Had the same problem, would idle around 80-90 without any programs opened. My current solution is to limit the 'Maximum Processor State' and now it idles around 60-70 with nothing open, still not ideal but better.

• Heat Up Mac Os 11
• Heat Up Mac Os Catalina

Go to:

1. Settings
2. Power & sleep
3. Additional power settings
4. Change plan settings (for whichever plan you have selected)
5. Change advanced power settings
6. Processor power management
7. Maximum processor state (NOT Maximum processor frequency)

Initial reactions to the new machines (including my own) ranged from impressed—the 15-inch model is running on a six-core, Intel Core i9 chip for the first time, and can be configured with up to. Much of the heat that comes from your Mac is a result of components such as: the hard disc drive, HDD, as it is a mechanical device powered by a motor. The central processing unit, CPU, or just plain “processor” (Intel processers consume lots of energy compared to ARM chips, say) the graphics processing unit, GPU, or “graphics card”.

I recently found this setting so I'm still playing around with it but I currently have 60/80% for battery/plugged in respectively.

Heat Up Mac Os 11

Hope this helps

Heat Up Mac Os Catalina

also i would leave max processor frequency at 0

Apr 30, 2017 9:07 PM