I'd say Vega, I have only 1440p ultra wide and the RX consumes 5W in clamshell mode now, which jumps to 10W if the laptop display is also on, but with two 5k's I wouldn't dare. Better yet - eGPU if you don't need dGPU on the go, but you would need to do some research which cards would support those two monitors, if any. You can get something like Sapphire Pulse RX580 for less than $200, it will have similar performance to Vega 20 but it is dead silent even at full load. But it only has two DP ports, not sure if this would work with 2x5k.
iStatMenus, get the version from the developer website, not the one from App Store - not that much sandboxed, more sensors and fan control. If your 2017 drives them without issues then the 2019 RX will do the same, they’re pretty much the same cards.
. - But most the time once you get settled in, it should stay quiet enough.That quote isn't valid anymore, at least for low resolution displays. Apple fixed the issue on RX. When I wrote that I was getting similar power consumption to your 2x5k while running just a single FHD display. Unfortunately I didn't write the numbers, but it was enough to kick the fans in high gear which happens at around 20W, heating the whole computer. It was so annoying i just bought eGPU. At the same time the only reference to 5k and Vega was one post, comparing idle temperatures with and without 5k display attached - the difference was only 7C with the same, idle fan speeds, which would indicate only 5W of power increase or so here - 15" i7 MBP 2017 vs 2018 temperature?. @fpenta - did you get iStatMenu since by any chance and could tell us what the power consumption of Vega with 5K is?
Wow, that's a shocker, I was expecting much lower than that and at least some change when only one is connected. What are the temperatures doing - Vega was only 7C hotter with one 5k with both fans at idle (2k rpm). 25W is not that far from the 35W max, your temperature must be somewhat high if the fans are still at idle speeds.
I don’t think you’d need an 8 core or a Vega for those purposes. I’d take the base model and put the CPU and graphics money to SSD and RAM.
This 100 times. Also, not sure the concept of “future proofing” is really relevant anymore.Stay away from the CPU upgrade... Like really, stay away from it.
The difference in speed between the fastest i9 and the slower i9, is at best 2.5%. In Windows, it's 0%. You see, to run the CPUs at a high speed, Apple has not just increased heat dissipation through a better thermal interface than the last model, but they also do heavy undervaluing in macOS. That undervolting is not applied in Windows, meaning the CPU runs slower and hotter in Windows - It's not dangerous; It just won't run as fast cause it'll reach temperatures that are high enough that it slows down. So the faster chip will only be faster in macOS where the heat is managed, and even there, at most 2.5% or so.
Going for a Vega GPU can definitely make sense if gaming is important to you. A Vega in general will also produce less heat than a Polaris GPU, so it'll also allow the CPU to stretch its legs more in CPU+GPU workloads. But based on your general needs and the fact that an MB has been keeping you well served, it really is more of a case of "do you want it" than it really being something that'd benefit you. If you want it, the GPU upgrade can make sense as an entertainment add-on. The CPU will never make sense.
But if you're trying to get the GPU for the sake of "future-proofing", take that money and put it in a savings account for the next time you'll get a new MacBook Pro. That's a better future-proofing path. GPUs are still improving at a faster rate than CPUs, even with the recent boom in core-count, and Navi seems to bring major improvements; Currently only on desktops and by the end of 2020 consoles, but probably also for the next redesign of the MBP. If not an RDNA 2.0 chip by then.
I don't want to talk you out of a GPU upgrade if you want it for immediate entertainment value through boosting its game-playing abilities; Usually a mostly GPU limited task anyway - but I think you'd be satisfied with the 560X as well. If I had the budget I'd personalise pick the Vega, 20 if I could afford it but 16 would be nice enough. - But I'm sticking with my 2014... Also I'm a student so I don't have the budget