# MacPro 6.1 CPU temperature



## stigc56 (Feb 2, 2021)

Hi

I have a question about the "standard" temperature of the CPU in a MacPro 6.1 8 core with 64Gbram. Using Nuendo 11 yesterday the temp was around 77 degrees celcius (around 176 fahrenheit). I have noticed that the fan is spinning a bit more lately and I'm worried that it will cause problems! Should I be worried? And if yes, what can I do to "secure" my Mac?


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## seclusion3 (Feb 2, 2021)

Open it up, clear the dust out.


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## dcoscina (Feb 2, 2021)

Yeah that doesn't sound right. My fans NEVER come on and I have the same model as you


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## stigc56 (Feb 2, 2021)

seclusion3 said:


> Open it up, clear the dust out.


Well I have done that and it's quite clean inside. I have seen that an app named Bird is using a lot of CPU, it's something to do with iCloud, that I use a lot.


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## IFM (Feb 2, 2021)

I think my fans are always on, but granted it lives in an equipment closet with exhaust.


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## ptram (Feb 2, 2021)

I've had one (12 core) for 6 months now, and the temperature is now 45-49°C. I don't remember how it was in August, but I could never hear the fan spinning (unless nearly touching the Mac with my ear).

The VST Audio Engine recalled by Dorico requires high CPU when playing or rendering, so maybe in Nuendo it is on much often than in my typical case.

Paolo


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## stigc56 (Feb 2, 2021)

Could it be that I have 3 monitors connected?


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## stigc56 (Feb 2, 2021)

ptram said:


> I've had one (12 core) for 6 months now, and the temperature is now 45-49°C. I don't remember how it was in August, but I could never hear the fan spinning (unless nearly touching the Mac with my ear).
> 
> The VST Audio Engine recalled by Dorico requires high CPU when playing or rendering, so maybe in Nuendo it is on much often than in my typical case.
> 
> Paolo


And where did you measure that? I use IStat and it's the CPU core temperature.


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## ptram (Feb 2, 2021)

stigc56 said:


> And where did you measure that? I use IStat and it's the CPU core temperature.


I use Hardware Monitor.

Paolo


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## ChristianM (Feb 2, 2021)

Here, I have a 12 cores 5.1, I / O TDiode is at 79-81 °, it seems that on the 12 cores, it is normal.
On the 28 cores, Mac Pro 2019, the CPU Core PECI temperature is 75-78 ° ...


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## stigc56 (Feb 2, 2021)

Okay I guess it's okay and nowhere near a melt down.


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## ridgero (Feb 3, 2021)

Replacing the thermal paste would be a good move.

My old 12 core 6,1 never reached more than 75°C under steady full load (100% @ all cores)


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## WandaS (Feb 12, 2021)

Yes, after many years of use thermal paste can get funky and loose it's bond.
After 5 years it pretty much done. Any good Apple tech can do it in an hour.


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## stigc56 (May 5, 2021)

Well I had my machine tested and the thermal paste replaced. Now I have ECC errors on 2 of my memory modules (4*16gb).
It seems that changing my display to 3840 x 2160 takes a lot of load of my graphic card.
Weird!


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## Nimrod7 (May 6, 2021)

stigc56 said:


> It seems that changing my display to 3840 x 2160 takes a lot of load of my graphic card.
> Weird!


Are you using the scaling options? 
It's doing weird things to accomplish the Hi-DPI clarity, such as rendering a huge resolution image offscreen:

In the screenshot below to accomplish 4K with scaling renders a 6016x3384 pixel image which consumes a lot of GPU power.


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## mscp (May 6, 2021)

Nimrod7 said:


> Are you using the scaling options?
> It's doing weird things to accomplish the Hi-DPI clarity, such as rendering a huge resolution image offscreen:
> 
> In the screenshot below to accomplish 4K with scaling renders a 6016x3384 pixel image which consumes a lot of GPU power.


LG HDR 4k monitors cap at 3480x2160. (6016x3384 is a pretty weird resolution since upscaling a resolution so the OS can downscale to Retina on a monitor that doesn't do retina natively is...well...weird.) I'm impressed that's even working out fine. No wonder why the GPU is going mental.


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## Nimrod7 (May 6, 2021)

Phil81 said:


> LG HDR 4k monitors cap at 3480x2160. (6016x3384 is a pretty weird resolution since upscaling a resolution so the OS can downscale to Retina on a monitor that doesn't do retina natively is...well...weird.) I'm impressed that's even working out fine.


Yeah it renders on a framebuffer or something, then downscales.


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## mscp (May 6, 2021)

Nimrod7 said:


> Yeah it renders on a framebuffer or something, then downscales.


What is your screen? I've got their 32uk550-b one.


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## Nimrod7 (May 6, 2021)

Phil81 said:


> What is your screen? I've got their 32uk550-b one.


It's https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B088BS1LMV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (LG 27UN83A).

Try changing the scaling and check the system report under displays I believe.
Model doesn't seem to matter, I have other screens here and Mac OS is behaving the same as long as scaling is supported.


