My 2012 27 i5 3.2 675MX feels slower than my late 2009 i7 2.8 Radeon 4850...WHY?!

flavr said:

My 2012 27 i5 3.2 675MX 1GB feels slower than my late 2009 i7 2.8 Radeon 4850 512MB...WHY?!

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Can you provide the full spec of both machines?

I just upgraded from the same machine as you (2009, 27", i7, 16GB, 2TB HDD) to the new 27", i7, 680MX, 32GB, 768 GB SSD. The difference is like moving from a golf cart to a Ferrari.

You may want to check your migration and reinstall from scratch. Something must have gone wrong.

Have you considered the Fusion Drive? That should make a noticeable difference. You typically have 2 weeks (in the U.S.) to return it.

/Jim

flynz4 said:

I just upgraded from the same machine as you (2009, 27", i7, 16GB, 2TB HDD) to the new 27", i7, 680, 32GB, 768 GB SSD. The difference is like moving from a golf cart to a Ferrari.

You may want to check your migration and reinstall from scratch. Something must have gone wrong.

Have you considered the Fusion Drive? That should make a noticeable difference. You typically have 2 weeks (in the U.S.) to return it.

/Jim

Click to expand...

That's a good suggestion.

flavr said:

2009 27 iMac 2.8 i7, 12GB RAM, 1TB HD, Radeon 4850 512MB VRAM

2012 27 iMac 3.2 i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HD, GeForce 675MX 1GB VRAM

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A couple of differences are it's i7 vs i5. I think i7 has hyperthreading while i5 doesn't. Also i7 has more cache from memory, and the 2nd thing is, the i7 has more memory. The thing that should offset the speed in the i5 is, the HDD should be slightly faster and the graphics should be faster.

I also concur on Flynz recommendations.

What OSX version are you using on the older iMac? Also, what is your hard drive manufacturer? iMac 27" 2012 users have noted that Seagates are a bit faster than Western Digital drives. Otherwise, as for the GPU performance, I believe Apple needs to update the drivers. I have noticed the GTX 680MX receiving lower FPS than a AMD 6970m in Cinebench, although in real gaming it outperforms it significantly.

flynz4 said:

I just upgraded from the same machine as you (2009, 27", i7, 16GB, 2TB HDD) to the new 27", i7, 680MX, 32GB, 768 GB SSD. The difference is like moving from a golf cart to a Ferrari.

You may want to check your migration and reinstall from scratch. Something must have gone wrong.

Have you considered the Fusion Drive? That should make a noticeable difference. You typically have 2 weeks (in the U.S.) to return it.

/Jim

Click to expand...

I've made a very similar upgrade:

Old iMac >> Late 2009 27" i7 1TB 8GB ATI4850
New iMac >> Late 2012 27", i7, 1TB FusionDrive, 8GB, 680MX

I feel a BIG difference. I don't consider my old iMac a golf cart, but I agree with you. I've been impressed by the performance of the new iMac.

I think most of the performance is due to the FusionDrive. It's amazing to see the full OSX boot in 6 seconds, or launch Photoshop CS6 in less than 2 seconds. The 680MX is a beast. I'm actually playing Crysis 3 via BootCamp and the graphic performance is surprising.

Raima said:

That's a good suggestion.



A couple of differences are it's i7 vs i5. I think i7 has hyperthreading while i5 doesn't. Also i7 has more cache from memory, and the 2nd thing is, the i7 has more memory. The thing that should offset the speed in the i5 is, the HDD should be slightly faster and the graphics should be faster.

I also concur on Flynz recommendations.

Click to expand...

Still the newer gen i5 is no slouch against the model he had. I realise it had HT but even still...

flavr said:

My 2012 27 i5 3.2 675MX 1GB feels slower than my late 2009 i7 2.8 Radeon 4850 512MB...WHY?!

Like much slower...in applications such as Photoshop, general OSX feel, Cinebench GPU render looked and clocked slower, even restarts take longer. Did I thought getting an iMac 4 years newer would feel like an upgrade...honestly, even the screen isn't much of a noticeable improvement besides less glare...

Thoughts? Anybody else come from the same machine (late 2009 2.8)?

Click to expand...

I don't think an old i7 to a new i5 is a big bump in processor speed.
From what I've read, hyperthreading is used by everything from games, to video editing, to excel, so losing that feature could decrease processing speed for your applications.

Also, I would not ever consider a computer without an SSD inside of it since I installed one on my 2010 MBP. It makes a world of difference. I would definitely return and get a fusion drive.

Moving from 12GB to 8GB might slow the computer, but I think the new RAM might be faster in the '12 models. Whether the speed of RAM offsets the capacity... I'm not sure. I'm planning on ordering 16GB RAM from OWC, although this will be the last upgrade I'd spend money on.

flavr said:

2009 27 iMac 2.8 i7, 12GB RAM, 1TB HD, Radeon 4850 512MB VRAM

2012 27 iMac 3.2 i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HD, GeForce 675MX 1GB VRAM

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Immediately I'm looking at the delta of CPU, system memory, graphics card, and hard disk drive. In that order.

It's almost as if you set out to prove that you could find a new iMac that would not beat your old iMac.

I moved from a capable Windows PC to my 3.4GHz i7, 680MX, 3TB Fusion, & 32GB and I get in, sit down, shut up, and hold on. The thing takes me on the ride of my life every time I hit the power button.

bmcgrath said:

Still the newer gen i5 is no slouch against the model he had. I realise it had HT but even still...

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True, I don't think it was that much of a performance improvement tho

According to http://www.marketingtactics.com/Speedmark/

The i7 scored 225 vs the new i5 that scored 224.

Different software was used between the generation gap, but it gives some reference to the performance comparison.

The Hyperthreading will also allow everything to run more smoothly. The extra RAM and refined drivers probably made it more evident it was just a more optimised machine.

I'm hoping for Flavr the improvement of his machine will improve as they release new drivers. In the mean time, he can look at upgrading more RAM.

elev8d said:

I don't think an old i7 to a new i5 is a big bump in processor speed.
From what I've read, hyperthreading is used by everything from games, to video editing, to excel, so losing that feature could decrease processing speed for your applications.

Click to expand...

From what I have read, it is actually the complete opposite. I believe HT is only used in 3D rendering etc, with very few programs and games actually taking advantage of it.

Something is wrong with your machine or migrated data - I went from the same late-2009 i7 iMac to a 2012 21.5" 2.9GHz i5 w/Fusion Drive. I was booting my 2009 iMac from a FW800 SSD (which was more responsive than the internal WD 1TB Caviar Black), but the 2012 feels just as fast in day-to-day use, and is actually faster for some tasks.

Based on everything I'd seen, I expected the 2.9GHz i5 in the 2012 to be about equal to the 2009 2.8GHz i7, and that's basically what I'm seeing. Your 3.2GHz i5 should be a bit better at some tasks, though there are also some (anything that really takes advantage of hyperthreading) that might not be quite as fast. Still, you shouldn't notice a big difference - the fact that you seem to be points to some sort of problem on the new machine.

flavr said:

I think my iMac was indexing for the first time when I first bought it yesterday which slowed it down dramatically....MUCH faster tonight! Thanks everybody!

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Oh yeah. The 1st indexing is a bit off-putting. No doubt. I had a similar reaction

I agree. I think that the main difference is the i5 and the i7. My old iMac had the i7 and it is faster than my daughter's new macbook pro with the i5 processor. You may have got some parts that aren't up to what they say they are, that has happened to me too many times in the past not Best of luck.
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