MBA 2020, limit max temp or max clock speed somehow?

[Gill Bates]

Hi

I'm waiting for my order on a 2020 Air base model bumped to i5 cpu.

Every day I get big doubts, especially when reading and watching what people say on the interwebs.

Let's say heat or noise is unacceptable.. How could I change that?
I would be fine having a 2020 mba that maxes out turbo at say 2 to 2.5ghz, and in exchange is much cooler and silent

Could I limit the max temps or clock speed somehow?
I know I can turn off turbo completely with Turbo Boost Switcher or similar.
But the problem is the more sustained maxed loads, not the nice quick bursts of turbo.
How about keeping the turbo enabled, and instead only limit the computer to a lower temp or clock speed than the max?

Could something like Volta or VoltageShift be used for that?

 

[chrfr]

Hi

I'm waiting for my order on a 2020 Air base model bumped to i5 cpu.

Every day I get big doubts, especially when reading and watching what people say on the interwebs.

Let's say heat or noise is unacceptable.. How could I change that?
I would be fine having a 2020 mba that maxes out turbo at say 2 to 2.5ghz, and in exchange is much cooler and silent

Could I limit the max temps or clock speed somehow?
I know I can turn off turbo completely with Turbo Boost Switcher or similar.
But the problem is the more sustained maxed loads, not the nice quick bursts of turbo.
How about keeping the turbo enabled, and instead only limit the computer to a lower temp or clock speed than the max?

Could something like Volta or VoltageShift be used for that?

You can disable Turbo Boost with this: https://www.rugarciap.com/turbo-boost-switcher-for-os-x/
However, this uses a kernel extension which is not likely to work past Catalina.

 

[Gill Bates]

You can disable Turbo Boost with this: https://www.rugarciap.com/turbo-boost-switcher-for-os-x/

As I said, I know I can turn off turbo completely with Turbo Boost Switcher or similar..
But turbo is nice for those quick bursts, and it's not great to have a 1.1ghz computer.
It's the sustained loads that are the issue.
How about keeping the turbo enabled, and instead only limit the computer to a lower temp or clock speed than the max?

 

[bernuli]

Hi

I'm waiting for my order on a 2020 Air base model bumped to i5 cpu.

Every day I get big doubts, especially when reading and watching what people say on the interwebs.

Let's say heat or noise is unacceptable.. How could I change that?
I would be fine having a 2020 mba that maxes out turbo at say 2 to 2.5ghz, and in exchange is much cooler and silent

Could I limit the max temps or clock speed somehow?
I know I can turn off turbo completely with Turbo Boost Switcher or similar.
But the problem is the more sustained maxed loads, not the nice quick bursts of turbo.
How about keeping the turbo enabled, and instead only limit the computer to a lower temp or clock speed than the max?

Could something like Volta or VoltageShift be used for that?

It’s a little late now. But why didn’t you just stick with the i3?

 

[AirBud]

Just do the heatsink mod, you’ll get 15% more performance under sustained high loads and lower temperatures the rest of the time.

Unless you’re gaming for 8 hours straight, I don’t think it’ll be a real issue.

 

[Gill Bates]

It’s a little late now. But why didn’t you just stick with the i3?

It was the advice I saw everywhere:

"Bump it up to an i5 cpu QUAD CORE for a slightly bigger price.
Good for those few demanding apps/tasks.
Better graphics power.
And will be better value for the future or resale."

And I will also use it for a bit of Logic pro X music making.

Wouldn't I regret not having the i5?
[automerge]1589120671[/automerge]

Just do the heatsink mod, you’ll get 15% more performance under sustained high loads and lower temperatures the rest of the time.

That is very interesting.
But not something I would do to a brand new mac right away, unless it's been tested good.
Something tells me we will see some clever improvements along the way.
And maybe Apple updates the cpu/heat/fan/clock management later too

 

[AirBud]

It was the advice I saw everywhere:

"Bump it up to an i5 cpu QUAD CORE for a slightly bigger price.
Good for those few demanding apps/tasks.
And will be better value for the future or resale."

And I will also use it for a bit of Logic pro X music making.

Wouldn't I regret not having the i5?
[automerge]1589120671[/automerge]


That is very interesting.
But not something I would do to a brand new mac right away, unless it's been tested good.
Something tells me we will see some improvements along the way.
And maybe Apple updates the cpu/heat/fan/clock management later too

Based on everyone’s research in the heatsink thread, there’s a physical deficiency in the heatsink that’s been present since the 2018 MBA. The only way to fix it is with a copper shim and thermal paste. That said everyone is getting great results.

I know messing with a computer can be scary but reapplying thermal paste and adding a copper shim wouldn’t void your warranty. I’ve never needed to use the warranty before to be fair.

Limiting the power will reduce temperatures too, but I think getting lower temperatures and better performance is worth the $25 and 30 min to do the mod.

 

[deeddawg]

My suggestion:

Just use the computer a couple weeks before you worry about kernel-changing software or potential warranty impacts from CPU heatsink modifications.

My i5 MBA is cool and silent through most all workloads -- only time it gets a little warmer or makes the fan audible is with a sustained CPU load - exporting a bunch of RAW image files, generating 1000 previews, etc. Those are things I launch and go get a cup of coffee / take a potty break anyway so they're not impactful.

If you'd be continually doing sustained CPU intensive tasks, the MBP is the better tool though. Don't try to hammer nails with a screwdriver.

 

[bernuli]

It was the advice I saw everywhere:

"Bump it up to an i5 cpu QUAD CORE for a slightly bigger price.
Good for those few demanding apps/tasks.
Better graphics power.
And will be better value for the future or resale."

And I will also use it for a bit of Logic pro X music making.

Wouldn't I regret not having the i5?

I guess it depends on use case. I'll tell you what I noticed when I upgraded from a 2014 rmbp with a 2.5/3.7GHz i7 to a 2015 version of the same with the BTO maxed out 2.8/4.0 GHz i7. No noticeable speed increase. Nothing seemed "snappier" nothing seemed to load faster. However when I am hitting it with the same big Excel spreadsheets, the later model with the faster i7 will kick in fans and will run a bit warmer. It easy to live with, and I suppose if I sat the 2 computers side by side with a stopwatch I would see a benefit from the faster GHz and turbo. Much easier to notice is the fans kicking in when they were normally back at idle.

Now there are times, for example, when I am running a perl scripts to process large text files, and I do appreciate the turbo and shorter run time. So a little fan noise is fine when that is happening. But the fans would kick in then on the slower model as well. So the fan noise is a wash in cases like this.

Logic Pro X might be be better off on an i3. Though, I am not familiar with that program. I just listen to the music, I don't know how it gets created. : )