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Bluebellflora's avatar
Bluebellflora
Hero+
6 years ago
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[FIXED] Problems playing Sims 4 on the 16" MacBook Pro

The 2019 16" MacBook Pros are currently having a few issues playing The Sims 4. Typical problems reported by players are: Screen tearing  Game crashing, especially when trying to load a househ...
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pcjr_ea's avatar
pcjr_ea
5 years ago

Beware of hardware failure. I believe that the 16" MBP has a serious heat dissipation problem, causing component failures. After I had it for a year, the Apple store did some quick tests and verified I had some bad memory. This resulted in a logic board replacement (includes RAM, SSD, CPU, GPU, basically the guts of the machine). Two months later I sent it in again and they did the same thing. I recommend that if you can afford Apple Care you should get it. This is the first time I have ever done so.

Bluebellflora's avatar
Bluebellflora
Hero+
5 years ago
@pcjr_ea

All the components you listed are soldered onto the logic board so when one fails Apple just replace the whole unit. A bad memory chip may not have been heat damaged, in fact it's unlikely that a RAM chip would be, but they would have just replaced the whole board. This is a great teardown of the machine showing all parts - https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+16-Inch+2019+Teardown/128106

The aluminium casing is designed to help dissipate heat, and it does, provided the machine is on a hard surface with air able to circulate underneath. If you're gaming then a cooling fan or raised surface of some kind is an absolute must. That doesn't just apply to MBPs but any laptops, Mac or Windows.

It's actually very rare that a Mac will overheat to the point that components would start failing. Of course, if you play on a bed with your Mac resting on the duvet then yes, heat is going to be a huge factor and most likely shorten the life of your Mac. But the OS is designed to throttle power to the hardware to prevent overheating. You know when people report that their Mac is getting hot and switching itself off? It's shutting itself down to prevent damage. And most of the posts I've ever answered from people who this is happening to is down to them playing on a nice soft surface.

Absolutely yes to Applecare, I have always bought it on my Macs. It's a small price to pay when you're paying £3k+ for a computer. And Apple's customer service has always been second to none.
  • pcjr_ea's avatar
    pcjr_ea
    5 years ago

    @Bluebellflora 

    I play with my laptop on an elevate/ angled laptop stand (with a cut-out in the middle) off to the side. I keep the lid open with a bunch of Activity Monitor windows open to keep an eye on things.

    They have replaced my logic board twice. The second time two months after the (bad-RAM) first. I've been assured by a senior tech advisor that they would test it for failure before replacing it and they test it again before shipping it back. So, either:

    1. they replaced it unnecessarily (skipped a testing step),
    2. replaced it with a faulty board (skipped a testing step)
    3. it failed again due to too much gaming, or
    4. it failed again for some other reason (bad luck).

    Perhaps the bugs we experience are causing a failure in some of the safeties built into the system?

    At least I am problem free playing within a VM with the Metal API disabled.

    • Bluebellflora's avatar
      Bluebellflora
      Hero+
      5 years ago
      @pcjr_ea

      Yep, of course they thoroughly test it. What was the reason they changed out for the second board? It's normally stated on the service report you receive. Or if you pick up in person they tell you. Or both.

      Mine has just been swapped out on my 15" because one of the Thunderbolt ports was faulty. I had no idea about this, it had only gone back to Apple for a replacement top casing due to the sticky keys issue but after testing they found the faulty port. It's also 6 months outside of Applecare now so I'm very pleased they replaced it 🙂

      The issue with these 16" MBPs is the specific 5300/5500 GPU and/or Metal driver together with the GPU.
      • pcjr_ea's avatar
        pcjr_ea
        5 years ago

        @Bluebellflora 

        I didn't pickup in person, this was all done on the phone and through the mail (my local Apple store was closed due to COVID).

        No "reason" was stated for changing out the logic board either time. The Product Repair Summary page that was included on the second return lists as Symptom: Transaction in Store Applies to Touch ID button. That's the closed to an explanation

         

        I don't know what they mean by "in Store", I never visited an Apple store for this second replacement. Note that the Touch ID Board was replaced both times.

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