a 2017 MacBook Pro (with a 4-core Intel i7 7920HQ) against the new 2018 model (with a 6-core Intel i9 8950HK) using Adobe Premiere Pro to render a 5K video file. After only a few seconds under load, Lee noticed the Core-i9 8950HQ throttling down to 2.2GHz. Its base clock speed is 2.9GHz.
Most damning was the render times across both systems. The 2017 MacBook Pro with only a 4-core CPU rendered the file in 35 minutes, 22 seconds. The 2018 model featuring what should be a revolutionary spike in performance with Intel's 6-core part rendered the same file in 39 minutes and 37 seconds.
"It can't even maintain the Core-i9's base 2.9GHz clock speed, which is absurd!" ~Dave Lee via YouTube
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Another engineering faux paux for Apple? I guess Apple sells stock not computers.
Apple’s electrical and mechanical engineering expertise appears to have sunk to that of the dearly departed Yugo.
The wife and I have many Apple products, but she just reluctantly purchased a very high powered PC to do her image processing because, to be honest, her high end Apple machine is brought to its knees.
As much as I loathe Microsoft, I may have to return to the dark side also because Apple’s output of leading edge stuff appears to have gone into a full stall. (Spin to follow.)
Hopefully, Apple will prove me wrong.
We’ll see.
Ping!...............
I found a better source at Notebook Check
Apple's new MacBook Pros are heavily discussed right now and there are multiple reports about problems with severe CPU throttling. Our initial benchmarks with the new 13-inch model (here in review) were not very reassuring, so we were eager to see how the larger MacBook Pro 15 2018 handles the new CPU. We just received the device and performed some benchmarks, and the results are disappointing. Our test model is equipped with the Core i7-8850H, which is the second fastest option for the new MBP 15. It offers two more cores than the predecessor, so we expected a significant performance advantage over the old quad-core processors you find in the 2017 MacBook Pro 15. However, the advantage is very small. Even a single Cinebench R15 Multi run is too challenging for the cooling solution and the MBP 15 just manages ~950 points. For comparison: The current Dell XPS 15 with the supposedly slower Core i7-8750H scores more than 1200 points. The performance drops further after the initial run and the average result after 36 runs is just 832 points. This means the advantage over the MacBook Pro 15 2017 with the quad-core Core i7-7700HQ is just 13%, and the difference should be even smaller the more runs we perform. A comparison with the current Dell XPS 15 9570 is interesting as well, because its current quad-core Core i5-8300H is basically on par except for the first run. The situation is even worse for Apple when we look at the Dell XPS 15 with the Core i7-8750H. It suffers during the Cinebench loop as well, but is still 5% faster after 50 runs compared to the best score of the MacBook Pro 15. The XPS 15 with the less expensive processor is almost 18% faster on average. This is a real slap in the face for Apple, because some users of a so-called Pro laptop require steady CPU performance. Not everybody is just watching YouTube videos, browsing the web or writing mails.
The situation might be a bit better with the 2018 entry-level model, but we can clearly state that the cooling solution of the MacBook Pro is insufficient for the new 6-core CPUs. Instead of just putting new CPUs in the old device, Apple should have reworked the cooling unit. However, we do not expect a full redesign in the near future (at least 1-2 years). We will continue testing, but potential buyers of the new MacBook Pro 15 should take the entry-level model and then add the other components based on their requirements. You can save the additional dollars for the optional CPUs.
Apple has never recovered from losing S.Jobs. He was tough to work for but this would never happen while he was there. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t clock the MacBook down to save energy and therefore the planet. He was a lefty but smart enough to make sure Apple didn’t alienate half of its customers.
TXnMA
Actually, this has very little to do with Apple.
Every microprocessor design team is running into the same problems at 14nm and smaller.
Transistors are no longer scaling with shrink.
Cap loading on the interconnects is now the gating item.
I've not seen Dell's i9 tested head with Apple's i9, but Apple should have known better. Dell's i7's seem to do just fine, although I've read their i7 XPS 13 fan runs like a bat out of hell.
I'm in the market so I'm studying up.
That said, I'm wondering if there would be a way to make laptops with an internal processor that didn't create much heat, but with an external link to the core such that additional processing speed could be added through an external connection - with an appropriate cooling solution for the additional external processor. Does this make any sense? Is it technically feasible? Has anyone already done this?
Apple has been losing its way, for a good while now, particularly on its Macbook Pro line.
From the rediculously gargantuan touchpad, to nothing but USB-C ports, removal of the SD reader... and now putting out something that clearly can’t cool enough to leverage the Top End CPU they put in it.
It is beyond clear that Jobs is no longer with the company.
The machine is fine, just don’t get the i9 processor version.
You my FRiend are a pot stirrer!
It has nothing to do with being clocked down for “ECO” reasons.. the i9 runs hotter than the macbook pro chassis can dissipate the heat....
So, it runs up to full throttle, gets hot, is slowed down to keep it from melting/burning out, it cools to a low enough temp, then it is allowed to throttle back up, which causes it to warm up again, which trips the safety to slow it back down to not overheat.... and the cycle continues.
Nothing to do with eco stuff... just not enough cooling capacity in the Chassis design for the chip to consistently run full throttle
I'm sure, but the whole point was to upgrade.
They made them faster and faster and that causes heat.
Speed = Heat.
Silicon has it’s limits unless you want to go with liquid cooling which is a band-aid. Until a fundamental change is made it will be band-aid upon band-aid. If you worked in corporate IT you’d find they love band-aid’s.
Here is a smarter version on the topic. https://www.extremetech.com/computing/273774-darpa-transform-cpu-design-drive-faster-chips
Well the new I7 isn’t a slouch. I won’t pay 3k for a laptop no matter what.
To me it shouldn't matter on a single user computer except in rare cases. However I heard a rumor that the new Mac Pro was waiting for newer chips from Intel that remove the Meltdown risks.
This is ultimately an Intel problem.
Intel moved away from soldering the Integrated Heat Spreaders (IHS), and now use a cheap thermal interface material (TIM) that enthusiasts liken to toothpaste. The result in recent years has been the very immediate presence of thermal throttling. Those enthusiasts have taken to “delidding recent Intel i7-i9’s and using superior TIM’s ,or even liquid metal TIM’s.
Every hardware manufacturer has been hit by this issue, so Apple does share some blame for not compensating with more cooling, or forcing Intel to solder the IHS on Apples batch of i9’s.
Here’s a link to a little background on the soldering issue using the previous generations of Intel chips. Their current chips also skip soldering:
Hey ImJustAnotherOkie just an fyi that I wasn’t responding to you directly.
Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo et al all use the same chips. This is one area where there is a level playing field.
If Apple didn’t up charge +50% it might not be so outrageous.
And this on top of their keyboard SNAFU. At Apple (The richest company in America) SNAFU is the operative word. I had a first hand experience with a 2011 MBP that had a minor shortcut built in. When you pay for premium you should get premium, and a company in a Glass House(little play on words here with the HQ issue) shouldn’t throw stones.
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