Hi Gigi,

I have a new 2011 macbook pro with 8 giga intel quad core i7 and I am having the same sort of issue. The fans kick in as soon as I hit play in Reason, Record or Live. I do not have this issue in Itunes using the Fireface 400. I am not sure about the reason behind this issue.

The 2011 MBP should neither get louder nor hotter by simply plugging in the Fireface. Only when you are using it temperatures of the CPU increase, because OS X turns off most of the CPU's power-savings.

Now, when you are using the FF for system sounds then it will be activated for at least 30 seconds (or better to say, OS X turns off the system sound device after 30s inactivity).

I am on 10.6.8 though, so maybe .7 is a bit different.

Nope, I did not deactivate power-management. I'm using an utility called MSRTOOLS that reads out CPU registers. It is not fully compatible with the i7 Quads, but enough to get a picture (seeing how clock-rate gets fixed at +1 Turbo bin etc). When I'm using a FW or USB interface for simple stereo playback or a single audio clip the CPU temps stay more or less the same (maybe +2 °C), but the fan-speed increases by around 200-300 rpm, which is better than expected. Still not sure about the C1E state, but C1 definitively works, else your fans would go crazy (tested on Windows).

I will have a look at power-consumption at the power-supply next time and post some screen-shots.

Fl, thanks for pointing to the thread on gearslutz. It is definitely related to the problem I am reporting.

Timur, I downloaded MSRTOOLS but the application is not working on my MBP. After shortly reporting "intializing...", the main screen just displays no information. Please let me know if I can do something else to help RME to make a precise diagnostic of the problem.

Mauritek, lets keep this thread focused. I'm not sure about your MBP but this has nothing to do with internet browsing. My MBP runs very well doing audio with the MADIface but the FF400 makes the fan go up, even though CPU is below 2% and not playing a single channel of audio.

Please note that My MBP was bought in 2010 (Model identifier MacBookPro6,1). According to the thread on gearslutz i5/i7 machines are also runnning hot on plugging audio firewire devices (but not as much as pre i5/i7). Not sure if this particular problem also affects the newest 2011 MBP's.

Cheers

MSRTOOL: Need to be run in 32 bit mode. The main thing you are interested in is the current CPU frequency. Behavior depends on which audio device is set as current system output (or actively being used by an application).

Internet browsing: Can cause additional heat because of the Flash player plugin, or rather how it is implemented in specific broswers. I.e. on Windows with Firefox the *presence* of the Flash plugin makes FF increase timer resolution to 1 ms, which in turn keeps my CPU from entering C7 deep sleep state. Internet Explorer 9 on the other hand only does that when a Flash video is actively being shown.

I meant 32 bit kernel mode. In 64 bit kernel mode MSRTOOL stays blank as it seems. It's not perfectly fit for the setup anyway, but there are little to no tools for profound analysis on OS X available, so we have to take what we can get.

...I tried the FF400 with the 64 bit kernel and even though the MBP fan is not completely silent, my first impression is that it is no running so hot. Even though I suggest to take this first observations with care, I think i am noticing an improvement in comparison with the 32 bit kernel:

- When using the FF400 the fan is not so loud. It is still there, but I would say that the speed is not so high and it is more constant than before. Actually if I unplug the second monitor I would say the fan slows down to something close to an acceptable level. For me this is a significant improvement, because before the combination of the second monitor and the FF was not usable.

- I use OSX Spaces for an extended desktop and in 32 bit mode I was occasionally experiencing dropouts when swapping from one desktop to another and high CPU load. With the 64 bit kernel, the audio stream seems to be less sensible to changing desktop in spaces (or at least i could not make it glitch this way until now).

Do you think there could be arguments that would speak in favor of an improvement in the interaction between firewire audio / video in the 64 bit kernel compared with 32 bit mode?

Cheers

I wouldn't say unusable, but personally I give up the possibility of subtle listening with the FF400 and a second monitor on my MBP 2010. On the other hand, leaving out the additional monitor the fan is not a big deal when listening to music, but just enough to make me feel irritated at times when working on the details in the silent studio. If you push the CPU hard enough, there's surely a point were you won't feel good about the noise level of the MBP at home either i think, but maybe you are fine if working in an environment with higher background noise and are not so picky about MBP ventilators as I am, or if you rather listen through headphones...

The good news is that the FF400 + MBP combination is feeling REALLY rock-solid. Even more since running in 64 bit mode, I believe (thanks Timur!) In my experience, just like all RME products I've had the chance to get my hands on, not a few. From what I've read in Gearslutz and what Timur says, it may seem that Apple could be more cooperative when contributing to a solution to firewire-audio overheating.

For a more silent rig I prefer the MADIface because there is no ventilator when MB idle, and it will kick off later if the CPU gets pushed. Unfortunaltely for a portable multichannel solution I do not know of any MADI converters as small as the FF400. Any perspectives that RME will be includng a half-rack, passive-cooled unit it in their MADI catalog in the near future?

Cheers

And I would add that for me it is not just a fan problem but also the cpu is working too much with minimal DAW projects. This is not quite right for a Quad Core processsor! My early 2008 works great with FF400 and Mac 10.6.8 - and considering that it is a 3 years old processor it only works under stress with very heavy project and loads of plug in opened in Logic or Live. This is not possible on my Quad Core on the MBP 2011.

I am looking forward test any usb audio card to determine the issue.

Hi Jrobot1, yes my macbook pro early 2008 has the TI Fw chipset.

interesting.. good`ol TI... thanks mauritek

@Timur,, thanks for that .. please do..

thanks for that mauritek ..

Gigi, what mbp do you have? 2011 or 2010? you say .....may reach 99°C on the four cores if some serious porcesses running....you have a Quad core?

Are people getting similar results using FW and USB audio devices with older dual core machines circa 2009? any experience anyone?
thanks...