16" MBP CPU safe max temps and graphics glitching

[motochan]

Hey guys, I have a i9 octa-core 2.4ghz with 64GB ram, 5500M 8GB DDR6, 4TB config that is ~6 months old. Recently, I've been noticing a really weird behaviour after investigating why my 16" MBP is displaying graphical glitches after playing Civ6 via Steam for under 5 mins. Resolution in-game is 1792x1120 with Medium settings and no AA, nothing crazy.



When this happens, the entire system is unrecoverable; I tried force-quitting Civ 6 but there's just too much corruption to properly see what's going on.

I've run this again with the laptop on a table surface, and it is the same thing.

My ambient temperature is around 28C. The highest the onboard sensor seems to be able to record is 100C. CPU 1, 2 and 3 hit 100C during the Gathering Storm graphics test in Civ 6, while CPU 4 hit 95C and CPU 5 98C, and CPU 6, 7 and 8 were at 91C. Is that normal? I don't ever recall my Macbook Pros of old ever going so high.

I've done the null Terminal load test with 16 separate Terminal windows each running a thread, and temps never got so high, roughly 3-5C lower than the above. I've run Cinebench on a 60min loop with no issues. I've run the Apple Hardware Test (AHT) myself (press-D on Apple screen) with no issues, and reached out to Apple Support where the tech got me to run the Apple Service Test (AST), also seemingly with no issues. I'm slated to go into my nearest Apple authorised service centre in a week's time to run deeper hardware-level tests, but this is bugging me enough to type it up for the community here, in case someone hits the same problem as I did.

I suspect it's a combination of poorly applied thermal paste at factory and a bad GPU. I'm surprised Civ 6 can extract that much more out of the hardware than the other steps I've taken! What gives?

 

[motochan]

I was shocked to see my 16" MBP pull a total of 118W, 112W and 102W at the 3 highest peaks of the power draw during my latest Civ 6 run in an air-conditioned room of 24C ambient, roughly 4-5C lower than my previous runs. It still shows the same graphical corruption, albeit after a longer period of time.



When looking at the Radeon die, it goes up to 82C peak; it's probably thermal constrained by the CPU anyway.

 

[nnavas13]

Weird af. You should definitely take it to an Apple Store.

 

[kaans]

I think a Bootcamp / Windows Civ 6 test would conclude whether it's hardware or just macos

But my sympathies are with you, it's a downer, and these are unnecessarily hot machines :/

 

[leman]

Try some other games? Knowing Civ 6 my first guess would be a bug in the code.

Your temperature is absolutely fine.