Furthermore, when an Intel core uses hyperthreading to boost its performance, scale maximum for % CPU doubles: with eight cores in full hyperthreading, that comes to a total of 1600%. This is the total for all CPU cores, so if your Mac has eight cores, the scale maximum for % CPU is 800%. So if a core were completely idle, active residency would be 0% when no idle cycles were recorded, it would be 100%. As far as I can tell, the figure given is the total of ‘active residency’ for all cores, meaning the percentage of core cycles that aren’t spent in idle. Unfortunately Apple doesn’t appear to define what the % CPU column means, other than stating that it’s “processor capability”. This article tries to explain that what you’re looking at probably isn’t as bad as you think, and how it can be particularly misleading on an M1 Mac. If we see anything over about 20%, we get alarmed and start asking questions, as if % meant out of a hundred. Downloads for Windows and Linux are still offered.The first place most of us turn to when we’re concerned about the performance of any Mac is Activity Monitor’s CPU tab, where we can see which processes are hogging the cores. It is possible that Intel is now updating its tool to better explain the dips in frequency.Īt the time of writing, only the Mac version of the Intel Power Gadget is unavailable. However, this does not necessarily mean that the CPU is being throttled - it likely means the CPU is idling whilst other components like a hardware decoder are operating. One of the things that has come out of this whole debacle is that the Intel Power Gadget can report CPU frequencies as low as 800Mhz. In our own testing, we found that disabling two of the cores actually resulted in faster export speeds in Final Cut Pro than if all six-cores were active. YouTuber Dave Lee brought this into the spotlight, demoing that the 2018 MacBook Pro was actually slower than the last-gen model at an Adobe Premier video export - seemingly because the new i9 chip kept having to be significantly throttled to maintain internal temperatures. Particularly on the highest-end model, the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Core i9 chip, a number of reviewers have noted severe performance throttling, with the Power Gadget reporting the processors are dropping below their base clock speed with longer-running tasks like video export. The latest-gen MacBook Pros retain the same hardware chassis design but feature new, power hungrier, quad-core and six-core CPUs. Various posters on Reddit are uploading mirrored copies for people to download now, given Intel’s official download is currently unavailable. The latest version of the app, Intel Power Gadget 3.5.2, was available for download for free up to last night. Perhaps Apple or Intel have discovered inaccuracies in the tool’s reporting and is now in the process of updating it. The utility has been used by many tech reviewers to highlight possible thermal problems with the 6-core 2018 MacBook Pros. There’s no explanation on the page as to why the company suddenly removed the download, although it sure is convenient timing. The download link for the Intel Power Gadget, which reports info like Mac CPU temperature and current clock speed, has been conspicuously removed from the Intel website today. Update: The utility is back! Intel has published a minor update to version 3.5.3, seemingly to address some instability issues.
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