Post by rapurimanka on Jul 11, 2024 12:41:32 GMT
Hi everyone,
I have a serious yet somewhat entertaining question. I recently bought a MacBook Pro 2015 with an R9 GPU for some experimentation and to study macOS. Everything is running smoothly, except for the gaming experience.
Here’s the situation: I installed Windows 10 and the latest drivers. However, when I launch games like Divinity: Original Sin, Dishonored, or GTA 4 — basically any game more complex than Tetris that puts a load on the hardware — I notice a significant issue. The GPU clock speed, which should be around the factory setting of 800 MHz, begins to drop. It goes down to 700 MHz, then 600 MHz, and finally settles around 400 MHz. Naturally, the FPS also plummets; for example, in Dishonored, it drops from 50 FPS to 20 FPS. Strangely, there's no sign of overheating.
While Googling the issue, I found a related mention in a NotebookCheck review, which I'll quote here:
I found a way to fix this issue. I set the fan to maximum, locked the GPU clock via MSI Afterburner, disabled BD PROCHOT, and locked the CPU clock at 2700 MHz via Throttlestop. With these tweaks, I can game with perfect FPS, although I need to keep an eye on the temperatures because if the GPU goes over 99°C, the laptop will go to sleep.
Initially, I thought Apple had set very conservative temperature limits, causing performance cuts despite no signs of overheating. However, I later found the same issue in an MBP 2019, and the cause was VRM overheating. The solution was to add thermal pads to the VRMs, allowing them to transfer heat to the back of the laptop.
I came here to discuss this issue and hopefully gain a final understanding of the problem. Is it VRM overheating or the temperature limits of the MacBook itself? Should I continue to use software to manage the limits, or should I also consider a hardware modification, such as adding thermal pads to transfer heat to the backplate of the laptop?
Your insights would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
I have a serious yet somewhat entertaining question. I recently bought a MacBook Pro 2015 with an R9 GPU for some experimentation and to study macOS. Everything is running smoothly, except for the gaming experience.
Here’s the situation: I installed Windows 10 and the latest drivers. However, when I launch games like Divinity: Original Sin, Dishonored, or GTA 4 — basically any game more complex than Tetris that puts a load on the hardware — I notice a significant issue. The GPU clock speed, which should be around the factory setting of 800 MHz, begins to drop. It goes down to 700 MHz, then 600 MHz, and finally settles around 400 MHz. Naturally, the FPS also plummets; for example, in Dishonored, it drops from 50 FPS to 20 FPS. Strangely, there's no sign of overheating.
While Googling the issue, I found a related mention in a NotebookCheck review, which I'll quote here:
Unfortunately, the MacBook Pro is affected by a very annoying problem when you use Windows, which results in frame rate drops during prolonged gaming sessions: The Radeon GPU cannot maintain its core clock of 800 MHz. The clock often fluctuates between 675 and 725 MHz, but occasionally drops to 400 MHz. The resulting stutters are very annoying, particularly when you play shooting games, and seem to be caused by thermal throttling when the core temperature reaches around 74 °C (~165 °F).
I found a way to fix this issue. I set the fan to maximum, locked the GPU clock via MSI Afterburner, disabled BD PROCHOT, and locked the CPU clock at 2700 MHz via Throttlestop. With these tweaks, I can game with perfect FPS, although I need to keep an eye on the temperatures because if the GPU goes over 99°C, the laptop will go to sleep.
Initially, I thought Apple had set very conservative temperature limits, causing performance cuts despite no signs of overheating. However, I later found the same issue in an MBP 2019, and the cause was VRM overheating. The solution was to add thermal pads to the VRMs, allowing them to transfer heat to the back of the laptop.
I came here to discuss this issue and hopefully gain a final understanding of the problem. Is it VRM overheating or the temperature limits of the MacBook itself? Should I continue to use software to manage the limits, or should I also consider a hardware modification, such as adding thermal pads to transfer heat to the backplate of the laptop?
Your insights would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
