Top-line MBPr 15" fan noise problem

[Intenditore]

I've got a top-of-the-line 2015 MBPr. Oh, why did I ever thought to take the top model?! It kills me with unreasonable noise - as soon as dGPU is invoked it starts to whine, just watching a YT video, around very reasonable 60C - and 60-70% fanspeed. For nothing

Even when I stop it, it makes horrendous noise for ~4 more minutes. Despite it's ~50C.

Editing video is just impossible without safety headphones - normal ones can't stop this sound



Don't ask me about thermal paste or dust - it's clean. I even tried liquid metal and it did nothing, as it's not a heat problem. And as I know I'm not alone with such a terrible acting of hi-end 2015 model.



And I thought - it must be firmware problem, it manages fans inadequately. Lower-end models seem not to suffer from such things. What if we simply flash another SMC firmware? Would it "trick" the machine to think it's a lower-end one and adjust fancurve accordingly?

Help me please. I do like this machine but can't handle it's noise anymore

 

[axboi87]

I replaced mine a while back. Fairly simple (unlike doing the battery! That one was a doozy). While I was in there I also replaced the wifi/bluetooth chip as mine is an early 2013 and missed the boat on 802.11ac and BT 4.0 by year. The SSD is fairly simple as well. I would lookup the instructions on ifixit, I believe I bought the fan through them as well.

 

[Intenditore]

I replaced mine a while back. Fairly simple (unlike doing the battery! That one was a doozy). While I was in there I also replaced the wifi/bluetooth chip as mine is an early 2013 and missed the boat on 802.11ac and BT 4.0 by year. The SSD is fairly simple as well. I would lookup the instructions on ifixit, I believe I bought the fan through them as well.

There's totally no hardware problem with the fans. It's their management

 

[itsmeaustend]

There's totally no hardware problem with the fans. It's their management

You can override fan speeds and behaviour in macOS with a few different applications.

 

[Intenditore]

You can override fan speeds and behaviour in macOS with a few different applications.

Only making them higher! Even TGPro which can lower them will cause extreme throttling when SMC\(some freaking nasty controller inside) will find the fanspeed is "too slow". The way it decides it is ludicrous

 

[easy4lif]

Do a clean os install

 

[Intenditore]

?
There are no "regular" solutions you suggest - this is the flaw of other nature. Please don't suggest those simple things, I did them all. If it was the case I'd not ask for help

 

[pshufd]

I have a 2014 2.2 with IGPU and a 2015 2.5 with the AMD DGPU and they behave similarly with respect to heat and fan noise. The fans are normally quiet but I can get them pretty loud with one particular program running on an external 4k monitor. That's fair as I've heard that subsequent models had the same issue. The are fine hooked up to QHD displays.

I have seen anecdotal reports of the 2.8 Ghz models running hot and I don't recall seeing resolutions to the problem. The only possible solution I can think of would be limiting the frequency of the CPU but I don't know if you can do this with Intel Macs.

The ultimate solution, unless you need Intel and/or 32-bit applications, is to go Apple Silicon. My daughter has the Air/M1 and it runs rings around the 2015 Intel Macs and there's no fan noise.