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I've got a peculiar issue on my Mac M4 Max running latest macOS 15.5 (non-beta). When playing games on GeForce Now, the system regularly grinds to a near halt and at the same time only efficiency cores are active. This is silly.

How can I work around this? Is there a good way to diagnose why only efficiency cores are active?

Update: The symptoms in my case match those described in better detail here on the Apple Stack Exchange.

I've also just observed it without GeForce Now being active at all.

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  • Geforce Now is network intensive not CPU intensive, so no surprise the workload is on the efficiency cores, and entirely at the mercy of the server farm running it. You'd need to examine the issue in the light of what performance your subscription tier provides, and whether there are any network issues you might have. Both of those sound very much off-topic. You'll need to clarify what is halting, the whole machine or just the game streaming? Commented Jul 22, 2025 at 18:53
  • The QoS is set by the app, and you can't increase it (unless the app has a built-in setting.) So your question should be addressed to the developers of Geforce. Commented Jul 22, 2025 at 19:16
  • Does the problem occur outside of Geforce Now? Commented Aug 18, 2025 at 10:25
  • @benwiggy Yesterday I spotted it for the first time without GeForceNow running, so yes. It might happen frequently but I only notice when E cores can't keep up with an increase in load and there's a failure to switch to P cores. Commented Aug 18, 2025 at 18:08
  • Same on M3 Max Tahoe 26.0 Beta, 26.0 Release and 26.1 Beta Commented Oct 3, 2025 at 18:40

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I've been having the exact same issue. Mac Studio with M4 Max running GeForce Now. It seems to occur randomly, and sometimes quitting resolves it, but other times I have to full restart. I believe the issue stems from some interaction between GeForce Now and macOS Game Mode.

My workaround is to disable Game Mode for GeForce Now (which feels unnecessary to have anyway for this). After disabling Game Mode (using the icon in the menu bar after launching a game) a couple days ago, I haven't had the issue since.

Though, this is possibly indicative of a larger problem.

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