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(2019) 16" is HOT & NOISY with an external monitor! :(

FlyingDutch

FlyingDutch

macrumors 65816
Aug 21, 2019
1,319
1,206
Eindhoven (NL)
niho said:
I couldn't change the speed of the fans with istat menus. I used 'mac fan control' app, At minimum, around 1800rpm, fans are very quiet. Around 2400rpm, I can hear them well and they disturb me. When connected to the monitor, it likes to keep the fans around 2400rpm. If I force them to stay around 1800rpm, laptop overheats and throttles itself until it is unusable.
Click to expand...
How are fans running at low 2400 rpm disturbing ? ?
I think you would not have any solution in this case. With an high end cpu and gpu running, temperatures around 50° and fans at 2400 RPM are perfectly normal, even under very low loads.
It is not a “fanless” notebook.
 
Appledoesnotlisten

Appledoesnotlisten

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 2, 2017
505
208
milhous said:
Nope, it won't work. According to this article from StarTech, the maximum distance allowable for a Thunderbolt 3 cable to operate at the full 40Gb/s rate is 0.5m over copper, although the cable included with the CalDigit ProDock is 0.7m and works fine. Essentially the length of the wire connecting the computer to the dock needs to be short so that the electrical signals passing back and forth reaches their endpoints within a specific amount of time. Using a longer cable means that signals will take longer to travel, with bandwidth reduced in half.

But as it stands now, the dock needs to be physically close to the computer to achieve a full 40Gb/s connection, using an Active Thunderbolt 3 cable. A passive Thunderbolt 3 cable can be longer, but operate at half the speed. I'm not sure if a passive cable should be used to directly connect a 4K display, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Click to expand...
Hey, I want to migrate to a one-cable connection and am debating whether to get a CalDigit doc or LG Ultrafine monitor, that is, essentially a monitor AND a CalDigit doc. What do you think? :)
 
J

jlehet

macrumors newbie
Dec 12, 2019
26
8
Not a suitable solution for everyone in every office, but for years I've run external monitors with the MBP on top of two slabs of stone; I'd guess about 20 pounds or more of stone with a gap under the slabs. Soapstone, in my case. The stone takes the heat from the bottom of the laptop. Not that the fans don't kick up when I'm working it hard, but in general it the machine is much cooler and quieter. By the end of an office day, the stone is pretty warm but still cooler the machine and able to pull heat from it.
 
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bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Sep 19, 2012
4,308
2,703
Appledoesnotlisten said:
Hey, I want to migrate to a one-cable connection and am debating whether to get a CalDigit doc or LG Ultrafine monitor, that is, essentially a monitor AND a CalDigit doc. What do you think? :)
Click to expand...

CalDigit does not provide 96W power. Some argue that doesn't matter, but I personally have seen battery drain on MBP16,1 when under load powered only via CalDigit. It's minimal, but it's there. Depending on your usage and needs, this may or may not matter. Supplementing with Apple 96W charger is recommended by CalDigit support.
 
Appledoesnotlisten

Appledoesnotlisten

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 2, 2017
505
208
bsbeamer said:
CalDigit does not provide 96W power. Some argue that doesn't matter, but I personally have seen battery drain on MBP16,1 when under load powered only via CalDigit. It's minimal, but it's there. Depending on your usage and needs, this may or may not matter. Supplementing with Apple 96W charger is recommended by CalDigit support.
Click to expand...
My usage does not require constant 96W.
In fact, I have used my 15" with a 13" for a long time and only rarely seen it discharging, the most inconvenient thing was a relatively slow charging process though.
 
B

badsimian

macrumors 6502
Aug 23, 2015
374
200
jlehet said:
Not a suitable solution for everyone in every office, but for years I've run external monitors with the MBP on top of two slabs of stone; I'd guess about 20 pounds or more of stone with a gap under the slabs. Soapstone, in my case. The stone takes the heat from the bottom of the laptop. Not that the fans don't kick up when I'm working it hard, but in general it the machine is much cooler and quieter. By the end of an office day, the stone is pretty warm but still cooler the machine and able to pull heat from it.
Click to expand...
Have you got a picture of that? sounds interesting! Don't the feet keep the stone from making contact with the MacBook?
 
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topcat001

macrumors 6502
Nov 17, 2019
270
126
jlehet said:
Not a suitable solution for everyone in every office, but for years I've run external monitors with the MBP on top of two slabs of stone; I'd guess about 20 pounds or more of stone with a gap under the slabs. Soapstone, in my case. The stone takes the heat from the bottom of the laptop. Not that the fans don't kick up when I'm working it hard, but in general it the machine is much cooler and quieter. By the end of an office day, the stone is pretty warm but still cooler the machine and able to pull heat from it.
Click to expand...

I like your soapstone setup!

I always run high-spec machines (my Alienware and the new MBP) raised this way, except I use two thick books. The books act as legs leaving the bottom ventilated. If I'm running something very intense I'll have a small fan blowing air through the bottom and it makes a huge difference (15-20 deg C cooler). It's also easy to put away.

