ANOTHER what should I buy thread! Sorry!

[DannyBres]

My iMac will be replacing my Unibody Alu Macbook (2.4c2d/2), as I need /want the bigger screen and more powerful system! Currently programs especially iLife ones take an age to load! and xcode is a pain on a tiny screen

I will be using iLife (iPhoto, iMovie and iWeb), Photoshop CS5, X-code, Handbrake to convert vids for iPad, Safari etc and I would like to play some games that I cant play on my Xbox such as starcraft 2!

Which config will improve the performance of the machine for my usage:

i5 2.8 Quad / 4GB / and 1TB+256GB

or

i7 2.93 Quad / 4GB / 2TB

(I will be upgrading to 8 or 12 GB after I have purchased!)

Basically my question is will the programs I use make use of the i7 if so will it be more beneficial to me than the SSD?

[frega]

All around, i5 + SSD would be better.

i7 will be better for Handbrake. i7 might also be "futureproofing" when future games like SC2 make use of 8 threads (unlikely).

[DannyBres]

Ok Thanks! That is not really what I wanted to hear! :( Makes my decision harder! :( Hmmm.... What to do!

I still think for a saving of £380 I will get the i7 and 2TB!

Which will be faster to read a SATA internal SSD or a firewire SSD that I add later?

[DannyBres]

Can anyone point me to a kit to replace 27" iMac SuperDrive with an SSD?

[bolen]

IMO you should get the i7. You cannot change this in the future, while you'll most likely be able to add a SSD/memory/disk in the future.

BTW, there's a ton o topics regarding this..

[DannyBres]

I know there are! :) Thanks I will do! :) There are soo many options too!

Firewire 800
Replace main HDD
Replace optical drive

or the one I really want to do but I am to scared to do!!!!!!1111

Plug extra Sata cable into Mainboard.

[DoFoT9]

All around, i5 + SSD would be better.

i7 will be better for Handbrake. i7 might also be "futureproofing" when future games like SC2 make use of 8 threads (unlikely).

Not correct. A single program will not benefit from hyper threading, HT is only useful for the use of multiple programs converting at the same time.

One a single program (whether it be multiple threaded or not) uses more then 50% overall CPU, you start to loose performance once you introduce HT.

I say go the i5!! :)

[Thermonuclear]

There is no way to replace a slot loading optical drive with any 2.5 inch drive including an SSD.

[DannyBres]

OWC will do it if you send the iMac to them!

[TheBritishBloke]

OWC will do it if you send the iMac to them!

Yes.. But you have to remember that doing that will completely void your warranty.

[DoFoT9]

There is no way to replace a slot loading optical drive with any 2.5 inch drive including an SSD.

I'm not sure that's the truth. They all use sat cables etc, should be compatible!

British bloke: it won't void warranty

[TheBritishBloke]

I'm not sure that's the truth. They all use sat cables etc, should be compatible!

British bloke: it won't void warranty

It will if you send it to OWC to fit an SSD. God knows what kind of fixture they use, but Apple would still most likely void your warranty and refer to it as 'tampering' or 'damage'.

[DoFoT9]

It will if you send it to OWC to fit an SSD. God knows what kind of fixture they use, but Apple would still most likely void your warranty and refer to it as 'tampering' or 'damage'.

Ultimately, it will depend on the individual vendor. But after talking to multiple people (including ex apple employees) even modifications (such as the esata port addition in the latest iMacs) generally should not void the warranty unless there is evidence of stickers being broken, taken off, or damaged.

[TheBritishBloke]

Ultimately, it will depend on the individual vendor. But after talking to multiple people (including ex apple employees) even modifications (such as the esata port addition in the latest iMacs) generally should not void the warranty unless there is evidence of stickers being broken, taken off, or damaged.

Yeah I guess so, under UK law they cant refuse to repair a machine due to something such as adding an SSD yourself, unless they can prove that your doing that is what caused the issue.

[DoFoT9]

Yeah I guess so, under UK law they cant refuse to repair a machine due to something such as adding an SSD yourself, unless they can prove that your doing that is what caused the issue.

True, it's a very blurry line. As I understand it, if the upgrade is in the manual (or supporting articles) then it should be supported no matter what, if it isn't then you will get into trouble if any of the above that I mentioned happened.

[TheBritishBloke]

True, it's a very blurry line. As I understand it, if the upgrade is in the manual (or supporting articles) then it should be supported no matter what, if it isn't then you will get into trouble if any of the above that I mentioned happened.

Yeah, I haven't heard about installing am SSD in the manual, most likely as apple are too cheap to even include the fixtures :p

Time will tell, I'm sure somebody on here will try it and then we'll be told what Apple have to say about it ;)

[DannyBres]

I think I have decided to get i7 2TB now and install extra SSD and connect to Logic Board in 12 months! :)

Means I can get the best SSD and ultimately will have the best possible computer, and will have an iMac this month!! :)

[DoFoT9]

Yeah, I haven't heard about installing am SSD in the manual, most likely as apple are too cheap to even include the fixtures :p

Time will tell, I'm sure somebody on here will try it and then we'll be told what Apple have to say about it ;)

Apple is mighty lazy of late! We will find out eventually!