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## mscp (May 6, 2021)

Nimrod7 said:


> It's https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B088BS1LMV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (LG 27UN83A).
> 
> Try changing the scaling and check the system report under displays I believe.
> Model doesn't seem to matter, I have other screens here and Mac OS is behaving the same as long as scaling is supported.


You're deliberately scaling on display settings? Then, yeah...you're telling the GPU to drive harder. Normal.


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## ptram (May 6, 2021)

I can report good results with SwitchResX for scaling to a strange resolution in a 4K HP monitor.

Paolo


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## Nimrod7 (May 6, 2021)

Phil81 said:


> You're deliberately scaling on display settings? Then, yeah...you're telling the GPU to drive harder. Normal.


It's not exactly normal. Windows using a different approach to scale.


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## mscp (May 6, 2021)

Nimrod7 said:


> It's not exactly normal. Windows using a different approach to scale.


Different OS, different coding. A lot is different between those two...even the way they handle USB mapping.

Also, what GPU do you have? Based on reports, some people have said some third-party GPUs (those not shipped by Apple) are pretty loud (one that comes to mind is a powercolor RX model).


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## Nimrod7 (May 6, 2021)

Phil81 said:


> Different OS, different coding. A lot is different between those two...even the way they handle USB mapping.


We are aligned on this, and is well understood how each approach has certain benefits.
The point is, if you want a simple thing, like larger text in Mac OS, weak macs with integrated graphics suffering a performance hit and staring throttling, while on Windows they don't.

My comment is targeting to assist on the performance hit @stigc56 observed, which might be for this reason.
Especially plugins that are based heavily on graphics with 60fps wavetable animations for example, are suffering tremendously from scaling.


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## ptram (May 6, 2021)

Nimrod7 said:


> weak macs with integrated graphics suffering a performance hit and staring throttling


The Mac Pro 6,1 shouldn't, however, suffer of this type of problems, being equipped with two decent-to-excellent graphic boards.

Paolo


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## Nimrod7 (May 6, 2021)

ptram said:


> The Mac Pro 6,1 shouldn't, however, suffer of this type of problems, being equipped with two decent-to-excellent graphic boards.
> 
> Paolo


It does, especially on larger scaling options which might render images up to 12k.
I have a 7.1 with Vega II MPX Module.
Powerful GPU, still suffers.


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## mscp (May 6, 2021)

Nimrod7 said:


> We are aligned on this, and is well understood how each approach has certain benefits.
> The point is, if you want a simple thing, like larger text in Mac OS, weak macs with integrated graphics suffering a performance hit and staring throttling, while on Windows they don't.


Pretty much. My point is - this is normal -- there's no solution nor workaround.
On Windows, Intel CPUs do throttle depending on how it's been pushed even if EIST is turned off. When my projects start to go crazy, the CPU goes from a turbo charged 4.92Ghz to 4.50Ghz"ish" even though the CPU is water cooled. hehe. Not a big deal (to me at least), but still...



Nimrod7 said:


> My comment is targeting to assist on the performance hit @stigc56 observed, which might be for this reason.
> Especially plugins that are based heavily on graphics with 60fps wavetable animations for example, are suffering tremendously from scaling.


I'm aware.


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## stigc56 (May 6, 2021)

I also have ecc errors on dim 3&4. Somewhere I read that this could be caused by overheating.
This Mac Pro, 6.1 8 core has been running 8 hours a day for 4 years, I wonder if it’s time to move on?


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## mscp (May 6, 2021)

stigc56 said:


> I also have ecc errors on dim 3&4. Somewhere I read that this could be caused by overheating.
> This Mac Pro, 6.1 8 core has been running 8 hours a day for 4 years, I wonder if it’s time to move on?


Do you have spare dimms to replace the old ones with? No need to move on to another machine if yours is still doing the job greatly (imo).

Silly info --- but check for dust accumulation inside as well.

Maybe give it a try? https://www.owc.com


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## stigc56 (May 6, 2021)

Well the machine was cleaned and thermal paste replaced 2 month ago. I have the original memory blocks (16 gigs) I will try them tomorrow.
Seems to be a bad time to go for the "new" Mac Pro 7.1, but although I'm hit by the corona I haven't given up.


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## mscp (May 6, 2021)

stigc56 said:


> Well the machine was cleaned and thermal paste replaced 2 month ago. I have the original memory blocks (16 gigs) I will try them tomorrow.
> Seems to be a bad time to go for the "new" Mac Pro 7.1, but although I'm hit by the corona I haven't given up.


Or! take dimms 3&4 out. Run the machine with 1&2 only (for a few hours). Just to rule that out.


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## stigc56 (May 6, 2021)

Yes that could be done.


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## mscp (May 6, 2021)

stigc56 said:


> Seems to be a bad time to go for the "new" Mac Pro 7.1, but although I'm hit by the corona I haven't given up.


Soon there will be a 8,1 (I hope). I think you could also easily skip a generation and go crazy with your brand new 8,1 specs. I haven't jumped back to the Apple ecosystem but I'm counting on their next gen...unless of course...this happens:https://www.engadget.com/ibm-2nm-chip-power-efficiency-100001102.html (sorry for derailing a bit)


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