Mike Wuerthele

varenhizzles said:

Update on this! Not looking good...

I got my Studio Display yesterday and while it works on the Blackmagic eGPU Pro + Catalina, it only supports 3840x2160 (4K) resolution. This results in a really horrible experience and makes it impossible to avoid fuzzy pixel scaling jankiness. (even by setting a "looks like" resolution of 2560x1440, which should be retina 2x scaling, macOS only outputs a 4k signal, which the monitor then upscales to 5k).

Though as a caveat, I'm still running macOS Catalina and so might be hopefully is my fault for not upgrading.  The speakers also don't appear, though a Studio Display network interface appears which I assume is used for internal purposes on Monterey. Going to be upgrading soon finally...

Can anyone else confirm that I should get the proper 5k resolution with a Blackmagic eGPU [Pro] if I finally upgrade to Monterey?  Or is the Blackmagic eGPU firmware update required?  Thanks!

cgWerks said:

Marvin said:
There was a video here testing temperatures and they ran both CPU and GPU tests for 3 hours - Cinebench, Redshift and 3DMark at the same time - and they said temperatures didn't go above 72C and fans stayed around 1300RPM (1:00):

Some temperature and fan noise results will depend on ambient temperature. Someone in Canada would get a different experience from someone in Mexico as it's harder for the computer to get the heat out in a warm environment.

There are a lot of variables to account for, some MBP users say their laptop gets hot and others say it stays ice cold. When a laptop is fast charging, the battery can get hot and cause the fan to come on. No battery in the Studio model but there's been cases of displays and peripherals heating up computers too.

Thanks, hmm, so that mirrors the Max Tech results. Yes, I get the ambient temperature thing, but I wouldn't think people's environments vary that widely in general. I've read reports of the fans ramping up and actually getting noisy. If true, maybe those are the unusual reports?

Just as an aside, I can't wait to actually hear a Studio fan noise. I'm guessing it is probably somewhere between my Blackmagic eGPU and mini/MBP in tone. And, it is obviously louder than I had first thought, but I'm hoping it won't be annoying. I can hear (briefly) my Blackmagic eGPU when I start something intensive on it, as the fans spin up to ~800 RPMs or so until it settles in (ex: when ETH mining, it settles back down to ~500-600 RPM, and I can no longer hear it).

I'd figure 1300 RPM plus is going to make some noise, just a matter of how much. I've got some lower-speed magnetic-bearing fans (120mm I think) I've used for various purposes over the years, and they are pretty silent as well, but spin at lower RPM.

Anyway, looks like the Studio won't have any issues cooling itself, it is just a matter of how much noise there is and the tonal quality of it. It sounds like it isn't that much unless you're in a really quiet place.

tht said:

Mike Wuerthele said:

tht said:

cgWerks said:

tht said:
Using copper implies they don't have any headroom left in the Mac Studio to cool future, hotter SoCs. If the Mac Studio was longer (deeper), they could have managed with aluminum, leaving copper as solution for components that are hotter in the future. I suppose they still have the noisier higher RPM fans as an option still. As I was saying before, a square footprint is not optimal for a cooling design.

MaxTech had a video there they tried their best to stress both the Mac and Ultra versions of the Studio, and neither even moved the fan speeds up. Maybe there is more cooling capacity there than we realize.

Yes, the performance of the Apple Silicon GPUs have been unexpected. Max Tech is also showing that the GPUs aren't using the advertised power levels either. Not by a little, but by a lot. Maxing out the M1 Ultra GPU should hit about 110 W based on Apple's charts, but they were never able to get close. About 80 W.

They didn't try hard enough, then. The audio processing that I spoke about in my review hit 104W, with an clear increase in fan speeds.

Can I see your data, Mike?

tht said:

cgWerks said:

tht said:
Using copper implies they don't have any headroom left in the Mac Studio to cool future, hotter SoCs. If the Mac Studio was longer (deeper), they could have managed with aluminum, leaving copper as solution for components that are hotter in the future. I suppose they still have the noisier higher RPM fans as an option still. As I was saying before, a square footprint is not optimal for a cooling design.

MaxTech had a video there they tried their best to stress both the Mac and Ultra versions of the Studio, and neither even moved the fan speeds up. Maybe there is more cooling capacity there than we realize.

Yes, the performance of the Apple Silicon GPUs have been unexpected. Max Tech is also showing that the GPUs aren't using the advertised power levels either. Not by a little, but by a lot. Maxing out the M1 Ultra GPU should hit about 110 W based on Apple's charts, but they were never able to get close. About 80 W.

rob53 said:

Mike Wuerthele said:

rob53 said:

Hopefully you don't delete my comment because it references a non-AI website but I'm trying to demonstrate that LG doesn't have a 27" 5K monitor anymore:

Commercial products
https://www.lg.com/us/business/desktop-monitors/lg-27md5klb-b ;
LG Ultrawide, https://www.lg.com/us/business/desktop-monitors/lg-34BK95U-W

Consumer products
https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-27md5kl-b-5k-uhd-led-monitor Out of Stock, $1300

It's very difficult to search for a 5K monitor on LG's website because it lists a lot of 4K displays.

So my question is, and @flydog answered it, why do commentators keep saying the LG is better (because it's cheaper) when LG isn't selling them. I have seen a few available on Amazon but who know for how long. Right now, anyone who wants a 5K monitor with Thunderbolt connection (necessary for 5K) at a reasonable price has one choice and it's Apple's Studio Display. You want the lower resolution 4K, fine, but I don't.

The UltraFine 5K is in some stores now, and even LG says it will be fully stocked in April.

And, it's not that hard to find one now. E.G.: https://www.adorama.com/lot27md5klb.html "expected in a few days." In stock now at Amazon's refurbished, and it'll be available new in a few days.

I like Dell's dead 5K display better than either of these, but that's only available second hand for ludicrous prices.

So we're comparing a brand new monitor to used/refurbished monitors (by LG through Amazon or someone else?) and out of stock monitors that might be available in a few days. All of us have seen how wobbly the LG stand is and their new price is only $300 less than the Studio Display, which doesn't have any plastic on it, better speakers and microphone. It also has the A13 chip handling several things. And the biggest thing is Apple has done all sorts of things to make it work very well with Macs and iPads, something LG can only try to do. Yes, it's worth $300 more to me. To support my decision, I just checked the Apple Store and this display isn't available until April 18th, so there's a lot of people who want one (or more).

This display will be the cornerstone of my new system. I'll connect my M1 MBA to it along with the TB2/TB3 drives and docks I already have then wait to determine whether I'll buy a larger laptop or get an M2 mini or Mac Studio probably only with the Max. This combination should last a long time for me (replacing my late 2015 iMac).