For the MBP I am using a slim laptop raising stand which supports it perfectly. My Alienware is a bit too bulky for the stand, hence the books.

Bottomline (no pun intended): These machines run much cooler raised, when the bottom is exposed. Optionally add a small fan blowing air.
 
P

pshufd

macrumors G3
Oct 24, 2013
9,947
14,438
New Hampshire
MacFlaX said:
Does anyone have experience with active cooling stands (for MBP desktop use with external monitor), like e.g. https://www.techradar.com/news/best-laptop-cooling-pad? Or is the noise of the cooling pad itself even worse than the noise of the MBP fan? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I have been thinking about building something like this for many years.

It would be AC powered and run four large desktop fans to keep noise down. I have seen many project ideas but not actual products for sale. I would actually prefer to have a vertical stand with fans blowing from the bottom - I think that three would be enough. My experience with USB fans is that there just isn't enough cooling power in a USB setup.
 
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Appledoesnotlisten

Appledoesnotlisten

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 2, 2017
505
208
pshufd said:
I have been thinking about building something like this for many years.

It would be AC powered and run four large desktop fans to keep noise down. I have seen many project ideas but not actual products for sale. I would actually prefer to have a vertical stand with fans blowing from the bottom - I think that three would be enough. My experience with USB fans is that there just isn't enough cooling power in a USB setup.
Click to expand...
These fans are very quiet:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G059G86/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
Chronos___

Chronos___

macrumors newbie
Nov 30, 2019
21
5
Göttingen
What I noticed using my 1080p 144hz monitor: Reducing the refresh rate from 144hz to 100hz lowers the temperature from 64 degree (with slightly audible fans - 2200rpm) to 52 degree without any fan noise (1800rpm).
If you're going to use a 1080p monitor with 60hz (like most) you should be fine.
 
Alex Kurylev

Alex Kurylev

macrumors newbie
Dec 17, 2019
10
1
I have a DELL UltraSharp u2719dc 27 monitor (2560×1440, 60Hz). With a minimum load of 2500rpm cooler, it is very noisy. I don't know what to do about it.
 
grmlin

grmlin

macrumors 65816
Feb 16, 2015
1,107
775
Alex Kurylev said:
I have a DELL UltraSharp u2719dc 27 monitor (2560×1440, 60Hz). With a minimum load of 2500rpm cooler, it is very noisy. I don't know what to do about it.
Click to expand...
get it repaired. Fans should be almost silent at 2500rpm. I have to get real close to my MacBook to hear them at that kind of speed.
 
Mojo1019

Mojo1019

macrumors regular
Sep 9, 2013
174
172
lietsche said:
in idle. and what happens if you just push the MBP slightly? For me for example, playback on FCPx on a timeline for more than 10 minutes: 2600 rpm :(
Click to expand...
The same! But if you cole che lid is a different story. The temperature goes down like if there was no external monitor attached. Worth a try.
 
impulse462

impulse462

macrumors 68020
Jun 3, 2009
2,086
2,872
freitz said:
Is this a wide spread issue or an isolated issue? Hard to tell in this thread but did not seem to be an issue for everyone?
Click to expand...
my 16" is cool and quiet connected to an external 4k and 5k in clamshell mode unless i fully push it in matlab (parallel computing) in which case the fans come on. pushing single core is relatively quiet too

with the screen open the computer runs a little warmer, but still relatively quiet unless i push the cpu.

its possible i got lucky with my specific silicon
 
N

nethead

macrumors newbie
Oct 5, 2008
29
39
I found out that with my monitor (Acer Predator X27 4K@120Hz), if I set the refresh rate in System Settings > Display to anything else than 60Hz, my Radeon dGPU draws 20W of power, which means the MBP runs hotter and slows down the CPU. Also, if I do not use clamshell mode and have the screen connected, the dGPU will draw 20W of power, no matter how I configure the external display.

However, if I use clamshell mode and set the external display to exactly 60Hz, it only draws ~6 - 7W. Note that even 30Hz triggers the high power consumption - it seems like something is optimized for the common "one screen with 60Hz" case in the driver. If I furthermore use a 2x scalable resolution (e.g. 1920x1080 for my 4K screen) and not an intermediate resolution which requires more complex scaling, the power usage goes down to just ~5W, which is as good as when using an eGPU. Maybe this helps someone.
 
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Alex Kurylev

Alex Kurylev

macrumors newbie
Dec 17, 2019
10
1
impulse462 said:
my 16" is cool and quiet connected to an external 4k and 5k in clamshell mode unless i fully push it in matlab (parallel computing) in which case the fans come on. pushing single core is relatively quiet too

with the screen open the computer runs a little warmer, but still relatively quiet unless i push the cpu.

its possible i got lucky with my specific silicon
Click to expand...

What is the speed of the cooler when two monitors are connected?
 
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snc

macrumors regular
Jan 29, 2016
249
80
Still no apple response to this problem ? They fixed sound issue quite fast.
 
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