Edit: nice decision OP, sounds great!

[TheBritishBloke]

Apple is mighty lazy of late! We will find out eventually!

Very true, they seem to have turned into the Mercedes of the computer world, their products used to be perfect, rarely broke down with great quality control.. Then they tried to save money and do things faster, which lowered the quality. Ah well..

Good decision OP.. You have to remember that your CPU is the only thing there which you can't upgrade in the future, and good idea holding out on the SSD. I'm buying an iMac and a 27" ACD at the next refresh, I'm hoping that by that time they have reasonable pricing on their SSD upgrade, if they do then I'll buy that, if not then I'll do what you did and just get a 2TB drive i7.

Enjoy your unit!

[DoFoT9]

Very true, they seem to have turned into the Mercedes of the computer world, their products used to be perfect, rarely broke down with great quality control.. Then they tried to save money and do things faster, which lowered the quality. Ah well..
my macs are very very stable and usable, even my 5 year old MBP is fine! I use it daily. The quality is getting lower, true, but it seems to be ok overall. I can still handle it.

Good decision OP.. You have to remember that your CPU is the only thing there which you can't upgrade in the future,

not entirely true, the CPU can be upgraded but it is quite hard to do. There are currently no CPU models higher in that socket though :p but it is possible.

[TheBritishBloke]

my macs are very very stable and usable, even my 5 year old MBP is fine! I use it daily. The quality is getting lower, true, but it seems to be ok overall. I can still handle it.



not entirely true, the CPU can be upgraded but it is quite hard to do. There are currently no CPU models higher in that socket though :p but it is possible.

The quality is still fantastic, but still not as good as back in the days of PPC where even G3's are still going strong ;)

And yeah yeah, don't you get smart with me Mr Aussie ;) otherwise I'll take away your beer supply :D

[DoFoT9]

The quality is still fantastic, but still not as good as back in the days of PPC where even G3's are still going strong ;)
oh without doubt, I've still got an original g3 in my room ready to be used whenever I call it.

And yeah yeah, don't you get smart with me Mr Aussie ;) otherwise I'll take away your beer supply :D

sorry sir :( ;)

[TheBritishBloke]

oh without doubt, I've still got an original g3 in my room ready to be used whenever I call it.



sorry sir :( ;)

Well you've been a good lad now, you can have ONE :rolleyes:

But yeah back on topic: reset the PRAM and CMS, if it still doesn't work then you should go searching for an airport card, if not a USB wireless adapter.

[talmy]

Not correct. A single program will not benefit from hyper threading, HT is only useful for the use of multiple programs converting at the same time.

One a single program (whether it be multiple threaded or not) uses more then 50% overall CPU, you start to loose performance once you introduce HT.


Early schedulers would not differentiate between virtual and physical cores, and might end up assigning two running threads to a single processor instead of two processors. Thus hyperthreading would reduce performance. I had a dual (single-core) Xeon system where hyperthreading was disabled for that reason.

However schedulers in recent years have gotten smarter. When I run Handbrake, I get about 500% performance of a single core running over 4 real and 4 virtual cores with my 2.8GHz i7 iMac. So hyperthreading gives me about 25% additional performance. Sure it isn't 2x, but for long running programs the savings are very noticeable.

[DoFoT9]

Early schedulers would not differentiate between virtual and physical cores, and might end up assigning two running threads to a single processor instead of two processors. Thus hyperthreading would reduce performance. I had a dual (single-core) Xeon system where hyperthreading was disabled for that reason.

However schedulers in recent years have gotten smarter. When I run Handbrake, I get about 500% performance of a single core running over 4 real and 4 virtual cores with my 2.8GHz i7 iMac. So hyperthreading gives me about 25% additional performance. Sure it isn't 2x, but for long running programs the savings are very noticeable.

i get about 600% running handbrake - but that doesnt necessarily mean that im getting 200% more ACTUAL CPU performance then if HT wasnt enabled.

looking at the performance differences from the 2.66ghz i5 iMac to the 2.8ghz i7 iMac and Handbrake results, you can see that even at these different CPU frequencies that the i5 is very close in performance - and i would speculate that at the same frequencies that the i5 might even be a tiny bit faster.

[talmy]

The 25% I'm seeing is in line with what I observed when I first got a Pentium 4 with hyperthreading. With just a single core it's easier to measure. I ran a number-crunching program and measured it's time to execute, then I ran two copies of the program. The two simultaneously ran slower, of course, but overall I got about 125% the computational rate.

But as I previously mentioned, the dual Xeons with HT was a different story because using two processors it would assign two executing threads to the same processor, losing the benefit of dual processors. We always ran with HT disabled on these systems.

[DoFoT9]

The 25% I'm seeing is in line with what I observed when I first got a Pentium 4 with hyperthreading. With just a single core it's easier to measure. I ran a number-crunching program and measured it's time to execute, then I ran two copies of the program. The two simultaneously ran slower, of course, but overall I got about 125% the computational rate.

But as I previously mentioned, the dual Xeons with HT was a different story because using two processors it would assign two executing threads to the same processor, losing the benefit of dual processors. We always ran with HT disabled on these systems.

very interesting to note. do you have any solid benchmarks or articles for me to look into? im very interested in this :)